k-brow: finito!

The stripey socks, they are finished. Mindless knitting, with Austermann Step in the color "laub," on #1 addi circular needles. Stockinette at its best. These are for my sister, simply because she was audacious enough to ask for them in a blog comment, many moons ago.

Little else going on here at Chez Nuuanu Estate. Dry, sunny and windy is a welcome change from hot, hazy and humid, I assure you. I've been baking more bread, working longer hours, in preparation for school's end, and letting the house go. meh. I'll catch up in a week, for that's all we have left of this school year. The funding for my reading resource job dried up, as our school's enrollment dropped. Thus, I become a classroom teacher, once more - 5th grade this time. A far and welcome cry from Kindergarten, let me tell you. Now I've got sex ed, drug n' alcohol ed, (thank the Goddess for DARE - the national program for this aspect of my job) number theory, the American Revolution, and major forays into the Scientific Method to occupy my mind. Fortunately, I've met the students, and really like them. High hopes for a fun year, and no real designs on becoming a forever 5th grade teacher, at this point. Who knows?

Summer beckons seductively, with beaching, an agility trial for Ms. Ella, a renewed determination to get some sweaters off the needles, and a long visit back East with familly. My dad fell and broke his pelvis a couple of weeks ago, and is in a long-term rehab/convalescent facility while he recuperates. At 80, this is a serious injury, and we're looking at probably 30 - 60 days in the place. He was diagnosed, last year with myeleofibrosis which has left him anemic, weak and achey, though he's responded really well to recent blood transfusions. My sis and I are going to try and work some things out with my mom about getting some household help for her, and in-house care for my dad, if that's needed. Our mom is a can-do type who often bites off more than she can chew, and doesn't always consider her own physical limitations.

Meanwhile, since I'm looking at a long boring plane ride to Roanoke, VA, I couldn't resist setting up a little travel knitting...

What can be done with plenty o' Koigu in 2 different colorways? All this Koigu, by the way, has been ripped from failed socks, in my now-abandoned attempt to break the Koigu curse that haunts me. I LOVE this yarn, its scrunchiness, its "dry" feeling, the lucious colorways. But I have yet to knit it into a pair of socks that doth please me. Fortunately, it's not a troublesome yarn to frog out, and I have a feeling its new incarnation will be the pleasing antidote to my sock woes.

k-brow: bad reputation

I suddenly realize that my last 2 blog posts are about days I take off from work. Yikes. Seriously, folks, I have been to work every day between those two days. I'm just saying.

k-brow: brainvog and a diminishing work ethic

This was taken about a week ago, and gives a pretty good impression of how things are around here when the trade winds stop blowing. Click for a big scary view of the downtown harbor area, as seen from Nuuanu schoolyard, where I regularly violate the leash law, after hours. Vog, which gives the weather-obsessed among us something to fret over, also stings the eyes, scratches up the throat, and causes a brainfog of stunning proportions in those susceptible to such maladies. Or maybe it's a brainvog?


I took a day off yesterday, and my announcing this at work caused a firestorm of "Why? Are you sick? What's wrong with you? Is everything okay?" Really, I discovered that I had an unused personal day, and hastened to correct that issue pronto. I work with teachers who rarely take time off unless they're sick or have a pressing issue to take care of in the 9-5 world. Not me. I'm a great lover of playing hookey from school. As a kid, I took regular time off, with my parents' permission. My dad would frequently grant the "lay off from school day," in spite of the fact that he would never miss a day of work. My sister got the work ethic gene in our family, and is known far and wide as a hard-working, loyal employee. Me? Well, let's just say that I work hard when I'm at work, but like to put it out of my mind, off-campus. But I think my coworkers believe I'm a slacker...

Only 13 more school days left. Then I can indulge my not-so-inner slackass openly and with impunity!

