My finger is still messed up. I can't touch my palm when I bend it. (All of the other fingers can do this.) It's affecting my setting in volleyball. So I haven't been spinning or knitting or whatnot. I also can't get the ring off of that finger - I've tried soap, oil, etc. It's on there for good. Weird. I'm going to have to figure this out at some point.
vrijdag, augustus 13, 2004
Back from vacation. No, I didn't look for any yarn store and I didn't knit on the plane. It was Florida for god's sake - there are other things to do. Anyway, I sprained a finger a couple of days before I left, and I barely feel like typing, much less knitting.
I finished my fittin' mitten exchange gloves before jamming my finger, so I just have to send them out. Only 3 months early - who'da thunk it?
I have to mail a b-day present today and I'm at a loss as to what to get my father. We're the type of folk who need nothing!
Mindless quiz time:
Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!
I finished my fittin' mitten exchange gloves before jamming my finger, so I just have to send them out. Only 3 months early - who'da thunk it?
I have to mail a b-day present today and I'm at a loss as to what to get my father. We're the type of folk who need nothing!
Mindless quiz time:
Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!
How British are you?
this quiz was made by alanna
woensdag, juli 14, 2004
I finally abused the yarn too much. Last night I was out drinking with the team and I had the project in a zippered bag. The yarn got caught in the zipper. My teammate was able to get it unstuck without breaking the yarn, but when I went to pay for the cab, I saw it was stuck again. It snapped this morning, since I don't have my teammate's patience. Oh well, I have to frog it anyway. I'll use that bit for the thumb.
dinsdag, juli 13, 2004
Knitting is boring.
There's nothing that's really a challenge anymore. I'm working on a piece that's probably the slowest thing I've ever done. Mostly because I knit it up to the thumb and then frog it EVERY DAY. It's the reversible mittens from Homespun Handknit, where you're knitting a two color mitten, but you're also knitting the same pattern inverted at the same time, so you'll be able to turn the mitten inside out and have the exact negative. It's kinda clever, but it's a bitch to implement. First of all it's on 1s in fingering weight, so there are more stitches than my usual gloves/mittens. Then I had to get used to purling in the round, with my left hand. (I'm a thrower - English knitter; I knit Continental fine, from doing stranded colorwork, but I've rarely had occasion to purl.) On top of that you have to make sure the floats are carried between the two layers, and that you're knitting the pattern correctly on both layers. This does not make for "zen"/commuter knitting.
The first time I frogged it was because I wasn't happy with my tension and my increases were sloppy. The second time I seemed to have miscounted the increase row. This time there are two lattice stitches knitted in the wrong color on the light side, and one on the dark. Feh! (Yes, I know I can just duplicate stitch them in later, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it?)
The thing is, the pattern isn't difficult; I'm just not paying attention well enough. (No matter how complicated a knitting pattern is, it's basically the same stitch mechanism as your average garter-stitch, skittle-puke, fake-fur scarf.) I can easily see myself getting bored before I get to the other mitten.
The one good thing is that my spinning has held up rather well through all of the frogging and abuse. I spun a good yarn for this. The light yarn is a little thinner than the dark, but it holds its own.
There's nothing that's really a challenge anymore. I'm working on a piece that's probably the slowest thing I've ever done. Mostly because I knit it up to the thumb and then frog it EVERY DAY. It's the reversible mittens from Homespun Handknit, where you're knitting a two color mitten, but you're also knitting the same pattern inverted at the same time, so you'll be able to turn the mitten inside out and have the exact negative. It's kinda clever, but it's a bitch to implement. First of all it's on 1s in fingering weight, so there are more stitches than my usual gloves/mittens. Then I had to get used to purling in the round, with my left hand. (I'm a thrower - English knitter; I knit Continental fine, from doing stranded colorwork, but I've rarely had occasion to purl.) On top of that you have to make sure the floats are carried between the two layers, and that you're knitting the pattern correctly on both layers. This does not make for "zen"/commuter knitting.
The first time I frogged it was because I wasn't happy with my tension and my increases were sloppy. The second time I seemed to have miscounted the increase row. This time there are two lattice stitches knitted in the wrong color on the light side, and one on the dark. Feh! (Yes, I know I can just duplicate stitch them in later, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it?)
The thing is, the pattern isn't difficult; I'm just not paying attention well enough. (No matter how complicated a knitting pattern is, it's basically the same stitch mechanism as your average garter-stitch, skittle-puke, fake-fur scarf.) I can easily see myself getting bored before I get to the other mitten.
The one good thing is that my spinning has held up rather well through all of the frogging and abuse. I spun a good yarn for this. The light yarn is a little thinner than the dark, but it holds its own.
donderdag, juli 08, 2004
woensdag, juli 07, 2004
One of these days I'm going to have to figure out just how fast I spindle. It seems to me that I'm pretty productive when I want to be. I'll have to just spin for an hour and skein it off/measure it.
I'm mortified that I have a sun burn. I rarely, if ever, burn. My face is peeling & I feel silly. Mind you that I was wearing SPF 30 and a hat the entire time I was out in the sun this weekend. Go figure. My arms & shoulders aren't burned, just my face. At least it doesn't hurt.
I just won a contest. Where was my luck when the $290M lottery was going? Ah well, beggars can't be choosers.
I'm mortified that I have a sun burn. I rarely, if ever, burn. My face is peeling & I feel silly. Mind you that I was wearing SPF 30 and a hat the entire time I was out in the sun this weekend. Go figure. My arms & shoulders aren't burned, just my face. At least it doesn't hurt.
I just won a contest. Where was my luck when the $290M lottery was going? Ah well, beggars can't be choosers.
dinsdag, juli 06, 2004
I'm exhausted.
I just did a 2 day volleyball clinic and it kicked my ass. I haven't trained that hard in decades. About a third of the group didn't come back for the second day, they were so tired. But it was good. And if I could do that, for 2 days on the beach, in the hot sun, without collapsing, it just proves that I'm not training hard enough on my runs, cuz I'm never that tired. I was so tired I was hallucinating.
There were so many things I was meaning to do this weekend, but I kept falling asleep. I did manage to ply off what was on my spindle. I've been doing laceweight lately, more than doubling my usual yardage output per spindle. Unfortunately, it now takes me 2.5 hours to ply it off too. But it's nice yarn. Maybe I'll spin enough for a shawl. I'd rather do that on the wheel, but my driveband broke. I have to make a new one. (Or just use the other wheel, duh.)
yawn!
I just did a 2 day volleyball clinic and it kicked my ass. I haven't trained that hard in decades. About a third of the group didn't come back for the second day, they were so tired. But it was good. And if I could do that, for 2 days on the beach, in the hot sun, without collapsing, it just proves that I'm not training hard enough on my runs, cuz I'm never that tired. I was so tired I was hallucinating.
There were so many things I was meaning to do this weekend, but I kept falling asleep. I did manage to ply off what was on my spindle. I've been doing laceweight lately, more than doubling my usual yardage output per spindle. Unfortunately, it now takes me 2.5 hours to ply it off too. But it's nice yarn. Maybe I'll spin enough for a shawl. I'd rather do that on the wheel, but my driveband broke. I have to make a new one. (Or just use the other wheel, duh.)
yawn!
