One hundred thirty-eight thousand, nine hundred sixty stitches

Of all the things I've made, my Lizard Ridge blanket is the one I'm most proud of. The pattern was published in Knitty in fall of 2006, shortly after my boyfriend moved out. I was shattered and in desperate need of comfort knitting, something repetitive enough not to tax my weary brain, but interesting enough to help stave off the moping, a project that would become something warm and comforting to wrap around me. Check, check and check. It was perfect, with the added benefit of using Noro Kureyon, which I had always been obsessed with but was too itchy to wear next to my skin.
After a couple of squares, I could have knit the pattern in my sleep. I loved watching the stripes of colors form. I knit on them everywhere: in the airport, in meetings, at family gatherings, anywhere I could get away with it. Thirty squares and over a year later, I had a blanket.




(And yes, that stitch count is accurate, to the best of my knowlege. I had to know. And I'm a math nerd.)

old friends

Please forgive me for my recent absence from BlogLand. I had to have (very minor!) surgery (really! Very minor! No need to panic!), and it really took it out of me. My schedule for the last three days has been: get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, take a nap. I go back to work tomorrow, so fingers crossed that I'll have more energy. I should have gone back today, but I needed one more day to recuperate. And also I was really comfy and had two kitties sleeping on me. Details, details.

Hey, if this was the first thing you saw in the morning, you wouldn't want to get up either.

I hope everyone enjoyed the lovely snow the other day. I didn't get any pictures because I was way too busy running to the window every twelve seconds and squealing, "Snow! Snow!!!" The people who love me are very patient people, that's all I have to say. According to the weather people, we are supposed to get an inch of snow tomorrow. I'm baffled. This is GEORGIA, people. We don't get snow. And unfortunately, in my line of work, we don't get snow days. Should be exciting.

Unfortunately, I have no new knitting progress to show you. Isn't it funny that I always think I'll get so much knitting done on sick days, when what usually happens is I feel so sleepy I'm barely able to sit upright? But, fortunately, I realized a while back that I have several knitted objects that I've never shown the blog, mostly because they are in constant rotation so I never get the chance to photograph them. In honor of not having actual knitting content, here they are.

1) The very first socks I ever made (well, not counting Fuzzy Feet) in the wilds of a local coffee shop.


(narrated by David Attenborough) Look how bold they are! Just brazenly sitting right out in the open, in plain view, mocking all the store-bought socks. It's a perfect example of hand-knit sock behavior in their natural habitat.
Thanks, Dave, for your help. These socks were knit with Colinette Jitterbug in the Mardi Gras colorway. The pattern was a generic toe-up sock pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch.

In addition to flaunting my socks dangerously close to other people's beverages (dangerous for them, not me. Socks can be washed, but no one wants to drink something that smells like my feet. Or if you do, please don't tell me about it.), here we have another of my favorite handknits to flaunt:

2) A generic raglan sweater made from Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton, using a pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, of which everyone should own at least one copy.

It fits beautifully, and it had better. I had to rip out and redo this puppy FOUR TIMES. It spent a year sitting in the bottom of my yarn trunk (the only truly cat-proof place in the entire house), thinking about what it had done. But, as they say, fifth time's the charm. I made about five different people verify my gauge before I started the last time. Alex likes it too.


3) Lastly, a scarf and hat set made from Gedifra Chandra, in colorway #7607.


Here we can see Jaymie sleeping on the scarf.


Do anybody else's cats do that? It's not enough that they're sleeping on top of a blanket on top of another blanket on top of a comforter on top of a mattress on top of a box spring. Oh, no. They need another layer, so they sleep on the scarf/sweater/pajamas/whatever as well. I wonder if I placed a single dried pea underneath the bed, if he'd feel it and wake up horribly bruised.

I'm extremely proud of this hat, because it marks important progress in my mental development: Finally Realizing How Big My Head Actually Is. Here we have a progression of three hats, my first, second, and third attempts to make a hat that actually fit. Notice how the final (successful) one is at least twice as wide as the first. Which is weird because I don't think I look strange or anything, walking around with a giant melon head. I guess I need a lot of space for all that useless trivia I have stuffed in there.


And now if you'll excuse me, I need to do some more recuperating by sitting in front of the TV, eating salty things and drinking carbonated beverages. All this healing is grueling, I tell you.

ringing in the new year

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's celebration. We celebrated with great fanfare here at Chez Light Wading. The Best Roommate Ever was feeling poorly, so she went to bed crazy-early. I watched Much Ado About Nothing (again), and finished seaming the Lizard Ridge!