Here's a shot of the most lovely pink double hibiscus in my yard. I want to eat it up, or spin it into something to knit up. This photo is, quite possibly, the only thing I did yesterday of note. Okay, maybe not. I knit 3 rows of sock. I drank a mai tai at the Halekulani hotel. I clipped my dogs' faces. All reasons to stay home on a warm spring day, no?

k-brow: of werewolves and baking

I took a day off today, as I've been deliriously busy at work; teaching, attending inservices, giving inservices... it looks like I'll probably be used at my school again next year, as the reading resource teacher and all around data geek. Not my dream job, but tolerable enough, and far less stress than being a classroom teacher. Less fun, too, but I'll take what I can get. So, I planned for a very festive domestic goddess-y type day of baking and knitting, but awoke with my old friend, the menstrual migraine, at 5am. Decided that I'd be damned if it would establish a beachhead in my day, and immediately began to medicate. I have it at bay, now, and have been reasonably productive, toiling away at my latest project:

I've never baked bread, for real, from scratch before. I used to own a bread machine, and used it quite often, mostly for pizza dough, but got rid of it when I went packing away to Hawai'i. I've been really enjoying the breads of Great Harvest a lot, recently, especially a millet-sunflower bread they make on Wednesdays. But all this homemade bread has served to spark my curiosity about the process, and I decided to do a bit of experimentation myself. I'm using the basic recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book, and spent the morning mixing, kneading and baking. I haven't tasted it yet, the loaves are still cooling. I know already they're a little too brown for my tastes; a bit hard-crusty, but they smell heavenly and seem to have risen nicely. One thing about this book is that it is explicit in its directions about kneading and mixing. It doesn't tell you how long to knead the dough; instead, it lets you know how the dough will look and act when it is ready to be set aside for a rise. Hard work, but fun to play with, and I'm really looking forward to that first warm slice!

Here's my other little project:

It's baby Icarus! One repeat of the first chart and then some, and coming along enjoyably, if a bit slowly. I cast on for this on May 1, and completely wrecked it, after about 20 rows, ripped it out completely, and cast on again and have been chugging away on it, since.

Another look at its bones; that's what this first chart reminds me of, is a spine, with ribs running off it. Nice thought.


Last night, I went over to Acornbud's. She lives just about a mile from me, as the crow flies. Except there are no crows to speak of, on Oahu. As the Mynah bird flies. We had an evening of knitting, tea and a most enjoyable viewing of Kibakichi 2. Maybe not the best samurai film available, and possibly not the best werewolf film, but one would be hard-pressed to find a better samurai werewolf film. Old Japan sure was full of monsters, and I've gotta say, since my induction into Kibakichi fandom, I'm rooting for them. Oppressed underdogs for the most part, and just trying to get along. Kibakichi the first is a better movie, but I can't complain, and indeed am hoping for another offering in the near future. Acornbud was rocking the impossibly beautiful alpaca; we've both been sampling the sale offerings at Webs, this month, in light of the fact that Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is just too far away.

A birthday shout out to my baby sister today! Hope it's a blissful one, and sorry I couldn't be around to liven it up!

k-brow: hither and thither

A full month went by with nary a peep from me; I trust that Lucy was every bit as busy. I've been embroiled in the usual pursuits, only everything has been cranked up a notch in intensity. Work is working me in its usual "final 6 weeks of the school year" manner. I'm taking training classes with BOTH dogs, which is utter madness, and ensures that my Saturdays are completely dogcentric in a smelly, sweaty, up-too-early way. Knitting has been at a mighty standstill, with sore wrists, a lash of migraine that took 3 days to unwind, and just general pokiness. But I've broken through some of the wall, and managed to finish my Project Spectrum Fire project. Behold the flaming bamboo Clapotis! Off the needles, and not a minute too soon, as I was mightily sick of the endlessness of it all. Pretty, drapey, but I have yet to weave those ends in. There's a surprise, too, but I'll save the surprise ending for another entry. Meanwhile, warm your hands by my fire:

For those wondering what the suburban jungle of Nuuanu looks like, here's a picture of our street, just outside our front gate. Note the serious cloud cover? It's VOG - I took this shot about 2 weeks ago, right before the vog got really bad. Last Friday, it was so intense in Kailua, where I teach, that my eyes stung and my throat was sore all day. Rain has come and settled some of it, plus the tradewinds have returned to clear us up somewhat. I dont' think all the electrical wires crossing everywhichway in this area are such good feng shui, do you?

