I Heart Hyrna

Well, I ripped out the two offending inches (there's an interesting Google search for you), back to where I had screwed up the ends of my double-yarnovers, and did it all over. I am now near the end of the second section, hoping to set everything up properly (and numerically) for the border.

I love this shawl. Partly, I love it for the yarn, which is the most gorgeous mottled fall shades of green and gold. (In reality I think they are a little brighter than what you see in this photo.) The Icelandic singles have a pleasing rough-but-soft wooly texture. It just looks warm. And partly, I love it for the pattern.

I think I'm ready for a girly shawl. I can't wait to wear it when it's done. I'm hoping it will be enormous and just wrap right around me. I am not usually (and this is an understatement in the extreme) a hearts-and-ruffles sort of girl. I'm more the geometric sort, so it may be in the end that Hyrna is a little too feminine for me. But right now, I love it.

10 Knitting Things You Don't Know About Me, Or Might Have Known Once But Hopefully Forgot

For Grumpy...

1) I have never knit with angora. I'm toying with the idea of getting a bunny but someone suggested I find out whether I'm allergic first. Good idea!

2) While I may skip steps and let mistakes stand while knitting, I am an obsessive-compulsive seamer. I work hard to ensure a nice, even, hopefully-invisible seam. The work of seaming a sweater is so tedious and meticulous for me that I have to break it into two evenings: the first, I sew the shoulders and set the sleeve in; the second, I seam up the sides and sleeves. (If you were about to tell me my seams suck, you can just keep your mouth shut. I'm not listening!)

3) The first socks I ever knit were made out of leftover Tahki Tweed and and the Candide hunting sock pattern and were for my cousin for Christmas. They were terrible socks. Really, no elasticity whatsoever, floppy around the ankles. Gauge? What's that? But my cousin said he loved them so I made him more terrible socks for Christmas the next year. That'll teach him to be nice.

4) That second pair of socks for my cousin was the last pair I ever made until last year.

5) The first sweater I ever knit was made out of crimson red acrylic yarn and used a British V-neck, raglan sleeve pattern from a book my granny gave me. Turned out it was a man's size. Sucker was HUGE, and I was not. It was like a sack dress on me. I think I wore it once.

6) It didn't occur to me to think about whether a sweater flattered my figure until a couple of years ago. There was a massive sweater purge shortly after.

7) I have given Goodwill and the Salvation Army a staggering number of hand-knit sweaters.

8) I had never knit with wool until I went off to college. Wool yarn was not available where I grew up. I cannot tell you how excited I was freshman year when I found wool in the LYS. It almost made up for that solid month of rain.

9) The first time I knit drunk (possibly only time, too) was also freshman year in college. In one of my English classes, we had to visually depict something from one of our texts, any way we liked. I knit a mini Coat of Many Colors, sort of large doll-sized. (You know, for your Joseph doll. I'm not sure that's sacriligeous, unless your Joseph doll starts spending too much time with Barbie.) But anyway, back to the coat. It was completely random, just patches of color any which way, although I did put thought into the way the colors and patches worked together. It was a fun knit. Anyway, I remember I returned from a bar one night a little too tipsy to read Shakespeare (I recall trying and giving up), so I knit some on the coat. My professor loved that coat. It hung in his office for years. And I felt like a cheat, because I had made something so easy.

10) Coat of Many Colors aside, I am not a very creative knitter. I pick a pattern, I follow a pattern. I don't sit around and think of unique objects to knit up (pillowcases, coasters, tea cozies...). Mostly, I knit sweaters.

Looks Like I'm Going to Rhinebeck After All

I had ruled Rhinebeck out on the basis of being crazy money for one person for the weekend. The hubby's not interested and it didn't seem right for me to spend all that money on a vacation without him. After all, the same money could buy airfare to Florida (and part of a week's lodging) for the both of us. But he knew that deep down inside, despite my protestations to the contrary, I really wanted to go. So what was my anniversary present? A gift certificate entitling the bearer to "an all-expenses paid weekend trip with your knitting cult."

I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed.

Now I just have to determine whether "all expenses paid" includes fleece... I think it should, don't you?

And Here I Thought $20 Was Bad

So I'm sitting on the patio with the dog and a cup of coffee, reading the new Elle (I gave up on being Vogue; now I'm just trying to be Elle) while waiting for the hubster to come home for dinner, and I come across this article on channeling the classics to create your own style. On the "All-American" (read preppy) page, they show a pair of $200 Michael Kors argyle socks. Now I'm sure these socks are cashmere, and they're certainly far more dignified (camel, black and white) than my pimptastic argyles are, but $200? Two hundred dollars? For a pair of socks? Does he sell a lot of these? Whoever buys them needs to call me. I can knit a dignified argyle sock for a lot less money.