Alex models the blanket, deigning to slit open one eye for the camera

I also began another pair of socks, modeled by my new friend Malcom.

Those of you who have seen Mirrormask will recognize Malcolm as a close cousin of the monkeybirds. OK, well, maybe not that close, but that's who he reminds me of.

Happy New Year!

so close!

I am so close to completion of the Lizard Ridge I can almost taste it. And I'm pleased to report that the blanket's still being in pieces has deterred me not at all from sleeping with it on my bed every night, and that it is snuggly warm. The kitties have tested it thoroughly.

Alex in a rare moment of levity

Jaymie's testing it out

Thanks for the nice warm blankie you made for us, Auntie Kim.

lizard ridge update, in which there is cursing

For those of you who have been wondering what is adorning my walls now that the Lizard Ridge squares are done (oh, shut up. You know you've been wondering), here 'tis.

The very cool copper spider web sculpture, three swatches, and a Monkey sock waiting for a buddy. (The sock is down now. In fact, they're on my feet.)

The Seaming of the Lizard Ridge continues apace, but disaster struck last night when I proved, once again, that I am not as smart as my Mommy thinks I am.

I'm getting (dare I say it) pretty good at this seaming thing, and I had just finished a really beautiful one, just perfect really, with everything lined up exactly right and no wonkiness or fudging necessary. I sighed, admired my seam's perfection, and picked up the next square . . . which didn't fit right. The bottom and top wouldn't match up. Which, upon closer examination of the squares bound together by my beautiful seam, revealed that I had sewed the bottom to the top instead of the top to the bottom. Damn. Damn damn damn damn damn. Dammit. I did the only thing possible under the circumstances. I ripped the whole damn thing out, stitch by stupid stitch (on the plus side, these seams are really sturdy). I put the whole thing away and spent the rest of the night sulking, eating chocolate, and knitting socks.

not dead! but still not king.

Lest you were worried about my untimely demise, fear not! I am alive and well, although severely slacking in the blogging department. Real Life has been interfering way more than I find acceptable. Ideally, I would prefer that Real Life interfere not at all, but sadly, this is not always possible. But while I've been shamefully neglecting the blog, I have not been neglecting the knitting, or the Lizard Ridge. Behold! Seaming!


I've sewed up all the squares into pairs, and now I'm going to sew the pairs into groups of four, etc. I like this method. Visible progress = good.

Completely unsubtle segue:
Here's a close-up of the tulip painting on our living-room wall.


More spoils from craft fairs pillaged from Scott Antique Market, where I also found these.


Why yes, that is a vintage set of knitting needles in a very snazzy case, which I got for TEN DOLLARS. Oh, muggles. Bless you and your ignorance of the value of vintage knitting needle sets.

(Thanks to the Mad Crocheter for the "still not king" reference.)

Finally!

At long last, we have a lay-out!


This is what I did all Thanksgiving day. I lay all the squares on the floor and frowned and squinted and got up and moved them around and sat back down and frowned and squinted and moved them back and changed my mind, all day. I had to do this in the same room as everyone watching football, so whenever they got up, they had to move around the knitting that had taken over the floor. They were thrilled about this.

Alex approves.

So please! Comments, suggestions, derogatory remarks? Speak now or forever . . . you know the drill.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Working as I do with people from other countries makes me think a lot. (OK, most things make me think a lot. My little hamster-brain is very busy, running on its little wheel. But anyway.)
Now, you can say what you will about American culture. I'll be the first to agree that there are many things that are not the best about it, things I am not necessarily proud of. But how cool is it that we have an entire national holiday devoted to thankfulness and gratitude and being happy with what we have? I think it speaks very well for our culture and I'm proud of that.
I have so much to be thankful for. And because I like lists so much, these things are, in no particular order:

• My family. My family rocks. It's so cool to me that as I've become an adult (more or less), my parents have become my friends, and I'm profoundly grateful for that. I'm also thankful for the close friendship my sister and I share, now that we no longer have to share a bathroom. (I tell ya, dual sinks would have eliminated so much adolescent fighting.) I'm also thankful for my extended family, who are an awesome bunch of people and I wish I got to see them more often. And I'm grateful I get to spend Thanksgiving with my Grandfather, who is a fantastic guy who raised my mother to take no crap, who in turn raised her daughters to be independent and strong-minded.
  
• The Best Roommate Ever, my best friend. What on earth did I do before I had her?
  
• The Rottenest Fuzzballs Ever. They are precious, they are adorable, they are always getting into trouble, but they're so cute about it. And sometimes, if they are in a very good mood, they'll let me kiss their little noses. They don't like it, but they'll let me.
  
