None of me

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Does this mean that I don't exist? Or that I live on my own little planet?

Some of you may be wondering whether I do, in fact, still exist, since this blog has been quiet for so long. But I'm hoping to remedy that. Maybe that will be my New Year's resolution. Forget those resolutions about exercising more, or using up my stash. Maybe I can actually accomplish a resolution to blog more.

Actually, there are 137,986 people in the U.S. with my first name, but no one with my last name. I guess that's one reason to hyphenate your last name when you get married -- to confuse little programs like this.

I'm tempted to convert my blog to use the new Blogger format. However, I've spent so much time pimping out my template I'm afraid to switch. Has anyone done so successfully?

Well, I'm off to update my Gallery. More soon, hopefully.

I am Evil

Well, I may have sucked at the Olympics, but I did finish some things during those 16 days.

First of all, I finished my dad's argyle socks. [See my gallery entry for details.] I can now count these as my February socks for the Sock-a-Month KAL.

I also finished my Forbes Forest Scarf. I enjoyed making this scarf and I'm really happy with how it came out. Uncool Guy is the lucky recipient. And Maria, in case you're wondering, -- no reason, just because I'm such a good wife ;).

Pattern:

Forbes Forest by Kathy Zimmerman, from Scarf Style

Yarn:

Jo Sharp DK Wool,
color: 908 (glade), 5.5 balls

Needles:

US 6

Comments:

At first I didn't think I would like this pattern. There was just too much going on with all the cables and bobbles and whatnot. However, after memorizing the pattern & bobble technique, I really started to enjoy making this scarf. It is rather slow knitting since there are cables to cross or bobbles to make on every right-side row, but cabling without a needle can really help your speed. [I like Grumperina's instructions.] And the technique works really well here because the cables are so narrow.

This was my first project with bobbles, and I have to say that I think I am now a bobble convert. Previously, I poo-pooed all bobble-containing patterns. But now I'm a fan. I found that knitting backwards on the second row of the bobble (instead of turning) really made bobbling much more enjoyable. [Here are some links with instructions on how to knit backwards English style and continental style, in case you are not familiar with this technique.]

Back here I mentioned that I would try to do the rest of this scarf continental style. Well, I think I ended up doing about half and half, and surprisingly I can't see a difference in gauge. My timer broke, so I was unable to time myself properly, but continental style was definitely faster. However, I found bobbling easier English style.

Oh, I have also discovered that I am apparently quite evil:
Harry Potter Personality Quiz

If you are a knitter, take the quiz and post your results here. Double Helix is taking a survey of the personality types of knitters. It will be interesting to see the results.

The Wheel

[UPDATED TO ADD: Sorry for the confusion. The list below was generated by typing "Persnickety Knitter" into a random 'fact' generator called the Mechanical Contrivium. It's fun. Try it.]

OK, I'm sure this will be all over blogland shortly, but I just couldn't resist.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about
Persnickety knitter!

1. Persnickety knitter has often been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean!
2. Most bottles and jars contain at least twenty-five percent recycled Persnickety Knitter.
3. Scientists have discovered that Persnickety Knitter can smell the presence of autism in children.
4. During the reign of Peter the Great, any Russian nobleman who chose to wear Persnickety Knitter had to pay a special Persnickety Knitter tax!
5. Persnickety Knitter invented the wheel in the fourth millennium BC.
6. Women shoplift four times more frequently than Persnickety Knitter.
7. A thimbleful of Persnickety Knitter would weigh over 100 million tons.
8. Persnickety Knitter is the only king without a moustache on the standard pack of cards.
9. The Aztec Indians of Mexico believed Persnickety Knitter would protect them from physical harm, and so warriors used her to decorate their battle shields.
10. Persnickety Knitter can usually be found in nests built in the webs of large spiders!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

1. Hmmm, highly unlikely. Persnickety Knitter prefers not to get wet, and thus stays out of the water, except on the hottest of days.
2. Well, I do believe in recycling...
3. Quite possibly. Persnickety Knitter does have a highly developed sense of smell.
4. My knitted socks were quite popular back then.
5. Yes, and it's nice to finally get credit for it.
6. Who are all these thieving women?
7. I resent the implication that I am dense.
8. Well, Persnickety Knitter does prefer to be clean-shaven.
9. I do so enjoy a good battle.
10. Untrue. You will not find Persnickety Knitter anywhere near a spider, especially large spiders that build nests. Yikes.

