Two Black Sheep

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

I had a hard time thinking of a nice campfire song, but I think the title shall do.  Labor Day is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  For the past 6 (maybe 7) years, SK & I have been camping with a large group  of friends.  Real camping!  With tents & hole-in-the-ground pissers.  Oh we've added an air mattress & a coffee press, but it's still primitive.  We drive into a very tiny town to watch the opening football game in the only bar for miles & we canoe on Sunday, that's been the plan for years.  The in-between hours are filled with lots of beer, conversation, music, & no responsibilities.   I've missed it once.  I was only a couple months into the pregnancy with Gus.  Since there's lots of beer, I felt like I'd be out of place.  My parents took pity on me & promised to watch Gus every year after.  The following year, my breast pump was one with nature. 

SK & I are the only campers that have a child, so for us it's a weekend of adultness.  We don't get to see our friends as often as we'd like or in the settings that we're used to seeing them in.  Dinners are fun, but hanging out at bars & concerts are a little more fun (or I imagine them to be).  This year, there was no discussion of me staying behind.  I keep trying to explain to my friends, that the no-drinking part of pregnancy becomes less important with each passing month (sure Sam Adam's commercials make my mouth-watering, but I'll survive).  I just want to be somewhere that insurance adjusters can't reach me.  I want to be crammed in a dingy bar & yell when we score a TD.  I want to wake up & smell like campfire.  I want the only poop I see to be nestled in the bottom of a dirt hole, not in a diaper.  I decided not to go canoing.  Who can do a 12 mile trip down the river sober?  I've got my limits.  I'd rather come home to an empty house & learn how to bind a quilt.  Maybe I am becoming a responsible adult after all.

The Tilted Duster & I got off to a nasty start.  As much as I tried, Berkshire from Webs wasn't going to work for the sweater.  I still was not getting 4.25 stitches on a US 6.  I'm determined to make a sweater that fits me through the pregnancy & into the months when breastfeeding is going to be a chilly adventure.  I'm making the Medium sweater with a 40 inch bust.  That should fit & anything larger is going to look silly once the boobs go down.  After completing the entire back with Berkshire & US 6s, my arms were hurting & the sweater would have turned out larger.  Screw it, I'm buying the yarn.  There wasn't an enormous price difference between the two yarns, but I had to find a color that they had 8 skeins of.  I wasn't about to wait on the project any longer.  In come Tabaco & off I went.

Since we live very close to Yarnmarket's warehouse, I knew the yarn would be here quick.  Yesterday afternoon, a lovely man brightened my day.  The yarn isn't as chocolaty as Coffee Bean.  There's a grayish tint to it, but I do enjoy the color.  The yarn has a texture that I can't describe.  It isn't itchy or scratchy, & there's a nice halo around the yarn.  Sometimes it feels like I'm knitting with yarn that's been dragged in the corners of our hardwood floors & has picked up some guests.  But I got gauge on US8 & the fabric still has it's drape.  I finished the back last night & I'm hoping to get a side done later this evening.

I'll leave you with some camping essentials.  I finished up a Zeebee for myself out of the Berkshire.  Beautiful yarn (I'm thinking of some afghans)!  The hat will be very warm & I won't spend time clawing at my forehead.  Instead of an invisible join, I thought a nice pop of green in the form of a 3-needle-bind-off gave the hat character.  I can't leave home without a book.  Since I won't be hungover in the mornings, I need something to do.  I absolutely love this book.  Don't be surprised if I post pictures of homemade cheeses.  And finally, the most important device of the weekend, SK picked up a headlamp for bedtime reading.  I think it'll be the perfect way to light the path to the toilet & to make sure no snakes are going to bite my ass.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!
-Lola

The Sweater

How do I love that song by Meryn Cadell? Nothing will crack me up faster than hearing this song, especially the end when she literally spits the words "100% acrylic" as if they were acid. Not being a yarn snob here, but the inclusion of those words gets me every single time. And now, I can share it with you!