Things To Which I Am Hopelessly Addicted

1) Project Runway. I've never watched it before, and now I can't stop. My friend T. was raving and raving about it a few weeks ago, so I gave it a try. It's been inspiring me to sew stuff I never would have thought to sew before. They're down to a very talented group at this point.

2) Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter. Don't worry, it's not time for an intervention or anything. But nectar of the gods, people. Nectar of the gods. And yes, I am aware that I shoud pursue other methods of post-work stress-relief, like yoga or boxing, but drinking a porter's working pretty well for me right now. Oddly enough, it makes the acid reflux go away.

3) "Message to my Girl" by Split Enz (caution: video and music start instantly). The song is about 20 years old, I know, but I haven't heard it in eons. And I missed it. I don't know what it is about that song that gives me chills, but it just sounds so heartfelt. Look how young Neil Finn looks! Such a boy. Looks a lot like a boy I dated, oh, 20 years ago.

4) L'Oreal ReFinish Microdermabrasion Kit. At first I was sceptical, but now a month into the experiment, the huge patch of freckles on my cheek (like a gigantic age-spot, people) is less than half the size it used to be. It's a winner.

5) Sewing blouses. I finally finished the garnet red blouse! Here's a photo, taken by the hubby in bad kitchen light:
It's not perfect by any stretch, but it fits and is comfortable. And it's presentable; it's not too visibly messed-up. Inside is a little "Martita Rampage" label (sorry for the crappy, out-of-focus shot)


6) Not knitting Hyrna. Seriously. I don't even like looking at Hyrna. She is riddled with errors, due to my refusal to read the &^*% pattern. I just blithely knit along, watching TV, reading a book, not paying the slightest attention to the pattern, only to realize much, much later that the pattern changed and I didn't. As long as the stitch count works, I figure I'm okay--but I'm not. One of the errors I can live with (a centered diamond where the shawl's spine should start) but the other troubles me to the point that I am considering ripping back several inches. Me, the one who never rips! That's how bad it is. Here's the error:

See where, on the left the ends of the double YOs end in little pointed arrows? And see where, on the right, they don't? Or maybe you can't see it, because Blogger has ceased to download photos and I had to use Flickr (bye-bye, Blogger). Anyway, imagine Hyrna all blocked out, with all of its double YOs ending in arrows--except for that patch. Yup, I'm ripping.

Sorry for the spotty blogging. Our bookkeeper at work quit last week to travel Central America, so I've spent the past couple of weeks learning how to do payroll and taxes and all the other stuff she did. It's good to learn this stuff, and I'm glad for the challenge; I just had to absorb a lot in a short period of time. I'm starting to get a system going and the chaos is quieting down around here, so I should have a little more blogging time now. I hope.

I Am Doll Parts

Those are my teddy bear parts so far. Clockwise, starting at the top, we have:
3 head pieces
4 ear pieces
4 arm pieces (2 pieces each arm, duh, with contrast brown paw pads)
2 body sections

I'm still working on the legs. All the yarn is homespun from stash, which makes me happy. It's made a huge dent in the stash-storage-box. There's room for more now!

Sorry the parts are all curled up and don't look like much; the pattern expressly states not to press or block them before stitching.

I've been a bad knitblogger, though, and gotten distracted from my knitting. Which has two results: gives me less to blog about, and puts me WAY behind on my holiday gifts. Yikes! I was supposed to finish this bear before Labor Day.

But instead, enthralled with the progress I'd made sewing those bags, I decided I had to learn how to sew a blouse. One that actually fits me, unlike the ones I buy in the store. Unfortunately, such a blouse involves learning pattern manipulation, dart adjustment, sleeve cap reduction, etc. It's been two weeks and about 4 library books already, and I've only gotten this far:

(I made that picture smaller so the color wouldn't blind you)

I swear to you that hideous color is not accurate. It's actually a lovely garnet red. I've been learning to set sleeves (and adjust sleeve caps) since Monday, so as you can see this is going to be a while. But the good news is that once I get this sussed, I should be able to whip a blouse out in an afternoon.

I also solemnly swear to you that this blog will not become a sewing blog. It's just that in the heat of the summer, I'd rather sew than knit. Or spin, apparently, since the only spinning I've done this summer has been insomnia-3am-spinning. I'm still working on the Grafton Fibers navajo blue and teal batts that I have officially decided I dislike and will raffle off once I'm done. I have noticed that when you dislike the color you're spinning, your motivation to spin plummets to the ground like a dead bird. But I know someone else will love the colors, so once I finish you'll all be the first to know!

P.S. No progress whatsoever on Hyrna. Really. None.