Why our cat begs like a dog

Uh, yeah, that would be Shane feeding ice cream to the cat. It's totally his fault that she begs every time we eat.

What was I thinking?

I don't wear heels. My everyday wardrobe is not dressy enough for them. My feet can't handle them - I've been wearing Birkenstocks almost every day for so many years that my feet are ruined for any other shoes. Also, I can't walk in heels. No matter how hard I try to walk normally, they just don't feel natural to me. The last pair of heels I bought was for my wedding 2-1/2 years ago.

Until today...



What could have possibly happened to make me decide to buy a pair of heels? It's this stupid business trip I have next week. Usually, when I travel for work, I don't bother wearing anything too business-y. Business casual is sufficient, especially if I'm visiting current clients.

But this time, I'm going along with some coworkers to give a presentation to a current client in an attempt to get them to sign a contract with us to do a lot more work for them. I thought more formal business wear was in order. Of course, because I never wear stuff like that normally, I had to go shopping last weekend. I ended up with some brown tweedy slacks with cuffs at the hem, a cream colored shell and a brown one-button sweater with elbow-length sleeves. That's about as business-y as I can stand. I figure if I add my pearls and some pearl earrings, then I'll be dressed up enough for the occasion.

Since slacks nowadays are made longer so that they can be worn with heels, I needed a pair to prevent the cuffs from dragging on the ground. A quick shopping trip after work today and I picked up the above shoes. The rounded toe feels better on my wide feet than pointier toes.

I am so going to hate myself on Wednesday. I predict much pain and swearing. If I'm lucky, I won't trip and fall on my face.

Baby Sweater FOs

Sorry for that prolonged absence. Work has been uber-stressful lately, and I haven't felt like blogging. I have a business trip next Monday that involves a 2.5 hour drive with people I'm not too fond of. I'll be back in the office for a whole day, then we're off to Colorado for vacation. In anticipation of being out of the office for essentially 2 weeks, I have been trying to work ahead. I think I've burned out a circuit in my brain.

Anyway, enough work whining. On to the FOs!

Two of the gabillion pregnant women I work with are due 2 weeks apart, and they are both in my department, so we had a joint shower for them. Since they would be opening their gifts together, I thought making them the same thing was a good idea. So they both got the same sweater.



This is the Easy Baby Cardigan (Ravelry link) from Knitting Pure & Simple. The name is accurate - it's a very easy pattern. I'm not too great with sweaters, but this pattern was simple even for me.



It's worked from the top, down. I opted to do a provisional caston so that I could kitchener the top of the hood together. I love kitchener. It's one of those magic knitting things that is a pain to do, but the results are worth it.

The green sweater has a seed stitch border. The red one has a garter stitch border (the pattern is written with garter stitch).



The yarn is Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Red Pepper and Dublin. I used 5 whole skeins of each, and a little of a 6th skein. I'm loving this yarn. It's really soft. It would be a great yarn to use in gifts being knitted for people who don't like the usual scratchiness of wool. And it's washable. How great is that?



I will definitely make this sweater again. It may end up being my go-to baby sweater for shower gifts. I'm thinking of making my niece one for her first birthday in December.

Here are the deets:
Pattern: Simple Baby Cardigan by Knitting Pure & Simple
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Red Pepper and Dublin
Needles: size 9 29" Inox circs
Started: sometime in late May 2008
Finished: 8/6/08
Mods: Did a provisional caston and kitchenered the top of the hood; used seed stitch on the border of the green sweater instead of garter stitch.

And how were the sweaters received? Both mommies loved them. Unbeknownst to me, the mom who received the green sweater has planned a jungle theme for her nursery, so the green is perfect. And the other mommy is a huge KU fan and loved that the red is one of KU's colors. Yay!

Giving in to my inner fiber geek

I learned to knit 5 years ago. I took a class at the Yarn Barn in July 2003. Obviously, I took to knitting right away. It’s an obsession I cannot ever imagine being without, and one that I hope I can indulge for many, many years to come.

