Time to Give

Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot, has again started accumulating her tally of the dollars given to Doctors Without Borders, via the groups she's christened Knitters Without Borders (Tricoteuses Sans Frontières). Until December 5, when she posted about her 2008 campaign on her blog, the cumulative total was $420,000 (US?).

Today, after only 10 days, the total is $560,000. That's right, $140,000 in 10 days.

Give what you can. Donate what that yarn that you managed NOT to buy would have cost you. Donate what you would have spent for one more prezzie.

Here's the link to her FAQ about the plan. You can click on through to the Doctors Without Borders website from there (she has links for Canada, the US, and worldwide), or you can send a check. Either way, send an email to Stephanie at the address she's set up to capture the donations (don't send to the email addy in the FAQ page) - kwb@yarnharlot.ca

As Stephanie has said in her speeches, knitters know how much one stitch at a time can do, when added to another stitch and another and.... We are also showing just how much we knitters can do $1 at a time.

If you prefer, give to Heifer International, which teaches people how to care for the animals that will give them a better diet and a better life - cows, pigs, SHEEP, rabbits, LLAMAs, geese, etc. You can donate enough for an entire animal or just a part. They've even got a larger gift they've labeled a "Knitting Basket" - 2 llamas & 2 sheep. A part of the Knitting Basket is $50.

Or give to Freedom from Hunger, a successful microfinance organization helping women to support their families.

You can check on charities at Charity Navigator, a site I found thanks to my friend who writes the Short Stuff blog. Heifer International gets 3 of 4 stars, Freedom from Hunger rates 4. Doctors Without Borders also rates 4 stars.

Give to one of these or to whatever charity you prefer to support. Just give what you can.

'Scuse me while I ROFL

I love the celebrity Q&A in Parade Magazine every Sunday. Today one of the entries had me nearly breathless with laughing.

Someone asked what George Lazenby, the one-time-only James Bond (1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service) was doing these days. George is now 69, and hasn't worked in 6 or 7 years. But he still blames the decline in his career on his former agent, who told him, all those 40 years ago, that the James Bond franchise had run out of steam. Right.

A quick check of his filmography on IMDb, which started with his James Bond movie, shows that his career has been, um, checkered since he broke his James Bond contract just before the release of the film. There are a lot of Asian chop-socky and Central European foreign-language movie roles, one-time TV appearances, and quite a number of Emmanuelle TV spots. Emmanuelle? Are those on the Playboy Channel? (Snickering here.)

Now, this is strictly my opinion (shared, I understand, by thousands, and with better comments in this blogger's post I found by Googling ;D) that George was the absolute, completely WORST James Bond ever. The Tin Woodman was more animated and charming. I was so excited when I learned that my favorite Diana Rigg, the awesome and gorgeous Mrs. Peel from The Avengers, was going to be in the movie. But then she had to work with Lazenby; I wonder how disappointed she was.




The best James Bond? Of COURSE it was and always will be Sean Connery.








The new one, Daniel Craig? Ah, he reminds me a lot of the brush-cut Robert Shaw, who was one of The Big Bads in From Russia With Love. Which means he's down by 2 out of 3 at the start.




OK, soon I will return you to your regularly scheduled knitting news.....

What a Week!

My jaw is finally beginning to relax. Yesterday I handed over all of my out-of-town gifts to the US mails. Four to friends in Vancouver, four to family across the US. Plus one to the UK, not a gift, but 2 skeins of a particular yarn and dyelot which will finish off a warm sweater, another happy thing due to Ravelry. I didn't feel particularly stressed, but the ache in my jaw every morning from teeth-clenching said otherwise.

Now I just have to organize and finish and wrap gifts to my LA friends and to my DH. He has hauled home all the holiday decor from the storage locker, and we can Deck the Halls this week. The outdoor lights and wreaths and greenery have been done since Thanksgiving weekend, being stored in the garage.

On Tuesday morning I learned that my beloved Sears microwave, circa 1984, is finally in its last days. That's right, 24 years of service with only one $80 repair! The fan didn't come on, but I didn't realize that meant the heating was very uneven, and when I reached in for my reheated morning oatmeal, I scalded 2 fingertips and left some skin from a third finger on the bowl. Swears, you bet!! A couple of layers of band-aids helped me get on with most of my life, and by Wednesday I could even type and knit, very carefully. But I couldn't write, and the idea of typing and printing mailing labels and holiday messages didn't enter my tiny mind. The fingertips are back to normal, but re-growing a full layer of skin will take a while. Side note: Your experience may vary, but IMO the genuine Band-Aids, the 'flexible fabric' ones, are the only way to go. Other brands, whether proprietary or major branded, just don't stick through a day.