• A job that I enjoy (well, more often than not) that makes me feel like I'm making the world a little better. Also, some great coworkers, including, but not limited to Sara (the Sweetest Coworker Ever), Kirk, Nikki, The Guys (you know who you are), Ammy, and Oscar.
• My knitting buds!!! Some of the absolute coolest people I've ever met, a group that really understands me, that I can be myself around. As a dorky, social awkward kid for most of my life, that means a lot to me. You guys rock.
  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

can we have cooler weather now, please?

Autumn has officially fallen, according to the tree outside my back door.


And the Lizard Ridge blanket is residing on my dresser, 1) being decorative, and 2) glaring at me balefully.

Sew me up, dangit!

I'm still experimenting with the layout.


I'd really like to take a few black and white pictures to make sure the progression of color values is even, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it on my computer or with my camera. I combed the manual this morning and found zip.

Combing the manual! Ha! Get it? I crack me up.

If anyone has the foggiest clue of how to do this, I will write songs and poems about you in exchange for your assistance.

In the meantime, I'm working on a pair of Monkey socks

Notice the alarming amount of pooling? I am not so much pleased.

and a pair of RPM socks. I used Judy's Magic Cast-On for Toe-Up Socks, and I really like it. Plus, I feel all spiffy and knitterly that I learned a new technique.


If you need me, I'll be doing my cold weather dance, in hopes of getting some actual fall-type weather. It's dang hard to get motivated to seam up a queen-sized wool blanket with lows in the upper 60's.

I almost don't believe it.

But here it is.


Lizard Ridge square #30.
And here are some views of my room.







I thought when I'd gotten to this point, I'd be shouting for joy and running through the streets nekkid and hugging strangers. But mostly I just feel quietly stunned, kind of like at my high school graduation. I can't believe that I've ACTUALLY FINISHED. Well, with the knitting part. For those of you who are going to, oh-so-helpfully, point out that I still have all the sewing-up to do, I have this to say: "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Fun with Craft Fairs, Part 2

In which we find our heroine at the Yellow Daisy Festival. My family and I have been going to the Yellow Daisy Festival for, good lord, almost 20 years now, since I was a wee little sprout. It's huge and so very cool, filled with crafters and cool stuff and cool people and yummy food. The first item to catch my eye was this:


An amazing purse made out of ties by a step-mother/step-daughter team. Here's the back.


It was really the zebra that caught my eye first. It's such pretty colors and it's the perfect size for a sock bag. (Yes, I base my bag selection on my knitting needs. What? Doesn't everyone do that?) I can't help thinking what butt-ugly ties these must have been, but as a bag it's beautiful. Go check out their their other stuff at their Etsy site (funkyquail.etsy.com). They have cool bags and a bunch of shirts for knitters. Truly cool people.

Item #2 came in the form of a cool free-form melted glass wall hanging thingie. I am a HUGE sucker for art glass of any kind, really, and this is right up my alley.


It was hand-made by a woman in Florida who arranges the glass and then fires it in a kiln, melting the pieces together. She also had more structured pieces, like bowls make of squares of glass, that were seriously cool.


It's so fluid and sparkly. It looks fantastic hanging in my bathroom.

In other news, Lizard Ridge squares #28 and 29 are done done done.


Square 29 (on the right) was made from my ball of Franken-Kureyon (see yesterday's post). I cast on for Square #30 last night and announced, "This is my very last cast-on." The Best Roommate Ever eyed me warily, perhaps expecting tears of nostalgia or something. I said, "And THANK GOD." I'm so close I can taste it.

The Great Spit-Splicing Marathon of 2007

Yesterday, in the sanctuary of The Greatest Yarn Store Ever, I began the Great Spit-Splicing Marathon of 2007. I was going to attempt this at home, but The Greatest Yarn Store Ever two distinct advantages: 1) It has a ball-winder, and 2) it is helpful-kitty-free. After a grueling hour of spit-splicing, I managed to turn this

into this.

It is my very own ball of Franken-Kureyon. The fancy gram scale at work tells me I should have enough for my last two Lizard Ridge squares. (1 square = 38.5g. Scrap yarn = 94g. My math skills tell me this should be plenty. My reality skills are a little less certain.) More pictures as the squares progress.

PS: No, I did not actually use spit. I used a glass of water like a civilized person. I didn't feel like horking up multi-colored hairballs; I figured I'd leave that to the cats.




PPS: My right shoulder is really sore today. How embarrassing, on a scale of one to ten, would it be to sustain an Extreme Spit-Splicing injury and have to explain that to the nice medical professionals?