Not long after learning to knit, I remember having a conversation with my aunt about it. At the time, she knew how to crochet, weave, and spin, but not how to knit; spinning was her obsession, much as knitting was mine. I knew nothing about those three crafts, so even though we both had a love of the fiber arts, we couldn’t relate. She would talk about her most recent spinning wheel acquisition (she has several, including a massive antique great wheel), or show me one of her numerous plastic tubs full of fiber, and I just didn’t get the fascination anymore than she could understand my need to use two skinny sticks and thin yarn to loop together a pair of socks.

I had no interest in learning to spin. Other than my aunt, who lives 5 hours away, I didn’t know any spinners. And, at the time, spinning was not as popular as it is now, so I didn’t run into it very often on the knitternet. Slowly, though, I started noticing more and more knitters learning to spin. Every time I encountered a knit blogger's tales of spinning, I generally skipped over those posts and hoped for the knitting content to return.

So, why not jump on that ever widening spinning bandwagon?

1. I don’t like the often thick-and-thin quality of handspun yarn. My anal retentiveness prefers millspun yarn. The smoother, the better.
2. I don’t like the often barber pole color effect of plied handspun yarn. I figured there was probably a way to avoid this, but it seemed like the majority of what I saw on the intarwebs had that particular color effect. There are some times when barber pole-ing looks okay to me, but in general I prefer plies of the same color that repeat, either in short repeats or long ones, and hand-painting.
3. Cost. Do I really need another craft and all of its various paraphernalia taking more of my paychecks and storage space? Especially since spinning wheels are no small expense? I can hardly afford my yarn addiction, much less whatever fiber addiction would surely accompany any acquired spinning skills.
4. This is the most important reason: I HATE the fact that once you have spun something, you cannot unspin it and redo it. My aforementioned anal retentiveness is manageable in knitting because if I mess up, I can rip back and redo my work. Such is not the case with spinning. If I don't like something that I have spun, too bad – I’m stuck with it.
   

Late last fall, I started reading a knitblog that had a fair amount of spinning content in it (the late Momma Monkey’s blog – God rest her soul). While I didn’t read much of the text in the spinning-heavy posts, I did stop long enough to look at the pictures. Gigi did lovely work, and seeing her handspun sparked my interest a little. As more and more knitbloggers started spinning and posting about their handspun yarns, I paid a little more attention than I did when my adventures in knitting began 5 years ago.

Maybe I could spin. Nah! I still wasn’t convinced. I mean, what happens if I learn, then produce crappy yarn while I’m learning? My perfectionism hated the thought of all that wasted fiber. And I really couldn’t get past that barber pole thing (I’m sure there’s a better name for it, but I can’t think of one right now).

Still, I kept the idea at the small dark space at the back of my mind. Whenever I would see some handspinning pictures on a blog, I would dust off the thought and ponder learning to spin. But each time, I would put that thought away for another day.

Then, I saw this post. That was it. I was convinced. Seeing that nearly perfectly spun hank of yarn in such lovely even repeats of color was all I needed to decide that I wanted to learn to spin. I’m sure that somewhere in the back of mind, I knew it was possible to handspin yarn that is similar to millspun yarn, I just needed to see it to know for sure. My anal retentiveness be damned. For the first time, I looked at a picture of handspun yarn and thought, “I wanna do that!”

So now my quest has begun. After a couple of months of research, I have decided a couple of things: 1) I don’t want to spin on a spindle, and 2) I want to be able to spin mostly finer weight yarns – nothing thicker than sport weight. I know what wheel I want, and I have started saving the money for it. Instead of doing the impulse buying that has characterized most of my adult financial life, I am going to be responsible and save the money. If all goes well, I may be able to afford the wheel I want by the new year. I won’t say now which one I have my eye on. I’ll save that until after it is purchased.

