Happy New Year

The New Year is a time to reflect on the previous year and look forward with what is probably blind optimism. I have mentioned a few crazy things brewing in our household and I am pleased to announce the first: DNL will be found at a new URL under a new name. Most people understand a blogger moving to their own url without need of further explanation. The new name is a reflection of a slight shift in purpose and the addition of two writers. (The other exciting news of the new year will be forthcoming from the new URL.)

Please update your bookmarks, readers, links, etc. I look forward to seeing you there.

http://incaseofzombieapocalypse.com/

It Looka Lika Sweater

There are only two speeds at the DNL household these days – full steam or dead in the water. I’m sure this is symptomatic of the holiday season. I have some other exciting things brewing which I will be leaking very soon now.

Meanwhile, the sweater is coming along. The back panel is easy to decipher and fast to fall into a rhythm. The front panel is very similar to the back with the exception of being fewer stitches and including a ribbing band for the buttons. The shaping reads something like “shape as for back” which I assume to mean on one side shape as for back since you wouldn’t want armholes on both sides of a right panel. I read ahead and noted that as I go along several of the directions are “shape as for” this or that. I suspect you do not shape exactly as you would this or that in the same way you wouldn’t want two armholes in a right side panel. This was probably done to save space and unnecessary repetition. It just means some common sense and some visual idea of how a sweater is constructed will have to be applied. Let’s hope that is not a disaster.

It’s very exciting to see something actually sweater shaped in the works – armholes and everything. I can imagine it coming together and so far it seems like it might even fit (I drape it over my “old man” periodically to get a better picture of how this will work).

Here is a quick photo (yes, I’m still taking lazy iPhone photos) of the back panel haphazardly pinned (not blocked) just so I could see what I have going on here:

It is worth noting that the orange is better appreciated in person. I’m not dressing him like a clown I promise.

Who gets the title reference?

Every Knife is a Ginsu

My husband and I frequently have a disagreement about knives. I have a Ginsu way of thinking – any knife I choose from our “nice” knives should be suited for the task. It should go from cutting steel and leather boots to cutting the delicate skin of a tomato (after a rinse of course). I should be able to chop and mince and peel with the same tool. The Ginsu and other knife commercials insist this is possible.

My grandmother favored a paring knife for most tasks (until she broke it on a frozen hot dog which resulted in a woman who only cursed by hissing to shout the words “Shit, damned wiener,” which sent her grandchildren into a fit of laughter because not only did she curse but she said wiener). I also have a distinct dislike of using more utensils, bowls, and pans than is absolutely necessary in order to finish the meal.

My husband, on the other hand fancies himself some sort of fount of knowledge with regards to the proper use of knives – a subject about which he deems me completely hopeless. So, I gleefully (some might say stubbornly) set to work on soup preparations using a single paring knife to mince garlic, slice tortillas, and chop cilantro. I would have used it to cut the soul of a leather shoe and open a box had there been any handy.

Modified Bean Burrito Soup – adapted from a Weightwatchers Recipe (and since they will send out men on ostriches to peck out my eyes if I give away anything they deem theirs I cannot share it, my apologies).

Do you have a favorite homemade soup?

Boucle vs Brioche

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that for some time I have been walking around thinking Brioche and Boucle were the same. I thought this because my mind somehow made the words identical. Therefore, every time I saw the book Knitting Brioche: The Essential Guide to the Brioche Stitch I processed it as knitting with that nubby yarn. Nevermind that it says stitch right there in the title. Don’t you logic at me!

Tuesday, I was sitting in a bookstore cafe flipping through this year’s Interweave Knits Weekend after the blurb “Our Favorite Sweaters for Men” on the cover caught my eye. Where was this when I was conducting an epic search for a tolerable manly sweater with buttons? I listened to a table full of German women talking animatedly about something I couldn’t begin to decipher and glanced at the pages. Yes, he might like that. Yes, that is pretty good. Oh what is this?

I stopped on a picture of Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark’s Brioche Rib Cardigan. The sweater is a typical raglan bit with a zipper but the solid blue/gray in the foreground with a self-striped rainbow set back to create a subtle but colorful display is mesmerizing. Almost as hypnotizing as the German ladies and the soft sounds of keys clacking and book pages turning around me. What is this Brioche…stitch?

Oh.

