Adding a new linky-poo: Anne at creating text(iles). She's also a professor and has e-mailed me support over my periodic wailings about the tenure process.
Also: I'm wearing my Sitcom Chic for the first time today! The one thing I'm thinking is that it might be nice to add pockets - I need a place to put my keys when I'm in class. I'm thinking I could do a couple of squares out of the leftover yarn (topped with 3 rows of rib to match the hem and sleeve cuffs) and sew them on. They might drag down the fronts of the sweater is the only problem I can see.
my office is freakin' FREEZING. They're working on the A/C on campus, and I think it all got misdirected to my building.
And: one of the little things I love about teaching. Had a student tell me after my first class that she was not advised into a lab (sigh). So we went back to my office and found a lab that was open AND fit her schedule, and I told her what to do to get into it.
She acted as if I had given her something very very valuable when in fact all I had done was taken three minutes of my time and a few keystrokes on the computer.
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Finished the top edge bind-off of the Trinity Stitch shawl. I still have to weave in the yarn ends and block it, though. I'm not sure WHERE to block it, it's so huge.
On some blogs lately there's been discussion of crochet. I used to crochet a lot more, back when I was an undergrad, before I got back into knitting. My maternal grandmother was also a crocheter, she made all kinds of beautiful thread-work (including, in one case, curtains in filet crochet). I did mostly "critters" and a few things like hats, of yarn.
The general 'tude I've seen among knitters (on the knitlist as well as knitters I've talked to in person) is that knitting is art and crochet is kinda junky. Or that knitting is what people with skills do, and crochet is what people do to pass the time while waiting for "One Life to Live" to come on the boob tube at the 'home'.
Even crocheters buy into the stereotype - I can't tell you how many people have seen me knitting and said "Oh, I crochet, but I could never learn to do that" as if two implements rather than one makes the process infinitely harder.
I wince when I hear those attitudes because I think of all the doilies, and all the fancy nightgown yokes, and all the tablecloths out of teeny tiny thread my grandma made. And I think of my own pitiful attempts at thread-crochet, which ended either with my perspiring-from-the-mental-exertion-involved hands dirtied the white thread to the point I couldn't stand to work with it, or when I made mistake #294 and had to rip back yet again, or when I decided I was too nearsighted for such delicate work.
Crochet and knitting are two different processes and are good for doing different things. Think of the difference between watercolor and oil paint - or, maybe better, the difference between cabinetmaking and stoneworking. They are both useful things, but they are used for different situations. You wouldn't want a stoneworked armoire (at least I wouldn't). Crochet - at least, the non-lacy kind - doesn't work so hot for large pieces of clothing because it has a poor drape, and we value drape in clothing. If you want to make sculptural 3-D forms, though, crochet is somehow easier (for me at least) to get it to do what you want it to.
(I designed, totally from scratch, and am now kicking myself for not writing the pattern down as I went, a large doll of Petrouschka when I was a senior in college. It was quite impressive, and it always makes me happy to look at it, because I sat down one day and said "I want to make this" and just totally figured it out - even down to shoes that were actually foot-shaped - in my own head. I don't think I could do that, even now, with knitting).
On some blogs lately there's been discussion of crochet. I used to crochet a lot more, back when I was an undergrad, before I got back into knitting. My maternal grandmother was also a crocheter, she made all kinds of beautiful thread-work (including, in one case, curtains in filet crochet). I did mostly "critters" and a few things like hats, of yarn.
The general 'tude I've seen among knitters (on the knitlist as well as knitters I've talked to in person) is that knitting is art and crochet is kinda junky. Or that knitting is what people with skills do, and crochet is what people do to pass the time while waiting for "One Life to Live" to come on the boob tube at the 'home'.
Even crocheters buy into the stereotype - I can't tell you how many people have seen me knitting and said "Oh, I crochet, but I could never learn to do that" as if two implements rather than one makes the process infinitely harder.
I wince when I hear those attitudes because I think of all the doilies, and all the fancy nightgown yokes, and all the tablecloths out of teeny tiny thread my grandma made. And I think of my own pitiful attempts at thread-crochet, which ended either with my perspiring-from-the-mental-exertion-involved hands dirtied the white thread to the point I couldn't stand to work with it, or when I made mistake #294 and had to rip back yet again, or when I decided I was too nearsighted for such delicate work.
Crochet and knitting are two different processes and are good for doing different things. Think of the difference between watercolor and oil paint - or, maybe better, the difference between cabinetmaking and stoneworking. They are both useful things, but they are used for different situations. You wouldn't want a stoneworked armoire (at least I wouldn't). Crochet - at least, the non-lacy kind - doesn't work so hot for large pieces of clothing because it has a poor drape, and we value drape in clothing. If you want to make sculptural 3-D forms, though, crochet is somehow easier (for me at least) to get it to do what you want it to.
(I designed, totally from scratch, and am now kicking myself for not writing the pattern down as I went, a large doll of Petrouschka when I was a senior in college. It was quite impressive, and it always makes me happy to look at it, because I sat down one day and said "I want to make this" and just totally figured it out - even down to shoes that were actually foot-shaped - in my own head. I don't think I could do that, even now, with knitting).
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
dang it.
they overpaid me for summer. I didn't catch it, because I knew that they didn't take my TIAA-CREF deduction out of my summer pay, and they had sent around a notice talking about how we were getting money back supposedly because of tax cuts, and like a FOOL I never look at the gross pay anyway.
(later)
Ah well, I'm taking it more philisophically now. The best they can do for me is (maybe, if the head honcho agrees) take it out spread over 2 paychecks rather than just one.
If I need to, I can dip into savings.
I probably won't need to, my checking account is pretty flush...it's just, I remember being a graduate student too well, and I still have "scarcity issues" (ugh, hate that word).
still, I did break the stash-diet resolution because the nice lady from Carodan Farms emailed me back to advise me that the Donegal Tweed they had was, in fact, roughly comparable (slightly lighter) to the Turnberry in weight. And as I like doing business with them, and as the Donegal was cheaper (probably) than the Turnberry would be...well, I ordered some in a chocolate brown for the Bookworm Vest.
yes, I suck. I wail about not having enough money and then go and spend some on yarn. The truth is, any and all wailing about not having enough money is me going into knee-jerk "oh my gosh, I'm all alone in the world* and I need to take care of myself and this money I expected isn't coming through and I'm going to be eating beans and rice** for the next three months, and God forbid that something goes wrong with my car or I'll have to abandon it by the side of the road and walk everywhere***" Again, because I spent too many years as an impoverished graduate student.
I need to look at the bank statement for my savings accounts when I go into that mode.
(*=not true. **=also not true. ***=Probably not true, unless it was something going wrong that was so asinine and irritating that I got fed up with the car)
they overpaid me for summer. I didn't catch it, because I knew that they didn't take my TIAA-CREF deduction out of my summer pay, and they had sent around a notice talking about how we were getting money back supposedly because of tax cuts, and like a FOOL I never look at the gross pay anyway.
(later)
Ah well, I'm taking it more philisophically now. The best they can do for me is (maybe, if the head honcho agrees) take it out spread over 2 paychecks rather than just one.
If I need to, I can dip into savings.
I probably won't need to, my checking account is pretty flush...it's just, I remember being a graduate student too well, and I still have "scarcity issues" (ugh, hate that word).
still, I did break the stash-diet resolution because the nice lady from Carodan Farms emailed me back to advise me that the Donegal Tweed they had was, in fact, roughly comparable (slightly lighter) to the Turnberry in weight. And as I like doing business with them, and as the Donegal was cheaper (probably) than the Turnberry would be...well, I ordered some in a chocolate brown for the Bookworm Vest.
yes, I suck. I wail about not having enough money and then go and spend some on yarn. The truth is, any and all wailing about not having enough money is me going into knee-jerk "oh my gosh, I'm all alone in the world* and I need to take care of myself and this money I expected isn't coming through and I'm going to be eating beans and rice** for the next three months, and God forbid that something goes wrong with my car or I'll have to abandon it by the side of the road and walk everywhere***" Again, because I spent too many years as an impoverished graduate student.
I need to look at the bank statement for my savings accounts when I go into that mode.
(*=not true. **=also not true. ***=Probably not true, unless it was something going wrong that was so asinine and irritating that I got fed up with the car)
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Inca khipu, string and knot sequences.
they had been thought to have been numerical records or a sort of abacus; a new hypothesis suggests they were a form of writing. And that it may have been a code not unlike binary.
Interesting. I wonder how the thoughts and worldview of a culture would be different with such a different form of recording information from the writing-on-tablets-or-paper that is prevalent in much of the rest of the world.
'Twould be an interesting device for a science-fiction or "alternative history" novelist: have two cultures come into contact, one using an alphabetic (or perhaps syllbary or hieroglyphic) written system, and the other using a binary code recorded as a series of tactile objects. I wonder if there would be a greater difference in thought and worldview between a culture that used an alphabetic system vs. a pictographic system or between a written vs. knot based "writing" system.
Sadly, we probably won't ever know - may not even know what the khipu said - most of them were burned as "idolatrous devices" by early Spanish missionary explorers.
they had been thought to have been numerical records or a sort of abacus; a new hypothesis suggests they were a form of writing. And that it may have been a code not unlike binary.
Interesting. I wonder how the thoughts and worldview of a culture would be different with such a different form of recording information from the writing-on-tablets-or-paper that is prevalent in much of the rest of the world.
'Twould be an interesting device for a science-fiction or "alternative history" novelist: have two cultures come into contact, one using an alphabetic (or perhaps syllbary or hieroglyphic) written system, and the other using a binary code recorded as a series of tactile objects. I wonder if there would be a greater difference in thought and worldview between a culture that used an alphabetic system vs. a pictographic system or between a written vs. knot based "writing" system.
Sadly, we probably won't ever know - may not even know what the khipu said - most of them were burned as "idolatrous devices" by early Spanish missionary explorers.
Started on the I-cord bindoff for the Trinity Stitch Shawl last night. It's not hard, once you get going on it, and it makes a nice stable edge - it's a good bindoff for things like the top edge of a shawl.
But wow, is it timeconsuming. I'm less than 1/3 through after perhaps an hour and fifteen minutes of work.
