At Last, a Post!

I admit it, I'm a bad blogger. Even when I have something to post about, something fun and exciting, I still forget. Go ahead and ready the wet noodles, I know I deserve it.

One problem being that I have suffered a brain fart and have forgotten how to get the pictures off the camera and onto where I want them. Don't worry, it's just the brain worms. I'll go ahead and write something up and edit with pictures later. I know all two of you want to see beautiful Old San Juan, right?

Speaking of Puerto Rico...!

I'll spare you the account of sitting in a nearly empty airport first thing in the morning, and then sitting on a couple a very full planes for a few hours and skip right to the good stuff. Well, it would be the good stuff except we were staying at this golf resort miles out of town. Remember here, we are there for a conference for Hubs work, this is not a vacation that we planned for ourselves, nor one that we would have planned (the resort part). We are not resort people, I don't think I can stress this enough, not resort people. So we're miles out of town surrounded by "Them". Granted the resort is nice, and is right on the beach, and free, I'm not complaining. But it was Boring! Hubs was in meeting all morning the first two days, leaving me, and all the other guests, at a loose end. When I go on vacation I go to see and do, not do the same crap I do at home. I can sit on my butt and read at home.

However...!

In the afternoon we were provided the option of guided tours, which we gladly accepted. Monday we went to see El Yunque rainforest. Ok, this is more my speed.

We boarded the bus after lunch and it was at this point that we met our guide. I'll call her "M", because I don't want to post anyone's name without permission.

The rainforest was beautiful and fascinating and very very green, as you will see once I have defeated the brain worms. There are rabid mongooses there. No really. They brought in mongooses to control the snakes and now they themselves are pests and are rabid for a bit of extra spiciness. We didn't encounter any. Is it odd that I am disappointed to have missed the rabid mongoose?

M was a great deal of fun to have as a tour guide, she is one of those people who don't stop moving or talking. Not hyper, just going. And she gets excited about snails, squealing excited. More on her later.

After far too short a visit to El Yunque it's back on the bus and back to the Land of Boring. Ah well, next afternoon we visited Old San Juan. And I will leave you here, Reader, and will return after I figure this picture thing out. I've done this before, I know how, I'm too young for Alzheimer's so it's gotta be brain worms.

To be continued...

Still Alive

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Actual post to follow at some point. Really, I promise.

Socks and Shoes

I have yet again started a pair of socks. I cannot begin to tell how many times I have have started a sock in the past few weeks and it has just not worked out. I was really starting to think that I that have lost my sock mojo. I have had this beautiful Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock sitting around for nearly a year, worked and frogged and worked again. I positively love this colorway, Flames, but I could not find a stitch count that would keep it from pooling in the worst way. Much to my delight this pattern is working brilliantly with it. My gauge seems spot on and what I've done thus far fits nicely. By golly, I think I'm knitting a sock!



I hate shoe shopping. I have flat feet and an arthritic toe, shoe shopping hurts and it's frustrating. I have shoes that I have worn for years and hang on to for dear life because they are comfortable and I have such trouble finding good shoes. Imagine my delight in happening upon this pair and finding when I tried them on for kicks that not only did they fit, but they were comfortable, and cute, and on clearance. I think they will look damned adorable with some knit socks.

Back to the socks: I'm doing the Fawkes pattern, on my new KnitPicks Harmony DPNs. I love these needles. They are smooth and sleek and work quickly, while having the comfort of wood. Someday I will have a full set of these. They work great for my socks, and for my lace. I just got a circ in the mail today to put Icarus on, I've been sitting here sproinging and flopping the cable, the join looks wonderful, I may actually finish that shawl at some point now that I have them. Need More Harmony!

Happy Caturday!

moar funny pictures

WIP it, WIP it Good

It's Wednesday, let's take a look at what I'm working on.


Print o' the Wave, using that gorgeous Malabrigo lace I bought the other day.

I didn't intend on working this shawl just yet. I just wanted to try out my new Knitpicks Harmony tips, and my sister hasn't given the thumbs up on the yarn I picked for her Juno Regina yet, so I cast on this one. I was only going to work one repeat to see what I thought and them put it up for later. Yeah right. Done laughing yet? Good.