I did finish knitting the Woven Bands Pullover for DH, and with the help of some little hair clips to hold the sides together he tried it on. I am very happy with the result, which fits him well. I have to sew the side and underarm seams, but he should be able to wear it next week. Size 42 took just a bit less than 10 skeins of Elann's Sierra Aran, which is 80% wool, 20% alpaca, in the Fiddlehead Green color. Note that my row gauge was way off, and I finally just added rows (it's knitted from sleeve edge across to sleeve edge) to get to the length I wanted; as written, the sleeves are only 17.5in long, so they're 3/4 length or so. The 'Woven Bands" are done in linen stitch, running down each sleeve and around the open neckline. BTW, the next time you do a bit of linen stitch, check out the wrong side. I think it makes a pretty texture of its own, with definite diagonal lines, something that would work very well as trim for a stockinette project. Or even an entire scarf or hat, etc.

The week ended on a majorly fun note. P, one of my Friday Night Knitters group, set up a spa evening, with a masseur bringing his table and massage chair, and a hairdresser offering trims. Of course there was wine and egg nog and lots of holiday treats - any chocolate, you say?? Oh, yeah! K, a new group member, brought a dessert spread made with mascarpone cheese, candied nuts and Grand Marnier, among other goodies. Calorie count way up there but incredibly yummy!! Some non-knitting friends also came, and we ended the evening with a lavish roast-beef dinner. I rolled down the hill (she lives on the uphill side of town, I live on the flats) to Chez CBM, full of great food and friendship, relaxed from 30 minutes of chair massage, and with a much shorter hairdo.

I leave you with a picture of Midnight, in her current cave, which has a heat-reflecting kitty pad (I learned about it at Wendy Knits, something she got for the famous Lucy) and a little blankie folded in front to help keep out the drafts. It's been in the 40s and 50s at night around here, and a couple of mornings during the week it was cooler in the house than was strictly comfy. I'm taking advantage of the 'winter' coolth to wear some of my shawls, ;D

Zooming Right Along

I have progressed to the start of the 2nd sleeve of DH's sweater. In fact, I should finish it today, assuming the pasta sauce I'm planning to make doesn't take up too much time. I have about 14 inches to knit, over some 60 sts, mostly stockinette. I won't say easy, 'cause that might be hubris, lol.

I've also been knitting more of the Maine Morning Mitts, totalling 3.5 pairs so far. Yesterday I braved the crowds at the local Michaels, and by the grace of the knitting goddesses I found 3 single skeins of Patons SWS yarn in colors I can use for more mitts. Honestly, the yarn section, except for the basic and baby acrylic areas, looked as if a horde of locusts had chewed their way through, leaving empty shelves and disorder everywhere. My friend Fran tells me it was the same way last week. Guess they're not getting any new shipments in.

Photos will be available when the sweater and the mitts are done. In the meantime, here's Midnight, looking snug in the "Kitty Loaf" position, next to my knitting bag, with a bit of DH's lovely green sweater showing right above her head .

Negative Progress

There's been a lot of muttering and sub-vocal swearing going on the last couple of days. No point in cussing out loud - it scares the cat. Sadly, DH's sweater has become a member of my too-large Benighted Large Project group.

I've written about the row gauge problem, and having to frog back to add rows between the sleeve and the collar dividing point. I got that fixed, got back to the collar dividing point, got the front side started and then joined yarn to start the back, so I could work front and back at the same time. Looked for more KP Options needle tips and hmm, US7s it said right there on my needle gauge. That sailed right past my sane-thinking ability, and I went on to knit nearly 5 more inches of both front and back. I was enjoying a great audiobook, J. A. Jance's Justice Denied, the latest in her J P Beaumont mysteries and the knitting was going really well. . Along about 11:30 the needle size thing floated back into mind.

O. M. G. !!! I checked my notes. I was supposed to be knitting this on US9s. NINES!! not 7s.

At that point I went to bed.

I have now frogged all the way back to the middle of the sleeve, which seems to be the point at which the texture of the knitted fabric became a bit denser. I now have a *really* big ball of yarn, about 4 skeins worth. I went and found my beloved but recently neglected Crystal Palace bamboo circs, US9 clearly marked on them. T'heck (or wherever) with the possibilities of getting the wrong size points any more.

And I may need to dig out my night guard tonight. Right now there's a fair amount of tenseness in my jaw. DH will come home tonight and wonder where his sweater went. I hope I can keep from snarling at him too much. But he better not comment about 'getting a lot of knitting from the same yarn'.

Mitts and Sweater and Koigu, Oh My!

"Man, it Pours!"
Wednesday was another rain day, even heavier than Tuesday night. Here's a photo of the downpour in our back patio. We laid the bricks on a bed of sand, so there aren't any puddles. All the plants look so clean and fresh. With as little rain as we get, the leaves get really dirty in between feedings, which is about the only time we 'wash' the plants, lol!


Knitting and Knitting
I finished another pair of Maine Morning Mitts, this time in Paton's SWS Natural Pink. I used this colorway last year for a hat for our DGD, and if I don't finish another project for her, one that's been a UFO for too long, at least she'll have a warm gift under the tree.