Still having mouse problems. Set a snap-trap in the kitchen and found it snapped, empty, and in the middle of the floor this morning. Dear God, I hope it's not a *rat*. (I still can't figure out where it's coming in - I plugged the one likely portal with steel wool). If it is, I blame my lousy neighbors and their habit of leaving McDonald's wrappers and pop cans and other trash out in their yard entirely - never had so much as a mouse before they moved in.
I dreamed early this morning that I got up and found a rat, partially trapped in a snap trap, leaping around my dining room. I pinned it down with an umbrella and then sat there, thinking "Ok, what do I do now?" Then I woke up.
But wow, is it timeconsuming. I'm less than 1/3 through after perhaps an hour and fifteen minutes of work.
Still having mouse problems. Set a snap-trap in the kitchen and found it snapped, empty, and in the middle of the floor this morning. Dear God, I hope it's not a *rat*. (I still can't figure out where it's coming in - I plugged the one likely portal with steel wool). If it is, I blame my lousy neighbors and their habit of leaving McDonald's wrappers and pop cans and other trash out in their yard entirely - never had so much as a mouse before they moved in.
I dreamed early this morning that I got up and found a rat, partially trapped in a snap trap, leaping around my dining room. I pinned it down with an umbrella and then sat there, thinking "Ok, what do I do now?" Then I woke up.
Monday, August 11, 2003
dare I hope?
in the introductory faculty meeting this fall, the issue of tenure packets came up and my department chair remarked "well, the governing board changed stuff this year, and it may be that you have to wait until you've finished five years before you apply"
I am starting my fifth year. So if this is true, I've got another year to get my act together, to be a super teacher, to crank out some more publications, before I have to worry.
it would be a load off my mind this fall, and I could continue to pick away at it, so I would have The Best Tenure Packet Ever when it came time to submit it.
I've got a call in to the appropriate office. I'm waiting on a call-back.
in the introductory faculty meeting this fall, the issue of tenure packets came up and my department chair remarked "well, the governing board changed stuff this year, and it may be that you have to wait until you've finished five years before you apply"
I am starting my fifth year. So if this is true, I've got another year to get my act together, to be a super teacher, to crank out some more publications, before I have to worry.
it would be a load off my mind this fall, and I could continue to pick away at it, so I would have The Best Tenure Packet Ever when it came time to submit it.
I've got a call in to the appropriate office. I'm waiting on a call-back.
why I don't submit stuff for judging
there's been talk on the knitlist about county fairs, state fairs, and "county fairs" (for-profit enterprises). A couple people have said they don't want to submit stuff because they don't feel the need to be judged on their knitting. I heartily agree- it's one's choice. (others expressed concern about security, whether the items would be kept clean, etc.)
well, someone posted this morning exhorting everyone to submit, and implying we were wimps if we did not. The poster remarked that "feedback from someone who doesn't know you is ALWAYS good"
um, no. I beg to differ. I remember a poster-session I was at where a crew of high-school students was shepherded through. Obviously for them it was a day off, a shot at free donuts and coffee, and a chance to goof with their friends. The problem was, their mean teacher made them evaluate the posters. So guess what? They chose mine because of the pretty pictures on it.
they savaged it. It wasn't until I found out that the high school students had been required to fill out evaluations (and that they had done this to everyone they filled out evaluations for) that I could figure out why I had 2 very good, glowing evaluations and 8 evaluations that said "it sucks" (sometimes in that exact language, sometimes with worse spelling). They were also (I found out later) rude to the organizers of the event, rude to their faces.
it hurt, you know? It hurt, even though I knew not to "take it personally." I'm not saying professional judges would do that, but you know - I've gotten reviews of papers back where two of the three reviewers were very positive, and the third just did not get it - and the editor writes in his or her letter "don't be too concerned about what reviewer #3 said."
yes, sometimes "judges are jerks." I prefer not dealing with jerks when I can avoid it. Also, judges, like everyone else, sometimes have agendas. Or there's junk going on under the surface that I simply do not understand, either because I've not been in the situation long enough, or because my misplaced belief in the basic goodness of human nature prevents me from seeing a human snake for what they are some times.
Sometimes not having to deal with the whole human-politics thing is a giant relief, which is also partly why I do a lot of the knitting for myself and don't necessarily show what I make to other people.
I get judged on my teaching. I get judged on my research (both of these with written evaluations). I get judged, in terms of how people react to me and what gets back to me through the gossip mill, on what I say in meetings, what I do committee-wise at church and elsewhere. I get judged on the fact that I'm not married, over 30, an academic...
with my knitting and my quilting, it's one thing I don't necessarily have to worry about (although even then - I brought a quilt in for a group to quilt for me and one woman exclaimed "oh....that's different" when she saw the design. Ok, fine, you don't like it, whatever.)
Perhaps the problem is I tend to value other people's opinions too much. I'm not good at discounting what someone says. (I offered to resign as head of a committee after someone commented about how long it was taking us to get stuff done. The person I went to to resign, discouraged me, and said "consider the source of the criticism." well, yeah, but still...I don't like people thinking I'm inefficient or something)
I don't know. I guess it's that I need one thing in my life that is "totally mine" in the sense that I cannot be pressured to change it by other people's advice (solicited or not) or judgements. Because you know, when someone makes a negative comment on something I've done, even if I know intellectually that I should dismiss most or all of what they've said, it still implants that little doubt - that canker in the rose - and I enjoy whatever it is less than I would have otherwise, because I'm second-guessing myself.
Which is why I don't feel moved to enter one of my quilts in the local quilt show (even though it's not juried) or to seek out a venue for my knitting to be shown. For me, the joy of knitting is in the doing of it, and to a lesser extent in the finished product, and not in what I could win with it.
there's been talk on the knitlist about county fairs, state fairs, and "county fairs" (for-profit enterprises). A couple people have said they don't want to submit stuff because they don't feel the need to be judged on their knitting. I heartily agree- it's one's choice. (others expressed concern about security, whether the items would be kept clean, etc.)
well, someone posted this morning exhorting everyone to submit, and implying we were wimps if we did not. The poster remarked that "feedback from someone who doesn't know you is ALWAYS good"
um, no. I beg to differ. I remember a poster-session I was at where a crew of high-school students was shepherded through. Obviously for them it was a day off, a shot at free donuts and coffee, and a chance to goof with their friends. The problem was, their mean teacher made them evaluate the posters. So guess what? They chose mine because of the pretty pictures on it.
they savaged it. It wasn't until I found out that the high school students had been required to fill out evaluations (and that they had done this to everyone they filled out evaluations for) that I could figure out why I had 2 very good, glowing evaluations and 8 evaluations that said "it sucks" (sometimes in that exact language, sometimes with worse spelling). They were also (I found out later) rude to the organizers of the event, rude to their faces.
it hurt, you know? It hurt, even though I knew not to "take it personally." I'm not saying professional judges would do that, but you know - I've gotten reviews of papers back where two of the three reviewers were very positive, and the third just did not get it - and the editor writes in his or her letter "don't be too concerned about what reviewer #3 said."
yes, sometimes "judges are jerks." I prefer not dealing with jerks when I can avoid it. Also, judges, like everyone else, sometimes have agendas. Or there's junk going on under the surface that I simply do not understand, either because I've not been in the situation long enough, or because my misplaced belief in the basic goodness of human nature prevents me from seeing a human snake for what they are some times.
Sometimes not having to deal with the whole human-politics thing is a giant relief, which is also partly why I do a lot of the knitting for myself and don't necessarily show what I make to other people.
I get judged on my teaching. I get judged on my research (both of these with written evaluations). I get judged, in terms of how people react to me and what gets back to me through the gossip mill, on what I say in meetings, what I do committee-wise at church and elsewhere. I get judged on the fact that I'm not married, over 30, an academic...
with my knitting and my quilting, it's one thing I don't necessarily have to worry about (although even then - I brought a quilt in for a group to quilt for me and one woman exclaimed "oh....that's different" when she saw the design. Ok, fine, you don't like it, whatever.)
Perhaps the problem is I tend to value other people's opinions too much. I'm not good at discounting what someone says. (I offered to resign as head of a committee after someone commented about how long it was taking us to get stuff done. The person I went to to resign, discouraged me, and said "consider the source of the criticism." well, yeah, but still...I don't like people thinking I'm inefficient or something)
I don't know. I guess it's that I need one thing in my life that is "totally mine" in the sense that I cannot be pressured to change it by other people's advice (solicited or not) or judgements. Because you know, when someone makes a negative comment on something I've done, even if I know intellectually that I should dismiss most or all of what they've said, it still implants that little doubt - that canker in the rose - and I enjoy whatever it is less than I would have otherwise, because I'm second-guessing myself.
Which is why I don't feel moved to enter one of my quilts in the local quilt show (even though it's not juried) or to seek out a venue for my knitting to be shown. For me, the joy of knitting is in the doing of it, and to a lesser extent in the finished product, and not in what I could win with it.
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Knitting away on the back of the Circus Pullover (it's a Norah Gaughan pattern, one from JCA/Artful Yarns). I have perhaps 6" done so far. One thing I do like about the pattern (this may be typical of hoodies with simple pockets) is that you knit the pocket of a piece with the front, and only have one seam to attach it with.
There's also something oddly satisfying about having a big "softball" of yarn you can chuck across the room to make unroll further (I have hardwood floors and I have been striving to keep them clean so no, the yarn doesn't get dirty).
One of the many reasons I knit is the fact that it's a very sensory experience. There's the color of the yarn, the feel of it, even the smell if it's a good natural-fiber yarn. Dealing with nice yarns is like cooking a good meal or baking bread - you have the smell and the feel and the authenticness of it, and it is very good and very satisfying.
Perhaps another reason I like knitting is for the same reason that I like cooking: there's a certain basic predictableness to it. You combine a certain set of ingredients a certain way, and you know what you get. Very unlike human interaction, which more and more seems to be a minefield of things that one (at least THIS one) can't expect or fully understand). Sure, there are cakes that fall, or loaves that come out lumpy, or knots in the skein, but somehow those are more easily surmounted than a lot of problems.