To ease my stress, I've been doing some thrifting, lately, and I scored this beautiful handmade bowl, at the Beretania Goodwill for fifty cents. I wonder what its story is? Who made it, who loved it, how it ended up sitting there on that dusty shelf? On that same trip, I also found a nice black t-shirt and some tacky plastic baskets for my classroom, to hold school supplies, so it was a huge haul. But only a month later, the shirt has a hole. meh.


In other news, Chelsea and I are KAL-ing on the Icarus shawl from Interweave Knits. Today was our cast-on day. Pix of the wee nascent sprout to come.

DisKnit: March Learnings

A beautiful spring day here in Washington and I've had a hard time motivating to a particular task or fortune. Last weekend, as the picture above shows I wandered through the wonders of Dumbarton Oaks Garden in early spring. Absolutely amazing. Like most other "non-Easter" visitors, I was intent on photography. I'm found of the one above. But I also really like the one below though it is more abstract:

And here is the mystery test for you far away from the East Coast spring. What kind of blossom?

Tomorrow I go for yarn pleasure at a yarn sale organized through the usefulness of Ravelry. You can read all about it at the Homespun Yarn Party website: http://www.homespunyarnparty.blogspot.com/

The big accomplishment of my knitting life was learning this super cool cast on for toe-up socks. Many of the knitters in my raverly-organized Knitting Group are fans of circular needles and toe-up socks. I've been doubtful because I learned socks on dpns and didn't really see the hype. But I was weary of my father's second sleeve last night and decided to ball this lovely yarn I bought from Woolarina at a craft fair. And then I decided I wanted to learn this toe up method. I found this pattern called Lifestyle Toe Up Socks which is more of a formula for knitting socks then a pattern. Since I love formulas for making sweaters, this appealed immensely. But the first thing she starts off with is the miraculous "magic cast-on" by Judy Becker. You can read all about it in Knitty, but it involves twisting the yarn around the points of your circular needle. It is easy, rhythmic, and means the sock starts off with its toe sewn shut. It made doing the "magic loop" on few stitches much more steady. I know I am gushing, but it was cool to learn something so useful so quickly. Here's the progress so far:

While I did this learning, I watched Brother's Keeper, the odd story of a quartet of elderly brothers in upstate New York. One of whom was accused of killing his other brother. They all lived together with little education, tending to cows, birds, and rarely doing much else. They didn't wash, their neighbors tended to leave them alone even when in town for their hamburgers. But when the "state" accused the old man, the people rallied around him, holding dances, hiring a lawyer. Less than the legal drama, I liked the look at how eccentric people shape their lives. I've always have like that kind of viewing experience. But I'm not that eccentric.

However, last Wednesday night I did wear the below hat to the Easter Bonnet party at the restaurant next door. The party wasn't as fun as it might have been since most people were hat-less, but I got some praise for the Peeps Hat and enjoyed the half-price wine.

Here's me:


Here's a close up of the hat in construction mode (note glue gun, poor peeps):

k-brow: randomly random

Red tagged me for this meme, which I've done before, but that which is random changes, so I'll give it another go.

Five Random Things

1. My "uniform" of leisure time is a faded soft black t-shirt and khaki shorts. Rubber slippers optional. Seriously. If you see me out and about, you probably see me in some version of this outfit; it's one I've worn since college, some 20-something years ago. In cold weather (back when I lived where it was cold) the shorts were switched out for jeans, and the slippers were sneakers of some kind, but the black t-shirt remains the same. Needless to say, I've got a healthy collection of them in my dresser, and am always supplementing the collection.

2. I just caught a mouse in a trap. Our mouse war has started up again. I'm a little disturbed, as this mouse was big; could it be a juvenile rat? Rat Bastard has had the indiscretion to cruise around my counters for a few days, breaking and entering into a container of browned breadcrumbs, and eating some papaya seeds, and then, most outrageous of all, had the temerity to shit all over the counter. This is war, my friends.

