Sunday, February 22, 2009

Yesterday I made this:

Another Moebius basket from Cat Bordhi's book. This is Malabrigo, and it felted like BUTTER, people!! Butter! Well, perhaps that is not the correct simile, since butter doesn't reallly felt. It felted like ..........uh ...........well.....really nicely feltable yarn. This is for niece Grace as a birthday present. It will contain these:

Spool dollies!!! From etsy ("ericadaley" is the seller). Once I saw these I went out of my mind at the extreme level of cuteosity. I bought 9, and that was because I was restraining myself.  Look! Couldn't you just die??!!!


I also knocked out this:

Tweed Beret from Interweave Knits Winter 2006. Plymouth Tweed, which is softer to knit with than I thought it would be. I'm a sucker for rustic, crunchy, tweedy yarn and kind of accept its "rustic quality" (euphemism for really scratchy and rough) as part of the package. But this was nice. It also demonstrated why you should never throw out Interweaves - I never looked twice at that pattern 2 years ago, but it was exactly what I'm interested in right now.

Finally, I started (and finished) this:

This is the Raha Scarf from Estonian Lace Knitting by Nancy Bush. It is the least lacy project in the book. The other shawls are gorgeous, but they're kind of 2005/2006 for me. But I will hold on to the book, because I know I'll get back in to lace knitting someday. The yarn is Arucania Ranco Solid, which I picked up at Hildreth's. I'm not familiar with it because it is a KFI product, but it is absolute heaven to knit with.

You might notice how much these projects are adult sweaters for Momogus Knits, yes? Yes? No, Diana, they're not anything like adult sweaters for Momogus Knits. The adult sweaters you swore you would work on starting January 1? It's only 6 weeks later. I did think about them a little last night, as I lay awake staring at the ceiling because I suspect I was given regular coffee instead of decaf at dinner last night. We went out with friends to Earth Bread and Brewery last night, which was mighty awesome. But at 1:00 am when I was still up watching Hugh Grant movies on Oxygen, I suspected foul play by our server. As a former waitress, I'll admit that I often served people decaf when they had asked for regular - because someone else had the coffee pot or there was no fresh coffee or whatever - but there's a code of honor that you don't serve someone regular when they ask for decaf. [Then Gus and his friend Kenan woke up at 6:30 am this morning and asked for eggs and waffles for breakfast and that's why I'm writing this crazy rambly post......]

Having been admonished for being silly by many many folks, I am trying to get more excited about the Phillies. It's not that I don't think they'll be good; it's that even if they do win the World Series again, it won't be as great as last year. That's all. I guess when the season starts I'll be more into it.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Here's what's going on with me, knitting-wise, these days.

It's Bootie Frenzy!!!!!

Both of my across-the-street neighbors are having babies in a couple of weeks, so I knocked out a pair each of my favorite old Debbie Bliss bootie pattern for them. Cascade Fixation yarn. It's been a while since I've made these - I forgot how fun they are. I've always wanted to do a Momogus Knits bootie pattern, but they are basically little shoes and the technology of them is sort of beyond me. Or beyond where I care to exert my brain.

Here is a triumphant moment:


This is Jesse. He is the husband of one of the aforementioned across-the-street neighbors, Kristy, who is having one of the aforementioned babies. He asked me to teach him how to knit, so he could knit something for the new baby. One, two, three.... AWWWWWWWW!!!!! Now that's a good dad. He's a part-time locksmith, so he picked up the whole knitting business very quickly and was a very good student. He made the Momogus Knits Easy Baby Hat in Rowan Cashsoft DK and did a splendid job.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The crazy things that inspire us. Look at this bowl of Trix:

I didn't even properly capture its chartreuse-y good ness. But I poured it into this bowl and was just stunned, it was so beautiful.

Spring Training started in earnest this weekend, and I am mildly interested. I guess I'm interested to see how Ibanez does. I suppose I'm somewhat interested in who wins the 5th spot in the rotation. I am hoping that Coste wins the backup catcher position. I'm more bemused than anything that the next World Series is up for grabs again.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Am I the only baseball fan around here that's ambivalent about spring training starting? Every year up until now I've yearned for the end of the Dark Time. I started counting the days till pitchers and catchers in about mid-November. But this year I'm almost dreading it. 

The combination of the Phillies winning the World Series [it still boggles my mind to write that], the advent of the mighty MLB channel, and the fact that we have XM Radio in the Subaru (our road-trip car) has meant that we have been absolutely wallowing in Phillies off-season coverage since November. And it has been heavenly. And now in 4 days, that inexorable process that once filled me with hope every year will start again. But now I'm not filled with hope, because if they win again in 2009 it just won't be the same. Don't get me wrong - it would be grrreatt! But it won't be the same. It's like the Red Sox's 2007 WS win, which was great and the fans were thrilled. But it wasn't like 2004. I've loved living in this dreamy twilight time in between seasons where all the advertising shows Brad Lidge after that last strikeout.