There's also something oddly satisfying about having a big "softball" of yarn you can chuck across the room to make unroll further (I have hardwood floors and I have been striving to keep them clean so no, the yarn doesn't get dirty).
One of the many reasons I knit is the fact that it's a very sensory experience. There's the color of the yarn, the feel of it, even the smell if it's a good natural-fiber yarn. Dealing with nice yarns is like cooking a good meal or baking bread - you have the smell and the feel and the authenticness of it, and it is very good and very satisfying.
Perhaps another reason I like knitting is for the same reason that I like cooking: there's a certain basic predictableness to it. You combine a certain set of ingredients a certain way, and you know what you get. Very unlike human interaction, which more and more seems to be a minefield of things that one (at least THIS one) can't expect or fully understand). Sure, there are cakes that fall, or loaves that come out lumpy, or knots in the skein, but somehow those are more easily surmounted than a lot of problems.
Friday, August 08, 2003
< SNL Bears fan voice > Da Friday Five < /SNL Bears fan voice >
1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
Well, unless you count brief forays into Texas for shopping (heh...no sales tax on food there, and also all the meat at My Local W@l-M@rt is that nasty brine-shot-up "enhanced" beef and pork), it was traveling to Illinois to visit my parents a couple weeks ago.
2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is the time I was going home for Christmas on the train, and it was not only after an ice storm, but a freight ahead of us derailed, and because it was a Sunday, they couldn't get a crew out to clean it up.
we were 12 hours late in arriving. As in, I was supposed to get to my parents' house shortly after 1 pm, and it wasn't until 1 am that the train actually arrived in the station (despite that I still love Amtrak and prefer it for traveling long distances)
3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
Oh, I don't know. I'd love to go see Ireland and visit the places my ancestors came from. I'd also love to take one of those "Inside Passage" cruises they do in Alaska. I'd also be happy with going to a luxury hotel in a big (but fairly safe) city and spending a week shopping and visiting museums. Or doing a yarn-and-quilt-shop crawl 'cross country.
4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
train is the first preference, car is second (if someone else drives, and if that someone else is amenable to stopping regularly for snacks/stretching legs/to check out an interesting shop or museum along the way). I do not like to fly (even before anyone conceived it possible a plane could be used as a weapon of mass destruction and terror) and I am less likely to want to fly now, considering the security enhancements that have become necessary.
5. What's the next place on your list to visit?
Oh, I don't know. Travel-season is over for me now - it's time for school to start. I suppose when the weather cools down a bit and I've saved up a bit more mad money, I'll head back down to McKinney, or out to Longview some weekend. Or maybe my next trip will be up to Boiling Springs for the OAS field meetings.
It's almost the weekend. Yay. I finished two rewrites this week - one is a paper nearly ready to go out for publication (please God let this one be accepted) and the other is a research proposal.
1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
Well, unless you count brief forays into Texas for shopping (heh...no sales tax on food there, and also all the meat at My Local W@l-M@rt is that nasty brine-shot-up "enhanced" beef and pork), it was traveling to Illinois to visit my parents a couple weeks ago.
2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is the time I was going home for Christmas on the train, and it was not only after an ice storm, but a freight ahead of us derailed, and because it was a Sunday, they couldn't get a crew out to clean it up.
we were 12 hours late in arriving. As in, I was supposed to get to my parents' house shortly after 1 pm, and it wasn't until 1 am that the train actually arrived in the station (despite that I still love Amtrak and prefer it for traveling long distances)
3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
Oh, I don't know. I'd love to go see Ireland and visit the places my ancestors came from. I'd also love to take one of those "Inside Passage" cruises they do in Alaska. I'd also be happy with going to a luxury hotel in a big (but fairly safe) city and spending a week shopping and visiting museums. Or doing a yarn-and-quilt-shop crawl 'cross country.
4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
train is the first preference, car is second (if someone else drives, and if that someone else is amenable to stopping regularly for snacks/stretching legs/to check out an interesting shop or museum along the way). I do not like to fly (even before anyone conceived it possible a plane could be used as a weapon of mass destruction and terror) and I am less likely to want to fly now, considering the security enhancements that have become necessary.
5. What's the next place on your list to visit?
Oh, I don't know. Travel-season is over for me now - it's time for school to start. I suppose when the weather cools down a bit and I've saved up a bit more mad money, I'll head back down to McKinney, or out to Longview some weekend. Or maybe my next trip will be up to Boiling Springs for the OAS field meetings.
It's almost the weekend. Yay. I finished two rewrites this week - one is a paper nearly ready to go out for publication (please God let this one be accepted) and the other is a research proposal.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Found a couple resources that (briefly) describe the I-cord bindoff I will have to do sometime on my shawl (that is Esther Bozak's Trinity Stitch Shawl):
The Blueberry Bed Jacket pattern by Mary J. Saunders(a neat pattern, also talks about the bind-off in the section on the sleeves)
the Shaped Shawl, at Woolworks, by Carry W. Croghan also has a description of the bind-off.
It is, as I expected, a situation where you knit I-cord but do a k-2-tog with one of the "live" stitches to bind it off. We'll see how it looks. I suspect it's a PITA to do, but if it gives a nice firm non-floppy edge, then it will be worth it.
I have also decided that when I reference a free pattern on the internet or a published pattern, I will strive to (as much as memory and given-attributions allow) give the name of the designer. Especially for the free patterns, because all those designers get is the warm feeling of people using and enjoying something they figured out.
The Blueberry Bed Jacket pattern by Mary J. Saunders(a neat pattern, also talks about the bind-off in the section on the sleeves)
the Shaped Shawl, at Woolworks, by Carry W. Croghan also has a description of the bind-off.
It is, as I expected, a situation where you knit I-cord but do a k-2-tog with one of the "live" stitches to bind it off. We'll see how it looks. I suspect it's a PITA to do, but if it gives a nice firm non-floppy edge, then it will be worth it.
I have also decided that when I reference a free pattern on the internet or a published pattern, I will strive to (as much as memory and given-attributions allow) give the name of the designer. Especially for the free patterns, because all those designers get is the warm feeling of people using and enjoying something they figured out.
according to the Weather Channel, the heat index here yesterday afternoon was 121*.
I don't know why I watch the Weather Channel in the summer. For my part of the country, they could tape one segment and replay it from mid June until the end of September: "Hot, dry, don't go outside, don't burn stuff, drink lots of water"
Trying to pretend that it's cooler than it is, I swatched for and cast on the Circus hooded pullover. I had to go down to a 7 mm needle (the pattern recommends an 8 mm) and it still looks like it's going to be huge. I probably should have done the 44" bust size instead of the 48" (I still could, either by ripping back the pitiful few rows I have done, or more likely, by a few carefully placed decreases - ripping back the Circus too much doesn't seem like a good idea, it feels like it could break easily).
The color is, if you remember, called "Sideshow." I will refer to it here as "Sideshow Bob," or as the "sideshow Bob sweater."
It's not as much fun to knit with as I anticipated. It's kind of like Lion Brand Homespun in that it splits easily and "squeaks" a bit on the needle. Also, I have to knit fairly tightly to keep to gauge (I should measure again and maybe go down to a 6.5 mm needle, I suppose...) which is never fun.
I don't know why I watch the Weather Channel in the summer. For my part of the country, they could tape one segment and replay it from mid June until the end of September: "Hot, dry, don't go outside, don't burn stuff, drink lots of water"
Trying to pretend that it's cooler than it is, I swatched for and cast on the Circus hooded pullover. I had to go down to a 7 mm needle (the pattern recommends an 8 mm) and it still looks like it's going to be huge. I probably should have done the 44" bust size instead of the 48" (I still could, either by ripping back the pitiful few rows I have done, or more likely, by a few carefully placed decreases - ripping back the Circus too much doesn't seem like a good idea, it feels like it could break easily).
The color is, if you remember, called "Sideshow." I will refer to it here as "Sideshow Bob," or as the "sideshow Bob sweater."
It's not as much fun to knit with as I anticipated. It's kind of like Lion Brand Homespun in that it splits easily and "squeaks" a bit on the needle. Also, I have to knit fairly tightly to keep to gauge (I should measure again and maybe go down to a 6.5 mm needle, I suppose...) which is never fun.
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Okay.
apparently there is "Donegal Tweed" and there is "Donegal tweed". A Google search convinced me that what someone told me was a tweed yarn that would sub for the Turnberry is in fact, Takhi's "Donegal Tweed (tm)" and not the more general "donegal tweed" (which seems to be a generic type.)
dang. Back to square one on obtaining yarn for the Bookworm Vest. None of my trusted fiber-suppliers have Turnberry Tweed that I can see, and I've not had any glowing recommendations for the places that have it.
maybe I need to look for a sort-of-aran-weight tweed yarn and go from there.
apparently there is "Donegal Tweed" and there is "Donegal tweed". A Google search convinced me that what someone told me was a tweed yarn that would sub for the Turnberry is in fact, Takhi's "Donegal Tweed (tm)" and not the more general "donegal tweed" (which seems to be a generic type.)
dang. Back to square one on obtaining yarn for the Bookworm Vest. None of my trusted fiber-suppliers have Turnberry Tweed that I can see, and I've not had any glowing recommendations for the places that have it.
maybe I need to look for a sort-of-aran-weight tweed yarn and go from there.
Does anyone out there know if Donegal Tweed and Turnberry Tweed are close in weight? I've seen Donegal Tweed listed as both a worsted or a DK, and Turnberry listed as an Aran, but those are from different sources.
Carodan Farm, one of my favorite on-line yarn sources, has Donegal Tweed for a good price.
I want very much to make the "Bookworm Vest" in "Folk Vests" and I'd order the Donegal right away if I had some assurance I wouldn't have to play swatch bingo and wind up knitting it on huge needles (and getting too loose of a fabric) to get gauge.
I know, I know, I could order one skein and play with it, but it's on sale *now*...
I also love the "celtic braids" vest out of that book and plan to make it when I get in the mood for colorwork again. And steeking. most of the vests in there have steeks, which I have never done.
Carodan Farm, one of my favorite on-line yarn sources, has Donegal Tweed for a good price.
