Baby, It's Cold Outside

This is just funny, especially in a week where the local football franchise’s tickets are reselling for as low as $11.00. I had a convo with a co-worker who is going to tomorrow’s game (she’s not happy about the cold weather). The antipathy towards the local NFL franchise has two loci: the owner and the consistently poor performance of the team in recent decades. I can remember the days—before the Super Bowl rich 1980’s—when we may not have been winners, but we were contenders. In the last 20 years, we only seem slowly to descend the ladder of also-rans.

Knitting has been fun this week. I’ve finished the first glove of the September Fingerless Gloves using Knit Picks Telemark in the Cork colorway. What a fun, well-written pattern. My only despair is that it is too cold outside to go fingerless.

Yes, we have freezing temps. The outlook for the coming week doesn’t bode well for those who don’t like the cold. I wore the Little Things hat yesterday and it was toasty.

On the needles are the second September Fingerless, the She’s Electric Skirt and a pair of gloves from Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Book of Patterns in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes overspun yarn sport-weight yarn in the Forest Heather colorway.

Another mad Friday night with Toupie. I really should try to capture on video the look of wild determination on his face when he sprints from one end of the apartment to the other. There was lots of that last night and some wild playing with a ball by the front door. When I made up the bed and turned on the electric blanket, he curled up, head on pillow and didn’t budge till this morning.

Too cold for the tweet tweets

 

November Starting More Like March

November has come in like a lion. Yesterday was wet, windy and closer to cold than cool. This morning there is a wind advisory. At least there is sunshine, so later today I can take and add piccy's of my completed Little Things hat knit in Knit Picks Palette in the Fairy Tale colorway.

Little Things Hat

Also on the needles is a pair of convertible fingerless knit in Knit Picks Gloss and another Knit Picks yarn whose ball band I've misplaced. Another Odessa hat in Blackstone Tweed in the Ancient Mariner colorway and work continues on the She's Electric skirt.

The best Halloween costume at work this week was a sword wielding bear. No luck in persuading Toupie to go roam the corridors and do the black cat thing Halloween night.

Cheesed Off and some knitting

I’ve neglected blogging. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been a’ swatching. Mostly in the round to get gauge for garments, I want to knit. 

It is frustrating and relaxing at the same time. Frustrating because I’d rather be knitting the garment. Relaxing…well it is knitting after all.

I’ve been a bit cheesed off, lately. I’ve been keeping a tally of the number of emails I receive from Interweaves Knitting Daily, Knitting Traditions. It averages between three to five emails a day. More when there is a sale or special on. Almost all our shilling magazines, patterns, kits, classes or offerings from their “sister” whatever. When Sandi was producing the Knitting Daily emails I actually looked forward to them because at least once a week there was tip or trick that I found helpful and educational. What I really enjoyed was emails where members of the staff all modeled the same sweater sometimes with notes about modifications made. In the past year and half most of these emails just get their boxes ticked and deleted.

What put me over the edge was an email announcing the release of a book of 30 patterns by an author I’d never heard of and can’t find on the web. Worse, the book’s web page only shows four patterns. Four!! I’m used to going to Ravelry to look up all the patterns in an Interweave magazine or book because their previews are so stingy. Unlike Vogue, that not only shows you pictures but for the magazine, you get video of each garment on a live model. So on the strength of four measly photos, Interweave expects that I and thousands of others will plunk down $16.99…not!

I’ve also gotten in touch with the fact that I haven’t nearly knitted down as much stash as I set out to this year. Hence the swatching. I have started knitting the She’s Electric skirt. I used Ysolda’s provisional cast on. I frogged and restarted twice and then went to Mon Tricot knitting patterns book and discovered what I was doing wrong. Third time the charm on size 10 needles. I did a k1p1 instead of the k2p2 ribbing, but I now know how to do a k2p2 with this cast on. It makes a lovely edge for the skirt. Not fears of rolling or curling. I repeated the garter squares chart twice to lengthen the skirt from 16” to 20”. I am using Knit Picks Telemark in the Carnation colorway. I bought 10 skeins when KP discontinued this lovely to knit with yarn.