In a strange coincidence, Rebekkah at Bowerbird Knits is giving away that very skein of her handspun that changed my mind about spinning, in a contest. She wants to know what our creative pursuits will be over the next year. My response is that I plan to learn to spin. More specifically, I want to spin some sock yarn, design a sock pattern, and knit the pattern from my handspun. I would eventually like to buy a whole fleece, process it myself, spin it, and knit myself a shawl, a sweater, or an afghan. But that seems awfully ambitious for a new spinner. Maybe next year.

New WiPs

I have a couple of new WiPs to show you.

The first is a cable and moss stitch sock.



The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks. I'm not super excited about knitting these. I started out making a different pattern, but it contained a bunch of p2 tbl, and Addis just aren't pointy enough for that sort of decrease with fingering weight yarn - especially since I am the uber-tight knitter. By the time I gave up, I already had the cuff done and didn't feel like ripping it out. That meant finding a 72 stitch pattern that would look okay with 2x2 ribbing on the cuff. The cables and moss stitch pattern seems to be working well. This is the first time I have made a sock with cables since my very first pair of socks, made 4 years ago.

Oh, and the yarn is Knit Picks Risata. The elastic content is interesting, but the yarn is very acrylic-feeling. Kinda squeeky.

The other new WiP is the Henry scarf from Knitty.



Yes, I know this looks like a big blob of cat hair. It's handspun alpaca that I bought at an alpaca market in Estes Park about 3 years ago. The yarn is the perfect weight for the project. The extra fuzz may obscure the pattern now, but I'm hoping that it becomes a little more visible in the finished object. Either way, it's sooooo soft, so who cares?

The Peacock Shawl is plugging along, but doesn't look any different. And, I still haven't picked up the Five Alarm Bag. With all the small needle knitting I've been doing, that bag should be a nice break for my hands if I can figure out where I left off.

Sinful

Saw this Seven Deadly Sins meme on Pam's and Jo's blogs and thought it was interesting.

WRATH
1. Who did you last get angry with?
a coworker – this is odd for me because I usually don’t get angry with coworkers, but this guy really deserved it (sexist, arrogant bastard that he is)

2. What is your weapon of choice?
words

3. Would you hit a member of the opposite sex?
only if I had to defend myself. I’m not a violent person.

4. How about of the same sex?
see #3

5. Who was the last person who got really angry at you?
coworker referenced in #1

6. What is your pet peeve?
I have too many of these to list, but here's a few: people who answer their mobile phones during meetings, men wearing hats indoors (especially at the dinner table), and when a woman’s undergarments are not completely covered by her clothing (bra straps, slips showing at the bottom of a skirt, etc.)

7. Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily?
this really depends on the situation. I don’t necessarily hold grudges in most situations, but I do have a really long memory and am not likely to forget a wrongdoing, even if I don’t hold it against you.

SLOTH
1. What is one thing you’re supposed to do daily that you don’t?
cook dinner

2. What is the latest you’ve ever woken up?
it’s been a long time since I woke up really late, but it would probably be sometime in the afternoon the day after a night out.

4. What is the last lame excuse you made?
I make lame excuses regularly to avoid making dinner.

5. Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through?
yep

6. When was the last time you got in a good workout?
probably when I scrubbed-down the kitchen a couple of weeks ago.

7. How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today?
let’s see... my alarm goes off at 6:45. I don’t actually get out of bed until nearly 7:45. The alarm rings every 8 minutes. That would mean that I hit the snooze 7 or 8 times every morning.

GLUTTONY
1. What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice?
I’m not much for yuppie beverages (I’m a plain ol’ cup ‘o joe kinda gal), but I do like a nice iced coffee once in a while.

2. Meat eaters: white meat or dark meat??
if it’s chicken or turkey, white meat. But I really like duck too, when prepared properly, so I guess that counts as dark.

3. What is the greatest amount of alcohol you’ve had in one sitting/outing/event?
I can’t remember. I did a lot of drinking in college.

4. Have you ever used a professional diet company?
Weight Watchers and ediets.com

5. Do you have an issue with your weight?
yep

6. Do you prefer sweets, salty foods, or spicy?
I like a balance. If I have something salty, I must have something sweet, and vise versa. Same goes for spicy – if I have something spicy, I must have something sweet to balance it out.

