NaBloPoMo Day 26: in which I disagree

Tags

flattering your figure, norah gaughan, opinionated knitter, oversized sweaters

Those of you who know my knitting tastes know that I love Norah Gaughan. I have knit four of her sweater patterns, another Berroco pattern which was probably overseen by her if not designed by her, and I have another of her patterns on the needles right now. I have loved all put the Pucker sweater which I think was only a failure because I didn’t use the recommended yarn. But today, I disagree with her.

She posted on the Berroco blog today that

Loose sweaters are back. Not only comfortable and cozy, they are great for all figures (REALLY, I mean it)…

I love you, Norah, and I would knit almost anything you designed, but I have to disagree. I like the oversized, loose cardigan look (see the Rill sweater) but oversized pullovers flattering?? I don’t think so.

What I find most frustrating is that Norah herself actually has a similar figure to me but the models are pretty much all model shaped (which I am not). Berroco does have a plus-sized model in their booklets now, which I appreciate but I still think I disagree with the fundamental premise that those sweaters are flattering. Is it just me?

NaBloPoMo Day 25: stripe-tacular

Tags

bamboozle, bella's eclipse hat, finished object, knitting pictures, not so baby yoda sweater, super cable aran, wip

I wish I could show you a better modeled shot of the hat I finished it but I washed it last night and it is still not dry. It’s gotten cool here which means that it’s damp and, apparently, nothing dries. Even though it’s wet, I can show you the jogless color changes.

I tried a new method for them this time. I usually knit around one row in the new color and then knit into the stitch below for the first stitch of the second round. That method requires that you have two rows of each color, though, and this hat has some single row stripes. I did a search, though, and found this method on TECHknitting. Instead of knitting into the stitch below you slip the first stitch on the row after you change color, even if that next row is another color. The slipped stitch then moves from being the first stitch of the round to the last, so you remove your marker, slip the stitch, and then replace the marker. It’s not totally invisible but it’s pretty good.

Speaking of stripes, I have a new stripey project.

It’s the Not So Baby Yoda Sweater. I love baby sweaters because they are so fast! I started this last night and that picture shows a sleeve and a third, or so. I am hoping to finish the second sleeve tonight so I can start on the fronts. No fancy techniques for this sweater, just adorable baby-sized stripey goodness.

NaBloPoMo Day 24: finished hat

Tags

bamboozle, bella's eclipse hat, finished object, knitting pictures

I finished a hat.

Sorry for the terrible picture. I will get a better one tomorrow. I want to photograph the jogless stripes because the new way I found to do it even works with 1-row stripes! Very cool.

Now, my older son is having a friend sleepover for the first time so I need to go to bed early in case when they wake up at the crack of dawn.

NaBloPoMo Day 23: sunset over the bay

Tags

golden gate bridge, lawrence hall of science, sunset, sunstones

My parents and I took the kids to the Lawrence Hall of Science today. My kids really love that place. I enjoy it took and I love watching them so engrossed in the animals or building or damming the creek in the back.

This statue is in the back, by the water. It is called “Sunstones”. It is an astronomical tool that allows you to track the change in the position of the sun from season to season. I didn’t realize that until today and I just thought it was art. Go figure.

The Berkeley hills have some awesome views. Too bad we don’t live closer. We’d visit this museum much more often.

NaBloPoMo Day 22: Thanksgiving

Tags

bella's eclips hat, pie, thanksgiving

You’ll never guess what I did all day.

Pie. Turkey, stuffing, and gravy too (those are the parts I helped most with) but we didn’t get any pictures of the meal other than the pie! Whoops.

Things I am thankful for in no particular order:

• I took my hat off of the needles in preparation to rip the whole thing out and put it on to show my mom how small it was… and it fits on my head! That yarn is stretchier than I expected.
• My husband quit smoking a little over a year ago and has been totally smoke free!
• My children didn’t drive me completely insane today, they only tried. Also, they both tasted new things at dinner and enjoyed them.
• My parents hosted us yet again and my mom and I put together a delicious spread (if I must say myself) and my mom saved my pie crust when I thought it was hopeless! It turned out to be delicious.
• On a grander scale: I am grateful for my family and their continued good health and for my own baby steps towards real employment again in the past year.

I hope everyone had an equally delicious Thanksgiving!

NaBloPoMo Day 21: good news, bad news

Tags

bamboozle, bella's eclipse hat, knitting mistakes, knitting pictures, wip

Good news: The kids were off today so I got to sleep in a bit.

Bad news: The husband wasn’t so I didn’t get to go for my morning walk.

Good news: I managed to sort through the between sizes clothes and move out some outgrown things from the kids’ drawers.

Bad news: We left the house later than planned and it took two hours to drive what usually takes an hour.

Good news: I started, and made progress on, a hat!

Bad news: I just discovered that my gauge is off again so I need to rip back and start over again.