Pictured here is ten repeats and change of the center panel. I'm doing the center all in one piece, rather than the two pieces grafted together. I just don't like the look of the seam in the middle. I think I'll have to cut out a couple of repeats as well. I've read a number of complaints that the pattern is short on yardage. I have 940 yards so I'm hoping it will be enough. I know the edging is 40% of the yardage, so I'll work the center until I have a little more than 40g left of the 100g I started with and cross my fingers that it comes out. I will cry if it doesn't. Seriously.

Icarus is pouting in the corner. Sorry, buddy. I've ordered some size 3 Harmony circs, I really don't like the needles I'm using for him, I think I'll go faster with the Harmony. I'll get back to him eventually.

Caturday!

Mino says "HI!"



Spooky just wants to be left alone in his box.



Ok, there, my cats, I am now a crazy internet cat lady. Hooray.

Am I Not Beautiful?

It's Friday, I think some Yarn Pr0n would be in order.

Malabrigo Merino Lace/Emerald

I had a great time shopping yesterday, checking out an LYS I hadn't been in before because it's way out of the way in the next city over. I found a number of gems, not in the least an amazing amount of Noro, scary crazy piles of the stuff. I would have adopted them all and brought them home and loved them and hugged them and called them George (yes, all of them George), but I am on a budget here, so no.

I could not resist the call of the Malabrigo, sitting there so seemingly innocent on the shelf, sweetly wound into it's little skein. I had to have it.

I don't know what it is about Malabrigo. The colors are so rich and the fiber is so soft, it is irresistible. I even have a pattern in mind for these particular specimens, Eunny Jang's Print o' the Wave. I just need to finish Icarus, do my sister's Juno Regina, clean the house, mind the kid, and apply for school. Not to mention the whole list of other patterns calling my name.

(Oh yeah, I think I've talked myself into going back to school, more on that later)

Bother

OK, I admit it. I have lost my mojo. I have a case of startitis that you don't even want to know about. Nothing is working out right. I have been caught in the knitting doldrums.

So, I dug out my Icarus Shawl. I've had this thing hanging around for a year and a half. When I started it I was in love. Oh, the yarn was so soft and glowed with an inner beauty. So light, so ephemeral. And them the basement flooded and I realized that the silt that now covered every square inch of the floor was the very same color of my shawl. The very same color that I reveled in was now nothing more to me than dirt. That spoiled me on the shawl. I worked on it a bit more, but I had lost my enthusiasm and eventually I gave up and put it away. Occasionally I would bring it out again and work a few rows, but it never caught me again the way it had before and back into the closet it would go.



So, I have brought it out again in the hopes that an old project can shake me out of my funk and maybe I can actually finish that thing. I have two more charts and the edging to go. I'm concerned though, I fear I don't have quite enough yarn, and it's a discontinued color. Granted I could finish off the edge in a different color, there is one that would look nice, but I can't shake the feeling that this shawl is doomed.

I am determined to finish it. I will, and it will be grand, warts and all.

A Minor Miracle

I went shopping today, which honestly is an astounding feat in itself. I went shopping for a specific item, a dress, further astonishment. The truly amazing thing is that I found one. In fact, it was the first one I pulled off the rack and it fit, it actually fit. No fuss, no grumbling at clothes racks, no prodding at unsightly fat rolls. I walked in, saw a dress, grabbed it, tried it on and bought it.

Ok, it's not much, I know, but I think it's wild.

I'm not one for shopping.

The sugar on top is that I also found a bra that fits on my first try. Holy shit. The swimsuits are on the racks, but I wasn't about to test how far my luck would stretch. Another day, when I'm feeling braver, and less pudgy.

Everybody Panic!

It snowed. White stuff fell out of the sky. Chaos ensued. I believe there were reports of dogs and cats living together.

Don't believe me? Well, here...



Unfortunately it's the slushy stuff, with sleet coming down on top of it and freezing rain expected later. There will be no snow angels or snow men or other anthropomorphic snow formations today. I have other plans.



Ah, snow days!

Knitters of the Caribbean

We found out yesterday that Hubs has won a trip to Puerto Rico. An all-inclusive week's stay at the Wyndham Rio Mar, in March. Just the two of us. Ah, heaven...

Problem being, I have no appropriate clothes. I don't own "resort attire". Most of my summer stuff is falling apart, and I really needed to buy new this year. Now I have to scrounge around and find something climate and resort appropriate at totally the wrong time of year.

And my tubby butt needs a swimsuit..shudder.