3. I played Dungeons & Dragons with ardent enthusiasm throughout college. I may as well have majored in it. Then I played about once a year, for 10 years after, but only with the college friends who were my original D&D group. Weirdos, but I love 'em. The recent death of Gary Gygax has our group of gaming buds discussing whether or not we want to take up swords again, via iChat. Please do not comment to me that I may enjoy World of Warcraft, or Dark Age of Camelot or some such other massive multiplayer online roleplaying game. I won't. D&D was and still is about me and my geek friends being social and having fun together.

4. Today is a public holiday in Hawaii, called Kuhio Day, named for Prince Jonah Kuhio. P works in the Prince Jonah Kuhio building downtown, and yet, because he is a federal employee, he doesn't get the day off. Talk about bitter. I, too, feel it's a little wasted on me, as it falls on a day when I am already off work, due to spring break. I am going to celebrate by visiting Blogless Michelle in Waialua. There will be some knitting and perhaps some beaching, as well. Maybe I'll take some pix.

5. My dogs will spend the entire day in bed, if allowed to do so. Ella sleeps with us, and only gets up after the last human leaves the bed. Cricket sleeps in his crate, due to his habit of running around the house barking in the middle of the night if left out. As soon as someone gets up in the early am, they release him, and he joins the pack in the bed. And there, both dogs lay around, snoring and slugging, until the last human has gotten up, or they've been given the boot. I was reading somewhere that dogs need to sleep an average of 16 hours a day. These two seem to be getting their fill.

There, enough randomness. I am breaking the Random meme rules by not posting their rules, and also not tagging people. You all know you want to do this random thing, even though everyone's done it before. Everyone's got something else they need to share with the blogoverse!

k-brow: E is for Ella

G'Day Silverella, the little pocket dog that could do it all... the runt of her litter, I saw her in utero (well, saw that bulge, anyway), cuddled her as a 2 day old pup, and held my breath as she was bottle fed and carried around in her breeder's pocket because she was so small they were afraid she'd not make it on her own. Never knew she'd be mine, til the day came to go pick up the puppy that had been chosen for me (our dogs were puppy-tested, a la Volhard's) by the breeder. It's been mad, mad love ever since. She was my first dog, as an adult, and has been such a splendid companion, up for any sport or training, smart AND pretty, to boot. At 9, she remains my wildest, liveliest dog, and can throw some serious attitude, when she chooses. She's also completely reliable off leash, and virtually ignores other dogs on walks, so she's my easier dog, these days.

I got Ella right after we'd bought our house in Sacramento; I like to think of her as the dog who led me out into the world, introducing me to all sorts of new joys and tiny details that only dogs know. If not for Ella, I'd never have met my co-blogger DisKnit, whose dog Curtis was one of Ella's dearest canine friends. We both lived in dog-mad Curtis Park, when the dogs were pups. Now DisKnit is of the opinion that Ella is a wee bit neurotic, while my mom says she's just flat-out crazy. The breeder called her the "CEO and Board of Directors", and even around here, she's called Ms Bossybarks more often than not. But there's no better bedwarmer, no more reliable surf frisbee retriever, and no more enthusiastic beggar of handouts and crumbs in this house.

The camera just loves her, too.

DisKnit:: Politics of 1825

I am taking advantage of my first weekend home from my travels without a visitor to reconnect with my bills, blogs, and other worlds that vacationing and visitors distracted me from.

On Gold Puppy's blog a number of days (or weeks) ago, someone gave her this task (i.e. a meme in blog speak but I don't get that word):
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Like her -- my unknown neighbor who takes lovely pictures of my city -- I refuse the last part. But I stuck by the rule of the nearest book which happens to be a biography of my great great great or more grandfather, Joseph Duncan, Governor of Illinois, by my great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Duncan Putnam. So here is the passage (the context is the Duncan's election Congress in 1825):

"A contemporary letter expresses this feeling: "What will the old members of Congress say when D. [Duncan] is seen to rise (if he ever should be so unfortunate) in the place of C. [Cook]. They must believe us madmen and fools." On the other hand, Mr. Brown, the author of the memoirs of Cook, says: It is but just to General Duncan to say that his constituents were happily disappointed in his subsequent development of talents and tact, rendering him a worthy successor to our second representative."