There now; don't you feel better and uplifted? Ape-scent gloriola will do it for you every stinkin' time. Since cheerleading started, my life has kind of revolved around it and getting ready for school. Before me, my team had a string of English teachers, all of whom had my room. When I took over, I had about six days to get the room in "fighting shape," so tearing out the dreck left from four other people wasn't on the top of my list. For the past two weeks, I have put it above my list . . . it was my list. I found several feet of books, none of which I owned, a zip disk belonging to a teacher four before me, several folders worth of material that we no longer use, as well as many other "unmentionable" items. Needless to say, this has thrown a huge monkey wrench into the knitting world.Translation: frustration.

My two socks classes went surprisingly well. In the first class, out of twelve knitters, only one had knit socks and another two had knit something in the round. One woman had not yet finished a scarf . . . and she knit so tight that I could barely switch her stitch mount. The second class was another story; only three of the eleven had yet to knit a pair of socks. I was even able to slip in some of my own sock knitting for this one. I was quite envious of the huge cone of Kramer's Sterling that one lady had with her. Somehow I think she would notice it had it gone missing for a little while. I'm happy with the little socks - except for the toe on the second one. I might just rip that out and redo the toe.

Hats off to any of you who actually made Amy Butler's Weekender Bag. I took one look at the pattern and ran off simpering to Mommy. It actually paid off quite well if you ask me. Lola, she knows full well you want one, so pony up and ask for it already. Personally, I think I need to knit up a laptop sleeve (and the felt the fucker, which I detest) and use it for a work bag. And, for the record, I'm not being stalked . . . the note is just our mother's way of saying how much she cares for us.

That's it for little ol' moi. Two more rows to finish the math for La (I love this repeat), several more rounds before I can reveal a new sock with a super-bitchin' slammin' name, yo (getting prepared for students), and a bit more cleaning to do at school.

Ava

PS - I think that Grace needs to be resurrected from the bottom of the pile. I thought that last week but apparently not hard enough.

Ring my Bell

First, thank you all for the concern & well wishes following the accident.  We're still in the "Who Going to Cover the Damages" phase, but I'm hoping for an answer by the end of the day.

On the day that I spent tracking down insurance companies, I got two packages.  One from Knitpicks with the remaining yarn for the Melon, & one from Webb's for my newest project.  I have the last short end border on Melon & then I'll begin weaving & blocking the sucker.  It's going to be an enormous bitch to block.  If wool is on the ground, Pup rolls & rubs on it.  Anyone else with a wacky wool lovin' dog?  It looks like I may have to block it while my parents are watching her for Labor Day weekend.

I know that I swore I would not knit a sweater while preggers.  I swore so hard, but I've been broken.  How could I not come to my knees when I saw the cover of Fall's IK?  Doesn't it cry for a belly to peek out from it?  More importantly, I'd wear it after TBA decides to show his face.  Am I self-proclaimed Cardigan Whore & this one's a wacky cardigan.  What more could a gal want?  I'm sure that only a handful for people will understand the following info, but I'm still going to say it.  Anytime I see an asymmetrical design, lots of drape, or otherwise unconventional construction, I always think of Skye on General Hospital.  When she discovered that Rae was her mother, GH writers started making Skye dress like her new Momma.  Sometimes, I think the designer slap some paint on a large square and pin it around her body for a funky dress.  If something can be buttoned anywhere other than the middle of the sweater, I give it a second look.  I'm just afraid the my knitting closet may start to resemble Skye's large walk-in.  Before Ava says, I'm fully aware that the actors on GH are characters and not real people.

Here's my issue with the Tilted Duster or with swatches in general.  I was reading Maggie Righetti's "Knitting in Plain English" and when she makes a swatch, she'll cast on the exact number, block it, & measure the width.  If it's 4 inches, great.  If not, start over with different needle size.  I like this method, but how accurate is it?