I've started and made good progress on the pullover for DH. This is the Woven Bands Pullover from the Winter 2008 IWK that I posted about last time. DH wasn't too excited about the DB Merino Aran - he likes more subtle, interesting colors - so I'm using Elann's Sierra Aran in the Fiddlehead Green color. Sierra Aran comes in lovely heathery colors, and the 20% alpaca content makes it soft. I bought this last year to make the Arwen hoodie, but that can wait a while longer. It will look really good on DH. I have huge problems with my row gauge, though my stitch gauge is right, so I've been making lots of calculations to get the right size. I'm nearly to the end of the 4th skein, and it's going well. Of course, being mostly stockinette with linen stitch bands, it curls up a lot, so it's not showing up well in the photo. The color in this photo is washed out. Check the Elann link for the ferny green shade.

Koigu Attack!!
I hadn't planned any 'Black Friday' shopping, but my LYS emailed about a just-arrived (after a year's waiting!) shipment of Koigu. You never saw such fast toothbrushing, hair brushing, etc. I arrived while most of the shipment was still in its packages. ;D So I had my choice of 2 dozen or so colorways. Yeah, Koigu is pricy, a little more so here, but I had saved up my 'loyal customer' card, and this was the best use of my $30 discount I could have wanted. There's enough here for a couple of shawls and a scarf. Early Christmas? Oh, yeah.

OK, off to knit on DH's sweater, and listen to some more audiobooks. In the last 2 days I've gotten all the way through 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' (HP #1) and J D Robb's novella 'Midnight in Death'. Not only has my library had a good selection of audiobooks lately, but both Audible.com and AudioBookStand.com have had sales and specials.

It Does Too Rain in California!

Well, sometimes. Last night it really rained, pouring down with some thunder-boomies as accents. We set a new record for the date, 0.95 inch of rain, beating the 0.71 record set in 1960. And it's crispy out, hitting our today's high of 60F.

Our soil Chez CBM is quite sandy, so we don't have many puddles, but oh, the trouble the people are having in the burned areas. At least we had enough rain to help avoid some of the worst oil-slicking on the roads. When we get just a little bit of rain, it 'floats' the oil that has built up on the roads over all our dry months, and it becomes a bit dangerous for braking. My friend Curlerchik, who lives near Toronto, recently commented about the problems people there have with the first snowfalls, seeming to have forgotten how to drive in snow and icy conditions. We have the same phenomenon here, but it's just rain.

In the Knittery News:

I finished the green cabled mitts, and another pair as well. This pair is done in Clara Parkes' Maine Morning Mitts pattern, which is a really fast knit. And she has written what may be the absolutely best directions for knitting a thumb gusset. The yarn is an oddball of Lang's Mille Colori blend of wool and acrylic, one of those 'same dyelot but only a cousin' sort of colorway. This yarn is a lovely singles, and the colors repeat but in no pattern I've been able to find. So the mitts are fraternal. I'm still having camera problems, so the colors aren't very true.

After much dithering and changes in yarn, color and pattern, I finally have a combination I like for the scarf I'm making for my internist. This is Elann's Baby Cashmere in the Tapestry Blue color, and the pattern is Brooke Nelson's Column of Leaves. This is an easy 8-pattern row knit, though I haven't yet, even after 10 repeats, gotten to the point I don't need to look at the chart. I know I bitched about being done with scarves, but this one really insisted on being knitted; it does remind me about why I was bored with scarves - 39 sts and turn. Over and over.

And after some not-too-subtle hints and downright questions, I'm starting a sweater for DH. The Winter 2008 Interweave Knits had this simple but attractive sweater pattern, Woven Bands Pullover, knitted from sleeve edge to sleeve edge, and I have some Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in color 506 (a sage-y green) I grabbed a while back from one of Little Knits' great sales. I'd love to knit this in a heathery yarn, like the Eco Wool used in the pattern, but hey - Shop the Stash, y'know. And hey! Here's a swatch!!

Tonight we start with the side dishes for our T-Day feast tomorrow. I wish all of you a happy and uneventful celebration.

Pattern Notes, or How to Decorate a Mitt

I've been reminded that I forgot to link the pattern I used for the green cowl. It's 'La-La-Love-You' by Sandra Park, available free at the Popknits site (in the link). One warning if you make the cowl: the instructions still contain (as of last week or so) the border sts for a flat knit. So take those out and just follow the chart. I wanted to make a pair of matching mitts, so I used my 'standard recipe' for adding a motif to a pair of plain ribbed mitts.

Heart Motif Mitts
For these mitts, I used 3 vertical repeats of the heart motif from the cowl pattern. BTW, I do the left mitt first. Sandy has small hands, so I started with 36 sts on US4 needles. I like to knit mitts pretty firmly, so I go down at least one, if not 2 needle sizes from the size per the label, and 2 sizes smaller than that for the wrist and top ribbing. I knit pretty loosely, so you may want larger needles.

Knit 12 rows of 2x2 ribbing with US4 needles. Then switch to US6 needles.