I want very much to make the "Bookworm Vest" in "Folk Vests" and I'd order the Donegal right away if I had some assurance I wouldn't have to play swatch bingo and wind up knitting it on huge needles (and getting too loose of a fabric) to get gauge.
I know, I know, I could order one skein and play with it, but it's on sale *now*...
I also love the "celtic braids" vest out of that book and plan to make it when I get in the mood for colorwork again. And steeking. most of the vests in there have steeks, which I have never done.
Oh, lovely.
so now we are going to see a flame-war on Knitlist re: should we donate knitting supplies to people in prison.
this started up in response to someone posting a request for a refugee detention center in Australia.
Good GOD, people! I know you have strong opinions but do you need to bleat them to everyone else on a 5000 member list?!?
I am NOT in a good mood today.
so now we are going to see a flame-war on Knitlist re: should we donate knitting supplies to people in prison.
this started up in response to someone posting a request for a refugee detention center in Australia.
Good GOD, people! I know you have strong opinions but do you need to bleat them to everyone else on a 5000 member list?!?
I am NOT in a good mood today.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaah.
I think the weather is getting me down. How else to explain nearly bursting into tears when the Asian guy on The Weather Channel (my favorite of the weather-heads on there) talks about how hot and dry it is going to be where I live?
Dallas is facing its 13th day of 100*+ weather today. My weather is not unlike Dallas'.
I did get a fair amount more done on the shawl edging last night, but it feels like the shawl "grows" while I'm sleeping, and there's lots more edging to make and apply.
I think I'm going to start a new project this evening. I dug out some of the Wool-ease sportweight yarn I have in stash, and am going to do the simple, button-front vest that is on the label pattern.
Yeah, I know, some people HATE Wool-ease and won't use it. I don't mind it myself, and it is less warm for this climate. My fiber-snobbery extends only to Red Heart and the other scratchy feeling acrylics.
I think the weather is getting me down. How else to explain nearly bursting into tears when the Asian guy on The Weather Channel (my favorite of the weather-heads on there) talks about how hot and dry it is going to be where I live?
Dallas is facing its 13th day of 100*+ weather today. My weather is not unlike Dallas'.
I did get a fair amount more done on the shawl edging last night, but it feels like the shawl "grows" while I'm sleeping, and there's lots more edging to make and apply.
I think I'm going to start a new project this evening. I dug out some of the Wool-ease sportweight yarn I have in stash, and am going to do the simple, button-front vest that is on the label pattern.
Yeah, I know, some people HATE Wool-ease and won't use it. I don't mind it myself, and it is less warm for this climate. My fiber-snobbery extends only to Red Heart and the other scratchy feeling acrylics.
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
I decided I couldn't put it off any longer.
I'm beginning work on the tenure packet this morning.
I have an example from someone who got tenure last year. I never thought of myself as a competitive person, but when I look at his stuff, all I see is < bleat >he's so much better than me < /bleat >.
I think I'm going to have to take this in very small doses. Intellectually, I know I am all right - after all, I would HOPE my department chair wouldn't be telling me I was in good stead for tenure if I wasn't (and if by some horrible fluke he was lying to me, I'm not sure I'd want to stay somewhere where people lied to me) - but I tend to feel like "if I'm not absolutely outstanding at something, why should I do it?"
but:
I haven't won any awards yet
My evaluations are good but not glowing
I haven't received an external grant (not that I haven't tried)
I don't teach as great a diversity of courses as he does
I've never been an officer in a scientific society
this is going to be a fall of worry and stress for me, I can already tell. I'm trying not to do the "what if" scenario of trying to find another job somewhere else (oh, God, in this economy and with the stigma of not having gotten tenure...I might have to leave academia altogether).
I'm beginning work on the tenure packet this morning.
I have an example from someone who got tenure last year. I never thought of myself as a competitive person, but when I look at his stuff, all I see is < bleat >he's so much better than me < /bleat >.
I think I'm going to have to take this in very small doses. Intellectually, I know I am all right - after all, I would HOPE my department chair wouldn't be telling me I was in good stead for tenure if I wasn't (and if by some horrible fluke he was lying to me, I'm not sure I'd want to stay somewhere where people lied to me) - but I tend to feel like "if I'm not absolutely outstanding at something, why should I do it?"
but:
I haven't won any awards yet
My evaluations are good but not glowing
I haven't received an external grant (not that I haven't tried)
I don't teach as great a diversity of courses as he does
I've never been an officer in a scientific society
this is going to be a fall of worry and stress for me, I can already tell. I'm trying not to do the "what if" scenario of trying to find another job somewhere else (oh, God, in this economy and with the stigma of not having gotten tenure...I might have to leave academia altogether).
Monday, August 04, 2003
Bought the sideboard today.
Between waiting on its delivery (thanks to the nice guy who sold it to me - he made arrangements special to bring it today) and waiting on the plumber ($*&% wax seal on the toilet went out for the THIRD time in the 2 1/2 years I've owned the house...must have a wax-seal eating toilet), I got some desultory knitting done.
Most of the work was on the "dream scarf". There is something comforting about knitting on scarves, I've decided - I don't particularly care for the "all garter stitch, all the time" scarves (either to make or to look at once they're done), but the ones with simple stitch patterns - patterns that can be memorized and where it's easy to remember (or to figure out) where you were when you put the thing down are nice. They're good "autopilot" knitting, and with a repeated pattern, you get the feeling of "wow, I did 3 repeats just while waiting on hold" or something like that.
My latest order from Carodan Farm (a week or so ago) contained some of their on-sale Cashmerino in a blue-green for the DNA scarf that June Oshiro made up, and that was in the latest Interweave Knits. (I expect that if I wear it to work, I will have people either wanting to "commission" one or take my scarf, once they figure out what the cable is supposed to represent. It's too bad there aren't many cool cable patterns representing ecological things. I could do a knit-purl representation of an ordination diagram, but most of those are kind of ugly and not a nice symmetric pattern. I suppose I could do the 'wheat ear' stitch and the spider that Barbara Walker graphed out....)
I also worked some on the edging to the Trinity Stitch shawl. I'll be glad when this one is done. I'm getting close, thanks to the SpongeBob marathon that was on this afternoon.
Tomorrow, back to work. There's only so long I can sit in my house without going nuts.
Oh, and:
NO MORE JURY DUTY!!!. When I called today, it turns out the "term" has ended, and they will be going with a new batch of folks when the court starts up again. Thank God. I don't have to worry about planning for my classes to be taken care of....
Between waiting on its delivery (thanks to the nice guy who sold it to me - he made arrangements special to bring it today) and waiting on the plumber ($*&% wax seal on the toilet went out for the THIRD time in the 2 1/2 years I've owned the house...must have a wax-seal eating toilet), I got some desultory knitting done.
Most of the work was on the "dream scarf". There is something comforting about knitting on scarves, I've decided - I don't particularly care for the "all garter stitch, all the time" scarves (either to make or to look at once they're done), but the ones with simple stitch patterns - patterns that can be memorized and where it's easy to remember (or to figure out) where you were when you put the thing down are nice. They're good "autopilot" knitting, and with a repeated pattern, you get the feeling of "wow, I did 3 repeats just while waiting on hold" or something like that.
My latest order from Carodan Farm (a week or so ago) contained some of their on-sale Cashmerino in a blue-green for the DNA scarf that June Oshiro made up, and that was in the latest Interweave Knits. (I expect that if I wear it to work, I will have people either wanting to "commission" one or take my scarf, once they figure out what the cable is supposed to represent. It's too bad there aren't many cool cable patterns representing ecological things. I could do a knit-purl representation of an ordination diagram, but most of those are kind of ugly and not a nice symmetric pattern. I suppose I could do the 'wheat ear' stitch and the spider that Barbara Walker graphed out....)
I also worked some on the edging to the Trinity Stitch shawl. I'll be glad when this one is done. I'm getting close, thanks to the SpongeBob marathon that was on this afternoon.
Tomorrow, back to work. There's only so long I can sit in my house without going nuts.
Oh, and:
NO MORE JURY DUTY!!!. When I called today, it turns out the "term" has ended, and they will be going with a new batch of folks when the court starts up again. Thank God. I don't have to worry about planning for my classes to be taken care of....
Went antiquing this weekend.
I bought a couple of the "souvenir travel plates" that I have been using to decorate my bathroom wall - a really nice (old looking) one from Pike's Peak, showing the railway they used up there and giving the altitude (14,110 feet), and one from San Simeon's "Casa Grande."
I also found a sideboard (finally) for my dining room. Oak, 1930s, pretty good shape, $250. Being the frugal sort I asked the woman running the store if the seller would come down on it. She tried calling them and couldn't reach them, so I left my number. She called back yesterday - $225 but only if I pick it up myself, it would still be $250 with delivery.
As the people I rely on to help with heavy lifting are on vacation this week, I guess I'll pay the $250 and have it delivered. I'm going to go down there as soon as the shop opens and pay for it and arrange for the delivery.
There is also a new quilt shop in Sherman, so I had to go there to see what it was like. I found some fat quarters in "fabulous fifties" style prints, and decided to make a pink and green fat-quarter quilt. As I was picking out the fabrics, the friendly woman running the store commented, "I can tell you're an experienced quilter."
"Oh?" I replied, "How do you know that?" (I was genuinely curious - understand that I still occasionally get "carded", so I know I don't look that old)
"You don't have 'fabric fear'." she replied, "You don't buy all your fabric from a single line, you mix and match." She went on to explain that she had seen many new quilters come in and only buy fabrics from a single line to use in a quilt because they were afraid mixing lines would make the fabric clash.
I laughed and replied that of all the things I do in my life, using clashing fabrics in a quilt is the one that carries the least bad consequences.
I bought a couple of the "souvenir travel plates" that I have been using to decorate my bathroom wall - a really nice (old looking) one from Pike's Peak, showing the railway they used up there and giving the altitude (14,110 feet), and one from San Simeon's "Casa Grande."
I also found a sideboard (finally) for my dining room. Oak, 1930s, pretty good shape, $250. Being the frugal sort I asked the woman running the store if the seller would come down on it. She tried calling them and couldn't reach them, so I left my number. She called back yesterday - $225 but only if I pick it up myself, it would still be $250 with delivery.
