What's a fillyjonk?
(It's a made-up animal. Very feminine. Somewhat neurotic. A lot like me.)

Read Tove Jansson if you really want to know.
e-mail me
Remove the part that says NOSPAM - that's to confound the 'bots
(email address: ecorbett@
netcommander.com)

 
I also forgot to mention - the marble magnets (link is to instructions for same) were a hit with everyone I gave them to. My mom's friend Mrs. D. called me up to ask me for directions on how to make them.
posted by fillyjonk at 9:28 AM

 
Well, I did my first 10-minute (plus) daily stint on working on the quilt. I think this will work much better than waiting until the weekends, and then quilting for hours, getting a sore finger in the process.

more about my vacation:

Christmas was pretty good. My brother and sister-in-law came down from Arlington Heights on Christmas Day (they had planned to come on Christmas Eve, but we had a very heavy sudden snowfall, and they were tired from other traveling). Her brother also came down, since he's not married and their folks are in China right now (teaching English).

I guess people liked what I gave them. My brother said "oh, cool" and started flipping through the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls I gave him, which is pretty high praise from him. My mom laughed when she saw the Fun Fur scarf and said "Oh, I can sing 'Santa Baby' when I wear this scarf" (they had gone to a community musical production where a young woman they knew wore a slinky dress, and, I guess, a boa, and sang "Santa Baby") But she actually wore the scarf out of the house, so I guess she liked it well enough (she's not the kind of person to do things just to make someone else happy).

I got some nice stuff. The biggest present was a 100th anniversary Steiff teddy bear. Because I don't trust the mail *quite* that much, and because I didn't have room in my bag, my folks will bring him down to me on their next visit.

I also got the new Vogue socks book, which I have to say was a bit of a disappointment to me personally - lots of kid and baby socks compared to the number of women's socks, and one of the patterns that I would most want to make (the Koigu socks with the multicolored front and solid back) apparently has an error, because I cannot for the life of me see how you get one segment of the sock one color and the rest another, without carrying the yarn or doing them as flat intarsia (neither of which is mentioned in the instructions). Anyone know if an errata page exists for this book yet?

I also got a really nice set of copper tealight holders - each has a word cut into it, like "Faith" or "Hope" or "Peace" so that when you light a candle in it, the light shines through the word. They're on my mantel right now.

I also got a sweatshirt that has an Edward Gorey drawing on it and the phrase "There's no such thing as too many books". This has become sort of a family joke - one of the reasons I was so eager to move out of the apartment I had been in was that the manager was complaining that I had "too many books" and it was a fire hazard (for the record, I do not smoke, nor did I ever burn candles in that apartment). I tried to explain that the books would not spontaneously combust until the temperature in the apartment reached 451* F, and by then, there would be far more problems than my books, but the manager kept telling me "I'm not going to evict you but you need to get a storage unit and move some of those books out". Anyway. It was a real irritant and frustration at the time, but now that I own the house, it's just one of those "I guess it takes all kinds" sort of things.
posted by fillyjonk at 8:34 AM

 
I untrimmed the tree this afternoon and put everything away. I have to say, for those given to the occasional fit of melancholy, the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams (especially "The Lark Ascending") is not the best accompaniment to an activity that may produce said melancholy. At one point, I found myself standing in front of the tree, with an ornament in my hand, wanting to - well, not wanting to cry, but wanting to sit down on the sofa. And not move. For a long time.

I did, however, force myself to finish the task (I left a few winter-but-not-necessarily-Christmas themed decorations up). Undecorating always makes me think of the end of W. H. Auden's Christmas "Oratorio", For the Time Being:

"Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes --
Some have got broken -- and carrying them up to the attic.
The holly and mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school. There are enough
Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week --
Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
Stayed up so late, attempted -- quite unsuccessfully --
To love all of our relatives, and in general
Grossly overestimated our power. Once again
As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
To do more than entertain it as an agreeable
Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,
Begging though to remain His disobedient servant,...."

I don't much like the end of the holidays. And now it's the long slow slog, with only the occasional "civic" holiday (Martin Luther King's birthday) and holidays I don't celebrate (Valentine's day means nothing if you are over 18 and unattached...) with little festive until maybe my birthday at the end of February.

I promised myself that this weekend I will go and see if there are any amaryllis bulbs still for sale, and will get a couple and force them, so I have that to look forward to.
posted by fillyjonk at 3:42 PM

 
Lake Superior State College publishes an annual list of words and phrases that should be banned from English. This year's list is now up.

