Life's a Stitch

I find my life chronicled in my Mozilla bookmarks. Sprinkled amongst a thick blanket of blogs and patterns, I find I occasionally have a life outside of knitting:

"Bob’s Bum Knees" and "New Edge Polycentric Knee Brace" – gives me the willies.  Only good part of that experience was quality knitting time with my SIL.

"Prudies advice on how to tame the bride from hell" – it’s a wonder we all survived that phase unscathed. I really do have good memories of the wedding and the days surrounding the event and I’m pleased to report the couple is happily back in Edmonton after a stint in Moose Breath Jaw. As Elina says, you can’t expect too much of life while living in a place named after a part of a Moose’s anatomy.

"Slovakia feel the ooze thermal spas" – aahhhhh – Calgon, take me away

"Seven sins of first time renters" – hoping that the offspring will learn in advance online rather than by experience

"Organic wine no sulfites added" – didn’t help. The only cure for my wine induced headaches seems to be abstinence punctuated by an occasional Coors Lite. I figure we all get a lifetime allotment of alcohol and mine was unreasonably small. Damn.

"Freecycle.com" – a guiltfree way to get rid of, or accumulate stuff without parting with money,

Care to share your bookmarks?

Knitting update – Hemlock Ring the 2nd at 25%:

Apparently, I`m not only late to this the party, but the party is over. The Yahoo Clapotis KAL is all done. They wouldn`t even let me in the door. Tough noogies, I`m going to do it all by myself. Probably not ALL by myself as the Clapotis is the most popular pattern in Ravelry today, with 4521 in progress or finished and 2533 in the queue. that’s as compared to my own little Herringbone Rib Scarf which still has a way to go from being number 100 in the top 100 Ravelry scarves. With 28 listed to date, you’ve got to start somewhere.

I’ve read all the drawbacks – boring, repetitive, a yarn eater, but there are the accolades – addicting, easy, "I’m on my fourth." I’ve heard about the variety of mispronunciations; the one especially annoying to the designer – Clap Otis – sounding like a sexually transmitted disease. 

What’s the draw? Is it the permission to purposefully drop stitches? Accompanied by a petite gasp, I still cringe when I catch one out of the corner of my eye. That fleeting second of fear is followed by the relief of recognition, oh yeah, the pattern says to drop that stitch. Whatever it is, I’m hooked. Maybe it’s the ability to use the yarn in my stash, those 600 meter lots, too much for a scarf, not enough for a shawl. The yarn that cost a bit too much to justify a sweater. If you stop growing Clapotis after 6.5 repeats in the increase section, 600 meters does just fine.

Whatever the reason, I promise to be careful what I call it. Anyone care to join me for a Clap O`Tea?

I may be late to the party, but I’m pretty sure it’s not just me. On more than one occasion, I’ve been stopped on the street by fellow Pac NWers, asking how did I tie that scarf.

Are you a wrap arounder?

Or a loop de looper? AKA the CBC tie, as all Canadian Broadcasting Centre reporters in colder climes, sport this as what appears to be the company’s uniform scarf tying method.

Here’s my favourite alternative, as taught by the clerk in an accessory store at the mall in which my office is located. I once needed to dress up an outfit for our AGM and bought a scarf. As in paid money for it. In a retail store. Blasphemy.

You can skip the next two pictures if you already know the technique. First, you fold the scarf in half and put it around your neck as in the loop de loop method, but you only pull one end through:

Then you pull the second end through, only from the other side.

Tidy it up and you’re done:

Excuse Gracee’s snow nose, she has a bad case this year. Don’t worry, it will be black again by summer.  I think this is one of my all time favourite posts. Please ignore the dog’s dubious looks as she was most cooperative. How about a hand for our model.

You never know where it’ll show up. A friend found this online. Look carefully, there’s knitting content:

Is it my imagination, could it be Typepad’s hit counter, or is blogland slow this week?

Are you familiar with the book? It’s all about the knitting of prayer shawls to comfort those who are grieving or going through tough times. It’s a beautiful concept, and I decided to give it a go. I wove a shawl for the mom of our student intern, Carly, who died two years ago from Scerloderma. A co-worker mentioned that Carly’s sister might appreciate something as well, though not necessarily a shawl. We decided on a scarf. I chose light as clouds, soft brushed alpaca which came from South America, an area of the world that was important to Carly, combined with other pastel yarns.

It took a while, but finally they were done. I wrapped them up and there they sat in a corner of my bedroom for months. I don’t know what it was, but I was uncomfortable of the thought of presenting them to people I hardly knew. I guess I didn’t want to stir up more sadness for them.

One day, I was invited to a party and heard that Carly’ sister would  be there, too. I gathered up my courage and my boxes. As she was leaving that evening, I pulled her aside and explained to her what I had done, as well as my discomfort. I don’t know what I was thinking, they were so appreciative.

It ended up being OK, I think the comfort being that Carly is still very much alive in our hearts and making a difference in all of our lives. It’s been three years since she worked for us and we still refer to her good work regularly and I wanted her mom to know that. It’s a sad story with a bit of happiness attached to the end. One of life’s difficult mixes.

No wheat or eggs, no added sugar, no dairy or nuts, and it tastes good. Really good. Someone brought these, made as drop cookies, into the office and they quickly disappeared. If you’re like me, you have a supply of black bananas in the freezer just waiting to be zapped, peeled, and used in a good recipe. I snitched a bite prior to picture taking and tried to hide it with a spatula, but that didn’t work.