Am I complaining? Hell no! I get a weeks vacation, paid, on a tropical island. If all I have to do for it is find some summer clothes in winter, I think I have it good. Honestly, laying off the beer and pizza between now and then will be the hard part. (now I'm whining)

On my Mind

While I'm thinking about it I'll put up my first pair of Endpapers. These were done with Louet gems in Truffle and Cream. I could just lick them, except they are made of wool and not chocolate and thus not very tasty, so I won't.

I'm using the Cream in pair #2, the first pair only used 17g out of 50g, so there's plenty left. I'm trying to get them done so I can move on to the Anemoi Mitts for the Improving Fair-Isle Skills with Eunny KAL. Some day I shall achieve that Holy Grail, that Mt. Everest, That South Pole of Knitting achievement, The Autumn Rose. *faint*

Avoiding My Socks...

I promised you knitting, didn't I? In fact, I promised you something finished. I'm going to be honest, I meant to finish a sock, really I did. The ribbing got to me, I just couldn't do it, it just wasn't going to happen, I have to be in just the right mood for that much ribbing.

So, I started this instead:



That will grow up to be one of a pair of Endpaper Mitts. Cute, huh?

I did finish something...



I made a Quant to match my scarf. I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it. I used Patons SWS for both, in Natural Navy. It's an OK yarn, but being a single it tends to unspin itself too easily for my liking. It behaved itself for Quant, but defiantly gave me hell working my scarf. Oh well, everything came out nice in the end.

Well, mostly nice. I chose that color because it looked so good with my suede jacket. The suede jacket that the cat peed on. It's at the cleaners but I'm not holding out much hope. I have a wool peacoat, but it just isn't the same, and my knitting just won't look as good with it.

Damn cat.

The Making of Coffee and the Elegance of Socks.

First and foremost, the coffee:

The world runs on coffee, as far as I'm concerned, and many food historians would back me up to a degree (I am aware that the most popular drink worldwide is tea, but we're on my island now). The growth, trade, consumption of coffee has been a catalyst for economic growth, colonizations, slavery and near slavery of indigenous populations, revolution, and a social change. The coffee houses of Europe fueled the social and economic changes that shaped the world we live in today. Wars have been fought by soldiers fed by little else than a daily ration of coffee and cured meat. In the modern era it is unthinkable to many to head to the office or field without a strong cup or two put away. I took some time this morning while preparing my coffee and wrote down just how I make it. Try it, and once you stop vibrating let me know what you think.

I make my coffee in a French Press and you should too. You'll thank me.

Heat 500 ml of water to 90C this can be filtered if you like, my tap water is passable enough so I don't bother

While the water is heating grind 25g of fresh Arabica beans, I prefer a City Roast, or even a Full City Roast, depending on the quality of beans.

Once the water is hot and the beans are ground, dump them in the French Press. If you like, add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to it.

Wait four minutes.

Pour the coffee into a large cup, remember, you are working with a pint of water here, so get a really big cup.

Add 28g of granulated sugar, stir and enjoy. (I like turbinado sugar in my coffee, but I keep forgetting to buy it)

Now, on to the socks:

I am a knitter. That is not the sum of my interests or existence, but it is something that I greatly enjoy. You, Reader, will see much knitting here. Right now I would like to say a bit about socks.

When I say the elegance of socks I am talking about the construction, the manipulation of stitches, increases and decreases that form the very odd shape of a human foot. Look at your foot, go ahead, I'll wait. That is one odd shape, isn't it. If you are a knitter you will appreciate the amount of shaping required to produce an item to conform to such an oddly shaped appendage. If you are a knitter chances are good that you are wearing a hand knit sock, look at it, really look. Follow the line of decreases along the side, the curve of the heel that hugs your own heel so well. That is one interesting piece of architecture, isn't it?

I was recently gifted a copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi, and I spent a good deal of time last night reading through it, marveling at the reexamining and reworking of sock structure. I simply cannot wait to pick up yarn and needles and explore these amazing new ideas. I am enthralled by the elegance and simplicity of the new constructions. If you are a sock knitter, or want to be a sock knitter, go out and get a copy.

To my Secret Pal, if you are reading, thank you again!

Coming soon (hopefully): The First Finished Object of the Year

A new year, a new blog.

I'm making an effort to get involved and express myself more. You'll see plenty of knitting, more than a few rants, and possibly a taste of my other creative ventures. There may be opinions expressed about coffee along the way as well. I keep finding the bottom of my cup.