lolajl: February 2006 Archives

Things are starting to come together as I make progress on the vest. I've gotten into the rhythm and having fun watching the patterning come together. The fun part is that the color combination changes with every back and fore color, so for every russet, you'll see it paired with blue, then purple heather, and then with tartan. It really takes someone with a good color sense to come up with a pleasing combination that will work with every color in the palette. This is a very hypnotic, and simple pattern, and I'm hoping to have 7 inches done before end of the week before I get started on the armhole shaping.

And meanwhile, I've been spinning - I found black Romney fleece in one of the boxes where I keep, so I took out maybe two pounds of it, washed, and then combed these. And here's what I've spun up so far. I'm hoping to use this for the Eris cardigan. I'm undecided as to whether I'll go for 2 or 3 ply. I think I'l wait and swatch with 2-ply yarn before I decide whether to persevere with spinning for 3-ply yarn.

While prowling the web, I came across this post on Smoking Gun website about this guy, Travis Frey, who's been charged with trying to kidnap his wife in Iowa. Apparently his wife turned out this contract, which she'd never signed (as you'll see why), over to police. This guy sounds like a control freak - he set up guidelines for her in regards to sexual behavior, hygiene, and clothing. Much of what is outlined in the contract is a PG-17, perhaps X, rate level.

But I can give you an example of what he wanted his wife to be during "His Time":

1. Be subservient, submissive, and totally obedient.
2. To do what you're aseked, when you're asked, exactly how you are asked.
3. Be cheerful and adoring towards me.
4. Be close at all times, unless otherwise told to.
5. Perform any and all sexual acts, [and go read the rest at the link above]

And this contract goes on for four pages. He specifies what she had to do to earn Good Behavior Days. What a nutcase. It's a good thing there's a picture up so women can know who he is and to stay away from him.

Now that I've gotten both tips done, and cast on the body stitches. I'm chugging along, and I find myself having to turn the stitches over every so often on the needle. I'm thinking to myself that it's just because the cast-on stitches (using backloop) needed to be whipped into shape.

Here am I several rows up, and admiring my work, when I notice something very, very odd. Yes, you can see what happens when I don't follow my own advice to take those black paper clips and attach these to the cast-on stitches. Thankfully, this is a steeked vest, so it was just a simple matter of snipping the steek and then casting on a couple stitches to replace the cut stitches.

Meanwhile, in other news, a century-old one-story rowhouse fell over and landed on its side into a ditch last night in Washington, DC. I have a hard time picturing just how did this happen, since the video they showed on the news this morning was full of bright lights and camera rolling at a distance as firemen and other personnel milled around checking to make sure there was nobody inside the house, which had been vacant for quite a while. It seem that the ground may have softened due to the melting now; there's some construction going on behind this house. It sure is fortunate, while obviously upsetting for nearby residents, that this happened late at night and not when construction workers were onsite.

And there's a cat in China that weighs 33 pound . . . meow.

I've completed the first tip of the vest. You'll notice the broken strands of the yarn on each side - yes, you have to do this because you're required to cast on stitches at each end. I used the backloop method, but whenever I tried to purl back, the ending loop would come apart. So I had to break it off at each end as needed. Later when I get started on the body of the vest, I'll go back and sew in these ends. Fortunately it's only for 21 rows so I can put up with it.

Now I'm working on the second tip and hopefully I'll get it done today. Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do with the Briggs & Little Regal; I have a serious hankering for a good Aran knit and since I can't seem to get the required gauge for the FLAK pattern, I've been looking through "The Opinionated Knitter". There's an aran pattern for a pullover which could easily be converted into a cardigan.

Meanwhile, in other news, the Job Search still carries on. I had a interview last Friday, and it seemed to go well. However, I heard back from the HR supervisor yesterday, and it seems that while the two gentlemen with whom I interviewed thought that I had a lot to offer, I don't have enough client and documentation management; they will continue with the interview process and will contact me if I'm the best candidate after the process is complete. Sigh. Disappointing, yes. So I'll just have to carry on and see if i can't get more interviews set up and convince someone to hire me. And within the next couple weeks I'll be taking this workshop that that Maryland Dept. of Labor holds for unemployed people; hopefully I'll get an insight there as to what I need to fix whatever it is that isn't working for me.

