Bad Blogger

No, not blogger.com -- it's been very cooperative lately. The bad blogger is me. I haven't posted in almost a week and I haven't even responded to comments. If you've left a comment and haven't heard back, know that I really appreciate them. I'm still amazed that total strangers (and a few friends) come by to visit!

Life, both the work part and the not-work part, is hectic. There hasn't been much knitting, and what knitting there has been, has been baby blanket squares. These two are my part of a group blankie. I'm assuming the recipient isn't reading blogs right now..... I hope.....

The top square is a simple purled hearts pattern from The Knitter's Bible, which is one of my favorite technique books. The bottom is a cable adapted from the Woman's Simple Pullover from Cables Untangled. Both are knitted from Feza Zara and, if you could see the stitches better, are an excellent lesson in gauge. The hearts were knitted on size 6 needles, while the cable is being knit on size 5s. The heart square, while pretty, is kind of floppy and sloppy. The cable square has nice even, almost perfect stitches. Amazing. If I weren't so tired of knitting squares (and I still have a square and a half for the other blankie), I'd re-do the hearts. It's pretty obvious that I'm knitting looser than I used to.

A Belated Valentine's Day Post

I like Valentine's Day a lot. I love hearts and my favorite color is pink, so of course I like Valentine's Day. I had a Valentine's Day post all planned, but this week was really, really busy, and I forgot to take the pictures to go with it.

My office is a mess. That's okay; I know where everything is. But on the corner of my desk -- actually about two-thirds of the way down the front of it -- there are a multitude of hearts. The majority are glass or stone, but I have wooden hearts, a leather one, a couple metal ones, at least one made of plastic, and numerous hand-painted paper ones. I buy a lot for myself, but people give them to me, too. Here are a few of the twenty or so I have.

There are two different red glass hearts -- the one on the right is larger than the one on the left.

And in knitting-related news -- I got to meet the recipient of the baby kimono last night. He's 6 days old, and has something of a baby mullet, but he's awfully cute!

My current active projects consist entirely of squares for baby blankets. I'm looking forward to getting back to knitting something for me....

By Popular Request....

People keep asking about the ugly orange baby hat. How could a BABY HAT be ugly? Really, it's floppy and, because my needles were too big, has some holes. But -- if you insist:

You really can't see the worst of the holes, up in the decreases. Take my word for it.....

So much for unsuccessful baby knitting (that baby, my cousin's, is now getting a Mason-Dixon Mitred Square baby blanket -- hopefully before his first birthday!)..... here's some successful baby knitting, a baby kimono, also from Mason-Dixon Knitting. This is for a friend's baby boy, born last Friday.

This is a truly awful photo. The baby kimono is quite cute. Instead ribbons, I used I-cord for the ties -- more manly, you know. Although the pattern doesn't call for it, I also attached inside ties, made from crocheted chains.

Oh, and I finally succumbed and switched to the new Blogger. Let me know if anything weird happens.....

Airport Knitting

Yesterday I flew to Harlingen to teach a class. (Note: Click that link to the Wikipedia entry for Harlingen - I wonder how long it will continue to begin "Harlingen is the best city in the world"?) My 8:20 a.m. flight was delayed by fog until almost 11:00; luckily, I got there in time for the workshop! The highlight of any trip to Harlingen is the free wi-fi in the airport. I knew I would probably end up hanging out at the airport for a couple hours, waiting for my return flight, and had planned some work to finish up. But guess what? The wi-fi was out, and there's no one at the airport to fix it after 5:00. So instead, I had to knit some more.

Between the morning delay and the evening wi-fi-lessness, I finished over half of the Mason & Dixon Baby Kimono. I know for a lot of you, this would be no big deal, but, as one of the world's three slowest knitters, I'm pretty proud of it!

Sorry about the blurry picture!

FO!

Finally, I've finished the second Wine and Roses Mitt for my sister. In fact, she now has them in her possession.

I am so, so pleased with these. Despite the weeks it took me to get them done, they were really a quick knit. I just kept getting interrupted -- by a red scarf, by the world's ugliest baby hat, by a baby blanket.... I finally decided this weekend I just had to finish them!

The pattern looked a little daunting at first, but they weren't really hard. They were interesting, though, which I have figured out is important for me. I love the idea of 'mindless' knitting, but then I get bored!

And look at the ball of yarn I have left -- I think I may have enough left for another pair. Hmmmm........

Particulars
Pattern: Wine and Roses Mitts from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits

Yarn: Jojoland 100% Cashmere fingering/lace weight yarn in Cashmere Blue -- way less than one 400 yard skein -- purchased at Kid'n'Ewe

Needles: Size 2 (2.75mm) Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs

Famous Felines

Which famous feline are you?

You're the Pink Panther. Suave and sophisticated, you enjoy your superiority and your natural grace. Though to some, this attitude makes you appear arrogant, most people are attracted by it rather than turned off. You especially enjoy being in the social spotlight. It just doesn't get any better than this.
Take this quiz!

Huh..... well, pink is my favorite color and I do sometimes enjoy being the center of attention. But I really wanted to be Hobbes (of Calvin and....). I think maybe this description was really meant for Simon.

Look! Knitting!

But first, one last plumbing-related comment: Here is my new water heater, undergoing kitty inspection.


The water heater actually represents just a small portion of the plumbing work, and only about 15% of the money spent. However, it's the only thing I can take a picture of, unless you want to see the holes in the bathroom walls the plumber left. I'm lucky that my sister's father-in-law is very handy and works cheap -- he installed the water heater for me and will fix the holes.

There has been some knitting going on. I'm still working on the second Wine and Roses Mitt for my sister. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend. I'm also working on a Mitred Square Blanket, for the baby who originally was getting a hat. I originally had planned on 36 squares, but now I'm thinking 24 will be enough. I have 11 done now, and laid them out on the floor to get an idea of size. I guess you can say that Simon is included so you can get an idea of the size (although really he's included because he wouldn't move!). And although it looks like he's being fierce, in reality he was just talking to me.

I also need to cast on for a Mason-Dixon baby kimono for the second February baby. On Wednesday, I have to take a quick trip to Harlingen (my institution has a branch there), and I think it will be good airplane knitting.

And, finally, because Simon is a ham who gets a lot more pictures on the blog, here's one of Harley, in one of her favorite places -- under a chair.

ETA: If you've purchased Beaverslide yarn, you might want to make sure you keep it out of reach your dog, as Steve learned the hard way!