To center the motif, here's the math: I try to leave at least 2 sts between the thumb gusset and the beginning of the motif. For this 36-st mitt, the motif took 14 sts, and the 2 sts before and after centered the motif perfectly (14 +2+2 = 18).

Starting from the beginning of the round, knit 2 sts then work Row 1 of the motif, omitting the beginning and ending yo's and decreases on the chart, followed by 2 more knit sts. For the rest of the round follow in the 2x2 ribbing. Knit across the motif sts for the even-numbered rows, then work the ribbing. For the first Row 3, again omit the yo's and the decreases. Follow the chart through one repeat and through the 2nd Row 4.

In Row 5 of the 2nd repeat, begin the thumb gusset, working 2 increases (M1 or Kf&b, your choice) between the 2 purl sts just before the 2 knit sts at the edge of the motif. Work double increases (one on each side) on each pattern row until you have 16 increased sts, working in the 2x2 ribbing. To make this easier to keep in pattern, make all the increases after the first purl st and before the last purl st. You'll be gradually adding 2x2 ribs one st at a time, like this: Row 1, p1, increase 2 sts, p1. Row 2, purl 4 sts. Row 3, p1, incr1, p2, incr1, p1. Row 4 p1, k1, p2, k1, p1. This is fiddly, but comes out looking nice. You can work the gusset in stockinette for simplicity if you prefer.

On the next pattern row, knit the first increase st in the 2x2 pattern, put the next 14 sts on waste yarn, and then knit the last increase st. When you finish the 3rd repeat of the motif, switch to US4 needles and work 5 rows of 2x2 ribbing and bound off in pattern, cutting the yarn.

Then transfer the thumb gusset sts back to US 4 needles, join a new strand of yarn and knit around, picking up 2 sts from the main portion of the mitt, thus having 16 sts (multiple of 4). I knitted 6 rows and bound off. If you have loose sts or open spaces, leave an extra length of yarn when you join the yarn, so you have a bit to weave in to tighten up the holes.

For the right mitt, begin the thumb gusset increases between the 2 purl sts to the left of the motif.

'Recipe Notes'
You can use this 'recipe' to add any motif you like to the back of mitts. Just center the motif over 1/2 of the sts you cast on for the mitt, leaving at least 2 sts between the edge of the motif and the thumb gusset. If you don't want a thumb, you'll stop at the stitch where you would begin the thumb increases, then work back and forth as if flat knitting for however many rows you want the thumb slit to be, then return to working in the round. The thumb slit part I'm winging here, since I almost always put in a thumb.

If you want a larger diameter to your mitt, using more sts (for 2x2 ribbing must be divisible by 4), you'll need to adjust the starting point of your motif, leaving more sts between it and the thumb gusset to center the motif. If you want your thumb shorter or longer, add or subtract rows after you pick up the sts.

Cabled Mitts
For the cabled mitts I'm working on, I cast on 44 sts for a larger mitt. The cable pattern takes up 14 sts, and I've centered it between 2 purl sts on each side, since I think that sets off the cables best. So again I have 18 sts. To put the design in the center of the back of the mitt, I have 4 sts between the beginning of the thumb gusset increases rather than 2 (2 purl sts and 2 knit sts). That gives me 22 sts, half of the total.

Begin the ribbing as k2, p2. Knit as many rounds of 2x2 rib as you want, then at the point where you reach the base of the hand:

Round 1: K2, [P2, 3sts to cable needle, hold in front, knit 3 sts then 3 sts from cable needle] twice, p2, then continue round in 2x2 ribbings. This is an 'outside cable' twist row.
Rounds 2-5: Work 2x2 ribbing around

Inside Cable Twists
Round 6: [K2, p2] twice, move 3sts to cable needle, hold in front, knit 3 sts then 3 sts from cable needle, continue 2x2 ribbing around.
Round 7: Work 2x2 ribbing around, except knit the 6 cable sts.
Rounds 8-9: Repeat Row 7
Repeat Rounds 6-9 twice more.
Knit 6 rows of 2x2 ribbing around; the 6 cable sts should be knitted as k2,p2,k2

Outside Cable Twists
Round 1: Repeat Row 1, except work 2 gusset increase sts between the last 2 purl sts of the round
Rounds 2-5: Repeat Row 7 , working gusset increase sts on the odd-numbered rounds
Repeat Rounds 1-5 twice more.
Continue working 2x2 ribbing until you have 16 gusset increase sts. See instructions for the Heart Motif Mitts for further details of working the thumb gusset.

When you move the 14 gusset sts to waste yarn, change to US 4 needles and knit at least 5 more rounds of 2x2 ribbing. Bind off in pattern. For the right mitt, you can either make the cables the same way or hold the first 3 sts in back, which will make the twists go in the opposite direction. This would make the cables on both mitts twist outward.

Looking at these now, for symmetry, there should have been 2 'outside twists' at the beginning and the end, rather than one and 3. Oh, well. This modification I leave to you, my talented knitter friends.

