Domestically Challenged

Knitter Down!

Ranch is my first experience knitting a project on US 0s and let me tell you, those tiny needles are dangerous. Last week, I knit so intensely on Ranch that I got a cut on the index finger of my left hand from pushing on the tip of the needle. The pain was easily alleviated with a Band-aid, so I slapped one on and kept knitting. I’m not exaggerating about my obsession with Ranch. Then, a few days later, my shoulder started to ache. At first I thought it was from wrangling my bicycle through the gate on the side of our complex, but after knitting a few row on Sunday, I had to admit that I had a knitting related injury. Does this mean I’m getting old?

I’ve been resting my shoulder all week, knitting a few rows every now and then to see whether or not it’s healed. Last night, I knit a full motif on Ranch before I felt any pain. This was also when I ran out of yarn. Normally, running out of yarn, especially so close to the end, would have made me really angry, but I think I'll have enough to finish Ranch if I use the yarn from my first attempt at it on US 1s. I unraveled and washed it last night. Now I’m just waiting for the yarn to dry. This should force me to rest my shoulder for at least a full day and force me to get some of this work done that has started piling up. I’d really rather be knitting (Ranch) though.

Happy Halloween, everyone and a very Happy Birthday to my dear Minchie!

I Got It From My Mamma

When I was at home last August, I discovered I was missing the needles I need to make the project I had packed. I knew my mom knit, so I asked her whether she had any US 6 dpns that I could borrow. At the time I thought it may be a stretch; as far as I knew, my mom only knit baby clothes. Little did I know, my mom has a stash. Deep in one of the upstairs closets were three plastic bins full of yarn, needles and pattern booklets. Three! I was impressed. My mom has a bigger stash than I do. I don't know why I was surprised considering she was knitting long before I came on the scene. But the needles I needed weren't in those bins. That's when my mom revealed that this was only her current stash. She had an older stash in her knitting bag in the basement. Here are some photos from my mom's old school stash that she started when she was a teenager! I present Stash Classic:

 

My mom thinks she may have made this shawl...

 

See that "rock" in the bottom right corner? That was used to take the rust off of your knitting needles.

 

Patterns for the sophisticated lady. 

Patterns for the sexy lady.

 

Patterns for the ... ladies who like their tights to have the same stitch pattern as their sweater and ear warmer? The ear warmer makes me crack up. It looks medical.

 

This isn't knitting related but it was in the stash.

I had a lot of fun going through my mom's stash and I wish I had brought my stash to show her. Before this, I used to be self-conscious about the size of my stash. But, this experience has taught me that a stash can be more than just a reminder of all of the unfinished projects, projects yet to be started and my lack of will power at yarn sales. It can also be a personal museum that maybe I'll get to share with my son or daughter one day. I better get some more yarn.

US 1, Me 0

This post is going to be a bit cryptic because it's about a secret knitting project that I'm hoping to gift to someone who occasionally reads this blog. I really want to talk about this piece though, because I am completely in love with it. Just looking at it makes me happy. I'm going to nickname the project "Ranch" so as to not give anything away. If you are on Ravelry (the person for whom Ranch is intended is not), check out my projects page to see what it is that has me so obsessed. But please do not write anything in the comments that would give it away - I really want to keep it a secret.

I first saw Ranch when someone marked it as a favourite pattern on Ravelry. It immediately went into my queue. On Tuesday, I pulled out all of my fingering weight yarn to see if I had anything suitable in the stash. I finally decided on the colour combo and pulled out my US 1 needles. The pattern calls for US 0 but I figured that going up a needle size wouldn't make that much of a difference. Besides, I didn't have any US 0s. I knit Ranch all day and made 5 motif repeats until I decided that the piece looked a little big. In fact, it looked really big - more man-sized than lady-sized. Hmmm... Maybe the author of the pattern was on to something with the US 0s.

Yesterday, after a strange phone interview, I hopped on my bicycle and rode out to Knitting in La Jolla (KLJ) to get the proper needles. I also got some sock yarn to make my brother some socks for his birthday. I don't think he reads the blog, so I'm going to talk about those openly. There is an amazing selection of sock yarn at KLJ and there were many yarns I had never seen or heard of before. It took me a long time to decide on something, but I finally settled on some Lorna's Laces in a colourway called "Baltic Sea".