I am particularly happy to see that "extreme" as a modifier (I ask you, how can Jell-o be "extreme"?) and the phrase "now more than ever" when used as code for "go out and buy" are on it.
posted by fillyjonk at 11:42 AM

 
Okay, I'm back. I didn't get nearly as much knitting done as intended - partly because I promptly caught the Norwalk virus when I arrived home (and lost a whole day to being sick, and two to three days to feeling too lousy to do anything). But also partly because I did some sewing.

I made myself the long full dark-brown skirt I had been wanting. (And it probably took less time than trying to find what I wanted in a shop or catalog). And, at the Sewing Studio (a wonderful, wonderful fabric shop in Normal, Il - they carry great fashion fabric as well as quilt fabric) I bought a couple yards of a lovely fancy knit and made myself a Chanel-style jacket for those rare fancy occasions I get invited to (It's a black fabric with red and gold Chinese fans printed on it).

I also made a teddy bear, but maybe more about that later.

I did finish two pairs of socks - the Celtic braid socks I've been working on since Thanksgiving, and a pair of simple bulky-wool "Dumbledore" socks (so named because the character in Harry Potter remarked that one can never have enough good thick wool socks). These socks were made with Novitia Storebror, which is a heavy to bulky worsted. I used size 4 (US) needles. The socks do almost stand up on their own, but they are very warm.

I also began a pair of Opal socks, made from one of the 2002 color collection (the grass-green with bands of blue, red, and yellow).

I worked some on the sweater but again, didn't get too much done.

Christmas itself was good - again, maybe more about that later.

I did make a couple of new year's resolutions. I don't normally do that, but this year I felt in the mood for it:

1. I will not wait until I have a big block of free time to work on my quilt; I will try to quilt on it every day for at least 10 minutes, so it won't languish in the frame for four years like my last one.

2. I am not going to feel guilty about buying the better (more-expensive) brand of paper towels, or about buying "healthy-convenience" foods like the already bagged-up salads. I am much less inclined to want to eat salad if I have to chop it up and de-stem it as well as washing it. And the same is true about orange juice - I'm not going to feel bad about buying the already-mixed-up cartons, because I can never seem to force myself to thaw and mix the frozen kind (and yes, I know the frozen kind holds its nutrients better, but that does me little good if I never get it made).

3. I'm going to try to eat more low-glycemic-index foods. Not that I'm diabetic or anything, it's just I've been doing some reading and they seem a lot healthier. And I do notice I don't get hungry as fast after eating something whole-grain than after eating something refined-grain.
posted by fillyjonk at 8:00 AM

 
Okay, this is really going to be my last post before January. But I have to say two things:

1. To a dental-phobic, there are few phrases nicer than "Your teeth look excellent. I'll see you again in six months." (today was checkup and cleaning day)

2. I have to brag here on my mad packing skills. Into your standard (3 1/2 foot by 2 foot by maybe 1 1/2 foot) duffel, I have fit:
two dresses
one skirt
one pair of dress shoes
orthotics (I have old tennis shoes at my folks' so I don't need to take a pair)
three pairs of slacks
seven blouses
enough underwear for a week
ditto on handknit socks
a knit vest
a patchwork vest
a slip
a pair of tights
a polar-weight cardigan
twelve 50 g skeins of dk weight yarn
four 50 g skeins of worsted weight yarn
five 50 g skeins of sockweight yarn, and two 100 g skeins of ditto
three 100 g skeins heavy worsted for chunky socks
a series of small lastminute gifts
one and one-half 50 g skeins of sportweight yarn, for gloves (well, the pattern claims that's enough. I'm skeptical).

..and there is still room!

(I will be wearing the sweatshirt I plan to take, and another pair of slacks, another blouse, and my sandals)

This is enough clothes (and well more than enough projects) for my three week vacation. It does help immensely to lay the clothes out beforehand to be sure you're only taking things that will match with other things and so you don't forget something important (like, say, brassieres).

In the backpack, so far are
the knitting patterns
my Clifford jammies

to go yet are
my traveling knitkit (needles and notions)
knitting in progress
toiletries
books
bottles of water
other personal items

oh, and for those who would be concerned about me announcing I'm leaving town:
1. you don't know where I live
2. I have people watching my house.
posted by fillyjonk at 3:09 PM

 
For those on socknitters who might wonder about the name of the shop that has good online inventory control: the one I was referring to was Equilter. I have always been very happy with their selection and customer service.

and now, I'm outta here until January! Be good and be happy everyone!
posted by fillyjonk at 11:35 AM

 
I think this will be my last post before January.