I hope that all of us will feel that way after the end of this long, long presidential election. But in honor of International Women's Day tomorrow (March 10), you will not get a portrait of the Governor/Representative, but his wife, Elizabeth Caldwell Duncan who I think had 10 children only 3 of whom lived to be adults. Her name carried down to my grandmother.


Okay on to the bills. And later some knitting.

k-brow: the sleepiness of it all

Just awakened from a nap... word to the wiser, don't take a muscle relaxant 2 days before if you wish to avoid sleeping your weekend away. sigh. Drugs have an extraordinarily long life in my bloodstream. Said muscle relaxant is part of the headache treatment plan, and it seems to have finally done its work, albeit soporifically. I even dozed through the whine of my neighbor's weedwhacking. What is it about Hawaii that causes everyone to mow their entire lawns with a weedeater? Get a goat, mister!

DisKnit has returned from CA and shamed me into both posting and knitting a little bit. She's good for me like that. I am toiling away on the straight rows of my Project Spectrum color-schemed bamboo Clapotis, not pictured here. Suffice to say, it's a fiery colored thing, with lots of orange, yellow and red. The bamboo yarn? Soft, and creepily cool to the touch, even though I don't think it'll be a cooling garment to wear. It's splitty and heavy, and I'm not feeling too much love, though I do think I'll feel it once I'm wearing it; Clapotis has that magical effect on me.

Here are some roses blooming in my neighborhood:

And a candle for the new moon:

And a shot of Ella (click the photo for the full-on crazy effect) turning on her crazy look, while Cricket shows off his cool trick of eating while reclining:

And now off to try and revive myself with some ice water and a walk.

DisKnit: D is for my fake name

I am back from California for almost 2 weeks but you would not know it from this blog. By fortiutous mistake, I forgot my camera and thus was able to spend 10 days on vacation without documentation. The time was great. Plenty of visiting with dear friends, a tiny-itsy-bit of work unrelated to the normal job, and 3 whole days hiking and knitting in a lovely little place at Point Reyes Station. The weather was stormy, but it was the ocean, cheap california wine, and good food. Besides there were energetic hummingbirds to watch and a wood stove as the only source of heat and the resultant TV substitute. I finished up a hat for a co-worker's much announced but not yet arrived baby. You can see it here or on Ravelry:

Or another angle:


I am confident there is more to be said about the hat, my knitting, and other events, but frankly the computer is driving me up the wall for refusing to download my email from Yahoo (which may be related to the wonders of the microsoft bid for control) but I really just want to relax. Lots of work at the guv'mint these days so I am tired and I am about to welcome the second of two visitors since my return. After the weekend and the discovery of my camera battery charger I may have more news on the welcome return of SPRING.

K-brow: green fire and a new little toy

I know it's Project Spectrum's Fire focus, but I'm drawn these days to the green fire of these spectacular farmers market stirfry leaves; chard, kale, beet greens, spinach, mizuna and friends. Call it spring tonic, but call me in time for dinner.

Here's another bit of green, though a cooler view, through the gates of a local temple, shot on my dog walk with Ella last week. We have so many temples and shrines in our area; this one is adjacent to Nuuanu Valley Park. I love its gates and the floaty paper flags they fly.



After a few days of mourning the irrevocable death of my hand-me-down 1999 Sony Vaio laptop, which had always been a good little trooper, surviving 2 major resurrections and hard use from P and myself for 9 fun-filled years, I cowgirled myself up and rode on over to the Apple website and picked out my new laptop. Years of pumping artificial life into the likes of the Vaio and the old Blueberry iBook have allowed me to justify the purchase of a new computer, one which will be here in just a few days...