Good news: It’s bedtime so I can just go to bed and think about that tomorrow! (After all the cooking, baking and eating, of course.)

NaBloPoMo Day 20: a problematic word

Tags

books, jackass, problematic language, reading

Today’s post has nothing to do with knitting (I didn’t do much knitting today anyway, so I don’t have much to say about that). What I did do today was take my kids to the library. I love our local library. I love the way the building is set up, with the children’s section off to the side with doors of its own so that I don’t have to worry about the kids being too enthusiastic about the books. I love the displays they do. I love the librarians and the selection of books. Today, though, I was a bit disappointed in a book we got. It’s called It’s A Book.

The library is having (or had) a class on e-readers and they had a display of various devices in the lobby that could be used to read books (Nooks, Kindles, iPads and iPhones) along with books on how to use those devices. Also in the display was the aforementioned book. The cover has a monkey reading a book and on the back a donkey saying, “Does it text? Blog? Wi-Fi?” And underneath, “No, it’s a book.”

However, the book starts with “It’s a mouse! It’s a jackass! It’s a monkey!” Normally, I wouldn’t have issue with them calling a donkey a jackass in a book. However, this book is mostly a back and forth between the monkey and the jackass about what exactly a book does; it doesn’t tweet, text, or go “toot!” or need to be charged because (as the mouse says), “It’s a book, jackass.”

My 6-year-old probably wouldn’t have had any idea that there was anything saucy about that except that we picked it up on the way out and his 10 year old brother was reading it to him in the car but stopped at the end and refused to read that word. I was driving while they were reading it in the backseat and didn’t hear the exact sentence and I tried to insist that he could use the word when it was referring to the animal. After reading the book myself, it’s clear there is a double meaning. Which fine, very funny. Except now that the 10-year-old has insisted it’s a bad word, the 6-year-old has been repeating it over and over and saying, “What? It’s an animal.”

Sigh.

Thanks, Lane Smith, wherever you are. I liked your concept, art, and presentation until the last page. You need a better ending.

NaBloPoMo Day 19: 3 of my favorite things

Tags

bella's eclipse hat, calmer, knitting pictures, philz, wip

I had to take one of our sleeping bags to the laundromat today. There’s one at the end of my block but the last time I used it I ended up with the washer that didn’t work and it took 90 minutes for the sleeping bag to be finished. Instead, I like to go to the one near my favorite coffee shop: Philz.

I brought my knitting, of course. I realized while I was sitting there that I hadn’t checked my gauge and my hat might be a touch small. Okay, it might be to small for any adult head. I’m too close to being done to rip it out and start over, though. I will have to find a kid to give it to, I suppose. That’s fine but now I still only have one chemo cap ready for donation! Sigh. I have some heavier weight yarn I wanted to make a cap from, so I think that one is next up.

Someone asked me on Google+ if starting a hat meant I had finished to sweater. Of course not! I am fickle, like most knitters. The sweater is taking a break (not unlike the sweater I was working on before I started that sweater). Actually, let’s not talk about just how many sweaters there are on break right now. Deal?

NaBloPoMo Day 18: polite fruit

Tags

bread, farmer's market, persimmons

Sunday is Farmer’s Market day here. I love our Farmer’s Market. There’s the guy who sells the coffee I like, the place with the best apples, the cheese sticks my kids adore, the Russian lady with the artichoke cheese spread, and two different bread stands with many kids of bread that I like.

And there are persimmons that won’t get sassy when my back is turned.

One of the bread stands is, sadly, closing. They sell delicious cinnamon chip bread that my kids and I really like. It’s cinnamon bread without being crazy sweet like most cinnamon breads are. We are going to miss them when they go. I am curious to see what replaces them, though!

NaBloPoMo Day 17: rainy saturday

Tags

bella's eclipse hat, calmer, ice cream, jeni's, maple, walnuts, wip

The whole family got up this morning and went out Scouting for Food. That is, we helped collect food for the Boy Scouts annual food drive. It was drizzly and overcast and the kids were droopy by the end but I think we did well. I managed to trip over nothing and fall down a step on someone’s front stoop. My knees and my dignity are banged up but I was relieved that I didn’t rip my jeans.

We came back home and I boiled maple syrup.

Which became maple ice cream with salty buttered walnuts (From Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams).

I didn’t managed to get a photo of the finished ice cream. You’ll just have to believe me that it was worth boiling a cup and a half of maple syrup down to three-quarters of a cup. I will definitely be making that recipe again. (Although, perhaps with slightly less salt on the walnuts.)

We had a delicious dinner with some friends and came home to the tragedy of there not being time for reading before bedtime. Life is rough when you are six.

I convinced both kids to sleep and knit on my hat a bit. I am done with the ribbing and on to the stockinette portion.

I had to look up again how to do jogless stripes. I am sure I’ve done them many times and yet I still had to look it up. I will blame it on being tired.