Sunday, I take off for Illinois and my parents'. I am really looking forward to it - not having to cook or drive places, and having a lot of knitting time.

I'm still trying to decide what projects to take. Purple yarn and Theresa's "Grandmother Vinson's" mitten pattern is one. The Celtic braid socks are another. I'm thinking maybe the Storebror yarn for chunky socks and maybe some variegated Socka (my handknitting.com order finally came - the socka was backordered for weeks) and a lace sock pattern for those. And I'm trying to figure out if I can either squeeze the 15 balls of Emu DK for the Lightning-Bolt sweater into my clothing duffel, or if I could possibly get away with putting it in another bag and "lashing" the bag onto my clothing duffel (you're supposed to be able to bring two 'carry on' bags; I usually take a duffel for clothes and my backpack, but there's no way I can get the yarn for the sweater into my backpack with all the books and other projects and bottles of water and whatnot that I take). I can't check bags from or to where I'm going, so that option is out.

I have seen people get on the train with like 15 bags and no one says boo to them, AND I have a compartment, so I think I'll just try the "second bag lashed onto main bag" trick.

Have a good holiday (and if your winter holiday is already past, I hope you had a good one).

And since I celebrate Christmas, here are a few links:

scroll down on this site for the words to "Nu er det jule igen", a traditional Scandinavian song for dancing around the tree.

some Irish Christmas traditions (my major heritage is Irish). More are here. And because another part of my heritage is German, here are some German Christmas traditions.


posted by fillyjonk at 7:43 AM

 
A couple of FO's:

1. My grades for the semester are done and ready to be handed in.

2. I finished the Kool Wool scarf. It took all three skeins of each color; it is close to 7 feet long (I am fairly tall and I like long, long scarves - I probably would have made it longer if I had had more of the yarn).

And: since it would cause a furor on the Knitlist, I'm going to post an "alternative" to the infamous Staples ad here:

this is how a shop - let's call it Earl's Electronics - could advertise itself without showing knitting in a bad light.

A woman comes on screen (Ideally, she would be a young woman, maybe even a Black or Hispanic woman) and says: "I'm an expert knitter" (slide show of gorgeous cabled sweater, Fair Isle sweater, lace shawl). "All of my friends love my knitting. But when I try giving it as gifts to my family, it just doesn't work out. My 16-year old sister is in a phase where she will only wear black" (shot of an angry-looking young girl wearing Industrial-style clothes) "My uncle can't wear sweaters because my aunt insists on keeping the house 80* year-round" (shot of a disappointed-looking man, looking longingly at a cabled sweater but wearing a t-shirt and shorts). "And my nephew - well, I guess he never learned how to properly wash clothes" (Shot of a bewildered looking 20-something guy holding an elaborate Fair Isle sweater he has just taken out of the dryer, which is now about 5 sizes too small for him). "So instead, I'm giving them all gift certificates to Earl's Electronics this year. And I'm knitting for myself." (final shot of woman wearing some kind of knockout gorgeous high-fashion sweater)

just a thought.
posted by fillyjonk at 8:12 AM

 
Clifford jammies!
Since I was a kid, I've been a fan of "Clifford the Big Red Dog". Even though the new PBS version is aimed at the kiddies, I still watch it occasionally (I like that Jack Ritter is the voice of Clifford; he has a good "friendly and nice" voice that he uses for him). I saw some Clifford-print flannel at the JoAnn's weeks ago and bought 3 1/2 yards. This weekend, I sewed it up into a nightshirt using a McCall's pattern (as I remember; it's at home and I'm at work, and I don't remember the number either). I did alter the pattern slightly, making 9" slits up the sides (to just above my knees), because I am an "active" sleeper and would be bothered by the constriction around my legs.

I also French-seamed it (this is where you sew a narrow seam with the wrong sides together, then turn the piece and sew another seam, right sides together, enclosing the previous seam). I like that for pajamas because it's strong and comfortable. (And flannel will ravel like a madman if you don't do something to finish the seams).

I forget how satisfying it is to make a piece of clothing in an afternoon.

I also swatched and then cast on (but didn't get very far) for the Lightning-Bolt Family sweater from the winter 02 Interweave Knits. I am using Emu DK in a sort of auburn color.

and I got exact gauge from my swatch! I rock!

I'll probably knit on this while proctoring tomorrow. I got most of my Christmas cards written (I don't send a lot) during the exam this morning.
posted by fillyjonk at 2:30 PM