No pix, suffice to say it's a mid-range macbook with bit more memory added. Yay. yay. yay.

pulling my weight

DisKnit is right...I neeed to post. I haven't shown my face around here since Portland, which was 2 + weeks ago, and lovely to boot. I saw snow. I got cold. I bought yarn. I drank beer. I stayed up and out til the wee hours. I knit a hat. Since the return, spring has come to Hawaii, with warmer weather, a cessation of the hideous, mud-bearing rains, and better moods all around.

No pix of the new yarny stuff; I confess, it's Malabrigo; something I've never knit with before, but I was enchanted with its softness and extraordinary colors.

To amuse myself, and to continue the endless photographing and documenting of my stash for Ravelry, I've been playing with the swift and ballwinder, and making yarncakes out on the deck. I share examples of stashdigging and yarncaking below:
Here is some delightfully Project Spectrum-inspired Woolarina Boucle, that I am wondering about. It's about 750 yards of more or less worsted weight, in a color that's absolutely enchanting:


And this is the spoils from the Virginia Fall Fiber Festival, some merino laceweight that will see my needles very soon, probably as Icarus, in a beautiful silvery green color known as lichen. Alas, it was not dyed with lichen...


Here's the view I have from the deck. Never mind the intrusive tiki torch, we in Hawaii must have our tiki torches. And our mosquito coils and citronella candles, but that's another story.


And the fruits of my "labor" are sweet:



Alas, now I have a drawer full of yarncakes and have to knit something, as Forest Canopy is finished (but not photographed) and the Austermann Sock #1 is galloping down the homestretch. I'm going to have to pick up the front of Must Have again... I've been wearing Forest Canopy as a wrinkly crinkly neck scarf, which is pleasing to me. I am a little worried about blocking it, but that's coming up, and hopefully will be documented.

DisKnit: C is for Catching Up and California

I'm home on a beautiful day that is so full of spring that it is somewhat of a regret but I'm leaving on Thursday for vacationing in California. So today is for catching up. Taxes, bank balances, laundry, phone calls, dishes (sigh). I'm definitely looking forward to my trip to California. My first visit to the central valley was at exactly this time, and it is a fabulus time to vist. Before the heat makes things difficult, but when the green is on the hills. I have a picture somewhere that captures it, but for now, you'll have to imagine it.


The trip is all about visiitng friends, and spending some days knitting with "Vermicious" of Ravelry on Point Reyes. So looking ahead is about manicures, movies, a concert at the Palms by Chris Webster.

But in the meantime, back into the land of turbotax. KBrow is going to have to emerge from her post-vacation daze and do some blogging now.

DisKnit: Backwards towards Aran Success

I'll begin with this lovely picture to let you know I succumb to the lure of buying wool today on a beautiful spring-like day in Washington:


then, I'll go back to last night when the newly formed Dupont Circle SnB group convened in Capitol Heights, Maryland for more intense revels than our restaurant's meetups allow. For example there was this:

There was no picture alas of the lovely guacomole that I made, or the cupcakes, or the tequila and punch. But they are happy memories. And I got to meet this little creature: a glider:


And best of all, I finished the Aran during the party, as documented by a picture taken by Laura. I wonder if I should make the sleeves longer . . . perhaps I'll wear it a whole day first. The advantage of having taken so long to finish it that I am okay with continuing to adjust it.


Meanwhile Curtis continues to like to pull out all his toys:

Notice the iguana, the whale, and the octopus. He's quite eclectic in his taste.

May those of you who care about the rite of the Superbowl find satisfaction.

k-brow: impending radio silence

Since it's so rainy and cold here, I thought I'd go off for a weekend somewhere really rainy and cold...like Portland, OR again! I mean I was tempted by Amsterdam, but it's a long way to fly,

So. Radio silence on my part in the upcoming for a few days, whilst I am off drinking heavily hopped beers and enjoying all manner of joys with my boy, including John Doe in concert at Dante's. No doubt there will be some yarn shopping, and the frantic knitting of a hat even as we speak, because of the upcoming visit to a place that's predicted to have a high of 41 degrees F this weekend. People, I am a tropical flower! Cut me some slack, here! Guess I'm glad I'm not going to Amsterdam, after all, though I'll probably do what I did in Amsterdam, 5 Christmases ago...hang out in cafes and bars and museums and stores and feel cozy and urban and urbane.