Yesterday I decided to get started on the vest since I couldn't wait any longer. Earlier in the day I had made a xerox of the pattern chart and gotten it laminated, and punched holes for the color key. I made sure to break off a good-sized length of each color. This xerox is in the background with the purple blobs - Since you can clearly see it, I decided to blob out the pattern itself since it wouldn't be fair to the designer who's put a lot of hard work into it.

So, I cast on for Chart A and worked the first row. And I'm preparing to knit the second row, when I discover . . . two ends knotted together. Auuuggghhh!!! I'm just thankful it happened this early and not when I'm into the 12th row. Off the needle and starting over again. Now up to the 7th row or so . . .

I've finally got a swatch to show y'all for the Flyaway vest. As I mentioned earlier, the specified gauge is 27sts/27 rowsfor 4 inches, using 3mm needles. I knew that I wasn't going to make that gauge since i'm a tight knitter. So, I had to make the first swatch, seen at the top in the photo, using 3.75mm needle. I was able to get a gauge of 28 stitches, closer to the specs. However, I didn't like the way this looked as it seemed a bit too loose, so I tried 3.5mm. Again, I got 28 stitches. So all's good and dandy. I believe I'll go the 44" version; with my gauge this should give me 42" size. This ought to work out just fine since I like to wear my vest with my turtlenecks and shirts.

I found this pattern very, very easy to do because repeat is only 8 stitches, and the color repeats fall into 5-3 and 3-2-1-2 repeats. I've been alerted to the fact that there were erratas for SFC, and this pattern had some erratas. So I need to make another xerox with the correct pattern keys, and get it laminated. I'l get this done tomorrow. I really feel like getting started with this vest now, but I think I can wait till the 15th, since I don't anticipate it taking too long for me to knit once I get into the rhythm.

I had a really interesting experience with customer service - somebody must have declared last Friday "Customer Service Day". I just needed to get out out of the house after a busy week looking for a job. So I hopped into my car and drove all the way out to Fair Oaks Mall.

When I arrived at the mall, the first stop I made was at Domain Home Fashions, where they happen to have (cough, cough) several Aga models on display and an "shop within a shop" devoted to Aga products. Of course, I made a beeline for that shop and walked around, looking at the cookwares on display, leafing through the books, and looking at the book about Aga's history. Now, there was a heavy bookstand on which the book was propped up, on top of 3 copies. I carefully moved the bookstand so I could grab one copy, and then replaced the bookstand.

While looking through the book, the bookstand fell down to the table, making a loud noise. I tried to stop the crash and was only partly successful. Of course, I tried to fix up the display best as I could be. All this commotion drew the attention of the sales lady who came in and moved the bookstand to another location, and asked me if I was all right. If this happened at another high-end store, the salesperson would probably have been cross with me.

After getting my Aga-fix, I decided to walk around the mall and see what there was to see. I discovered Coldwater Creek, so I went in to see if I could find anything I liked. I found a really nice tencel skirt that was at just the right height and the right length. The lady in charge of the dressing room politely said it was all full but she would take down my name and call me when a booth was available. Didn't take long for a booth to open up, and so I proceeded to try on the skirt and decided to take the size that fit me, and went to the cash register. The saleslady rang up the purchase, wrapped up the skirt and walked out from behind the counter to give me the bag, and thanked me for visiting the establishment and invited me to come back again.

By then I was starting to get hungry, so I decided to treat myself to a good lunch. I discovered that there was a Japanese restaurant where they serve sushi and seafood buffet, Todai Fairfax. I was ushered to a table at a good location. The waiter told me that I was free to get whatever I wanted at the buffet. Later on, as the lunch period was starting to wind down, he apologetically said that the buffet was going to be closed soon. I appreciated that as I didn't know that the lunch period was coming to a close, and I left a good tip because service was so good.

