Yarn Is My Métier » personal

Days Like These

Karen B. — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:09:43 +0000

The cool, grey days. The school bus days. The days with geese flying away in formation toward warmer climes. It’s days like these that say to me loud and clear, “Where the heck have you been?! Could you have been knitting and crocheting and just forgot to blog about it?” My answer is D) None of the above.

I started to write something a month ago but then the, “Oh shiny!” got the best of me. I’ve been trying to get out more because socializing is supposed to be something we humans need to have a certain “quality of life.” I’ve got pictures of most of my adventures. Thank goodness no one shot video of me doing my interpretive chicken dance. Yes, I have one, complete with sound effects. Sweet baby corn, the cats just love it!

Here’s a loose timeline of events:

May and June – Arthroscopic surgery and recovery, including physical therapy. No pictures, unless you rilly, rilly want to see inside my shoulder. Just ask.

July and August – Freakishly hot hereabouts, with the resulting freakishly huge electric bill; washing machine broke; rode my bike for the first time in 9 years.

My Madwagon

Fell off said bike – backwards, no less. I am talented that way.

Am I Blue?

Sold valuable yarn to buy my Nutcase helmet to more safely ride said Madwagon bike.

Nutcase - Keeping My Brains Intact

Played tourist with visiting friends – from tours of the Chicago River and the Tall Ships to Chinese artists’ displays and Cloudgate (The Bean) in Millennium Park. I really do enjoy this city – even though I know it’s much more than the pretty lakefront and downtown architecture.

Wrigley Building & Tribune Tower

Tall Ship Sail & Mast

Man versus Pig

Inside The Bean

September and you’re welcome to it. September is that month with multiple personality disorder: I shall be HOT! I shall be cool. I shall be rainy and miserable. I shall be perfectly cromulent. You will love me because I signal an end and a beginning; because it means the kinder are back in their holding pens – um, school. It means both my Old Man Kitty and I have new medical issues, with his more serious than mine. My MRI and his echocardiogram will tell the tale. Later.

What Kind of Boob Am I?

Karen B. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:44:00 +0000

I’m the kind of boob who forgets to tell you that I finished the Leaf Beret over a week ago. It is lovely, wearable and an easy knit – especially for those like me re-entering the crafty atmosphere.

Pattern: Melissa LaBarre’s Leaf Beret
Yarn: One skein Louet Gems sportweight in Mustard colorway; 100 grams and 225 yards.
Modifications: None. The pattern is very clear, as written. Even the chart-averse will have no problem understanding the leaf motif.

It wasn’t my beloved marigold alpaca, but I did try to hold true to the pale color of the original yarn. I did end up using the alpaca as part of a cowl that can easily be paired with the beret. It’s in the seed stitch collar stage and should be ready by week’s end.

I am also the kind of boob who cares way too much about what some anonymous person had to say recently in a new comment to an old post from 2005:

“JC has left a new comment on your post “Ciao 2005, Bon Giorno 2006!“:

how about sticking to one language, you pretentious boob, preferably the native lanugage (sic) of the readersip (sic) you hope not to put off…”

Dictionary.com says:

pre⋅ten⋅tious –adjective

1. full of pretense or pretension.

2. characterized by assumption of dignity or importance.

3. making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

Studying the brain of the boob

Please don’t confuse knowledge of more than one language as pretentiousness. This is simply a result of my environment and upbringing. I may be many things but feelings of self-importance are not part of my make-up. On the contrary, I’d rather ham it up and use self-directed humor to divert attention away from the “real me.” I will retreat to a corner before making an ostentatious show.

Like many people, I can be complex, intense, perceptive, impulsive and worried over the smallest things (like why I’ve lost a few readers or how to stop the cat from chewing my patterns). That may make me both perspicacious and paradoxical but never, ever a pretentious boob.

Starting Over with Marigold Leaves

Karen B. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:00 +0000

It’s times like these when I feel like a rank amateur.

Indeed, I think it ironic that I’m starting to blossom just when the leaves are falling from the trees. Maybe my circadian rhythm or my satellite reset button. Is. Just. Off.

The Leaf Beret (Ravelry) from knit.1 is the first new thing I’ve started to knit or crochet since February 2009. Eight months is a long time to take a break from something that once caused a fever of “I’ve-gotta-make-this-this-and-this-itis.”