Of course, if all of this is as clear as Mississippi gumbo mud to you, LMK and I'll try to clarify. Enjoy!!

It's Been Really Busy!

OMG. Where did a month go? I'm just fine. Srsly. But there's been knitting and knitting, and reading and reading, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts and music. And the days just go by and I forget to post.

Before I forget to mention it, Chez CBM is a long way from the fires. Makes us very happy that we settled in the 'flats' of Burbank. One of my good friends from my Friday knitting group lives in a foothill area, a tad too close for comfort to the big trailer park fire, enough to be worrisome, but the fire never blew their way. We've suffered from the smoke and ash, with smoggy, smoggy days and difficulty breathing. The fires were really bad on Sunday, and Monday morning I woke up feeling like I'd slept with my mouth open all night. Sniffles, coughing, ugh, most of the week. DH said it was even worse over in West LA than here. Our air quality is much better now, but it's awful for the hundreds and hundreds of families whose homes are gone.

I've rediscovered the local library, and I can't tell you how much I've saved on books in the last couple of months. I've been toting big bags of books back and forth, books and audiobooks both, (reminds me of the junior high days when I used to check out as many books as I could cram into my bicycle basket). Burbank isn't a full part of the Los Angeles library system, so I'm planning on zipping over to Pasadena soon to get a card in the LA system. Then I can figure out the download systems LA libraries have.

Our librarians have commented that visitor levels are noticeably higher than last year; I expect it's the effect of the economy. And for me, it's part of the Ravelry effect, lol; all the new authors and audiobooks the other Ravelers tell me about that I have to read or listen to. I've also spent a bit at sales at Audible and AudiobookStand. Audible recently had a half-price sale on a lot of unabridged books, and AudiobookStand has some good unabridged selections in their $10 list. iTunes is a good source of audiobooks, too, and you can check the prices there by comparison to Audible and to Amazon.

And then there are the podcasts. Oy. News, music, knitting, Garrison Keillor, etc. And there's Podiobooks, too. Some of the serialized books I've been enjoying are Max Quick, Shadowmagic, and Karen Moning's Darkfever, which you can get as a podcast via iTunes. For those of you looking for good knitting podcasts, I'm not a good source for suggestions. I find many of them either tedious or shrill, though interviews with knitters like the Yarn Harlot and Franklin Habit are good. If you go to the Podcasts part of iTunes and search for knitting, you'll find a lot of choices.


OK, about the knitting. I warn you, I've had a terrible time getting a good match of actual color and photo color, and currently I can't get my digital camera to flash. Gotta go online to get this figured out.

I spent most of October madly knitting scarves and hats for my senior's charity boutique, which was Nov 7 & 8. I found myself knitting and frogging and knitting a lot; why is it we knitters feel that projects have to be the 'just right' combination of yarn and pattern???!! The multicolor scarf is knitted from Bernat's Satin acrylic yarn, in a 'moving square' pattern I dreamt up. It looks like there are cables, and I hope I remember where I left the notes for the pattern. Then I finally put together some deep purple Lion Brand Microspun and Crystal Palace's Little Flowers yarn I bought a couple of years ago, using the Montego Bay (aka Mimi Very-Long) pattern. And there had to be a plain warm hat and scarf set, this one with a mistake-rib scarf and a good deep brim on the hat for warmth. This took 2 of the big skeins of Universal Yarn's Classic Worsted Long Print, which is an 80/20 acrylic/wool blend. I loved how the yarn made perfect random-but-repeating stripes. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I finished 2 Odessa hats in red Bernat Satin.


There were noticably fewer shoppers at the boutique, and I think a lot of the other sellers didn't do well. We sold a LOT of scarves; we started out with more than 3 leaf bags full of scarves and had less than a kitchen trash can full left. We had some adorable baby jackets, lots of baby and adult hats, knitted and crocheted afghans and small quilts, mostly lap-sized, and tote bags. Overall, we made $1400+, which makes us very happy. We've already sent off checks to the local Temporary Aid Center and a local church's Thanksgiving dinner fund. BTW, we took over 350 hats (our liaison quit counting at that point, lol!) to the Operation Gratitude group for inclusion in the boxes they're sending to our troops. And we have at least 80 scarves left for the Christmas party given by a local foster kids' group.


Then I switched over to knitting Christmas gifts, and I've finished a hat & mitts set for my cousin and a cowl & mitts set for his wife. The cowl and matching mitts I did with WEBS' Valley Yarn Superwash Merino, and I have to give this a *RAVE* review. Nicely sproingy, good color, and it blocked very nicely. Good price, too. My cousin's hat and mitts are stash-busters: I found a last skein of the Cascade Lana d'Oro yarn (discontinued in 2005) I used for a scarf for him a couple of years ago, then I found a single skein of WEBS' Valley Stockbridge yarn (freebie from Stitch & Pitch) and a gorgeous hank of Shelridge Farm Soft Touch yarn that Curlerchik, one of my near-Toronto friends, sent me a couple of years ago in exchange for some Chibi needles. The mitts and hat don't quite match, but I think they're a close-enough set, since the hat does match the scarf and is trimmed with the same dark blue as the mitts. Yes, I'm sure my cousin still has the scarf; he still has one I made him some 20 years ago. Gotta really love family who appreciate home knitting, don't you!! Mitts being the addictive projects that they are, I'm half-done with another set of mitts with the left-over 1.5 skeins of yarn from the cowl. None of these three pictures has the real green. Sigh.