When I got home, I stopped at Safeway to get some fish for dinner. I saw that salmon was on sale, so I told the lady behind the counter that I wanted two filets of salmon. She pointed to several filets until she got my choices. After wrapping my choices, she then grabbed a lemon and asked me if I wanted it as well. I was taken aback, because you just don't get this kind of helpful service at the average grocery store.

Now what are the odds of getting excellent customer service in disparate locations on a single day?

Sadly, this luck ran out the next day when Hubby and I went to see Something New. There was so many people and only one ticket stand open that we missed our viewing time and had to go for the next one. There was only one ticket stand open, and you still had to pick your ticket at the stand, so it would have pointless to go that route. Not a manager to be seen on location. Even the trailers didn't start displaying until 15 minutes after the movie was supposed to start. After the movie was over, it took forever to get out of the parking lot because people were driving every which way, trying to find parking, picking up family and friends, and so forth. At least we didn't catch two young people using their car as a love nest, fogging up the windows, when we'd gone to see another movie last month.

For a good long while, I've had balls of singles lying around, waiting to be plied. Some go back as far as 5 years ago or so and I no longer remember where I got the fiber from. I've finally decided it was time to do something about these. So I went into my yarn stash and rescued these balls, and I've been plying these up. It's really interesting how yarn can turn out to be when the singles have been balled up fr so long. Take a look at the skein in the bottom row, on the right. See how kinky it is? That is what is is like for all of the white yarn. The green and purple were combed from dyed locks so these didn't kink up. After I took this picture, I washed these up and gave each skein a couple of whack on the bathroom tub so as to "toughen" these up. The white yarn are still not quite as balanced, but I think it will be okay. The green skein should be perfect for a pair of socks. I've got more of the Romney fleece and dye colors in the garage. One of those days I'll have to have another dye session. Especially if I'm going to be serious about selling my handspun yarn . . .

Meanwhile, in another bit of odd news, a bunch of Caltech students are probably wakening up this morning, chagrined at having to be rescued whilst wearing tutus and Superman capes after getting stuck in Easton Canyon in the middle of the night, without flashlights or safety equipments. It goes to show that one doesn't have to be a genius to display common sense.

Looks like today is Ground Hog day and we're all waiting for the hog to come out. Will he see his shadow? Or not? in any case, winter won't be over till March 21 (I think). Let's at least get a bit of snow in here . . . wouldn't it be wonderful to have a nor'easter blow in? Looks like we're going to have 6 more weeks of winter . . .

In other news, drug agents busted a smuggling group that was importing packets of liquid heroin by implanting these into puppies' bellies. How sick is this? Three of the puppies have already died from infection. Not only was this group using animals, but also they were using people who would swallow packets. Arrghh! If people would stop using drugs in this country, then the demand would dry up and we wouldn't be seeing this happening anymore. I've heard that some of the drug money is being funneled to terrorists. Yet another reason to reduce drug usage in this country.

I think I'm not going to have the Norge pullover finished before Winter Olympics starts. But that's okay - as long as I get as much of the body knit up as possible, that will be fine. I'm really looking forward to getting on with the Flyaway Vest - I miss fair isle knitting.

While I was on one of my cleaning binges, I found a ziplock bag with a circular needle and the vest points on it. I can't remember where I found it, but I think it was in a box with some other stuff. Several days later I was looking on top of one of the bookcase for something else, and I found another ziplock bag with the wound skeins. So I was right all along. So now I should have more than enough yarn for two vests, I hope. I guess I had better get on with swatching.

I've been doing quite a bit of spinning, lately, trying to use up the small lots. I'm thinking about starting to sell my handspun yarn, so I can earn money to put into The Fund for the Aga stove. I know I have quite a ways to go, but one might as well start somewhere.

Still inching along with the norge pullover. I've had to tape together the blown-up copies of the back and front pattern and prop up the metal board as I knit along, so I can't take it out in public locations. So that makes it slow-going. And meanwhile, my job search is lumbering along, very slowly. It's getting a bit frustrating, and I'm trying to figure out what it is that I may be doing wrong. I've been sending out my resumes to posts that I see on places such as Monster.com, but not much luck other than recruiters who don't always good matches for me. So, I guess I'll have to see what I can do about that.