Truth is, anyone following my ramblings for some time knows the physical stuff has gotten in the way for the past three years off and on. There are more rumblings from the right arm of doom which I’ll share should it become necessary. Meanwhile, my personal journey has me knitting again, albeit making one or two rookie mistakes.

1) I love love love Vera’s marigold-dyed alpaca. I stick my beak in the center of that ball and take a whiff of the slightly soapy clean wooliness (you yarn sniffers know what I mean). My errors are not the fault of the yarn. I adore alpaca, though I know it’s not for everyone. For some reason, I forgot that this is not the most elastic of yarns.

2) I couldn’t find my size 3 needles, so I opted for the 2.5′s instead. To make up for the smaller needle, I cast on a few more stitches. You can see the next oops coming, can’t you?

3) Inelastic yarn + too many stitches = a hat band big enough for a monstrous melon. Frog and rethink.

Not only did I err in yarn choice, it seems my fingers have a little rust in their sense memory. I mean, I was once an old hand with two-circ knitting. I cast on half the stitches on one needle and the other half on the second needle. Knit knit knit. Get to the end of the round and all the flippin’ stitches are on one needle. I hate that!

Reboot.

It’s on, knitting! I will make that cute beret in time for the coming nasty weather. I will not go quietly. Well, mebbe a bit. It took so long to get here. My marigold leaf beret deserves to come to life.

Mommy’s Alright

Karen B. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Nikita, working that beauty shot, says, “We’re All Alright” (Cheap Trick. Holla!)

As you might have guessed by the lack of posts, I’m not crafting. And since this is a primarily a knitting blog, I generally try to keep it light and focused. See, my current life is a series of struggles with impersonal bureaucrats in a large insurance company, figuring out how to pay unexpected bills that keep popping up (failing appliances, water damage) and which doctor to see next.

Meanwhile, I’ve taken up water aerobics to strengthen my body as I search for things to occupy my mind other than the aforementioned. So why not knitting, you ask? It seems I’ve lost that feeling of intensity and desire to have my heart and hands working to create. I am literally surrounded by projects but they do not call to me.

One day, perhaps, they will. I did, after all, take a very long break before and came back with a vengeance to learn new techniques and work with all kinds of new fibers and colors. Waxing and waning and waxing again. That’s life.

Mommy’s alright, Daddy’s alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don’t give yourself away, ay, aaaaaaaay.

Coming Up For Air.

Karen B. — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:17:00 +0000

I can hardly believe a week has flown by since Rocky discovered the joys of the ScratchScroll. Luckily, he’s still enamored of it – so much so that he’s already plucking up bits of the tight industrial carpeting that covers the surface of the kitty sine wave. Lucky too in that the lounger kept him quiet during my mother’s birthday party.

Party. Right. Didn’t mention that. This was an important one (platinum I think) and she wanted a homey, intimate gathering at my place instead of a restaurant or the like. We’d been planning things for a month and everything was under control until last week’s power outage. Now, there was an air of uncertainty over the impending festivities. Would the power stay on? Would the weather hold? The freezer was off long enough for the food to spoil but, thank jeebus, I hadn’t yet purchased any perishables for the party.

Later that afternoon, I got a call from someone whose a voice I’d never heard before. It was KnitPastis! She and her husband were visiting Chicago for a few days and she asked if I would be interested in meeting up at one of the local yarn stores. What is the sound of one arm twisting?

What a lovely couple! He, a man of few words (at least in the few minutes we were together), and she, a petite natural beauty with a faint Southern accent. We only had time for hellos, hugs and a few pictures before I had to run. Grocery shopping for mom’s party and a body that hurt like hell kept our meeting from being anything other than rushed. Too bad, too. Next time, more time for a meal and relaxed conversation.

Friday was CRAZY busy! My mom was at loose ends. She and my brother arrived late and prep was still required for two dishes. She was the one holding the recipe. Guests had begun to arrive and I could do naught but answer the door in bare feet with a spoon in my hand. By the time I popped the cork on the champagne and poured the mimosas, things settled into a rhythm of serving and seeing to my guests comfort.

I was worn to the nub, but all the effort was worth it. I originally wanted to send her to Italy but my circumstances have changed since that promise was made. In my mind, a party at home just didn’t measure up. That’s why, when my mother hugged me goodbye, I apologized because it was so much less than what I’d wanted for her. She held me a bit tighter and said that, for her, this was better than Italy!

I sighed, put my feet up and napped more comfortably than I had in days. It was over. She was happy.

Now it’s almost Wednesday again. Where did the week go?