Knitting Update:

Finished one argyle sock, on the ankle of the second (pics tomorrow). Yeah, I know. Break over. Time to get back to Rogue. Sigh.

This project is dragging me down. I'm going to need to all the moral support I can get to finish this on time. With that in mind, I just joined:

the new Team Rogue
and
the Rogue-Along Yahoo group.

Hopefully, seeing everyone else's progress will inspire me. Yeah, right.

Aaaaah, Chocolate

Hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day (happy is expecting a lot, no?). Uncool Guy has showered me with lovely flowers and far too much chocolate. I can't believe I just said that -- is there such a thing as "too much chocolate"? Well, yes -- when some of these pieces have a whopping 460 CALORIES each! Yikes. And, ummm, I had three... But I did ride the bike for 40 minutes. That probably worked off half a piece, maybe. Sigh.

In Olympic news, I have finished another sleeve on my Rogue cardigan. [That would be 3 sleeves total for those who are counting.] Going to start the body tonight.

Oh, and have you seen the free pattern Melissa just posted for heart cable socks? They are quite lovely. I will have to try this pattern out later, post-Olympics.

Actually, I just realized I had better think about finishing some socks for the month of February for the Sock-a-Month KAL. And I probably had better make it be those darn argyle socks for my dad. [He finally did check out my blog.] I really need to get those off my plate. I suppose that means that Sister#2 will be annoyed that it will postpone her hat. Hey, I do accept bribes...

Sorry no pics today. Instead I will leave you with this:

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Found here.

Bad Unicorn... Bad

Sister#2 finally picked a yarn for her Herringbone Cloche. Isn't it purrrty? I'm happy cuz she chose something that I'm excited to try -- Rowan Felted Tweed in color 151 (Billberry). I've never ordered from Jimmy Bean's Wool before, so we'll see how that goes.

And, of course, I could never just order 2 measly skeins of yarn... what a waste of shipping charges that would be. ;) So I also ordered me some Addi Turbos (whoooooosh, imagine Brenda Dayne's great sound effect here) to use for my Rogue Olympic event -- I need all the help I can get to finish that on time.

I've been making slow progress on my Jaywalker socks. I'm using Plymouth Sockotta, which normally I really like for socks (at least for socks that are all stockinette). However, it does NOT work well with this particular pattern. Sockotta is 45% cotton and thus has less stretch than an all-wool sock yarn, and this pattern NEEDS stretch due to the zigzag type of stitch pattern. It's now pretty hard for me to get these on -- and I made the large size. I may have to donate them to someone with petite little ankles -- Niece#2 maybe?

I'm almost done with the first sock, but I'm bored, bored, bored with this pattern. Not to mention that this purple/brown color combo is kind of barf-tastic -- not sure what I was thinking there. But maybe I'm just sick of socks.

So, to alleviate my boredom I brought out another project from my big ol' Heap of Abandoned Projects - the Forbes Forest Scarf from Scarf Style. I'm making it in Jo Sharp DK Wool, which I like a lot. I've only completed a couple pattern repeats, but I'm enjoying the pattern so far. Not sure about the bobbles though. . . I'm not a bobble sort of person, but I guess they are cute here. Anyway, if this is ever finished it will be for my husband, henceforth referred to as Uncool Guy (so named by Nephew#4.)

Oh, and have you seen this - very amusing. Found via Marnie Talks.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my Log Cabin Socks. And, since some people showed an interest, I will be writing up the directions for my anatomically correct sock toes very soon. So stay tuned...

More technical difficulties

I just realized last night that my attempt at a 3-column template looked totally awful at 800x600 resolution (big sigh...). The middle column got shoved to the bottom and it generally was a hard-to-read mess. My display is set to 1280x1024 so it was quite a shock to see how nothing fit in the lower resolutions.

Well, I think I have fixed it now (fingers crossed). MOST pages/posts should now appear in the 3-column format. However, some of my older posts have pictures that are too big to display in that format -- they should show up with the far right column shoved to the bottom.

By the way, has anyone else noticed how totally CRAPTACULAR blogger's template preview mode is? What a piece of junk. Not sure why I bother using it, considering everything looks totally different once it is published.

