Sunday, January 31, 2010

Clean sweep

It's January 31st and I am preparing to usher in the new Knitter's Book of Yarn (KBOY) Year of Knitting. I would like to say I have cleaned house, organized my stash, completed all my outstanding FO's and picked all the yarn for my projects but that is too much like organization for me. Some things have happened coincidentally, so we will say they are in response to my bold knitting plan:

One night I was so tired I took 1/2 a Percocet night to put me in my happy place and ensure a good nights sleep. I wanted the warm fuzzy feeling but it didn't happen! I was most disappointed. I guess, like most bad relationships, I was in love with the idea of Percocet, rather that the reality. Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back until my next serious injury.

I've swept my colon. Our house was ravaged with the tsunami of stomach flu - we all had it. Eight hours of purging from both ends x three people. It was a full upper body workout and I lost a few full days of sleep. Oh well - it's over and we all survived and my pants fit better. I'd like to say I'm taking advantage of the kick-start to drop a few pounds, but my bad habits are already creeping back. Oh, and I broke my favourite glasses. It was my own fault and I wasn't even cross at the time but I am very sad. Bring on the laser eye surgery. Oh, except I had to cancel my appointment due to the barfies... feh.

Organized my Ravelry queue! (Man, I could give them some pointers about drag and drop, but I ain't no IT professional). All the KBOY projects are at the top and in their own queue. First project: the Diamond and Pearls Shawl. That should be amusing.

Also - I watched Start Wars ( I don't have a clue which one - the prequel) and I LOVED it. I thought they did such a good job of introducing all the characters and most of them were damn perfect. Leonard Nimoy looks like he might be dead and embalmed already, but he made an appearance.

Let the madness begin!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Rage against the machine



I am officially on the mend! See all that fuzzy bone? Doesn't it look strong enough to lift plywood?

I have spent a few evenings now trying to MacGyver a new sponge bar for my SK120 bulky knitter and ribber. Very trying. When I first got the machine I set it up and couldn't get it to knit worth beans. Well, to tell the truth I can't actually remember the knitting, but I know the ribbing didn't work. So I stuffed it back in it's box and left it alone for a while.

Fast forward a few months and I am itching to get this working. I pulled it out again and removed the sponge bar from the ribber. I figured if I totally effed that one up at least I could still use the knitter. I took out what was there as sponge - a piece of felt folded in half and wedged in with a piece of yarn - and contemplated my options.

First I tried weatherstripping. I cut it a bit wide and I couldn't for the life of me wedge it in to the narrow and deep channel (5 x 10 mm). I got some round weather stripping, thinking I could sew a case for it and pull it through the channel. HA. In theory it was a brilliant idea but in reality I couldn't get it more than an inch into the bed.

Finally, today I cut a narrower strip of weatherstripping and jammed it in with a bunch of kiddy glue (for easy removal when it totally doesn't work). I glued a pretty piece of ribbon on top and now I am too scared to put it in my ribber. I am fairly sure it will be a disaster. To complicate things, I managed to bend the sponge bar into a most interesting shape in my manipulations - it sort of curves and bends in several different planes so that should complicate the reinstallation. I shall save that joy for tomorrow.

(See the wine? That's an important supply for this job.)

Anyway, while that mess was drying I set up the knitter, gave it some Balistol and it knitted pretty much like a charm. I am optimistic about that, but in the process of setup I did find a picture of the original retaining bar - it had about as much padding as the metal on the bar (e.g. 10 mm) so long-term, I don't think the 2mm of fluff left on the knitter sponge bar is going to cut it. Ah well, at it's worst it performs better than the awful Bond so for that I am grateful. I hatz me some Bond.

I leave you with some lovely pictures. I have developed a small felting addiction:


Above, slippers before. Or should I say "galoshes"?
Below, the Magic Washer. Very cool, very effective.



Below - finished mary-janes. Knitpicks pattern which is easy as pie but could use some tweaking. They're too wide even for my bricks.

Above - felted Galway hat with made-up pattern. Lurve it, but could use some tweaking.
Below, Lamb's Pride bulky hat with flat top and turned up brim - at least that's the plan. Obviously still unfelted.



God, I'm so beautiful I almost can't stand it.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Back on track

Well, blogging has been pretty sporadic lately, but I have a plan. Inspired by the fabulous Miko and Julie and Julia, (the book, not the movie) we are going to knit our way through a book. In our infinite wisdom we have chosen The Knitter's Book of Yarn.

The first pattern in this book is a cabled tea cosy which I have , on 2 separate occasions, tried to knit with no success. I think that may be an inauspicious start, but WTF. Go big or go home. Also - there is lace in this book. Danger, Will Robinson!

I don't know why I think this will improve my blogging. Perhaps avoiding knitting will increase my output. I have no deep philosophical reasons to do this. I just think it might be fun, and definitely a challenge. I think Feb 1 is the start date, and I plan to knit as much of this as I can from my stash. Especially the poo-cle, mohair, and anything in pink.

One Book. Forty patterns. One serious lapse in judgment.