As the people I rely on to help with heavy lifting are on vacation this week, I guess I'll pay the $250 and have it delivered. I'm going to go down there as soon as the shop opens and pay for it and arrange for the delivery.
There is also a new quilt shop in Sherman, so I had to go there to see what it was like. I found some fat quarters in "fabulous fifties" style prints, and decided to make a pink and green fat-quarter quilt. As I was picking out the fabrics, the friendly woman running the store commented, "I can tell you're an experienced quilter."
"Oh?" I replied, "How do you know that?" (I was genuinely curious - understand that I still occasionally get "carded", so I know I don't look that old)
"You don't have 'fabric fear'." she replied, "You don't buy all your fabric from a single line, you mix and match." She went on to explain that she had seen many new quilters come in and only buy fabrics from a single line to use in a quilt because they were afraid mixing lines would make the fabric clash.
I laughed and replied that of all the things I do in my life, using clashing fabrics in a quilt is the one that carries the least bad consequences.
Friday, August 01, 2003
Two things that make it a little bit better:
1. a former student (who will be a grad student this coming fall; cool) stopped by my office to talk and he reminded me again that one of my classes was a "life-changing experience" for him.
2. when I went home at lunch, I found I have three ripe tomatoes - including a nice big fat heart-shaped one, wish I remembered what variety. Tonight, I am going to make bruschetta, the single best food in the whole wide world, for dinner. And I even have a wedge of real Parmesan cheese to shave on the top of it.
yeah, I know, I can't stay away even ONE day. I'm hooked on spewing out my whole life for everyone to see
1. a former student (who will be a grad student this coming fall; cool) stopped by my office to talk and he reminded me again that one of my classes was a "life-changing experience" for him.
2. when I went home at lunch, I found I have three ripe tomatoes - including a nice big fat heart-shaped one, wish I remembered what variety. Tonight, I am going to make bruschetta, the single best food in the whole wide world, for dinner. And I even have a wedge of real Parmesan cheese to shave on the top of it.
yeah, I know, I can't stay away even ONE day. I'm hooked on spewing out my whole life for everyone to see
Thursday, July 31, 2003
I may need to take a day or up to a week off from the blog.
I'm going through one of my periodic "this blog is boring, nobody reads it anymore, I should just give it up" times. Add to which I'm already down because the weather is what my conception of Hell would be like if someone asked me to describe it, and I feel like I'm living out "Groundhog Day", and none of the people I normally shoot the breeze with on a daily basis are in town, and I'm just unable to do much here but whine about how much my life sucks right now.
if anyone is still reading this, I'm sure they understand.
I'm going through one of my periodic "this blog is boring, nobody reads it anymore, I should just give it up" times. Add to which I'm already down because the weather is what my conception of Hell would be like if someone asked me to describe it, and I feel like I'm living out "Groundhog Day", and none of the people I normally shoot the breeze with on a daily basis are in town, and I'm just unable to do much here but whine about how much my life sucks right now.
if anyone is still reading this, I'm sure they understand.
well, I WAS feeling better.
last night, I got mostly done with the heel-flap on the Whidby sock. It's looking good. I'm learning you CAN use variegated yarns for socks with fancy stitch patterns, as long as they are light-colored and not-busy variegateds.
But then this morning: woke up feeling queasy (probably "female stuff") but came into work anyway. Received my second journal article rejection in a single week.
that hurts. that just hurts.
I dug out the first rejection and decided to read the comments, which I had not felt up to reading before, but since my day is now ruined anyway, I might as well.
There is not one word of constructive criticism in the comments. Basically, it's an "oh, this was proven back in 1933, why bother researching it any more" dismissal.
now, this is a paper I've run by other people and been told was "good" and had important information. So I'm stuck with the cognitive dissonance of wondering who was not telling me the truth - the people who were telling me it was "good," were they just trying to make me feel good? or is this guy someone with some kind of underlying agenda, or is it a "it's not what you know it's who you know" issue.
So I'm not sure where to go from here. I have e-mailed my co-author with news of the rejection (but I suspect he's on vacation right now), and as for the other rejection, which could be rewritten with perhaps some more research done this fall, I'm going to let it sit for a day or two.
I hate this. I hate "finishing" something just to have to go back and redo the whole thing. That's why I like knitting and quilting - I can usually look at it right away and know if it's "right" or not. None of this sending it off and waiting weeks to months to hear that you need to redo everything.
which is also why I will never enter my work in a juried competition. I need ONE thing in my life that I'm not being judged on.
last night, I got mostly done with the heel-flap on the Whidby sock. It's looking good. I'm learning you CAN use variegated yarns for socks with fancy stitch patterns, as long as they are light-colored and not-busy variegateds.
But then this morning: woke up feeling queasy (probably "female stuff") but came into work anyway. Received my second journal article rejection in a single week.
that hurts. that just hurts.
I dug out the first rejection and decided to read the comments, which I had not felt up to reading before, but since my day is now ruined anyway, I might as well.
There is not one word of constructive criticism in the comments. Basically, it's an "oh, this was proven back in 1933, why bother researching it any more" dismissal.
now, this is a paper I've run by other people and been told was "good" and had important information. So I'm stuck with the cognitive dissonance of wondering who was not telling me the truth - the people who were telling me it was "good," were they just trying to make me feel good? or is this guy someone with some kind of underlying agenda, or is it a "it's not what you know it's who you know" issue.
So I'm not sure where to go from here. I have e-mailed my co-author with news of the rejection (but I suspect he's on vacation right now), and as for the other rejection, which could be rewritten with perhaps some more research done this fall, I'm going to let it sit for a day or two.
I hate this. I hate "finishing" something just to have to go back and redo the whole thing. That's why I like knitting and quilting - I can usually look at it right away and know if it's "right" or not. None of this sending it off and waiting weeks to months to hear that you need to redo everything.
which is also why I will never enter my work in a juried competition. I need ONE thing in my life that I'm not being judged on.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Meh.
I just feel totally "meh" today.
Didn't sleep well last night (not sure why), can't work up the motivation to prep the first four chapters for Biostats (which is what I planned on doing today). One of my colleagues called me up with a question and remarked, "looks like we're the only worker bees in here today."
I don't know why that makes me feel crummy, but it does. I don't feel virtuous for being in and sort-of working. I feel sad and lonely and almost a bit cheated, like everyone else is out having fun (when they are probably actually in the field, or doing laundry, or still asleep).
I knit a bit on the Regia Norwegier-red socks last night. I also mostly cut out a couple of pillows that I bought fabric for months ago. And I quilted a bit.
Usually for me, jumping from project to project is a signal that I'm dissatisfied with something or feeling restless.
dang, I hope it rains today and that the heat breaks a little bit. I think that's a big contributor to the "meh" feeling.
I just feel totally "meh" today.
Didn't sleep well last night (not sure why), can't work up the motivation to prep the first four chapters for Biostats (which is what I planned on doing today). One of my colleagues called me up with a question and remarked, "looks like we're the only worker bees in here today."
I don't know why that makes me feel crummy, but it does. I don't feel virtuous for being in and sort-of working. I feel sad and lonely and almost a bit cheated, like everyone else is out having fun (when they are probably actually in the field, or doing laundry, or still asleep).
I knit a bit on the Regia Norwegier-red socks last night. I also mostly cut out a couple of pillows that I bought fabric for months ago. And I quilted a bit.
Usually for me, jumping from project to project is a signal that I'm dissatisfied with something or feeling restless.
dang, I hope it rains today and that the heat breaks a little bit. I think that's a big contributor to the "meh" feeling.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
darnit.
one of my FAVORITE magazines in the entire world, "Victoria," has ceased publication.
I got a little card in the mail today saying my subscription would be finished out with copies of "Health" magazine. Now, while "Health" is a very nice magazine (I read it in the campus nurse's office while waiting for allergy shots), it is NOT Victoria and I do NOT consider it an acceptable replacement.
darn it darn it darn it darn it
I guess the world was just too tough for a magazine that had "Because 'nice' matters" as its tagline.
I guess I'll call the 1-800 number on the little card and see what else they can offer me. Not that I have a *reason* to reject "Health" (it's not like I have a subscription already), it's just...I get Eating Well and Cooking Light and I can read "Health" in the nurse's office.
and I have to admit, I am turned off by a magazine whose readers take it upon themselves to write snarky letters about how a (rare) chocolate-cake-treat recipe "didn't belong" in the magazine because it was, after all, a magazine about "health". Ekkk. Get over yourselves, people.
sigh. I'm going through that feeling of midsummer "meh" (like one of the other knitbloggers, I can't remember who now, was saying), and little bad surprises like that throw me more.
one of my FAVORITE magazines in the entire world, "Victoria," has ceased publication.
I got a little card in the mail today saying my subscription would be finished out with copies of "Health" magazine. Now, while "Health" is a very nice magazine (I read it in the campus nurse's office while waiting for allergy shots), it is NOT Victoria and I do NOT consider it an acceptable replacement.
darn it darn it darn it darn it
I guess the world was just too tough for a magazine that had "Because 'nice' matters" as its tagline.
I guess I'll call the 1-800 number on the little card and see what else they can offer me. Not that I have a *reason* to reject "Health" (it's not like I have a subscription already), it's just...I get Eating Well and Cooking Light and I can read "Health" in the nurse's office.
and I have to admit, I am turned off by a magazine whose readers take it upon themselves to write snarky letters about how a (rare) chocolate-cake-treat recipe "didn't belong" in the magazine because it was, after all, a magazine about "health". Ekkk. Get over yourselves, people.
sigh. I'm going through that feeling of midsummer "meh" (like one of the other knitbloggers, I can't remember who now, was saying), and little bad surprises like that throw me more.
While reading up for a GIS class I will be team-teaching probably in fall of '04, I remembered something from when I took GIS (Geographic Information Systems):
data can be stored in a vector (shape, like a classical map) format or a raster (gridded or pixelated) format. When the prof for the class showed us an example of a map from raster data, I blurted out "Oh! It's just like a chart for a needlework pattern!"
the rest of the (mostly male) class gave me strange looks.
