Something Sunday

I've been a bad yarn blogger. What can I say? I had stuff to do this week.

YARN. OF. THE. DAY.


Another yarn procured from the Yarn Garage in Rosemount, MN. I have no idea, anymore, who made this yarn or how many yards it is. I have no idea what I'm going to make with it, or when. And I don't much care. It's pink and it's handspun and it's a little crazy, and that's enough for me. I'm a sucker when it comes to handspun.

It does remind me, a little, of the Elephant Bugbite yarn that I used last year to make a nice soft scarf for Chiara. Now THAT was a good yarn! It was gray (the elephant), with similar pinks here and there (the bugbites), and it was spun really unevenly so it had a lot of mismatched texture when I knit it up. This yarn isn't quite as soft as that one was, but it has the same kind of chunky bumpy handspun aesthetic.

Today it is raining raining raining, and it has been for hours and hours. It's raining hard too, none of this "light misting" you hear about up here. Nico and I are wrapped in blankets, huddled in front of space heaters to keep warm. There's hot coffee and books to read. There's a chicken brining in the fridge, and tonight I will stuff and roast it. I have to admit that, aside from the current lack of nice furniture and the throbbing infection on my foot, this is pretty much how I imagined domestic life after school would be.

And the lack of nice furniture thing won't be an issue forever. Why, just this week I bought a nice couch from a place here in town. Of course, now they have to order the couch from LaZBoy, and it will take 2 months to get here, but it's on its way. And it's red.

Ew, it's all sticky!

Yes, so I missed a day with the whole yarn-of-the-day idea. Oh well.



Today's yarn is three hanks of Sheep Shop Yarn in the G148 colorway. Pretty exciting, huh? I got this last weekend when Nico and I went and spent a day in Portland. We wandered up and down Alberta St. and of course I discovered Close Knit. I think Nico got a little bored waiting for me to finish drooling over all the yarn. Eventually, though, I did decide on these three skeins plus a fourth skein of the same stuff but in bright orange. The plan is to use this yarn to make myself a nice, big, warm scratchy wool scarf. With an autumn leaves theme. t first I thought the brown would be like branches and the orange I would knit and felt in leaves, which I would then stitch to the scarf. I'm not so sure now.

At the yarn shop I also bought three little plastic buttons that are shaped and painted like gophers in mid-dash. I've never seen dashing-gopher-buttons before. I love them. And I bought a little Lantern Moon sweater keychain as an extra for an upcoming yarn swap.

At this point I'm sure you're asking yourself, what's all sticky?

OK. Yesterday at the library a patron came up holding one of the plastic magazine binders (with a fresh copy of Redbook inside), and complained that it "had something on it." Not only did it have something on it, but it was also kind of wet. Why was it wet? It wasn't raining outside, and even if it was that magazine shouldn't have left the building. So why was it wet? It is a mystery.

Now, a quick note about the difference between being a librarian and working at a used book store, ahem, Bookman's. At Bookman's if a customer had come up to us with a sticky book or magazine, we would have shrugged, grimaced, and thrown it away. At the library, we actually have to clean the damn thing off. So I took it in the back and tried 409'ing it. That didn't work, becase yes, it was sticky. So I rubbed some Goo Gone on it, and then 409'ed it again for goot measure.

They don't tell you about this shit in library school. And why would they? "There's something sticky... @ the library!" doesn't sound too appealing.

Kildare

Today's yarn is a little less that one (large) skein of Fearless Fibers sock yarn in the Kildare colorway, available on etsy.com. I've used this yarn to make a pair of lacy knee-high socks, and it's very good. I still have enough to make another whole pair of socks.

I love this green. It's so bright. And it knits up with little flecks of yellow here and there.

Grandma's Socks

A quick story about my grandma, and knitting. My grandma was a farm wife, and she was a young wife and mother during world war two. She knows how to do... everything. She's a master quilter, an accomplished home cook, she sews, crochets lace, has made dolls... she's one of those people who seems to know how to do everything, even if she doesn't do it regularly.

So when I wanted to learn how to knit, I naturally turned to her first. "Grandma, do you know how to knit?"
"Oh, ya, I know how."
"Will you teach me?"
"No, I don't think so. I know how to knit but I don't like it. You can learn that from a book."
And that is the story of how my grandma DIDN'T teach me how to knit.

So, of course now I'm knitting her this pair of socks. Today's yarn is two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Ravenwood colorway. I'm not sure why reddish-pink and blue together would be named Ravenwood, but it is. It's been about month since I've worked on these socks. This pair of socks will by my third, but they'll be the first I've made for someone else, and the first I've worked toe-up. I will be very proud to give my grandma a pair of hand-knit-for-her socks for christmas this year, even if she didn't teach me how to knit.