Time to wash some warm clothes.

Back next Thursday or so.

k-b

DisKnit: Learning from the Aran

I'm thinking about how really trying to tackle the necessary repairs to the Aran has been a good task for my January. It has required me to focus. I often have worked on it in total silence, no music, no reading while knitting, no watching of the blessed Netflix. Figuring things out by gut feeling rather than by any absolute surety of approach. This type of thinking naturally then led to the need to rip the neckline out three times completely, and to rip other amounts at times. A useful reminder for me who pretends to prefer to do a thing once and get it over with that circling around is actually more how I accomplish most things. And that going backward is as useful as moving forward.

I am surprised that once I really started in on this repair -- once I asked for help here and on Ravelry -- I didn't really want to give up very often. Sometimes I realized it was too hard to do when I was tired or my fingers hurt from those tiny sharp needles (my cuticles need to be layered in moisturizer). I just laughed when I also discovered that over the ten years since I last touched this sweater, small holes had appeared. I think a creature made some, but this is also lovely hand-spun wool and so some of the joins are weak. I probably knit through some of those areas and over time the yarn just broke. I duplicate stitched over those places and it looks just fine. And now I realize that I made the sleeves and body too short for me -- and this sweater is going be for me you can believe. So even though the challenge kept changing, I haven't given up. I plan to crochet some plain edging on the sleeves which I think will go fine. If not, I'll try something else.

All of this learning is good for me. Last year was learning by foolishness mostly. Adventures at times, but rarely very deliberate and many, somewhat sad. I'd like to take this Aran approach a bit more into my life -- experimental, but devoted; mistaken, but forgiven. I'll see.

In the meantime, there is a happier me in the sweater:



And there are still ends to sew in:


But there is also Curtis still licking his Christmas Frog who has now lost both eyes and one leg but still makes its odd croaking sound:

DisKnit: C is for Crafty Fair and the alphabet game.

Hey fans, there's a mini-Craft Bastard coming up in DC next weekend February 3rd and woolarina will be there and any yarn with Pink in it is 20% off. So let me know if you "need" me to collect anything for you.

So those of you on Paradise Island you can browse the fair here.

I just have to walk a couple of blocks over to Meridian Hill. Okay, that was a little mean, but . . . KBrow was dissing the street noise in my 'hood and I had to throw one back.

DisKnit: B is for Blessings.

Hi all,

KBrow has been doing the heavy lifting around here, and I'm obliged to try to make up a little bit of blather to amuse you all. I am sitting in an apartment reeking of smoke because in a romantic gesture I lit a fire loglast night, but in a brainless gesture I didn't open the flue. Oh well. I have candles lit and a nice dog who will hopefully eventually take over the fire log smell or I'll just start spraying perfume everywhere and see what smell comes from that blends.

Still, I've got to note some blessings I've received lately. Erin Galvez, a dear friend formerly of Sacramento now of Portland, Oregon sent me this painting last week. It was partly in exchange to my handing over of what she calls "vinyl" before my move from Sacramento. The pictures can only do a little justice, but it is now hanging a place of honor in my bedroom:


And then my dad and stepmother went to Ethiopia recently and just sent me this weaving which is in all my favorite colors (orange for accent) and it going to have a place of honor in what is called the green sofa room (KBrow can testify to its value):

All I want to do is to order yarn in these colors and make a sweater to match.

