Monthly Archives: February 2009

A Google-Chat With Joey

So I got an email that the color of yarn I ordered for Joey’s Smokin’ Cardigan is out of stock- so I signed onto Google Chat while he was at his recording studio internship to see what color he liked best:

me: can you go to this page and tell me what color you want? your yarn color was out [Here’s a link in case you want to play along]

Joey: Okay lets play a game. you tell me which color you like and we’ll see if we picked the same color.

me: sage is my number 1 choice wine is number 2

Joey: Yeah lets go with sage

me: was that your first?

Joey: Nah girl. I was playing you fool.
For some reason when I look at the small images of the color I can’t decide which one would work best.

me: yeah… me either.

Joey: Cause if I picked my favorite color it might look stupid as a sweater
Maybe we should do bright red cause I like that a lot.
Like the color of my guitar.

me: well, there’s only the one bright red on the upper right hand corner, is that the one? “Red”

Joey: Maybe a little too pinkish
Lets go with your original instinct.

me: but will that be too boring? you could prolly rock “persimmon”

Joey: maybe I could rock Persimmon.

me: what about turquoise? that might be uber hip

Joey: Hey I’m down. You know I’ll wear anything.
I need a good producers sweater.

me: Music producers wear turquoise cardigans?

Joey: This one might

me: You gotta make the final decision. I can’t be held fully responsible for you walking around rocking a turquoise cardigan… 🙂

Joey: haha. I really don’t know. Go with your gut.

me: okay, then it’s gonna be turquoise. speak now or forever wear your bright-ass turquoise sweater.

Joey: Lets do it.

me: lets do it

Cast-On-itis

So what do you do when you haven’t bought yarn in a looooong time and someone sends you a knitpicks gift card?
You don’t take into consideration that you’re still slogging away on a sweater that you cast on for two years ago, and you don’t take into consideration that you’ve promised to knit your sweetie a cardigan. Instead, you logon immediately and buy a whole sweater’s worth of yarn for yourself and then sit and count down the days until it arrives in your mailbox, itching to cast on.
This, my friends is precisely why you should not put yourself on an involuntary and prolonged yarn diet. You end up making rash, selfish decisions while completely ignoring your lack of knitting speed, or the “I swear I’ll knit you a cardigan” promises that you’ve made.
But I can’t let myself cast on for that cardigan until I have finished knitting Thermal. I was zooming away at the sleeve last night and then something went horribly wrong. It was right there, at the intersection of two DPNs, at the end of the round: one of my stitches a few rows down looked loose and saggy and I half-convinced myself that I’d dropped a stitch. (It was hard to tell exactly what was going on cause there were some increases thrown in, and the waffle pattern….) So I laddered down and picked back up the same stitches, finally convinced that I hadn’t dropped a stitch after all, that it had just been wonky. Two rounds later, that same area was all of a sudden all bunched up and tight on my needles. Something was amiss, and I had no power to stop it. So I had to tink back about six rounds. By then I was so exhausted and aggravated that I just put it down for the night and poured a glass of wine. I still have no idea what happened or how it ended up that way.

Underside of sleeve.  I like how the increases make a V in the waffle ridges.

Underside of sleeve. I like how the increases make a V in the waffle ridges.


So back to the new exciting yarn purchase; I bought Swish worsted to make Dexter by ZephyrStyle. I also promised Joey that I’d knit him the Smokin cardigan by BrooklynTweed. Maybe I can knit them simultaneously? By the time I’m finished with Thermal it will probably be warm outside. Surely there’s nothing weird about knitting two cardigans at the same time in the middle of summer. Is there?

February Funk

I have to admit, I’ve never understood why people get bummed out in February. I’ve always had a couple of good reasons to like it: Valentine’s Day, and my Birthday.
But now that I’m living in a much more northern locale, I can completely understand how it can be a bummer of a month. Its dark outside when I’m leaving work, its dark outside when I’m waking up for work. And even when it is sunny and bright outside, it’s frosty as hell and sometimes pretty miserable to bear. Add in the constant worry about “the economy,” and the fact that we are living in a really expensive city on one salary right now…. well, bummer.
I don’t want to be bummed out, so I’m trying to focus on the good stuff I’ve been enjoying lately:

Deadwood on DVD
Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The insanely adorable acts committed on a daily basis by Henry:

Maxxin and Relaxxin by the Heater

Maxxin and Relaxxin by the Heater

Hanging Out on the Stairs with Joey

Hanging Out on the Stairs with Joey

And knitting slowly and leisurely on the first sleeve of Thermal:

thermalsleeve1