Black Alpaca

Today's yarn:



4 skeins of black alpaca, purchased from the owners of the alpaca herself at the last Estrella. They told a sad tale of how this particular lady alpaca was unable to bear baby alpacas, and since alpacas are shorn for their wool only once a year this made her more expensive than she was worth. The couple said they donated her to Washington University and that this was some of the last of her wool. I had, and still have, the intention of making Nico a nice soft pair of fingerless mitts with this yarn. This is some of the yarn that will be lucky enough to be used this year. In fact, it's the next knitting project on my list.

I had the opportunity at the beginning of the summer to explain to one of my nieces what an alpaca is. She knew what a llama was, and so I told her that an alpaca is like a llama, only smaller and with softer fur. She seemed pretty impressed.

Today's Yarn

Two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Icehouse colorway. I got these while visiting MN over Christmas last year, from the Yarn Garage (!) in Rosemount. At the time I had only completed a single sock but I was beginning to appreciate the beauty of sock yarn, and I had big plans. I was also beguiled by the name of the colorway and the general magic of being in a colder climate. Bev offered to buy them for me and I tried to imagine the finished socks on my feet, in a drawer, or posing on top of a pile of huge iceblocks while a pleasantly muscled man, an icehouse worker, labors and sweats nearby.

Today the Icehouse yarn waits patiently in the center of the stash. It's not the oldest sock yarn I have, and certainly not the youngest. Someday I will sit down and make a bunch of socks just for me, and I imagine that this yarn will be first on the list.

Meet the Stash

The ugly truth is that I have been neglecting my knitting. In the hustle and hurry of moving, starting a new job and getting settled in I have all but forgotten the knitting I planned to get done this summer. And then, I had the nerve to go and pick up a new hobby: swapping. Truly, my knitting has suffered.

Now the summer is over. Where are those sweaters I planned to knit? They're still just ideas and vague intentions. Where are the projects that should have been finished and safely in the hands of their intended recipients? Still on the needles. Still on the needles or, worse, frogged and rewound. Mercy killings, you might say. But the stash knows. Oh, it knows.

So in the interest of shock-starting my knitting once again, I've decided to post pictures of all the lovely yarns I have waiting for me in my stash. One a day, that's the plan. I will sort of reacquaint myself with each of them, remember why I fell in love with them in the first place. And then I will introduce them each to you.

Today's yarn:



Dusty Handspun. 125 yards of wool, soysilk and bamboo dyed and spun in beautiful deep-sea shades of blue, black and green, with just a little bit of purple thrown in. Just a little, mind you, nothing obscene. This is an Insubordiknit yarn, made by the lovely Jacey Boggs, and purchased roughly a year ago, give or take. I honestly don't know yet what will become of it, although it's inkled to me that it might like to become a pair of wristies... or a hat. I'm not quite convinced it's got the yardage to make a hat, but we shall see. It might make a nice gift for just the right person. Hmm.

Something Pleasant, For a Change

I thought this time I'd just share some nice pictures with you.

Last weekend my sister Missy was here from Phoenix. I had a great time while she was here, but one of the cool things we got to do was walk around and shop in Portland one afternoon with Chiara.

We got lattes and whole beans at Stumptown. That was probably the best latte I've ever had. And look how pretty:


And here was this great mural we saw. It reminded the three of us of many things. It reminded me of Brian Andreas, for one.


Sometimes when I take my walks around Aberdeen I see blackberries growing in people's yards. I know I shouldn't eat berries out of a stranger's yard, but sometimes I do anyway.


Here's this nice old elementary school that's kitty-corner from our place:


And here's some nice lush tree moss:


Nico and I have also gone to the Spar Cafe in Olympia a couple of times. We likes it.



So there you are. Things aren't all bad.

Jerk Points

I think that there should be a stricter limit to the assholery that the average citizen is lawfully permitted to commit. I think that everyone should get a set number of "jerk points" to spend on various activities or items. And then, when your jerk points are gone, they're gone. The only way to get em back is to give up one of your jerky contrivances and until then, you are not permitted any jerk behavior.

Let's say, for example, that everyone gets 500 jerk points. Let's say that owning a cell phone will cost you 75 of those jerk points. Hey, I own a cell phone, and I'd admit that it's worth about 75 jerk points. But if you use Bluetooth then that'll cost you an extra 50 JP. OK. Certain things will cost more JP than others... sporting a fauxhawk is worth maybe 10 JP, but forgetting to say please and thank you to service workers is worth 80.

And let's say... let's say that owning a Hummer costs you all 500 of your jerk points. So if you are the individual who made a left turn and cut me off while I was walking in the ped xing today while you were driving your stupid black Hummer and talking on your cell phone, then you have committed a serious jerk point infraction, and your ass should be in jail. In jail while they pipe in Anne Coulter's steady stream of consciousness. If you can call it that.

Also, today at the library a dude got arrested by two cops right in front of me! Ooo!