Wait. I’ve seen a book about the Brioche stitch. At this point I finally realized the game my eye and brain had been playing with me for months. Boucle and Brioche. The pattern referenced the book I’d passed over a multitude of times because it evoked visions of aggravating yarn. It was like looking through a microscope and discovering a whole tiny world of beings moving around and existing right under your nose. Here was a whole technique I knew nothing about.

Grounds For Divorce

I think that your husband sending hitmen/women/animals to the shop where you are so generously providing employment for those who would not have been otherwise fortunate are grounds for divorce.

THE WIZ 2010 presents 2 shows on NOVEMBER 13th at 2pm and 7pm. This 90 minute show of singing, dancing and fun will donate all proceeds to HYPE after school programs. HYPE provides a free hot meal to 500 sumter County students each weekday.Canned food donations will be collected for United Ministries.

Captain as The Wiz
DNL as Evillene

Pretend It Is Friday

I picked up a book called Sweater Quest. It’s supposed to be like Julie & Julia but with knitting. I started to read the first couple of chapters but became distracted with other things. This isn’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of the writing. It’s more of a reflection of how I flit between books. I did not always read with such freedom and fancy. I was a very regulated reader, finishing a book before letting my eyes so much as look at another, and reading from beginning to end regardless of how terrible it read. I don’t do that anymore. I read on a whim. I’ll get back to the book eventually.

While I’m not on a major quest to knit the most complicated sweater in the universe, I am on a sweater quest of my own. I’m knitting my first sweater.

It is part of the requirements of a finishing class for The Knitting Guild Association. The idea of knitting a sweater fills me with excitement. There are specifications for the class – must have buttons, must be knit in a light color. That leaves a lot of room for creativity but that’s where I first ran into trouble.

It’s not that I was overwhelmed with choices. I decided I would knit a sweater for a man. This was mostly for practical purposes because Captain is smaller than I am, so it would take less yarn which meant less money. I hauled piles of magazines into the living room and we flipped through them. One after another tossed aside. No sweaters for a man. No sweaters for a man. One sweater but it’s a pull over. One sweater but it’s about the ugliest thing on the universe. No sweaters. We did finally come across a couple that fit the bill but they weren’t especially impressive.

Ultimately, we chose a standard, classic old man sweater in Knits Men Want. Just your basic button up cardigan. This particular pattern has a little texture from the use of reverse stockinette panels. It has the prerequisite buttons, a nice standard collar, and a generally good look.

The color has to be light for eyesight preservation. We considered colors. Brown. Brown. Different versions of brown. Those are lovely but we have two black dogs and anything brown does not stay brown. In fact, anything light colored was at risk but your typical light browns just sounded dreadfully dull. Light blues might have worked but again it seemed especially aging. Whites were out of the question. Light greens a possibility but it came down to orange.

Yes, I mentioned my strange sudden love afair for orange. I’m not sure why the sudden obsession. It’s not a color I would have given much thought in the past. Orange would be sufficiently light but bright and usual enough for an old man cardigan not to look so old.

Fall Sass

I flip through a magazine waiting for something to jump out at me. I’ve finally finished the purple blanket which made me feel a bit like Penelope in The Odyssey only I didn’t know who was pulling out my stitches at night when I slept. It’s a big relief. I passed level one and finished the blanket and I’m looking for something sort of mindless to work on. My favorite projects are the ones that are basically mindless but have enough something to make them look complicated because I like the attention I get.

I find a hat I like. It has a bow on the side. It reminds me of a flapper girl or the cloche hat on the front of Boutique Knits. In the magazine, the hat rests above perfectly sculpted eyebrows in the picture. It’s orange like a pumpkin. I think I’m in love with the color orange and wonder if maybe it could look almost as good on me as red. I like red but right now I like orange and not just because of the trees and the pumpkins and the blow up tigger in the front yard of a neighboring house.

I used a size 4, 16in Addi Turbo for the ribbing which includes the bow. The rest of the hat was knit on size 5, 16in Addi Turbo. The yarn is Mirasol K’acha handpainted. I bought two skeins but really only used one and a little change. The pattern is called Gwynedd in the Fall 2010 Issue of Knitscene.

The lace part is made up of yarn overs and purl-a-bunch-togethers every 4th row.

Now if only it were cold enough to wear it without looking ridiculous.

Next Best Thing To Duct Tape

A month ago our shower started leaking. It leaked a little and then it leaked a lot. We called plumbers out after trying to fix it ourselves. They fixed it but last night it started leaking again.