I guess I won't be using that analogy in my class.
data can be stored in a vector (shape, like a classical map) format or a raster (gridded or pixelated) format. When the prof for the class showed us an example of a map from raster data, I blurted out "Oh! It's just like a chart for a needlework pattern!"
the rest of the (mostly male) class gave me strange looks.
I guess I won't be using that analogy in my class.
Didn't have the energy to swatch last night.
Didn't particularly have the energy to track down all the balls of the CE Mohair, and then when I did track one down, realized they would have to be rolled into balls before I could knit from them.
Didn't have the energy to count out the balls of Imagine and figure out how many of two different dyelots I had, and try to decide whether to hold together two strands of different dyelots, or to hope I would have enough of a single dyelot.
So I dug out some cream-colored Wool-ease and started the scarf pattern for the "dream scarf". This was a stitch I dreamed about doing last fall. I wrote it down, just so I'd remember it, but like so many of the projects I think of, I get excited about it and want to start until I realize how much stuff I already have going on. So it gets put in the pile or the queue or whatever until later.
Here's what I did:
Cast on 42 sts with size 9 (US) needles (I like wide scarves)
The stitch pattern is this:
two rows garter stitch
knit one row
purl one row
knit one *knit 3, yo, slip 1, k2tog, psso, yo* and end with k5 (probably I should have cast on 41 stitches but oh well).
purl one row
knit one row
then repeat.
What happens is, the pattern alternates being "right side" and "wrong side" which is a little different. I like how it's working up. It's not *beautiful* but it interests me that it's something my subconscious mind came up with.
I knit a couple repeats of that last night, while watching part of "Office Space" on the Comedy Channel. (and again, I have to say, how thankful I am to work in academia and not in the corporate world. The movie IS an exaggeration, but according to my brother, who is a corporate-world-escapee, it's not that big of an exaggeration...)
Didn't particularly have the energy to track down all the balls of the CE Mohair, and then when I did track one down, realized they would have to be rolled into balls before I could knit from them.
Didn't have the energy to count out the balls of Imagine and figure out how many of two different dyelots I had, and try to decide whether to hold together two strands of different dyelots, or to hope I would have enough of a single dyelot.
So I dug out some cream-colored Wool-ease and started the scarf pattern for the "dream scarf". This was a stitch I dreamed about doing last fall. I wrote it down, just so I'd remember it, but like so many of the projects I think of, I get excited about it and want to start until I realize how much stuff I already have going on. So it gets put in the pile or the queue or whatever until later.
Here's what I did:
Cast on 42 sts with size 9 (US) needles (I like wide scarves)
The stitch pattern is this:
two rows garter stitch
knit one row
purl one row
knit one *knit 3, yo, slip 1, k2tog, psso, yo* and end with k5 (probably I should have cast on 41 stitches but oh well).
purl one row
knit one row
then repeat.
What happens is, the pattern alternates being "right side" and "wrong side" which is a little different. I like how it's working up. It's not *beautiful* but it interests me that it's something my subconscious mind came up with.
I knit a couple repeats of that last night, while watching part of "Office Space" on the Comedy Channel. (and again, I have to say, how thankful I am to work in academia and not in the corporate world. The movie IS an exaggeration, but according to my brother, who is a corporate-world-escapee, it's not that big of an exaggeration...)
Monday, July 28, 2003
Wanna make your own Stitch markers?
I have to admit, I've never been tempted before, but it does look like fun. I suppose a person could also attach one to each end of a pretty ribbon and make a nice bookmark.
I have to admit, I've never been tempted before, but it does look like fun. I suppose a person could also attach one to each end of a pretty ribbon and make a nice bookmark.
I'm not a meteorologist, but...
I think it should be raining in my window right now.
Current air temperature outdoors: 97*
Current air temperature indoors: I don't know for sure, but it's cold enough that I have to have a sweater on - and I am the kind of person who usually "runs hot" - it's got to be down below 72*.
perhaps it's the 37% humidity outside that's preventing a little grey rain cloud from forming in the window that I have opened in hopes of equilibrating the temperature a bit in here.
everyone but me has left for the day. I just need to finish a few syllabi and some comments on a proposal for a new class.
No, I haven't decided what I'm going to start next but I've decided I want to start something new.
I think it should be raining in my window right now.
Current air temperature outdoors: 97*
Current air temperature indoors: I don't know for sure, but it's cold enough that I have to have a sweater on - and I am the kind of person who usually "runs hot" - it's got to be down below 72*.
perhaps it's the 37% humidity outside that's preventing a little grey rain cloud from forming in the window that I have opened in hopes of equilibrating the temperature a bit in here.
everyone but me has left for the day. I just need to finish a few syllabi and some comments on a proposal for a new class.
No, I haven't decided what I'm going to start next but I've decided I want to start something new.
Goodbye to Bob Hope....(I guess it's time for him and Crosby to make "The Road to the Pearly Gates" now).
I always enjoyed the "Road movies" (at least the ones I've seen...)
didn't I say this was going to be a rough summer?
On other fronts...
I knit more on the edging for the Trinity Stitch Shawl over the weekend. It's beginning to feel like an endless project.
I knit some on the Regia "Norwegier red" socks while reading textbook chapters.
I worked some on my quilt. I've decided, finally, that I will force myself to do at least a few stitches on it every day in the hopes of eventually getting it finished. (How many weeks does it take to instill a new habit?)
Didn't work on the Whidby socks I started while I was on vacation.
Outside of that, I've got startitis. I'm not sure whether to start a new sweater (what will it be this time? The "Big Easy" all-reverse-stockinette made out of Lion Brand Imagine? The Bobble and Rib Cardigan from the Fall '00 Interweave knits? The cranberry-red Zelda sweater from Mission Falls? I have so much yarn in-stash. I'm going to have to think if knitting pine-green (Imagine), old rose (The CE mohair for the Bobbles and Ribs) or a more intensely colored but smooth wool (the 1824 Wool) appeals to me.
Or, I could start a scarf. I have the scarf pattern I saw in a dream last fall written out, and I have nice cream-colored wool for it. I could dig out that copy of Victoria from last fall and try to figure out how to copy the garter-ribbed grey scarf that was in one of the photoshoots. Or I could wind up the "Popeye" colored "Cartoon" I got dead-cheap on sale and do the triangular-rectangular scarf in Sally Melville's "Knit Stitch" book.
Decisions, decisions.
What I really need to do now is finish writing my syllabi for this fall, and hopefully one or both of the people I need to talk to will come in today....it's like everyone's left town this week.
I always enjoyed the "Road movies" (at least the ones I've seen...)
didn't I say this was going to be a rough summer?
On other fronts...
I knit more on the edging for the Trinity Stitch Shawl over the weekend. It's beginning to feel like an endless project.
I knit some on the Regia "Norwegier red" socks while reading textbook chapters.
I worked some on my quilt. I've decided, finally, that I will force myself to do at least a few stitches on it every day in the hopes of eventually getting it finished. (How many weeks does it take to instill a new habit?)
Didn't work on the Whidby socks I started while I was on vacation.
Outside of that, I've got startitis. I'm not sure whether to start a new sweater (what will it be this time? The "Big Easy" all-reverse-stockinette made out of Lion Brand Imagine? The Bobble and Rib Cardigan from the Fall '00 Interweave knits? The cranberry-red Zelda sweater from Mission Falls? I have so much yarn in-stash. I'm going to have to think if knitting pine-green (Imagine), old rose (The CE mohair for the Bobbles and Ribs) or a more intensely colored but smooth wool (the 1824 Wool) appeals to me.
Or, I could start a scarf. I have the scarf pattern I saw in a dream last fall written out, and I have nice cream-colored wool for it. I could dig out that copy of Victoria from last fall and try to figure out how to copy the garter-ribbed grey scarf that was in one of the photoshoots. Or I could wind up the "Popeye" colored "Cartoon" I got dead-cheap on sale and do the triangular-rectangular scarf in Sally Melville's "Knit Stitch" book.
Decisions, decisions.
What I really need to do now is finish writing my syllabi for this fall, and hopefully one or both of the people I need to talk to will come in today....it's like everyone's left town this week.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Some thoughts on attaching knitted lace edgings
When I began Esther Smith Bozak's Trinity Stitch Shawl pattern, I have to say I was a bit apprehensive - I knew I wanted the knit-on edging and not fringe (for me, for some reason, fringe quickly comes to resemble something Pigpen from Peanuts would wear). I had, previously, used the Tasha Tudor shawl by Nancy Bush (which is a great pattern, by the way, I've made two so far and plan to do a third). It has a knit-on edging, but it's fairly simple and it's written so clearly that you can "autopilot" it without really thinking about the process.
Which is good and bad. Good because you get good results if it's something you've never done before, but bad because you don't really figure out how it's working. It wasn't until I started playing with the current shawl and edging that I really grokked what you are doing and how and why it works.
Okay, so here are some pointers:
1. If you are choosing an edging from one of the pattern books, make a note of which side is the "flat" side. You may want to knit up a few repeats in scrap yarn to make sure. Make a mental note of what you do at the end of each row that ends on the "flat" edge of the edging. (It will often be k1 or something equally basic).
2. The edging does not have to be reversible (unless you want your shawl or scarf or whatever you are edging to be reversible), but be sure that the right side row will be up when the right side of the object you are attaching the edging to is up.
3. Ok, attaching the edging: you can either pick up all the edge stitches of the garment with a long long circular needle (this is what Nancy Bush recommends in her Tasha Tudor shawl) or you can pick up edge stitches one at a time as you knit (which is what I'm doing here). The benefit of picking up the edge stitches one by one is that it's less bulky, and you don't have the slow boring process of picking up 548 or however many edge stitches. The drawback is you have to be careful to pick up the "same" part of the edge each time and to be very careful with spacing.
3a. I am using short double-pointed needles (2 of a set of 5 sock needles) to knit the edging; it seems more manageable than straight needles (all the straights I own are 14" long) or a circular. The double pointed needles work well for me.