My remaining gift knits are for our honorary family and for my beloved DH. I have an EZ Ribwarmer done for one of our 'daughters' and another nearly done for her daughter, using some yummy pinky-lavender Cascade Cloud 9. Plus I think there are matching mitts and a hat. These are on my Mission Possible 2008 list, and I'd really like to get them done. The biggest project, and with some 5 weeks left there's some pressure, is the entrelac vest I started last winter for DH. I discovered when the first front was nearly done that it was way too short below the armscye; hence a lot of frogging and its long time in the UFO pile.

And for a very special Awwww! moment: Last week I got an email from one of our honorary daughters. I've sent baby things now for 2 babies, hats and scarves for the holidays, and nary a peep. Well, she made up for all of that BIG time. She said that she wanted me to know how much I am a part of their lives, and that each of them have favorite CBM gifts. The newest baby is now wearing the baby jacket I made for the first one (2005), and the matching blankie has survived and is still keeping babies warm. I wrote back, kind of choked up and teary, that I had just gotten a really big, warm hug! Yeah. Like that.

Miscellany

I'm sadly behind with blogging, but reading and charity knitting have been continuing. I'll catch up with photos in the next few days, I promise. But today I want to urge you, however you choose, please VOTE on Tuesday.

And to mark the day, here are wishes from Basement Cat (the LOLcat version of The Big Bad)

Tag, I'm It - Reading-wise

I suffer as much from 'startitis' as a reader as I do with my knitting, so I have several books in various stages of reading going at all times. I have books I'm currently devouring or dipping into in bits (current WIP), books I've started and have left for another that was more tempting (WIPs in short-term time-out), and books that have been in short-term time-out so long they've become UFOs. And some of the long-term UFOs eventually are frogged and de-stashed to the library.

My blogger friend Short Stuff tagged me for this:
Page 56. 2-5 lines of whatever you’re reading right now.

Free-Range Knitter is the newest book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot herself. This is a 'dipping into' book, since it's a book of essays; I read one and then put it aside till I'm in the mood for another of her thought-provoking tales. Page 56 is in an essay I haven't read yet; I was going to post an excerpt from "Helen", but that's at the end of the book, where I started for some unknown reason. So here's a bit from page 56 of "Denny":

Denny can put on striped tights, a plaid skirt, a handknit sweater in a color that is not present in the stripes or the plaid, top it with a red velvet jacket and a white lace scarf, toss on German shoes, and look inspired. it's a gift. If I put on the same outfit I would look crazy, or homeless, or both.

Otherwise, I'm reading Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, part of my ongoing fascination with vampire tales. This is #2 in Ms Briggs' newish series. I zoomed through the first 5 Sookie Stackhouse books, four of them courtesy of the library, and then felt 'done' with it. My favorite is Tanya Huff's tales of Vicky, Henry and Celluci, which were loosely turned into the TV Series 'Blood Ties'. Well, favorite after Buffy, of course. There are a *lot* of Buffy books.

On the knitting front, I've finished 2 red hats in Grumperina's Odessa pattern, and both my seniors' group and my Friday night friends clamored for the pattern. I started another, this in the yellow Schoeller + Stahl Hobby yarn (discontinued) that I did first. After working with the red Bernat Satin, the superwash Hobby is scratchy. I'm also working on a scarf using the Satin in a deep jewel-tone multi-color, a design of my own with alternating blocks of knits and purls, which is turning out to look like I've cabled it. ;D. If anyone of my local knitter friends likes it, I'll write up the pattern when it's done.

I'm into Clue #2 of the Pangea shawl KAL. Clue #3 will be posted tomorrow, so I have to move along with it today.

And I'm going to tag Marie for the book meme. Marie, you're it!!

I'm a Good Friend, I Hope

Samwise Gamgee. A brave and loyal associate full of optimism, you remain true to your friends and their efforts, to whatever end.

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.

Samwise is a character in the Middle-Earth universe, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings world. You can read more about him at TheOneRing.net.

I found this quiz via Sarah's blog, Short Stuff. Since I took up knitting, I've found very good friends both in real life and virtual, courtesy of knitting blogs and forums. Life is sweeter with them in it.

Serious Post - Trying to Understand Where My $$ Went

Money makes the world go around, faster and faster all the time. At Planet Money, a multimedia team of reporters tracks down the economists, investors and regular folks who are trying to make sense of the rapidly changing global economy

Like everyone else, we're watching our savings for retirement dwindling *fast*. Yesterday I saw a statistic that said the Dow Jones had dropped some 36% since a year ago. And despite what many economists and financial mavens are saying, this may not be the bottom, and it probably isn't going to get better any time soon. The rest of the world unfortunately seems to have followed the US into the sub-prime lending bog; Iceland is among a group of countries which are essentially bankrupt.