Healthy bars (Lifesastitch version):

3 mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 t vanilla
1 cup in total of any or all of the following: chopped dates, dried apricots, craisins, raisins, prunes, sunflower, pumpkin or flax seeds
2 cups of quick oats
1 t cinnamon

No ingredients have been omitted and it really works. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the first three ingredients together, stir in the last three and let sit for 15 minutes. Press into an 8×8 ungreased pan (or drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet). Bake for about half an hour or until the edges look like they are getting brown (cookies need less time). Cool and cut into bars. I store them in the fridge.

What a day off looks like at my house –  catching up on Mt.Laundry, filling the house with the scent of good cooking, especially eight pounds of Carne Machaca for these and future enchiladas:

and some quality Li-Grace time while snuggled (me, not Gracee) under my Hemlock Ring. It never did stay perfectly flat, but it’s better than it was. It looks good folded and who cares how flat it is while in use?

This poster:

This award, which yesterday, I accepted on behalf of my agency. I know this is a good place to be, having worked at offices where the prevailing attitude toward workplace flexibility was "Give them and inch and they’ll take a mile." Our employees have demonstrated the opposite, by giving them an inch they go the extra mile.

Gracee in the snow:

The wrangling continued and not without injury:

On day two, Hemlock seemed to relax a but, allowing me to pull out each point an additional five inches. That, and an attack with my Jiffy Steamer, improved the lumps by at least 75%. Hopefully that shot of steam will have killed the acrylic and tamed the cotton. I’m leaving it to dry for another two days before freeing it from its shackles.

Here is my post match review:

Pattern: Hemlock Ring blanket from Brooklyn Tweed

Yarn: Kraemer Tatamy Tweed DK, doubled, 10 skeins in total (nine for the body and one for the crocheted bind off and edging. The crocheted bit was done with a single strand and took 187 yards).

Size – extra large. While most in the KAL blocked out to 50" or so, I used the equivalent of 1125 yards of holding a single strand, plus the 187 yards for the finishing, for a total pinned out measurement of 70" We’ll see what happens when it’s released from bondage.

Words to the wise – unless you like wrestling, don’t attempt this project in anything other that 100% wool, which will block more easily. Bear in mind, no matter what you use, it will need to be blocked with each washing. When the time comes I’m going to try dry cleaning. I wonder how Jared manages to get all of his projects blocked so beautifully?

I’ve decided blocking is like labor, you forget about the pain as soon as it’s over. So, there’s a new baby octopus in our house:

That would be 100% wool. Question to other feather and fanners: do you think there would be less bulk in the feathers if there were only three rows of plain knitting between the lace rows, instead of four?

An apt description, from the Hemlock Ring Yahoo group, regarding the finishing phase of the blanket. These behemoths have eight tenticular points radiating from a lump of a head. They curl and undulate and strenuously defy attempts at blocking.

One of my fellow octopus trainers, at our semi-monthly Ravelry get together, exclaimed "Blocking? Schmocking!" She’s elected to take hers to the dry cleaner for a chemical bath and the steam roller treatment. $7 cheap.

My species is particularly resistant, being a blend of cotton and acrylic, purposely knitted that way for ease of care –  machine washable and dryable. I didn’t think far enough into the future to consider that its stunning look depends heavily upon the blocking. So here I am "patiently" awaiting to see the results of the jet-enginelike spin cycle of the front loading washing machine. If that doesn’t kill its cordiform tendencies, I will be seriously discouraged.

Three hours and 320 pins later: the wrangling continues using three people and items such as hand weights and staple and nail guns. Steam will be the next weapon of choice, hoping to ease out the bumpy feathers. But that’s enough for today, I just don’t have that much fight in me and am in need of a meal and a night of sleep before the next round. Li zero, octopus one.

(Message to Rou-Jia: I replied to your request for my pattern, but have had the e-mail returned twice as undeliverable. Please e-mail me at boesencrew dot shaw dot ca and I’ll try sending it as a reply to your e-mail.)

From the same type of yarns and two different patterns, here are the "twins":

Ever wonder how different patterns will turn out using the same yarn? I’ve made four scarves from Anny Blatt Scarf Kits, comprised of one skein of Superangora (116 yards) held together with one skein of Victoria (109 yards). The kits make quick and always appreciated gifts.

Pictured above are the first two:

1. Orangy pink, purple and blues – using the drop stitch pattern enclosed with the kit, but downsizing to Size 15 needles. Final measurements are 68×4.5
2. Light aquas and soft springy greens – a feather and fan pattern using size 11 needles. Final measurements are 64×4.

The second set of twins:

3. Pictured below is a mistaken rib using size 11 needles. I don’t have the measurement, but believe it was about 48 inches long.
4. I was able to get these luxurious kits at under half price so I splurged and made a narrower version of the the Vintage Velvet Scarf using two kits and six 11 needles. The finished product? One heavy sumptuous 62.5×3.5 cabled scarf.

Meet another set of fraternal twins, photographed just five blocks from my house. These are Vancouver’s "Lion’s" keeping guard over the city. Before I met Vancouver I thought the most beautiful places I’d ever seen were Lake Tahoe and Megan’s Bay, St. Thomas. Now I think BC has taken the lead; at least when the sun is shining. Where’s your geographical high?