After leaving the store, I rode along La Jolla Shores and sat down on a bench over looking the ocean to wind my skein into a ball. I thought it was only fitting seeing as it was a sea-themed colourway. It was so beautiful there, wish I had brought my camera. The photo above was taken by one of the pools in the complex where I live. 

When I got home, I immediately cast on Ranch with the US 0s. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I was amazed at how much better they looked. Who would have thought that 0.25mm could have such an impact?

By the way, yesterday I learned from the Daily Show (my only source of news) that drive-thru voting stations had been installed in SoCal. I wasn't exaggerated about it being car-centric here.

Spooky Walks, SnB, Mabel and Sexy Knits

It is seriously spooky walking around my neighbourhood at night. Thursday I needed to go to the library to return some dvds. Because I don't have a great lighting system on my bike I decided to walk reasoning that it was unlikely a car would hit me on the sidewalk. I didn't anticipate that it would be so creepy. There were hardly any street lights, even though I live in a residential neighbourhood, and the side of the sidewalk that wasn't bordered by road was covered in bushes. I kept imagining something/someone jumping out at me or reaching out and dragging me in. It didn't help that I was listening to an old SSK podcast where they were talking about UFOs either. Needless to say, I was disappointed once again to discover this really is a car-centric city.

I decided to switch podcasts to limenviolet for last night's walk in the dark to the bus that would take me to my new stitch n' bitch. I've joined the Infinite Knitters who meet at the Starbucks at Balboa & Genesee every Monday night. If you are in the San Diego area, you should definitely come out. The people were so nice and welcoming. They even posted a "Welcome, Allison" thread on their Ravelry group message board. I'm so glad I decided to bite the bullet and be the new kid. There weren't as many people out last night as the first time I went. I brought Mabel by Erika Knight, reasoning that all of that stockinette would be made more bearable by some good conversation with someone other than my cat. Bree tried to knit this when we were living together last year, but after some gauge troubles, I think she ripped both front and back pieces out - that's a lot of stockinette. Anyway, I'm hoping that I have better luck.

 

Limenviolet is completely cracking me up even though in their first episode they review Sexy Little Knits by Ashley Paige and call it knitting for whores. I got this book from the library when I saw someone's fab knit bikini on Ravelry. Living in a bikini kinda climate I thought that I definitely needed to make one and maybe that cute mermaid tube top, too. I love this book. I think my husband likes it, too...or maybe it's just the picture on the front cover. Muy Caliente!

Phone Spam?

I never should have listed my home phone number in the phone book. When the AT&T person told me that it was free to be unlisted, I should have taken the hint. If that machine calls me one more time to tell me that the factory warranty on my (non-existent) car may be about to expire, I'm going to lose it. I'm already exhibiting erratic behaviour. For instance, I cleaned (with actual cleaning products) the entire apartment. It was a Bree-like cleaning binge, probably brought on by my unsatisfactory attempt to clean the ottoman. I swear, the previous owner was a total slob. It looks as though the ottoman was on the losing end of a battle with some sort of cola product. I haven't gotten it all out...yet.

Right now, I'm regrouping. I'm a little winded from all of the scrubbing/crawling/vacuuming/wiping, so I'm going to knit a couple of rows on this:

and listen to my new favourite podcast, SSK. Shanon and Stephanie are hilarious

A Domestic Challenge

When Costin and I moved to California, we didn’t take a stick of furniture with us. We figured that it would be cheaper to just buy fresh, nice furniture in San Diego than to ship all of our old, hand-me-down grad school furniture. I won’t lie, I had dreams of wall-to-wall Ikea. The day after we arrived in SD, we went to Ikea to try to make my dream come true. Well, sort of. We had decided to get the bare essentials: a bed, a dresser, two desks and a kitchen table with some chairs. We lasted almost 3 weeks without a couch. Then, Costin found a great deal on Craig’s list that he had to have: one big couch, one loveseat and a matching ottoman for only $175. There were only two problems: 1) how were we going to move it? and 2) how were we going to clean it? Costin was optimistic that, being two strong young adults, that we could carry the couches down the street to our apartment. After all, it wasn’t that far (0.3 miles according to google maps). We decided to start with the love seat because it was lighter and I was only wearing flip-flops. I figured I would change my shoes for the big couch. We carried it out of the living room and down the stairs (the apartment it originated from was on the 2^nd floor) and got about 50 metres before someone stopped and offered us a ride in their truck. Costin was embarrassed by how quickly I accepted, but I seriously couldn’t go another step with that behemoth (and it was the smaller couch). Problem 1 solved.