Have a great weekend!
-Lola
P.s. As of 9 a.m. yesterday, we've gotten 13 calls from Chiropractors & Body Shops.  I don't even have a copy of the police report!  How can they?

Thunder Rolls

Still raining.  Thank god we got the basement waterproofed last month, or else that'd be one more thing I'd be worry about today.  Yesterday was so good!  I found an interesting product during my training (Anti Monkey Butt Itch powder anyone?).  Daycare was praising Gus.  What mother doesn't like that?  The only thing to make the day better was if we ran into a rainbow spouting chicken wings & cotton candy, instead Gus & I T-boned a Hyundai .  Not my fault & after 3 hours in  labor & deliver, everyone is in perfect health.  But once again, I'm stuck at home without a car.  This time, I'm spending the day tracking down the other person's insurance.  I was going to get a rental & take care of my trainings for the day, but SK begged me to stay at home & knit.  That's just what I'm doing.  He knows my Achilles heel.

Today will be spent working on Honeybee.  I have 2 repeats finished.  No real problems as of yet.  I still have to refer to the chart and the actual knitting.  I'd rather be knitting on my Denise's, but the Options have a nice point.  I just need to get used to the thin yarn slipping & then I'll be golden.  Ann's instructions have been great so far, but I need to customize the chart even further.  I highlight the even rows & then right out the differences between RS & WS knitting.  All instructions for the rows that begin on the left side of the fabric have got to be written in my left column.  This makes my knitting life so much easier.  I absolutely adore the color of the yarn.  I'm not usually a honey colored girl, but it's hypnotizing & yummy.

I also got around to taking pictures of TBA's BSJ.  It turned out much larger than expected.  According to some sizing chart I found online, it says the jacket should fit an 18 month-old.  It's big, but I don't think that it's that large.  I used Cider Moon's Glacier in the Thin Mint color.  No pooling & just a speckle of brown.  I was going to add longer sleeves & a collar, but I'll wait & see when the jacket will fit TBA.  If it's Spring, I'll keep the length.  I had to buy an extra ball to finish the jacket, so I had enough for a Zeebee hat.

Grover is the best model we had in the house.  I had a rocky start with this pattern.  How could that be?  It's garter, Lola!  I am so used to counting garter rows in the ridge form that I had forgotten that a ridge consist of 2 rows.  Thanks to the Julie at KnittingJuju for her excellent advice.  This is the second & final version of the hat.  My first hat was a 13 inch circumference with a 5 inch length.  It seemed really big.  Gus was a large baby, but not that big.  I ripped & decided to go with an 11 inch circumference.  The fabric is stretchy, so TBA's noggin will be nice & warm when he spends his first couple days in the world. Hopefully the lure of Honeybee will taper off long enough for me to knock another Zeebee out before the camping trip.

Back to the couch & the needles.
-Lola

I Can't Stop the Rain

Here's how it feels around our house, lazy & relaxed.

We've had non-stop rain for the past two days.  I love a good soak & we've needed a drenching for some time now.  I wanted to post some finished shots of TBA's BSJ & Zeebee hat, but I'll wait for better light.  I started my Honeybee last night & so far my stitch count has been spot on.  No problems winding the enormous cake of yarn.  To the very tip of the yarn's end tail, all of it went into the cake.  Usually with lace weight, I've got to spend a solid hour trying to untangling 2 feet of yarn.  I'm going to try to finish a repeat before I leave for my afternoon training.

No knitting photos.  But for those of you that like a posts with picture, I present a simple tent.  Fall is the favorite season of the Lola Household.  2 major reasons why: Football & Halloween.  Halloween will get it's own post.  We start college football season with an annual camping/canoe trip Labor Day weekend.  We had to purchase a new tent this year, since our old tent met a horrible death.  After a booze filled evening, SK stumbled to bed.  The zipper got stuck on part of the rain flap & SK pulled hard & broke the zipper.  No problem, duct tape can fix anything, right?!  Anything but a downpour...  We weren't wet in the morning, but that's because my clothes had acted like a sponge.  I had one sort of dry outfit for the three day weekend.  There is nothing better than enjoying football with a damp pair of panties & moldy socks.  Obviously, we hoping for a drier weekend this year.  This year, a couple beers can't fix my problems.  I'll have to sit in the bar soaking & mad. 