4. To knit the edging on, the "flat" side of the edging pattern should end with "k1" or some other recognizable (non-patterning) stitch (some might end with p1, or k 2 tog, or p 2 tog, whatever). On each row that "ends" on the "flat" edge of the edging, you will want to take one of the stitches from the edge of the body of the shawl (or scarf, or whatever) and knit it together with that last stitch or last decrease. For example, the pattern I am using (the one Ms. Bozak used in her pattern) is a repeat of rows 2-9. Rows 3, 5, 7, and 9 end at the "flat" edge of the edging, so the last stitch on each of those rows I knit together with a stitch from the body of the shawl. This then permanently (and without sewing or grafting!) attaches the edging.
5. If you are edging a triangular shawl such as the Trinity Stitch shawl, it works best (at least I think it does) to knit multiple "ends of rows" into the point stitch - this allows for the edging to "turn the corner" without pulling (I think I did a row 3, 5, 7, and 9 into the same or nearby stitches at the point of the shawl).
6. Block, block, block when you are done. Lace often looks like, forgive me, crap, while you're knitting it, but it evens out and gets pretty when you apply a bit of steam or warm water and stretch it out on pins.
Clear as mud? If you have any questions, or this doesn't make sense, please e-mail me at the link on the left (remove the part that says NOSPAM, that's a ruse to confound address-harvesting 'bots). I don't have comments on the site for various reasons, but I'm happy to "talk" to people in e-mail.
And as always, the standard disclaimer applies: This is my own experience and my own way of explaining it. Someone else might explain it in a way that's better for you. And similiar information is doubtless presented elsewhere (though it's not easy-easy to find; I haven't run across similar instructions to what I've written).
I've "turned the point" on the Trinity Stitch shawl edging so far. I'm still not sure what will happen at the end where it says to bind off in 3-stitch I-cord. But I think I'll figure that out when I come to it.
One of the many things I love about knitting is that there is so often the opportunity to learn new things. I was like a little kid who had just learned to tie her shoes when I figured out how to attach the edging and make it work - I wanted to show it to everyone I knew and say "I learned how to do this today!"
When I began Esther Smith Bozak's Trinity Stitch Shawl pattern, I have to say I was a bit apprehensive - I knew I wanted the knit-on edging and not fringe (for me, for some reason, fringe quickly comes to resemble something Pigpen from Peanuts would wear). I had, previously, used the Tasha Tudor shawl by Nancy Bush (which is a great pattern, by the way, I've made two so far and plan to do a third). It has a knit-on edging, but it's fairly simple and it's written so clearly that you can "autopilot" it without really thinking about the process.
Which is good and bad. Good because you get good results if it's something you've never done before, but bad because you don't really figure out how it's working. It wasn't until I started playing with the current shawl and edging that I really grokked what you are doing and how and why it works.
Okay, so here are some pointers:
1. If you are choosing an edging from one of the pattern books, make a note of which side is the "flat" side. You may want to knit up a few repeats in scrap yarn to make sure. Make a mental note of what you do at the end of each row that ends on the "flat" edge of the edging. (It will often be k1 or something equally basic).
2. The edging does not have to be reversible (unless you want your shawl or scarf or whatever you are edging to be reversible), but be sure that the right side row will be up when the right side of the object you are attaching the edging to is up.
3. Ok, attaching the edging: you can either pick up all the edge stitches of the garment with a long long circular needle (this is what Nancy Bush recommends in her Tasha Tudor shawl) or you can pick up edge stitches one at a time as you knit (which is what I'm doing here). The benefit of picking up the edge stitches one by one is that it's less bulky, and you don't have the slow boring process of picking up 548 or however many edge stitches. The drawback is you have to be careful to pick up the "same" part of the edge each time and to be very careful with spacing.
3a. I am using short double-pointed needles (2 of a set of 5 sock needles) to knit the edging; it seems more manageable than straight needles (all the straights I own are 14" long) or a circular. The double pointed needles work well for me.
4. To knit the edging on, the "flat" side of the edging pattern should end with "k1" or some other recognizable (non-patterning) stitch (some might end with p1, or k 2 tog, or p 2 tog, whatever). On each row that "ends" on the "flat" edge of the edging, you will want to take one of the stitches from the edge of the body of the shawl (or scarf, or whatever) and knit it together with that last stitch or last decrease. For example, the pattern I am using (the one Ms. Bozak used in her pattern) is a repeat of rows 2-9. Rows 3, 5, 7, and 9 end at the "flat" edge of the edging, so the last stitch on each of those rows I knit together with a stitch from the body of the shawl. This then permanently (and without sewing or grafting!) attaches the edging.
5. If you are edging a triangular shawl such as the Trinity Stitch shawl, it works best (at least I think it does) to knit multiple "ends of rows" into the point stitch - this allows for the edging to "turn the corner" without pulling (I think I did a row 3, 5, 7, and 9 into the same or nearby stitches at the point of the shawl).
6. Block, block, block when you are done. Lace often looks like, forgive me, crap, while you're knitting it, but it evens out and gets pretty when you apply a bit of steam or warm water and stretch it out on pins.
Clear as mud? If you have any questions, or this doesn't make sense, please e-mail me at the link on the left (remove the part that says NOSPAM, that's a ruse to confound address-harvesting 'bots). I don't have comments on the site for various reasons, but I'm happy to "talk" to people in e-mail.
And as always, the standard disclaimer applies: This is my own experience and my own way of explaining it. Someone else might explain it in a way that's better for you. And similiar information is doubtless presented elsewhere (though it's not easy-easy to find; I haven't run across similar instructions to what I've written).
I've "turned the point" on the Trinity Stitch shawl edging so far. I'm still not sure what will happen at the end where it says to bind off in 3-stitch I-cord. But I think I'll figure that out when I come to it.
One of the many things I love about knitting is that there is so often the opportunity to learn new things. I was like a little kid who had just learned to tie her shoes when I figured out how to attach the edging and make it work - I wanted to show it to everyone I knew and say "I learned how to do this today!"
Friday, July 25, 2003
This is just one of those things that makes me smile: The Odyssey of the Rubber Duckies.
Several years ago, a container ship lost a load of duckies, turtles, frogs and beavers. They are turning up on beaches and oceanographers are using them as a way of tracking ocean currents.
I wonder how many of the oceanographers have one of the duckies as a mascot in their office? I'd love to have one, to look at and think about how far it had traveled.
Several years ago, a container ship lost a load of duckies, turtles, frogs and beavers. They are turning up on beaches and oceanographers are using them as a way of tracking ocean currents.
I wonder how many of the oceanographers have one of the duckies as a mascot in their office? I'd love to have one, to look at and think about how far it had traveled.
Some biological links (which are also non-scientist-but-interested-person friendly):
MonarchWatch dedicated to the best-loved butterfly in the world.
Discover Life, which is still apparently under construction, but will someday be an online encyclopedia of information about all different taxa. It has links to areas where "ordinary folk" and scientists can get involved in trying to document the biodiversity in the U.S.
Frog Watch USA, a program dedicated to monitoring frog and toad populations across the U.S. Another place where nature-loving citizens can become involved.
and a "critical thinking" type resource: How Do You Know a Webpage Contains Good Information?, from Ithaca College (this link is going on the syllabus for all the classes I teach where students have to do research papers!)
MonarchWatch dedicated to the best-loved butterfly in the world.
Discover Life, which is still apparently under construction, but will someday be an online encyclopedia of information about all different taxa. It has links to areas where "ordinary folk" and scientists can get involved in trying to document the biodiversity in the U.S.
Frog Watch USA, a program dedicated to monitoring frog and toad populations across the U.S. Another place where nature-loving citizens can become involved.
and a "critical thinking" type resource: How Do You Know a Webpage Contains Good Information?, from Ithaca College (this link is going on the syllabus for all the classes I teach where students have to do research papers!)
Thursday, July 24, 2003
I'm back.
It was a good break, but as always, too short, and to get to see as many of the people I love as possible (my 85-year-old aunt; my brother and sister-in-law), I had to spend a lot of time in the car.
I did get the SitCom Chic finished - this is the fastest I think I've done a "real" sweater (as opposed to a vest). It looks very nice, I like the Topacio print for it. It fits well. I did have to sew in the grosgrain as suggested, even though I used a press cloth and steamed heck out of the front facings.
The only hang-up on the pattern for me was around the eyelet detail, and that was because I've lost my "beginner's mind" for knitting and read too much into the pattern - where it said "knit three rows" I interpreted it as "knit three rows PLAIN" i.e., stockinet stitch.
So I had to rip back there. But that was my problem. The pattern is well-written, and it has a nice "body logic" to it. I like the system of knitting the body solidly up to a point, then making the sleeves, then attaching them, then knitting all the bits together.
I'm glad I have 1824 Cotton in-stash to make another one. Maybe not right now, but sometime soon.
I also finished and felted the Fuzzy Feet. Those were pure fun. I think I knit them in two days, in the free time between doing other things. I did have to wash them on "hot" (which I am sure was more than 40* C) to get them to felt, but when they did - they felted perfectly. And they feel good on - they are not hot in the way that the "Dearfoams" slippers I used to get every Christmas (and then never wear because they made my feet too hot) were.
I think it would be very fun for knitters to have a "BYOFF" party (Bring Your Own Fuzzy Feet) where everyone knits a pair beforehand, and then everyone comes together to have a felting party. It could be like a sleepover. Or it would be a fun family thing at Christmas to make Fuzzy Feet for everyone in the family (in different colors of course) and then include felting instructions - so everyone could stand around and felt on Christmas afternoon while waiting for the turkey or beef roast or whatever to cook.
I also got the edging partly done on the Trinity Stitch Shawl. I will post some notes later on knitting and attaching edgings as you knit them, since there doesn't seem to be much out there in the way of specific (non-"pithy" in the sense of Elizabeth Zimmerman) guidelines.
It was a good break, but as always, too short, and to get to see as many of the people I love as possible (my 85-year-old aunt; my brother and sister-in-law), I had to spend a lot of time in the car.
I did get the SitCom Chic finished - this is the fastest I think I've done a "real" sweater (as opposed to a vest). It looks very nice, I like the Topacio print for it. It fits well. I did have to sew in the grosgrain as suggested, even though I used a press cloth and steamed heck out of the front facings.
The only hang-up on the pattern for me was around the eyelet detail, and that was because I've lost my "beginner's mind" for knitting and read too much into the pattern - where it said "knit three rows" I interpreted it as "knit three rows PLAIN" i.e., stockinet stitch.