Solving problem two was all up to me. Having my days pretty much free, I figured I would put in a little elbow greasy and clean the couches with a sponge and some upholstery cleaner. Yes, me…cleaning. I vacuumed the love seat and put the cushion covers into the washing machine. I was surprised by how much they shed and by how white they came out. I definitely needed to wash the couch now. I started out, optimistic, but after about a half hour, I decided that I needed some heavy artillery and started browsing deep cleaning vacuums on the internet.

I found this little one (Spot Lifter PowerBrush), which seemed perfect for the job and rushed out to buy it.

You can imagine my disappointment when it didn’t work. I had read a review that the trigger for the spray mechanism was weak, but mine didn’t spray at all. I was pissed. After a lot of whining (sorry mom!), I decided to upgrade to the more expensive version. I packed up the Spot Lifter PowerBrush, walked all the way back to Sears (1.4 miles according to google maps) and got the Bissell Spotbot.

Now this is a machine. The hose part worked very well on my couch. Can you see the difference? I also used the carpet cleaning feature on a stain Minchie’s hairball left on the carpet. Now I can’t tell where the stain used to be. I love this thing. The only thing I don’t really like is that it uses up a lot of solution.

So far I’ve only cleaned the loveseat. I procrastinated cleaning the couch and ottoman by crocheting another one of these. I think they are addictive. For this one, I used a size J (6.0mm) hook and the purple Cascade 220 superwash that I bought in Seattle. This one is a bit slouchier and I’m really happy with how it turned out. If it gets colder here, I may wear it out one evening.

    

What's also not on the needles

Before I left Ottawa, I bought a single ball of Rowan Cocoon. Why anyone would buy a single ball of anything is a bit strange but I couldn't help myself. In fact, hadn't intended on buying anything at all. Bree and I had gone to Wool n' Things in Orleans to get Bree some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. When we walked into the store, I had intended on just poking around, maybe peruse the sock yarn section. But I was immediately transfixed by the Rowan Cocoon. It was on a shelf near the door with the other Rowan yarns but it was set apart somehow, almost as though it was surrounded by a golden aura. I had to have it. When I touched the ball, it was heaven. I was in love. I knew that I couldn't put it down. I just followed Bree around the store, petting the yarn. I didn't even know I was doing it until the shop keeper caught my eye and smiled. Before I knew it, I was sitting in Bree's car, petting the ball. The single ball (I had paid for it, of course). What the hell was I going to do with a single ball? I searched Ravelry. I figured I had enough yarn to make a hat, but which hat? I cast on Urchin, but I wasn't in love. I tried Imitaatio BB:n Tiinan Piposta and the Cozy Cabled Toque but with the same results. All three got ripped after multiple attempts in different gauges. I was worried it was the yarn and began to imagine that this lone ball would haunt my stash for the rest of my life. But then I thought, maybe it's the knitting...

I got out a crochet hook. Up to this point, I had only crocheted two projects. The first was a beanie that I had made out of Rowan Tape from Rowan's It's a Tape Thing. It was a disaster. It was much too advanced for my first project and was quite flaccid as far as beanies go. My older sister humoured me and wore it for a brief moment, but it was seriously awful. The next project was much better, although too small for my head. But still, I was confident that I could make something worthy of this gorgeous yarn. Besides, I had fallen in love with this pattern.

 

My gauge was definitely off and I didn't have enough yarn to do a third row of puff stitch, so my hat isn't quite as slouchy as the one shown on the model. I really like how it turned out, though. This was such a quick knit, I may even make a slouchy version with a lighter weight yarn. I'll also probably use a different colour - despite my tan, cream still doesn't quite do it for me. Luckily, this is a gift.

What's not on the needles

 
Thuja was frogged today around noon. The pooling yarn drove me to it. Or maybe it was the heat. It seems as though everyone on Ravelry is knitting these cute little mitts or gloves and all I want to knit myself is a functioning air conditioner. Boy, it's hot!