FO pictures tomorrow.
-Lola

p.s I finally went through my yarn stash last night.  There will be some destatshing as soon as I can get some pictures. 

Honey Honey

Sometimes I believe that the Post Office is employeed with mind-readers.  Last night, I used the remaining yarn for Melon (Batman, you are the winner!  More yarn ordered on Friday).  This morning, our trusty Mailwoman (is that the proper term?) delivered this nugget of joy!  Thank god I had the door shut.  She won't deliver our mail if the front door is opened.  Pup has not learned the proper etiquette on greeting guest.  Have you ever fallen in love with a yarn only to be disappointed when it reaches you hands?  It's like meeting a beautiful man with a lovely accent only to discover when you both stand up, he's 3 inches shorter than you.  Once again, Mom raised us to appreciate tall men.  Not that any of our husbands tower over us, but they're all taller & that what counts for her.  With the Oregon Red Clover Honey, I was starting to think that maybe I had built her up.  Maybe when I saw her my heart would sink & she'd sit in the basket for a couple months until I finally agreed to sell her to a proper home.  When Pup was barking longer than usual, I knew the Mailman (sorry, I could not type Mail woman again) was fumbling for something big.  I finished up some work before I ripped the package open; I wanted to savor my fiber.  And wow, did she live up to the hype.  Gorgeous and thick.  I love a nice heavy lace weight makes me feel like I'm cheating.  I even smelled her thinking that she'd have a honey scent, and I wasn't even pissed when she just smelled like wool.  I'm going to seam up the BSJ tonight and just let Honey sit on the table.  I want to ogle her like Angelina on the cover of Vogue or the Beckhams' W photo shoot.  After a nice long look, I'll wind her up and get started. 

I had to add in the book that I'm currently reading.  When I'm pregnant, I think that I eat very well.  When I'm not eating for 2, I don't gorge myself on junk food, but I'm certainly not conscious of what I'm eating.  When I'm busy & on the road most of the week, fast food & I are buddies.  Maybe 50% of the time, I'll get the grilled chicken option.  But who are we kidding, fast food chicken & fast food beef aren't good options for your body.  Now that I'm back on the baby horse, it's back to thinking about my food choices.   I try to each a bunch of spinach & whole grains.  Lots of water.  Plain yogurt with fruit instead of the prepackage fruit yogurt.  Etc. etc. etc.  My food kick is probably why I'm really enjoying the book.  The author moves her family to live only off of what their land or neighbor's farm can produce.  She also sprinkles in facts about agriculture throughout the chapters.  It really makes me miss our Grandparent's farm.  My mother grew up on a farm & we spent many days there as kids.  Last night while I was reading, I was sad that Gus & all the other grandkids missed out on those trips.  I'll skip the sentimental rant, it's just a fascinating book for any food lover.

-Lola

p.s. Found a nice honey tea at Trader Joe's.  Have I said how much I love that store?!  The tea is nice & sweet, but not enough to rot your teeth.  It's decaf, so I'm about to brew some iced tea later this afternoon.

Mustang Sally

. . . ride, Sally, ride! God, how I love this song and now this yarn. It is luscious, it is lovely, it is sexy! Can one truly make a sexy knit sock? Somehow, I think it can be done with this yarn. Knowing me, however, it will be more like Marion the Librarian (no offense, Susan or Shannon), but I'll give it the old college try. I'm looking for a slutty lace pattern, but I'll make it up if I have to. And, yes, this is my lame attempt at a Fiberlicious Friday post; take a gander at the much better submissions.