Captain showed me how to use the tool to turn the water off and back on again in case the plumbers didn’t come. I call them in the morning to see if they could and they agree they could. I pace in the living room while I wait, wondering why it started leaking again and whether it would cost anything to have it fixed again. Just before lunch the plumbers come.

I crouch in the hallway with my arms around my knees while they work. One sits in the tub. He twists and turns the knobs and valves and looks at things while the other stands over him. The hovering plumber sometimes goes outside to turn off the water, or to turn it back on. The tub plumber unscrews things, then screws them on again, turns on the water, turns off the water, and looks at things. He pilfers through his box of tools, puts on a new rubbery washer, and starts the whole process again. The hovering plumber mentions the dogs in the back. My father-in-law’s dog grows to the size of a small horse as he talks. They ask whether Captain is home or at war. I tell them he is still around and they think this is good. I do too.

The tub plumber wraps some white tape-like stuff around a valve. I remember they used this tape before. “Is that like the plumber’s version of duct tape?” I ask him.

He seems a little uncertain at first, as if maybe he’d never thought about it like that before. He says “Yeah, it is like that. After duct tape, it’s the best thing in the world. “You’re wrenching it too far.” He tells me. “You turn just enough to hit the sweet spot, then you quit.” He tells me old plumbing was designed to empty out all the water so it wouldn’t freeze up. The spout drips a bit when you turn it off, so all that water comes out. He said when you have crud in your spout, the water sometimes gets held up in the crud, so it takes longer to leak out.

He tells me a lot of people wrench the knobs too far because they are trying to stop it from dripping. Even some plumbers he knows do that sometimes. It wears out the washers and does something to aid in the unwanted expansion of the brass. I didn’t follow all the details about the brass but turning it all the way is bad and it’s supposed to drip a little. He said I’d know it was dripping like it was supposed to because it makes a goop goop sound when the pipes are clearing out. Leaks hiss. Goopgoop is okay. I nodded and thanked him.

Not Manic Monday

I stare out the window at leaves tumbling down out of the trees. I miss fall – by which I mean I miss fall in the Northern US where they actually have recognizable seasons. This Southern fall is beautiful and cool in the morning but somehow manages to become blazing hot by the afternoon. Not blazing hot like it has been all summer but too hot for a proper fall just the same. The leaves don’t turn brilliant colors as much as they turn a sort of reddish orange brown and fall immediately. Frankenstein will be replaced by turkeys which will be usurped by reindeer in no time at all. Like the leaves falling hurriedly out of the trees to catch up to the season, knitters begin frantically knitting up gifts for the holidays.

I’ve never been one to plan that far in advance. I’m one of the idiots walking around the stores at the very last minute. I wait until a couple days before a birthday to plan something for it. I will tell you that I like the pressure to build because it makes my mind function better but we all know that is nonsense, that I’m just a procrastinator. I think there may be a little something to functioning under pressure but I would most likely function just as brilliantly in advance if I gave it enough consideration.

I haven’t started any holiday knitting. I am going to make my husband a sweater – my first sweater, which may or may not be an honor for him. I’ll have to get back to you on that. I haven’t decided whether I will be knitting any other gifts this year. I’ll have to get back to you on that too. Meanwhile, I’ve been putting together a gift for a friend’s birthday this weekend.

I made mug cozies last year as part of a gift basket. I decided to bring back the cozy for a quick handknitted gift. I went with a hand painted mug painted by some fancy pants. It comes in a pretty gift box which ought to be useful for something. I used the Fedora and Carnation Wool of the Andes colors left over from other projects. I went with stripes instead of flower embellishments. I think I might do the button clasp instead of the ties for the next mug cozy. The fun part of this kind of gift is deciding what goes into the mug. There are countless options for a small thoughtful gifts to go inside. If you know the person really well, you can put something very specific inside. If you don’t, you can find little no fail things to put inside like body sprays, or soaps, candies, costume jewelry, or an endless array of little goodies inside. I decided to go with a mini ivy for mug filling – easy to care for in case their thumb is as devastatingly black as my own.

What gifts are you planning?

Quick Fair Update

Art. Cotton Candy. Bucket-o-fries. Snake women. Barkers. Rigged games. Longest corn dog ever. Manure. Big rough cow tongue up the side of one arm. Three blue ribbons.