So I had to rip back there. But that was my problem. The pattern is well-written, and it has a nice "body logic" to it. I like the system of knitting the body solidly up to a point, then making the sleeves, then attaching them, then knitting all the bits together.
I'm glad I have 1824 Cotton in-stash to make another one. Maybe not right now, but sometime soon.
I also finished and felted the Fuzzy Feet. Those were pure fun. I think I knit them in two days, in the free time between doing other things. I did have to wash them on "hot" (which I am sure was more than 40* C) to get them to felt, but when they did - they felted perfectly. And they feel good on - they are not hot in the way that the "Dearfoams" slippers I used to get every Christmas (and then never wear because they made my feet too hot) were.
I think it would be very fun for knitters to have a "BYOFF" party (Bring Your Own Fuzzy Feet) where everyone knits a pair beforehand, and then everyone comes together to have a felting party. It could be like a sleepover. Or it would be a fun family thing at Christmas to make Fuzzy Feet for everyone in the family (in different colors of course) and then include felting instructions - so everyone could stand around and felt on Christmas afternoon while waiting for the turkey or beef roast or whatever to cook.
I also got the edging partly done on the Trinity Stitch Shawl. I will post some notes later on knitting and attaching edgings as you knit them, since there doesn't seem to be much out there in the way of specific (non-"pithy" in the sense of Elizabeth Zimmerman) guidelines.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
I'm outta here.
My train is scheduled earlier than it used to be, so I need to leave town around 3 pm today (maybe even a skootch earlier) to be sure to have that half-hour or more cushion of time. You know, in case I meet up with a train crossing the highway or something.
which reminds me of a story. A group of us, when I was in grad school, planned to meet and go see The Lion King when it came out. As we were all coming from different parts of town, we carpooled in two or three groups. Our original plan was to buy the tickets, get dinner, and go to the movie.
Well, one group (not the one I was in) failed to show on time. We bought tickets for them (to avoid the risk of them selling out) but we didn't get to go to dinner. A few minutes before the movie was to start, they showed up. Turns out they got stuck on the wrong side of the tracks from a slow-moving freight. The guy who I had driven with just looked at the woman and said "you should plan for things like trains."
well, ok, it was probably funnier if you knew the two people involved, but I liked the comment, because I always "plan for things like trains."
Got everything packed, although it looked dicey at one point with the yarn for the Sitcom Chick. I do not like it when yarn companies use cardboard "cores" for the balls - they do not squish down well for storage.
Be good! I'll be back around 25 July.
My train is scheduled earlier than it used to be, so I need to leave town around 3 pm today (maybe even a skootch earlier) to be sure to have that half-hour or more cushion of time. You know, in case I meet up with a train crossing the highway or something.
which reminds me of a story. A group of us, when I was in grad school, planned to meet and go see The Lion King when it came out. As we were all coming from different parts of town, we carpooled in two or three groups. Our original plan was to buy the tickets, get dinner, and go to the movie.
Well, one group (not the one I was in) failed to show on time. We bought tickets for them (to avoid the risk of them selling out) but we didn't get to go to dinner. A few minutes before the movie was to start, they showed up. Turns out they got stuck on the wrong side of the tracks from a slow-moving freight. The guy who I had driven with just looked at the woman and said "you should plan for things like trains."
well, ok, it was probably funnier if you knew the two people involved, but I liked the comment, because I always "plan for things like trains."
Got everything packed, although it looked dicey at one point with the yarn for the Sitcom Chick. I do not like it when yarn companies use cardboard "cores" for the balls - they do not squish down well for storage.
Be good! I'll be back around 25 July.
Monday, July 07, 2003
Average predicted temperatures for next week:
where I am now: 94*-96*
where I will be come Wednesday: 84*-86*, with a possible day or two in the 70s
I love it when it works out like that. (and yes, ten degrees DOES make a difference when it's that hot).
Cleaned the house extensively yesterday and weeded most of the garden in preparation for my vacation. Made arrangements with two of the three groups of people who will be watching my house. Knit some on Sitcom Chic and some on the Regia socks.
I also have the dress finished to the point where the hem and buttonholes are the next step - this is how far I planned to get on it.
Now I just have to wait out today and most of tomorrow, and pack.
I'll be back at the end of the month.
where I am now: 94*-96*
where I will be come Wednesday: 84*-86*, with a possible day or two in the 70s
I love it when it works out like that. (and yes, ten degrees DOES make a difference when it's that hot).
Cleaned the house extensively yesterday and weeded most of the garden in preparation for my vacation. Made arrangements with two of the three groups of people who will be watching my house. Knit some on Sitcom Chic and some on the Regia socks.
I also have the dress finished to the point where the hem and buttonholes are the next step - this is how far I planned to get on it.
Now I just have to wait out today and most of tomorrow, and pack.
I'll be back at the end of the month.
Saturday, July 05, 2003
I have that weird, restless, pre-vacation feeling.
I've wrapped up a lot of things I was working on, I don't have much to do (besides pack and clean a bit) before I leave, and so I'm restless.
I did start on the edging for the Trinity Stitch Shawl. I hope it will look better when it's done and blocked, because it doesn't look great right now.
I think I'm going to take this in my "carry-on" bag for the train and work on it on the train, if I can work on it some more this weekend so I totally get the hang of it.
I've also finished the body increases for the Sitcom Chic. I have four more inches to knit before I do the cast-offs for where the sleeves go.
One of my colleagues and his wife are having a barbecue tonight. I'm glad of that, because I'm beginning to go sort of nuts from being alone and idle. I'm discovering that, even though I am a shy person and am not particularly gregarious, I begin to feel a bit sad and almost a bit "invisible" when I'm alone for too long. (I think that's actually what drives me out to the shopping areas some weekends - the need to be around people).
I've wrapped up a lot of things I was working on, I don't have much to do (besides pack and clean a bit) before I leave, and so I'm restless.
I did start on the edging for the Trinity Stitch Shawl. I hope it will look better when it's done and blocked, because it doesn't look great right now.
I think I'm going to take this in my "carry-on" bag for the train and work on it on the train, if I can work on it some more this weekend so I totally get the hang of it.
I've also finished the body increases for the Sitcom Chic. I have four more inches to knit before I do the cast-offs for where the sleeves go.
One of my colleagues and his wife are having a barbecue tonight. I'm glad of that, because I'm beginning to go sort of nuts from being alone and idle. I'm discovering that, even though I am a shy person and am not particularly gregarious, I begin to feel a bit sad and almost a bit "invisible" when I'm alone for too long. (I think that's actually what drives me out to the shopping areas some weekends - the need to be around people).
Thursday, July 03, 2003
If you live in the US, have a happy Independence Day. I probably won't be posting much until I'm back at the end of the month.
here are some fireworks links (all guaranteed not to blow off your fingers):
Create an online fireworks display, over various cityscapes
free e-mail cards of fireworks displays (warning: takes a while to load the pictures, even with a fast connection)
the science of fireworks
here are some fireworks links (all guaranteed not to blow off your fingers):
Create an online fireworks display, over various cityscapes
free e-mail cards of fireworks displays (warning: takes a while to load the pictures, even with a fast connection)
the science of fireworks
Finished the Beaded-Rib socks.
I also wound off the Cascade Quattro 220 that I am going to use to make the Fuzzy Feet, and two skeins of Lorna's Laces sockweight yarn in the color "Sherbet". I'm going to use that for a pair of cloverleaf-lace anklets (the pattern is in the Threads handknitting book). I think the projects I am going to take to work on are these:
Fuzzy Feet
Sitcom Chic
the pair of Regia socks on the needles right now (first sock up to the heel flap)
Sherbet cloverleaf-lace anklets
Whitby socks of Socka six-ply
maybe the Lorna's Laces for the Canal du Midi socks.
I'm debating on taking the shawl I'm working on. I would like to get it done, but I'm already hauling one big project (and the Topacio yarn for the Sitcom Chic is on cardboard "cores" so it takes more room and doesn't squish down). I know this is already more than I could get done on my break, but I like being able to alternate projects.
I also need to get the rest of the sewing (except for hem and buttonholes) done on the dress and take that, because I want my mom's help in marking and pinning the hem on this one.
I also wound off the Cascade Quattro 220 that I am going to use to make the Fuzzy Feet, and two skeins of Lorna's Laces sockweight yarn in the color "Sherbet". I'm going to use that for a pair of cloverleaf-lace anklets (the pattern is in the Threads handknitting book). I think the projects I am going to take to work on are these:
Fuzzy Feet
Sitcom Chic
the pair of Regia socks on the needles right now (first sock up to the heel flap)
Sherbet cloverleaf-lace anklets
Whitby socks of Socka six-ply
maybe the Lorna's Laces for the Canal du Midi socks.
I'm debating on taking the shawl I'm working on. I would like to get it done, but I'm already hauling one big project (and the Topacio yarn for the Sitcom Chic is on cardboard "cores" so it takes more room and doesn't squish down). I know this is already more than I could get done on my break, but I like being able to alternate projects.
I also need to get the rest of the sewing (except for hem and buttonholes) done on the dress and take that, because I want my mom's help in marking and pinning the hem on this one.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
And another....
it's going to be a rough summer. First Gregory Peck, then Hume Cronyn, then Katherine Hepburn passed away. Now, Robert McCloskey, who wrote "Make Way for Ducklings" and "Homer Price" (both books I remember fondly from childhood) has died. I liked his books - they had a gentle humor to them and were filled with interesting and detailed illustrations.
it's going to be a rough summer. First Gregory Peck, then Hume Cronyn, then Katherine Hepburn passed away. Now, Robert McCloskey, who wrote "Make Way for Ducklings" and "Homer Price" (both books I remember fondly from childhood) has died. I liked his books - they had a gentle humor to them and were filled with interesting and detailed illustrations.
Handy Latin phrases. Because you never know when you might need to insult a classicist...
I'm up to the toe decreases on the Beaded Rib sock. Thank goodness. These took approximately forever (actually: since mid-March) for me to finish.
I'm up to the toe decreases on the Beaded Rib sock. Thank goodness. These took approximately forever (actually: since mid-March) for me to finish.
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