But first, Grace. What can I say about Grace? First, I love . . . no, adore . . . the name. Had we had one more child (and a girl), Grace would have been a top contender for the name. However, now it is the name of a pattern, which bites at my ass every time I think about it. Not that the pattern is that challenging - it's kind of easy, in all honesty - but the yarn is so sucky that it defies an explanation. When Bev was giving away some of her stash, I saw she had a ball in the offing and I nearly broke out into tears. The yarn is unbelievably soft (hence the name Soft Baby), but the real pisser is how it snags on any dry skin that one may have. For a chick with hang nails, this isn't the yarn of my dreams . . . not even close.

Anyway, Grace must be done soon because I made a 4T and Beaner is three. Granted, she is a tiny three-year-old (she and Gus are the same size), but I don't want to take any chances. Besides, she'll be five by the time I see either a picture or have knowledge that our sister received the sweater. Have a lovely weekend! We're taking the girls to see Superbad (c'mon . . . George Michael is in it . . . need I say more?) which may be as uncomfortable as the time we took them to see 40-Year-Old Virgin. We'll see

Ava

PS - Hey, Lola, the dog is really upset with me since I am trying to ween her off the futon in the basement. I just caught her sitting and resting her chin on it, making that deep depressing sigh of hers. Silly pup!

Intergalactic

All week, I've been surrounded by pre-teens and teens: my cheerleading squad. I don't know these girls yet (save three from last year), and I don't have a good handle on them after four days. However, I do know that they can jump. Their jumps are so pretty that it is hard not to break into a smile at the sight of near perfect toe touches. Then they start to cheer and it all goes pear shaped. Imagine an octopus out of water and you get the picture. How have I kept my sanity? Why River Rapids, of course.

Monday morning I cast on for the second one, and I merrily knit all the way through their learning process. Every once and a while, I looked up and walked the lines. Sure, the high V's aren't always straight, but last year, I probably wouldn't have gotten my high V's right either. Today, the girls actually saw a sock that looked like, well, a sock. "Hey, you really are knitting a sock," said one of the girls, to which I neatly replied, "Well, duh!" Luckily she is one of the hold-overs from last year so she is used to me and my knitting. Too bad it is so stinking hot out today or these lovelies would get a work out. The ladies at Blue Moon outdid themselves with Silkie; the feeling of this yarn is lovelier than words and it has a sheen which isn't too showy and doesn't look pushy, either.

Veronica agreed to a photo-op of her hat. I think she did a fine job considering she didn't have a pattern. It's nice watching her knit and working out her own problems. With this pattern, she realized a bit too late that the ribbing on the band didn't match up to the pattern she established so you see the purl bumps at points where the transition is made between ribbing and pattern. Will she make this same mistake again? Maybe, but most likely she will think about it before she knits and write a pattern taking that into account.

My class is tomorrow night so any "real" knitting will have to wait. I want to get some more done on the melon shawl before school starts again, but I really need to concentrate on one thing right now: Grace. Grace, the bane of my knitsistance, must go away. Let's face it, Beaner isn't getting any smaller (she's three, by the way), and the weather in her galaxy (that would be Nebraska) should be cooler sometime in the not so distant future. So, Lola, while you fret about with Superman, Bats, and the Flash, Grace will be my arch-nemesis. Who will win in this epic battle of yarn versus the Bomb Queen? Place your bets now, my pretties . . . all bets are off after this weekend.

Bat Dance

There's some trouble brewing in our house.  Why not tell the story with a certain 2 year-old's favorite new toys?!  A crazy lady decided to try & knock out her Melon shawl in a weekend.  She's cranking & cranking away, no problems.  She keeps grabbing a new ball of yarn & is very proud of her speed.  So proud, that she isn't noticing that the stash of yarn is getting smaller, but the number of repeats left isn't diminishing at the same rate.  Finally, she realizes that there may not be enough yarn to complete the Melon.  With her head in her hands & facing a difficult decision, 2 superheros drop in early Saturday morning.

