My Own Two Cents

1) Things are good, but I have been too lazy to post.

2) Toby just tried to eat one of those mosquito hawks. It fell out of her mouth, 1/2 alive, and she walked away satisfied. I’m pretty sure she thinks she swallowed it. Phil killed it out of mercy.

3) We recently had an anniversary. Here is a picture of me and Phil before our anniversary date when I thought I was setting the timer, but really I was taking a picture. It looks surprisingly good for an accident.

4) Our anniversary camping trip and fancy dinner were both lovely. Pictures of former coming soon.

5) California is going to run out of money in a few days, like a college Freshman who doesn’t know how to budget.

When will Bethro learn to not say everything that flits across her apparently tiny brain?

When will Bethro learn that…

No one wants to hear that sh*t?

Instead of a Friday Free For All this week, I bring you my latest creation.

This is the Cosy V-Neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. You may remember a poll here on My Own Two Sticks for what sweaters 2009 should bring. This sweater did not get a lot of votes. However, two elements came into play when I decided to make it. 1) Shannon’s comment that the others might become “too much” after a bit. 2) I needed something plain and easy after the trials of the husband’s sweater.

The pattern was certainly easy. Anyone out there considering their first sweater should think about this pattern. I made some minor alterations: the usual needle size decrease, sizing it somewhere between the stitch counts of a medium and a small, and adding bust darts so it wouldn’t be poofy. If I ever make it again, I think I’ll add some shape to the back, too.

The yarn is Cascade Pastaza in Colonial Blue, bought at my favorite Bay Area yarn shop, K2Tog (love that place - forgot how much until I went back).

Therapy achieved. I cast on May 29 and it was blocking by June 8. My love for knitting is re-kindled. This is the second time I’ve managed to reach KAZ this year. Now, what next?

By Friday, there is usually something you wanted to say to someone over the last week that you just couldn’t. Something that, if you are lucky, you stopped as it approached the lips and held it in by sheer willpower. Or perhaps it was that perfect retort that came to you five minutes too late.  Feel free to post it here. You don’t have to have names or context, just that ideal response you wanted to say and it was either too rude or not timely.

As usual, I’ll start us off:

 I am not responsible for doing things just to make you feel good. Although you may be paradoxically the most insecure person I have ever met, and the person most likely to think yourself the center of the universe, I do not have to compensate for either. I especially will not concern myself when those two views come together in a perfect storm and project themselves on me. 

Now, your turn.

For those of you who don’t know what Maker Faire is, it’s part craft show, part DIY exploratorium, part installation art show. It tends towards the steam punk, but you can see those people coming a mile away and steer clear of the lace umbrellas and top hats quite easily.

There was a lot to see and much to tell, but I’m going to limit it to the things we managed to photograph or that stuck out.

What I remember most was meeting the guys who make Grid Beam which is the coolest idea ever and I would invest if I had any money. It’s a little like practical Legos for grown ups. They have a book about the system and sell the product…somewhere.

We also saw…

The giant wings that moved in the wind. (Bethro’s picture not shown because her hips looked huge)

Yarn dyed in a solar oven.

Art

Barrel making.

Bicycle powered rides.

The fire breathing snail.

The giant robotic hand.

The poseable figures.

And a hell of a lot more, including Adam Savage of Mythbusters and the giant mousetrap game. But, I’m anxious to get to the hula hooping.

Nope, not that one…This one (please ignore my extremely annoying comments. I would turn them off if I knew how.).

With the buttons on and the Bay Area giving us Bay Area weather, Phil’s sweater has already been useful. Yesterday it made its maiden voyage to the Maker Faire.

[Maker Faire was fun and we saw Adam Savage speak (thanks to Jess for the tip), but more on that later. Today is all about the sweater.]

Started in (very) early 2008 and continuing to nearly mid-2009, Phil’s sweater is well-known for its ability to make competent knitters weep. Between cables that disappeared in decreases, only to be referred to later, and rows that didn’t quite add up, there was much to be desired in the pattern. Knitters seeking a pattern for a cabled men’s cardigan would be better served to look elsewhere. Places that might help my audience find a pattern easier to comprehend include The Russian Book of Patterns - in Russian and Knitting Sweater’s Upside Down in Outer Space.

The book, Never Knit Your Man a Sweater (Unless You’ve Got the Ring) is a play on the old myth that knitting a sweater for your boyfriend will cause you to break up. That in order to successfully knit a sweater for your male companion, the bonds of engagement should be in place.

I don’t know about that myth. Instead, I would have titled the source, Never Knit Your Man a Sweater (Unless You’ve Already Searched For and Found Elaborate Errata For This Poorly Edited Book). But, what do I know, I’m not a famous designer or editor. All I am is a knitter with slightly more gray hair than I had in January of 2008.

Regardless of the pattern problems, the final product came out OK. There are a few things I can’t stop seeing (a cable miss-cross here and there and the weird design the bands caused because of the strange way they were created), but overall, it seems to look like a sweater. The seaming went fairly well and every matched nicely, which was a concern because of the amount of “fudging it” that had to be done.

Finally, I stand by my firm belief in Cascade yarns. In fact, I’ve already cast on for my sweater in some Pastaza. Like the Maker Faire, though, that will have to wait while we all enjoy this accomplishment.

aaahhhhhhh.

I’m cranky. Some reasons:

• Having trouble finding buttons for the sweater
• Having trouble finding yarn for my next project and I have nothing on the needles. Reaching KAZ was only freeing for a day or so. Now it is oppressive.
• Work stuff (of course)
• I’m out of milk and have to use evaporated milk to make my tea. It tastes as stupid as you look
• Pan woke me up at 6 AM by galloping around the house. And she’s not exactly Kate Moss, people
• This list has no parallel structure
• Phil and I have to go to a work/social thing tonight instead of a pub, which I would prefer

Tell my why you are cranky. If you are not cranky, don’t tell me, just go to hell.

Guess what’s blocking under here?

Yes, except for drying (which, depending on weather, could happen in 24 hours or 24 days), and sewing on the buttons, this bad boy is done.

Above you see how much yarn I have left. It would be nearly impossible to exaggerate how nervous I was. I woke up at 4 AM this morning and had to stop myself from getting up and knitting because I just wanted to see if I would make it. I normally buy an extra skein. So one of three things happened: 1) I didn’t buy an extra (seems unlikely) 2) I used it (even more unlikely) or 3) I accidentally gave it away in the great de-stash of ‘09.

I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but this sweater is the most important and impressive thing I’ve ever done. That counts being married, having two college degrees, and that Nobel Prize I won for being so attractive. If I ever get divorced (which is a maybe after Phil reads this), Phil can have everything as long as I get the sweater.

Maybe that’s just the eight straight hours of piecing and weaving ends talking.

I could have broughten you a better topic, but this one occurred to me first.

Tell me (and the world) a word that should exist. One that slips out by accident, as broughten or douchebaggery will.

Or is douchebaggery a real word?

And try to relax; it’s just Friday Free For All.