But, I slogged away over MLK weekend on the blessing of the neckline on the aran. I do not yet have pictures of success, but I have pictures of the first cuts, the second (bad) attempt at a new neckline and the confidence to say I think my new approach may work:

Notice the steek stitching as suggest by Chelsea and many a ravelry member. In fact this first attempt turn out to be too timid and I had to cut more. But first I did a K1P1 ribbing on the collar and it looked bad (I mean I looked bad, but it did too):

It was too many stitches and it just didn't work. So I ripped out, cut down some more, and have cast back on with fewer stitches and I'm continuing the cable pattern from the sweater. Test have suggested the method is good. But I'm knitting in worsted on a size 3 US needle and it hurts.

Another blessing is my housecleaners brought me wine as a post-holiday gift. Is that a mixture of sweet and scary? Yet another blessing is that I received a performance bonus and managed to refinance my (smoky) house at a very fortuitous time. So now I must pour some more wine, pick up the aran, and go torture my fingers in the relatively smoke-free green sofa room.

notice NO report on the weather or my mood!

k-brow: A is for Austermann

A is for Austermann...


...with aloe vera and jojoba oil; a yarn that's been languishing in stash for a couple of years, while I decided what to do with it.
I'm planning a sock, very plain and stockinetty, to let those big stripes do their thing, while I learn to use 2 circulars. My socks in the past (3 or 4 pairs complete, 5 or 6 more frogged in frustration) have been challenging mismatches of pattern, yarn, needles and aptitude. This represents a new adventure for me. I'm not about to break the Koigu curse I've been under, but if it all works out, well, just maybe...

Much sunnier day. Much sunnier aspect.

k-brow: fall from grace

I didn't really make any New Year's Resolutions this year, that I shared, anyway. Certainly a resolution to suffer no dog guilt (a central theme in my 2007, as in Wracked By) is one I'm trying to stick to. I guess Death By Vinyasa is another habit I'm trying to build, and on that one, I'm starting to see results. Oh, I'm not thinner or more flexible, but after 3 weeks of 2x/week yoga, I'm starting to feel a wee shard o' bliss instead of agony in those endless rounds of saluting the sun in that crowded gym studio. Last night, I actually felt myself getting a wee bit stronger! So Death By Vinyasa is self-gratifying, at this point, though the big pile of yoga clothing catalogues that seem to be piling into my mailbox these days is just damn annoying. But more on the annoyance later.

I didn't exactly say it aloud, okay, maybe to Blogless Michelle or Acornbud, but I was trying hard to knit from stash and not buy yarn for the coming year. Yeah, you say, let's see her maintain that one... I can practically hear DisKnit snorting her bourbon on that one. She knows, baby, she knows. I was good for exactly 15 days of 2008. I resistedKai's on-sale hemp at Aloha Knitters one night. The next week, I turned down an opportunity to buy some lovely Wollenmeise from Bockstark, who was selling it at a tempting price. My excuse for that was that I was a pretend sock knitter and a struggling lace knitter at best, and so I got out of that one. But Little Knits sent me an email last week advertising astonishing prices on Cashmerino Aran, that coveted, next-to-skin-soft yarn, the one that I've been fantasizing about for so long. I caved so fast...ordered up 13 skeins of the stuff. Don't ask me how I arrived at my numbers, but it cost about $39 per bag, and yeah, yeah, I know I've gone and added more green yarn to my already-abundant collection of green yarn in my stash, but this was true penny-pincher mentality ("I'll never find it again so cheap!!") and the options were orange and fuschia, and I figured a woman can never have too many green sweaters, right? Behold the gorgeousness that is the Cashmerino Aran:

I hope I don't fetishize it to the point of not being able to knit it up without considerable angst.

This is what the Pali looks like today, up the road from our house. I left for work in it, Kailua enjoyed it through my work day, and I came home in this punishing drizzle. The rainbow is cheering, if a bit faint, up here. Still, it's a nice sight, even if the punishing drizzle meant that the dogs had to do with some very feeble excuse for exercise. I brushed them and we played outside a bit, and then I've retired back into the house to wash some dishes and sort through mail, looking for tax documents


Lastly, Cricket has informed me that in spite of my apparent lack of dog guilt in 2008, he is still able to muster a grin at the faint appearance of sunshine.


Happy Hump Day!