Superman says, "Shorten the shawl!  You've knit it with a heavier yarn, so the length shouldn't be an issue."  But Superman, I'm a tall gal & I like a nice long wrap!  I'm not sure your advice has saved the day.  What do you have in your arsenal, Batman?

"Well, Miss I think that you should buckle down & order a couple more balls."  Hmm?  What's a damsel to do?  I've got 2 balls left.  One ball should get me through the last 10 repeats with a little extra.  I'm pretty sure that the last ball is not enough to complete the border.  Am I Batman's squeeze or Superman's gal?  For the time, I'll keep knitting.  I'm sure by the end of the week, Aquaman will stop by with some better advice.

If Gus were telling this story, he'd do it in very best Superhero voice.  He took his toys to show his uncle, & during the entire car ride he'd say in a really deep voice, "Hi Mommy.  Hi Dad."  If we'd say, "Hi Gus."  He'd get mad & say, "No. Batman!"  Once we got it right, everything was greeted by the 2 heroes.  "Hi, truck.  Hi, people.  Hi, dog. Etc."  Thanks Ava for making us laugh.

-Lola

Inside and Out

No sooner had I cast on for Knee High to a Grasshopper (the April Rockin' Sock Club pattern) than I knew I was in trouble. There had been rumors (okay, a small riot) all over the web about the challenges of this pattern. Pishaw! I thought. How hard could it be? Dumb ass! I told Lola on Friday that maybe legion of knitters expressing their displeasure just didn't give it time. To all of you lovely folks, I extend a whole hearted mea culpa. I even went so far as to change the p2tog to k2tog, but one round seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Then, River Rapids entered my life, and all was right with the knitting world. In just two short days, maybe 2.5 short days, one is done and the other is due to be cast on . . . right after I swatch for my teaching sock. Oh, Lola dear, little TBA (can we please call him Sting? Please?) has a set of booties on the way courtesy of said sock class!

The girls got into the knitting thing this week. Veronica likes knitting hats; sometimes we have even questioned her sanity about them. She has been known to sit down and crank one out in a couple of hours. This hat wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her, but the thing that cracks me up with her is that she make them all up. She'll look at the yarn, look at a generic pattern (sometimes), and then come in with a scrap of paper and say, "Does this make sense to you?" Viola, three or so hours later . . . a hat. She promises to model tomorrow. Right now, she is out driving with her dad and Betty. Betty, on the other hand, methodically chooses a pattern. She finds the yarn, stalks the patterns, and comes up with Coronet. "You think I can handle a tangy pattern?" she asked. I didn't even bother to look at it before I said yes, since I know she is a challenge knitter. Right now, she has the headband done and grafted, with minimal help from me on the Kitchener stitch. My mother would always say, "Here, let me do it," if something was kind of challenging (hence the zipper joy) so I try not to . . . I did try, didn't I sweetie?

Thank you all for your kind words about the zippers and the sock classes. I took my sewing machine in to have a bit of a tune-up so the sewing will have to wait until next week. My big question should I wash this stack of fat quarters before I make the quilts I have in mind? One one hand, I really like the puckery look of older quilts, which I would get if I allowed the material to shrink after quilting; however, I don't want the reds to run when I do wash it the first time. Trust me, there are a lot of reds and oranges in this lot. So, to wash or not to wash, that is the question.

Cheerleading practice begins tomorrow so I am back to work for a little while. Don't ask how I became the cheerleading co-advisor. Anyone who has ever spent a mere five minutes with me will question that decision for the rest of their lives. I generally tell the girls on our squad that a) I am a knitter, b) I will knit while you warm up, c) I will knit while you cheer at games, and d) I will tell you exactly when you thought I wasn't looking at you while I was knitting. Only one ever tests that theory . . . one is all it takes. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!