OK Go

Today, just pure, unadulterated fun. This is ancient in internet years, but it's so neat that I never get tired of watching it. Then again, I get a kick out of watching ant farms and weather fronts, so maybe it's just me. Anyway, check this out....

Knitting, for a change

Yes, I thought I might add some knitting related news to my knitting blog. Not much, though...sciatica won the battle most of last week, but I am doing much better now and have started back on...

...my socks. Up to (down to, I guess) the heel flap on the second one. I'm happy with them, no worries, they seem to be chugging along just fine...but take a look at the pic above, and the one below:

Same socks, same camera, same room, same time of day...but shot from a different angle they almost look like two different colorways. Weird. For the record, I like the second view better, so I guess I'll always have to look at them from that angle, no?

Now, this, this is something:

My very first roving purchase ever! Well, not counting the boring gray roving that came with my spindle. These colors are outrageous! I took my kids to a local yarn sale, picked out the blue, and while the clerk was weighing it I thought a pound of blue might be a bit much, so asked for half a pound and told the kids to pick the second color. And they picked the green! Fun colors, fun together too.

So, this means I actually will *have* to pick up that spindle again soon (because I am not one to waste money) and try to get good enough at spinning so that I don't actually trash this roving when I touch it.

Speaking of green, a certain son of mine has been asking me to post a pic of a finished project of his. It is, of course.....

a frog! What else?? A rather dapper one at that. He's so proud of this, his first ever latch hook project. Me too! I do wonder if knitting is in his future...

Yellow

Not much in the way of knitting progress to report...I've been visited by one of the worst episodes of sciatica I've ever had, and sitting and knitting seems only to aggravate it. I'll have more to talk about as this recedes in the next week or so. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of Greg Page, the Yellow Wiggle who was forced to leave the group after suffering from Orthostatic Intolerance (his heart works less well when he stands) for some time. Greg has always been my favorite, and this song seemed to fit him and this video so well. The video's creator had intended it as a "get well" video, but after Greg left, it turned into a "goodbye" tribute. I would venture to guess that this comes across as a really dorky thing to those who don't know or don't care about the Wiggles, but having spent literally years with my kids being a fan of them, well, it's really sad to me.

Progress!

That demonic face of George Bush (really, is there any other kind?) that I see at the top of my blog at each visit is really weirding me out, so I worked fast to get these pics in order for a new post :).


First of all, no new spinning to show. I just couldn't manage the three projects at once, as was proven by my coffee mishap at SnB :/. My guess is that I'll jump over to it from time to time, but that most of my energies will be focused on knitting projects. But you never know.


So, on to my socks. Or sock. One down, one to go:




The colors are a bit more washed out in this pic than in real life. Like I said, I'm no photographer...I did a better job with the previous pic of this sock (scroll down)....anyway, I'll work on it :).

Next, the Isabella! Finished and *worn* before the first snow, yay! I actually rushed to finish it last week to engage in the native geeky (dorky? hmmm, seems more dorky, I think) custom of wearing a hand knit item to see the Yarn Harlot. I thought I'd be kind of embarrassed, but I was really proud. Yep, dorky would just about say it all :).


The front:

The back:

And a close-up of the leaf motif. It's still kind of hard to see, but at least you can see it more clearly here than in the above pics:

Pretty, huh? I am pleased with the way the whole thing came out, but I think it's just kind of magical how the lace that you're knitting kind of stretches as you're working and forms the leaf shapes. Neat.

That's it. I was so burnt out from my non-stop knitting exploits of last week that I felt like I couldn't do anything at all on Saturday and only started back on sock #2 Sunday. After the sock, maybe some more out of Tofutsies yarn (scroll to #732 and #793) that is waiting for me. I was so stoked to make Tofutsies socks when I bought the yarn in May, and then I got all distracted by those frog socks and my tank. The time is now!

A Perfect Combination

I love Depeche Mode. I love the movement (however small and ignored by those we voted into office in November) to impeach Bush and Cheney even more. Nuff said.

The Yarn Harlot! And a survey

The Yarn Harlot was in the area tonight, and I got to see her! She came to a local bookstore to promote her newest book, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting. She spoke about her life as a knitter as well as her experiences, and more specifically, challenges, in the world of non-knitters. She was hilarious all the way through, but she also talked about some pretty serious things, like the negative social and financial consequences of society's "knitter" stereotypes (knitters have neither money nor buying power, knitters are dumb, are easily entertained, have nothing better to do with their time, etc.). And while Stephanie was too polite to talk about it, this even came up as an issue for this evening's talk, when the bookstore, like so many before on her tour, underestimated the number of people expected, downsized the space they made available for us, and in the end had to turn away a number of people who'd wanted to attend (people who would have fit in the original, larger reserved space).

She certainly gave us a lot to think, and laugh, about. I'm so glad I went! It was a lovely evening. I'm sorry I don't have any pics...I'm not much of an "events" photographer, or any kind of photographer, for that matter. It's a wonder that *any* of my kids' milestones are documented at all!

Speaking of "knitter" stereotypes, I'm hoping that you can help my friend Erin, podcaster of Damknit, who is trying to respond to some ignorant fiber-arts-related comments made by her co-workers. She's been feeling a bit harrassed by these co-workers who put down her efforts as a waste of time, grandmotherly, etc., and she's trying to collect some information from fellow knitters to give her argument some weight. She's made a quick, not very personal survey, and it literally took me less than two minutes to complete. If you are so inclined to participate, I'm sure she would be grateful! You can complete the survey here.

OK, update of my projects, with pics, to come in another post soon!