Our bank statement arrived yesterday and I commented to DH that we had an unusually high balance in checking (last month had 3 paychecks in it). My initial instinct was to get it moved to a better investment, but y'know, the bank is a darn good substitute for the mattress right now. Twelve-month US Treasury bills are paying interest of ONE CENT on the dollar to investors (per the chart, yield is $1.01 per $1). T-Bills are supposedly the safest investment anywhere, being based on the credit of the entire US government. But even large corporate and institutional investors are willing to take that rate of return in exchange for what they're seeing as the best no-risk place to park their dollars.

As I posted a little while ago, I recently got an 80GB iPod, and I've discovered podcasts, courtesy of a couple of groups at Ravelry. One that was being highly recommended was NPR's Planet Money. If you know how to access or subscribe to podcasts via iTunes, it's at the top of the most-popular podcast list. Otherwise, it seems that you can read and possibly listen to these discussions at the NPR site, as with this link to one of today's stories.

In the last 2 days I've listened to all of the 'episodes' since 9/28, and I'm very impressed with the way that all of this money-babble is being made clearer. Yesterday while I was on my way to my Friday night knitting group, I heard the host tell the guest "This is a jargon-free zone." And the guest proceeded to explain LIBOR and the Ted spread, why it's bad that banks are not lending to one another, etc. Right now, the fact that banks are not lending to other banks is a very scary thing, since companies won't be able to borrow to meet short-term cash-flow needs, such as our paychecks.

This may be far TMI (too much information), but I hope that these links will help some of you, my friends and readers, to understand just why we're in the financial crisis.

Party!

I had a Blocking Party yesterday, assisted most ably by Midnight. But she was just exhausted with the effort, and insisted on a nap.








I finally have FO pictures of my Woodland Scarf,








Chevron Scarf,









Wavy Feathers Wimple





and Odessa hat. Odessa is the bright yellow object in the foreground of the first photo.

I'm thinking I may have blocked the long scarves too severely; I'll get some feedback from my Friday Night Knitters tonight.

This, That and the Other

Lots of reading and some knitting still going on Chez CBM. Plus a bit of Stash Enhancement, though some is purpose-bought, so it 'doesn't count', right?

I finished the kid's vest for A4A, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I hadn't knitted with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride before, and it's quite nice; good saturated teal color, not itchy to knit with, and a sort of silky feel to it, compared to the plain New Zealand wool that's the trim and stripes.

I made another Odessa hat, meaning it for the seniors' fund-raiser boutique, but my friend Irma fell hard for it, so it's a gift for her. When you leave out the beads, Odessa is a fast knit. The pattern was available via the now-defunct Magknits, and now it's free as a Ravelry download. It's one of my friend Grumperina's first published patterns, and I now understand why it's been so popular. The yarn is Schoeller + Stahl's Hobby in a cheerful yellow, retrieved from the stash. I'll make another for the boutique, and I've got some green, too.

I also finished a scarf for the foster kids' charity that my seniors' group supports. This is from some 4-year old stash, TLC Amore; the pattern was off the top of my head. There are 3 bands of [yo,k2tog] 'lace' divided by garter stitch bands at the ends, and the main section is plain garter. Amore is a ribbon of tiny boucle, and the small size of the loops avoids the usual boucle catching on the needle tips. Not the greatest yarn, and it looks better IMO in stockinette, but then there's the curl factor. Hence the garter stitch.

I've been working on a gift for a dear friend, but she reads the blog and Ravelry projects, so it's a mystery project for a while. It's coming out really well. ;D

And another friend, whatifknits, has published a 'mystery shawl' pattern, called Pangea. The finished shawl is shown on her blog, but the clues are coming out weekly, and the design is purposely worked to show off some of the pretty hand-dyed yarns we've all collected and then find don't work for many lacy patterns. Clue #1 is available until tomorrow, and the final full pattern will be available through Ravelry (I think) later this fall. This is the just-right project for some of my See Jayne Knits yarn, some that I bought when she first opened her Etsy shop. The yarn is 50%/50% alpaca and wool, in a colorway she calls 'Meadow'. I have 1060 yards, though I don't plan to use much of the second skein, or the shawl will trail on the floor, lol!

I've been very, very good at avoiding all sorts of wonderful closeout yarns at Elann all summer and fall, but Monday they were offering Lana Gatto's Prestige 100% cashmere (!!!) at $7 for 82 yards. I sharpened up my keyboard skills and managed to snare some, in two colors, a lovely Cape Cod blue and a nice Caramel tan. The Caramel will become a manly scarf for a relative (maybe my cousin in Illinois?), and the blue will be perfect for a small shawl and a scarf.