On a brighter note, what do you think of the new color scheme and the new banner? It's a close-up of that Noro hat I made. Try to ignore the weird little characters on the far right side of the banner. I'm still working on getting that to display properly. Geez, who knew there was so much involved in setting up a template...I'm exhausted. I spent so much time on this I didn't even get to knit today -- bummer.

I found this the other day: Personality Project

It's an online personality test, supposedly being conducted by Northwestern University. It was kind of fun. Anyway, here are my results:

Check out my personality profile!

Laziness

I have no energy to post today. Still recovering from mad Xmas/New Year's rush.

Apparently I only have energy to catch up on some blog reading and take silly quizzes. Like this one. Seems about right.

You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself:
"Things can work out even if I don't get
my way. Things can work out even...."

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla

And this one. Which, unfortunately, is also quite accurate (with regard to the hair color...sigh).

Your Hair Should Be White

Classy, stylish, and eloquent. You've got a way about you that floors everyone you meet.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

My own private block party

I finished the Lopi Lace Scarf this morning, and then I went crazy blocking all the knitted Christmas gifts that have been sitting around - 2 hats, 1 bag, 2 scarves. Should have some good pics tomorrow. I ran out of blocking pins so I couldn't block the Backyard Leaves scarf. I've been putting that one off because after I block it I will have to seam it together, and it looks like that will be very UN-fun due to the lumpy edge.

I looked for blocking pins at the LYS yesterday, but they only had some ridiculously expensive ones (10 pins for like $8.50 -- geez, those must be nice pins). Anyway, I asked if they had any others and the two older women behind the counter looked at me like I was insane. They said they had "never HEARD of using pins to block your knitting." What??!!?? Then they were all in my face asking me what I was making, etc. I told them I was going to use the pins to block lace -- to open it out more. They just did NOT get that. They insisted that was unnecessary, that it would probably HARM my knitting (how???), blah, blah, blah. Why do I bother talking to these people -- it's just not worth it.

Anyway, I bought a bunch of Cascade 220 to continue my Christmas knitting extravaganza. Enough to make another alien scarf (1st one is currently blocking), another knitted bag (1st one also blocking), and then some to enhance the stash (you know, cuz it was getting low... ;)

This is kind of cute: Make an avatar of yourself!

Oh, and I fixed the problem with the comments. So, feel free to comment away.

Brioche Sunday

This is what I've been working on today. It's a swatch of 2-color brioche stitch for a possible scarf. Got the idea from the Weekend Knitting book, but I'm probably not going to do the edging like the pattern.

I'm trying to use up stash yarn on some small Christmas presents, but I only have 2 balls of the multi-color yarn so I'm going to try to stretch it by using only black on the edges. The pattern calls for a tubular edging (similar to the edging on Backyard Leaves, but worked a little differently). The bottom shows the edging as given by the pattern; the top shows my two attempts at an all-black tubular edging. When the light color is at the edge it does not connect well with the edging, so I added a pattern repeat in black at both sides. The connection between the edging and the brioche part is less loose that way, but then the edging appears kind of thick. Also the edging gets a little distorted because I have to knit 2 rounds of the tubular edging for every 1 row of black. Also tried two different needle sizes here so the stitches are kind of wonky.

Another Christmas present I've been working on is a brioche-stitch scarf in Stacy Charles Ritratto. Apparently, I am on a brioche-stitch kick. This is coming out a little looser than I wanted, but I don't have the energy to start over. The colors here are kind of off -- it's really much darker and not that orangey. I only have 1 ball, which is probably not going to cut it. Will need to buy another ball tomorrow. So much for using up the stash...

Here's a quiz that's good for the ego:

97% scored higher (more stupid),

1% scored the same,

and 2% scored lower (less stupid). What does this mean? You are 2% stupid. This means...

You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

the bad beginning

Well, here's my new blog. Spent a lot of time messing with the sidebar today and figuring out how to add progress bars and whatnot.

I'm hoping to post pics of some FO's soon. Need to get off my butt and take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow.

This is an interesting quiz:

You are 100% wool hand-dyed MERINO. You like all things natural and would prefer to do it yourself. You are socially conscious and aware of your surroundings. You are kind to all living things. What kind of yarn are you really?? brought to you by Quizilla

That's fairly accurate... well, maybe not ALL living things...