7. Have you ever looked at a small house pet or child and thought “lunch”?
uh, no

LUST
1. How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies/family)?
5

2. How many people have seen YOU naked (not counting physicians/family)?
5 (same 5 as above)

3. Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of the opposite gender during a normal conversation?
does my husband count?

4. Have you ever kissed two people in one night?
no

5. What is your favorite body part on a person of your gender of choice?
I love a man’s forearms, especially when he is wearing a long sleeve shirt rolled up to mid-forearm.

6. Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute?
no

GREED
1. How many credit cards do you own?
10 if you count the debit card

2. What’s your guilty pleasure store?
any yarn shop, brick-and-mortar or online

3. Would you rather be rich, or famous?
rich, then I could travel without worrying about money

4. Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks?
no – I have had boring jobs before and I couldn’t stand it.

5. Have you ever stolen anything?
lipstick and matching nail polish when I was a teenager.

6. How many MP3s are on your hard drive?
I’m not sure exactly but it must be in the 3800 range

PRIDE
1. What’s one thing you have done that you’re most proud of?
figure out career I want and actually do it

2. What one thing have you done that your parents are most proud of?
I think my parents are most proud of the fact that after years of ups and downs, I am finally happy in my life.

3. What things would you like to accomplish in your life?
raise children

4. Do you get annoyed by coming in second place?
no

5. Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors?
no

6. Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score?
no, but I have had others cheat off me so that they could get a higher score.

7. What did you do today that you’re proud of?
didn’t send a nasty email to coworker referenced in #1. I instead opted to be the better person and ignored him.

ENVY
1. What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for your own?
I love L’s house. It’s not too big, not too small, and is impeccably decorated.

2. Who would you want to go on “Trading Spaces” with?
Christy – she and I have similar taste, so I know we would both be happy with the outcome.

3. If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be?
no one in particular – I just want to be independently wealthy so that I can do what I want every day.

4. Have you ever been cheated on?
not that I’m aware of, though it wouldn’t surprise me if the X had cheated on me.

5. Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own?
I long for thicker hair.

6. What inborn trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself?
selflessness – I tend to be really selfish at times.


And just 'cuz this made me laugh...



The Evil One fell asleep on the arm of the couch, as she often does, and her head dropped down so that her face was mashed into the pillow. I have no idea how she was breathing.

Eleanor Socks FO

Waaaaayyy back in May, I made a pair of Eleanor socks. They counted as my May socks for the Sock a Month Knitalong. I finally managed to take some pictures of them last week before burying them in my sock drawer until fall.



The pattern is from Monkey Toes. It was really easy to memorize.



It's lacy, but not too much so. I had to alter the pattern a little to get the right number of foot and leg stitches. It's been a while, but I think I added 2 purl stitches each on the left and right sides of the sock to bring the stitch count up to 60. My slightly wide ankles usually require a 72 stitch leg when I get a gauge of 8-9 stitches per inch. But this pattern is pretty stretchy, so I was able to go down to 60 stitches.



I worked an eye of partridge heel flap. It looks pretty nice with this yarn.



Oh yeah, the yarn. I used Tofutsies. This is the first time I've used it. I know a lot of people aren't that thrilled with it, but I really enjoyed working with it. The cotton content meant that it wasn't as stretchy as I would prefer, but it's really soft stuff. The colors in this skein are light pink, dark pink, yellow, and a bit of grey. They reminded me of pink lemonade.

Because of the lack of stretch, I had to increase the cuff to 72 stitches on the last row before the bind off. Otherwise, I couldn't get the sock over my heel.

Pattern: Eleanor, from Monkey Toes
Yarn: SWTC Tofutsies, I can't remember the color number
Needles: size 1 32" Addi
Started: 5/3/08
Finished: 5/30/08
Mods: As mentioned above, toe-up; 4 additional purl stitches; increased cuff by 8 stitches before binding off.