I met my dear friend Knittess for lunch on Monday, over on LA's busy West Side. Lots of knittery show and tell and chat, plus both of us have discovered podcasts and the other joys of MP3 players; she has a Zune and I've been filling up the new iPod Classic. Whenever I'm in the area, I try to stop by Stitches from the Heart, a LYS that supports the children's charity. I found some yarns for immediate-start projects: Bernat's Satin yarn in deep jewel tones for a scarf for the foster kids and in red for Irma's DGD, a request after seeing the yellow hat. The Universal Yarn Classic Worsted LP in shades of brown will become hats for the troops. This is great yarn, 197yds for $6-7, though it's not stocked by many LYSs; check the store locator at the website. BTW, so far 'my' seniors have produced over 350 hats!

My West LA visit also gave me the chance for a quick run through my favorite Barnes & Noble store. I scored lots of bargains, hardcover remaindered copies of Dick Francis and James Patterson, a couple of 35% off trade paperbacks, and the newest paperback about Anne McCaffrey's 'Pern' universe.

I picked up one new hardcover, the story of Dewey Readmore Books, the adorable cat (a pale marmalade tom >>) who put the Spencer, Iowa, library on the world map, which is going to be a quick and fun read. Even this one was at a 40% discount. Love my book bargains. The Spencer link will give you the one-page version of the story. It's a major 'Awwww' tail, um, tale. ;)

Guess I am

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, an original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts any strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

I found this quizlet via a Raveler who goes by the name of 'shelob'. Those of you who are fans of the LOTR will recognize the name. She has a blog named "Caution Blind Driver". This reminds me of the woman who organized a camping group we used to belong to; her license plate read 'LOSTCAR'. Oddly, she wrote great directions. ;)

Catching Up

Hi! Bet you thought I'd fallen off the planet. Those reports were premature. Today I join the millions of fans who are mourning the death of Paul Newman. Time passes, and we keep losing actors of his stature. And IMO we don't have replacements for them. Especially not Paul.

In the knitting news, I've finished the charity baby blanket, which took a lot more yarn than I thought. OK, it grew in the making a lot from the original 4-square pattern (Tender Blankie from Wendy Bernard) , too. But honestly, I was amazed that I used nearly 2 full skeins of white in making this, most of which went to the crocheted border; the Simply Soft skeins are 330yds each!

I modified the border from the pattern, adding a row of double crochet between the pick-up row and the doubled-up triple crochet row which gives the ruffled effect. I think it lets the edges of the squares lie flatter.

There was some minor swearing when I discovered that the skein of middle-blue I had was far from a full skein, and there wasn't enough to make the planned 3rd square. Fortunately, one of the benefits of making a blankie in squares is that you can play with the layout in the real world. Acrylic doesn't block or square up as natural fibers do, so I gave up trying to get a shot with the edges straight; the weight and the garter stitch make this very stretchy and I think it will be a lovely baby blanket or laprobe. Even though Simply Soft is much nicer in texture than most acrylics, a quick wash and dry with a dryer sheet makes a big difference in how good it feels. Final dimensions are 40in square. Midnight immediately approved; the moment I spread it out on the floor she moved in.

I also finished the Chevron Scarf. The variegated skein was the border yarn, and that I finished up with about 3in left. It looks terrible unblocked, being basically stockinette, and so curled in on itself; a picture will come later. A friend who's just finished her first lace shawl will be joining me in a blocking party next week; should be fun!

The most exciting part of life Chez CBM has been getting my new iPod. When the new Nano's came out a couple of weeks ago, I was all set to snap up one in purple. But then a knitter at Ravelry told me about the great deals at Apple on refurbished iPods; they come with the same 1 year warranty, and the prices are amazing. I meant to buy the 16GB Nano for $199. But thanks to this iPod-savvy Raveler, I am the proud owner of an 80GB Classic (2007 edition) for only $169. I was even able to find the same nice leather sleeve and carrying case (iSnug) that I have for my 2GB Nano, nearly 65% off at Overstock.com. Woot!!

Needless to say, iTunes has been getting a lot of my business in the last week or so. In spite of adding a lot of new songs from iTunes, and some free ones from Amazon (nice selection, though not Top 40), plus some new audiobooks from the library and a few TV episodes, I've still got 64GB free. I'm a very happy wired-in girl!

Note to the thrifty shopper, courtesy of my clever friend Joan: iTunes (and the Apple store!) offer 4% rebates via Mr. Rebates. All you have to do is to log into Mr Rebates (say, in a separate tab) before you hit the 'Buy' button; the Rebates site will also take you to the vendor, just by clicking on the store name, and there are hundreds of online sites which have rebates. I recently got a rebate check for nearly $31.

Middy is just exhausted from all the activity. She's currently changing her favorite napping spot every few days. Last weekend she was hanging out on one of the footstools; before that it was under the little foyer table. With this one, we have to be careful not to catch her tail in the door. ;) But she seems to be in good spirits and very good appetite, in spite of still weighing in at a dainty 7lbs.