We made it to the top of the mountain. And now the only way to go is down. I know many other fans (like the ones I live with) who are pure baseball fans and for whom the beginning of spring training is as much a harbinger of spring as the first robin. Baseball, in all its glory and muddleheadedness, is what counts. Not particularly the Phillies or the Red Sox. But for me, it's all about the Phillies. And I'm feeling a little bittersweet.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Hey, let's talk knitting!! I think that was the reason I started this blog, no? Not to post pictures of my NFL-caliber kicking form! [btw, I had a dream once that I was supposed to be the kicker for the Cleveland Browns. They had a separate dressing room for me and everything. The dream ended with me staring, bewildered, at all the pads and pieces of uniform laid out for me. I didn't know how to put them on! But then I woke up. Question to ponder: why the Cleveland Browns?]

But I digress. I've had a flurry of activity recently, Momogus Knits-wise, which is good. I got a new account while I was on vacation - Hildreth's Department Store in Southampton. So now I'm like Ralph Lauren, you know, with my branch in the Hamptons. You know? I'm just like Ralph Lauren!! Hildreth's is extremely cool, by the way, a big rambly store on Main Street with a nice selection of yarns tucked away in the back. I bought some forbidden Silk Garden (TW does not carry KFI products) and actually spent almost as much as Rene the manager ordered in patterns. Oops.

And my wonderful sales rep-extraordinaire (and I mean extraordinaire!!) Erica sent me 3 new accounts in Michigan and Chicago and some re-orders, so the house is knee-deep in patterns and invoices and USPS envelopes. I've been slowly wading through the chaos and hope to have everything cleared out by Monday.

Then I have to get down to designing work. I promised myself that 2009 would be the year that I did adult sweaters. We are now 6 weeks into the year, and I haven't lifted a finger about them. All those miles of mindless stockinette are putting me off. But I must persevere!!!! I'll do it this week.

In the meantime, here's what I knit whilst on Long Island [yes I said whilst]:
Chevalier Mittens. Rowan Kid Classic, the most underrated yarn in the world. It sits and sits on the shelves at the store in all its hazy, soft, gorgeous glory, and no one ever buys it. Why? I do not know. Anyway, it was lovely to work with and I adore these mittens. The cables at the wrist slay me. I'm tired of doing colorwork, so the cables were a nice change.

I also sat down with Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting yesterday (Matthew and Gus were a the Car Show, so it was a good time to tackle something new), and figured out the Moebius Cast-On. Ms Bordhi, you rock my world!!! How would someone ever figure this out?? Anyway, I made a little moebius-handled basket out of one of the million single Kureyons I have stashed away. I love how it turned out, though the one strand of light lavender ended up on the handle, which I could have lived without. Anyway, it was a quick little project and mind-boggling.

Hey, what's the difference between reptiles and amphibians? For some reason, this question keeps coming up with me lately and I've forgotten all my biology. I know newts and frogs and salamanders are amphibians, but are they also reptiles? Turtles are reptiles, but not amphibians.....

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Let's KICK OFF this post about our wintry week at the end of Long Island:

Check out the professional-quality form! Though it looks like I may be whiffing, I'll have you know that kick went about 20 yards. Gus brought a football to the beach. This added greatly to our daily walk enjoyment. I made one booming kick that Gus caught with a very dramatic diving catch. Who was more surprised? He and I acted like we had won the Super Bowl. I'm ready for the pros!

Matthew said this moment he felt like Sav Rocca. He very much enjoyed kicking from the top of the beachy hills.

We found a Christmas tree on the beach. Matthew propped it up and we decorated it with shells.


One day it was unbelievably foggy:


The next we got a gorgeous sunset:


We saw weird, inexplicable things. We walked on the other side of the beach at Montauk Lighthouse for the first time this year and saw this big monolith-y thing:

Matthew speculated that it was the old observation tower that they must have tipped over the edge to add stablity to the cliff. That would have been fun (tipping it over the edge of the cliff) (If you were strong enough.) (I guess you'd have to be a giant.)

We drove through abandoned Camp Hero again this year and were again uncomfortably mesmerized by the gigantic radar tower. I include our car for scale:


And then of course, there was The Eatin'!!! Here is the annual obligatory photo of Gus at the Sip 'N' Soda in Bridgehampton (which is the greatest lunch place on the planet):


We also dined on Peconic Bay scallops, which are like little golden nuggets of yumminess (quiet, Laura) and are also rapidly disappearing from the eco-structure, as you can tell by the unholy price for them:


We also discovered (or in Matthew's case, rediscovered) the almighty Montauket Bar:

Oooh boy. Perfect bar (unchanged since 1980, according to Matthew), unbelievable view, great food, great bartender, nice cold beer. If I lived within 20 miles of this place, I would have lunch here every day.

For a final culinary flourish, we stopped in Coney Island on the way home - at the original Nathan's. A hot dog, some of the best french fries ever and a big lemonade, and we were all set.


Here's a face which is a representative sampling of how we all felt: