Wanted: strap mojo

Maybe I’ve been a little too cocky about the knitting lately. I have a group of Christmas presents I need to finish within a week’s time for early delivery, and I’m almost done. Maybe I’ve been letting too many people know that I’m almost done with them?

Yesterday I finished an Everlasting Bagstopper project. It’s a great free pattern and a quick and fun knit. I made one at this time last year.

And, this time last year, I researched a bit on Ravelry and found the perfect strap pattern I wanted to use for it. It was great, knit up quickly, attached securely, all that stuff. I gave the bag as a Christmas present and it got rave reviews (i.e., it’s actually being used).

So, last night I sat down to make a long single strap for this one. Cast on, knitted a few rows of garter stitch to help anchor it to the bag, then….. nothing worked.

Oh, wait, maybe before I slip those stitches purlwise I ought to have the yarn in front of the work. That should do it.

Frog, rewind, cast on, knit garter stitch. Try new method.

That’s not doing anything either.

Where’s my i-cord edging???

Frog, rewind, stuff in project bag.

Does anyone have a favorite strap pattern to share? For now I’m just going to pretend I’m making a very very narrow cotton scarf, and see how that goes.

Mike fright

Wow, you *are* out there! I took a look at my blog stats just now, and my views jumped from an average of 5-30 a day to 150 hits yesterday.

Today’s post title comes from the episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati” when DJ Johnny Fever realizes people are actually listening to him, and he becomes too scared to go on the air.

I’ll try not to do that. But I am flattered as all get-out that there are that many people out there curious as to what I might write. I’ll try to make it worth your while.

Meanwhile….

Knitwise….

I have lots of Christmas knitting on the needles. My brother asked for his own Doctor Who scarf for Christmas, so that’s no secret that I’m working on one. But it might be his birthday (May) or next Christmas before it’s done. Sorry, Ben.

I’m also working on a few more pairs of cotton slippers, an Everlasting Bagstopper, and a shawl for me.

This shawl. Anyone remember the black-and-blue wool-silk blend I was using ages and ages ago to make another Irish Hiking Scarf? I finally realized it was way too heavy for a long scarf, and the colorway was obscuring the cables. So I frogged the whole thing (and there was much rejoicing) and started a Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl. It’s a free Ravelry pattern, which I found by searching my specific yarn to see what other knitters had made with it. I was trying to get a few rows done on it every day for a while, but I’ve missed a few days lately. At any rate, it’s for me, so it’s being done somewhat in the background until all the giftknits are finished.

Thanks again for reading and commenting and sticking around to see what I do. It’s so nice of you!

Hello, is there anybody out there?

Sorry sorry sorry. Ravelry got busy, and Facebook invaded (need a Farmville neighbor or another member in your mafia?), and my life took some curious turns, but I’m back and everyone is well and I have kept knitting.

Unfortunately, it’s been almost exclusively Christmas knitting, so I don’t know how much I can share. Hmm.

What else happened? I lost some weight, I gained it back. I threw a big party at Sheep and Wool and next year’s should be twice as big. I stopped exercising and I started again. (lather, rinse, repeat. what else is new?)

I want to start writing again. What do you like to read?

What a couple of weeks!

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been back home for almost a whole week. It was kind of crazy there for a while, driving to the lower U.P., then “up and over” and down to near-Detroit to stay with a friend on the way to my parents’ house, then a Rav meetup with two previously-met knitting friends, then a meetup in Fort Wayne on the way home.

During the whole trip I only had two knitting projects with me, and I finished one and cranked on the other (despite leaving the lace pattern at home). I felt like such a Knitter.

Here’s the project I finished: Those Noro Socks!

Since then I’ve started and finished a book (“The Wednesday Sisters”) and taken an Aran knitting class at Irish Fest Summer School.

If you’re going to Milwaukee’s Irish Fest on Sunday, leave a comment and I will get back to you — I’d love to meet you there. I will wear my Ravelry button (I’m “chocolatesheep”) so you know who to say Hi to.

More later!

Now with more widgets!

Random facts:

I’ve added a Twitter feed to the sidebar, up at the top. Now that I’m on WordPress, Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook I’ve started gluing some of them together.

I’ve finished watching Torchwood: Children of Earth. Pass the coffee and the tissues, please.

I have a long trip to plan for this week involving two three knitter meetups, several Midwestern states, and retrieving my firstborn from Ohio. Then it’s right into Irish Fest Summer School, where I’m enrolled in Intermediate Aran Knitting. (My first knitting class!) The next weekend is Irish Fest itself, where I hope to meet even more knitters. So I don’t know how many posts I’ll be able to do this week.

But. The important thing today is not my knitting. If you could do just one thing today, please say a prayer for Felipe Massa, a Formula 1 driver who was badly injured in a freak accident during qualifying session for last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. He sustained a skull fracture and a concussion. He had emergency surgery and is now in an induced coma for the next few days. He is just 28 years old, and his wife is expecting their first child in November. Brain injuries are so scary and tricky — look up Cristiano da Matta and Richard Hammond if you need any evidence from the car/racing community. But please, just say a prayer.

Zip a dee doo dah

You know what?

Cleveland is surprisingly pretty.

More details later, after I’ve had time to recover. Ten hours of driving on Saturday, ten hours of driving on Sunday — eventually that adds up.

Xtra pictures of the SOMA cube

Well, you did guess that starting a post title with X was going to be tricky, didn’t you? I can’t believe I got this far and nobody commented on it. Almost all the ways through my ABCs, and it’s only mid-July. That degree in English Literature is sure coming in handy!

I got the game pieces assembled, but I need to do a lot of sanding before I can call them done. Right now they’re more like portable splinter dispensers.

The seven SOMA pieces

Now, let’s make a cube.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

You can also place the last piece differently and make this pretty configuration.

The Crystal

And here are all four cubes, assembled. Sanding is next.

Four cubes

Whew! I don’t know when I’ll get to do the sanding. We have seen a couple of yucky bugs and it’s time to give serious attention to de-cluttering the house so we can have it sprayed.

Knitwise I haven’t done anything with the lace scarf in a few days. I guess I got tired of being so good at un-knitting it. But I have added two stripes to the current Doctor Who Scarf, and Fringed the second Pinstripe TenScarf on the 11th.

Next to get attention: Casting on for the second Noro sock, or attacking Tyrone. Maybe with scissors.

What on earth is Beth making?

I started a project with the kids this afternoon. It will take us several days to finish.

The only clue I’m giving right now is that there will be four identical products when we are done. If you can guess what I’m making, you’re such a geek that I will make a very nice one for you, too.

Here is a picture of Stage One:

Stage One

Good luck. We’re all counting on you.

July 11 update — we have a winner! I am making four sets of SOMA cubes. There is a cool site about these puzzles here, and here is the Wiki page.

And here is what I’m making. Not all of the necessary pieces were visible in Stage One, so I’m extra impressed that anyone guessed correctly at that stage.

Vultures!

I’m getting really tired of this. Poor Farrah Fawcett, can we let her rest in peace?

Quite some time ago I wrote a post that included a head shot of Ms. Fawcett with that famous hair, which all of us “of a certain age” were trying to re-create on our own heads many years ago.

The post has taken on a life of its own, and most of the people who find my blog via search terms have been using phrases like “Farrah Fawcett” but most often “fara faucet” or some even more misspelled variation. Every time poor Farrah’s cancer flared up in the last two years, I’d get a spike of hits. (That post is responsible for 10 percent of the total hits on my blog. I Am Not Making This Up.)

So. I was away around the time of my birthday, and didn’t have access to wifi. When I got back I noticed this tremendous spike of views on and just before my birthday. In fact, June 25 set a new one-day record, topping the day I wrote about the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock club debacle. Wow, I thought, did people really come by to say Happy Birthday in those kind of numbers?

Nope. Farrah Fawcett died of cancer and my blog must have hopped to the top of the search-engine list.

Sorry folks, nothing to see here. Just one thumbnail headshot of Farrah from the 1970s, a few chocolate bars, and a lot of procrastinated knitting. You vultures can move along.

But you yarnies can stay! I’m making a lace scarf, and finishing socks, and all kinds of exciting things.

Here’s the first clown Noro sock. I haven’t cast on for the second one yet.

Currently I’m working on the lace scarf (the pattern is called “Moon River” but my project is named “Fire River” because of the yarn colorway) and fixing Tyrone and wishing Tyrone were already fixed. I did finish a second Pinstripe TenScarf, but haven’t added any fringe yet. (And holy moley, I got a Rav PM from the pattern designer saying she hadn’t had time to fringe the one she made since it was for a gift, but she liked the fringe I put on mine. Wowzers!)

This one’s a giftknit, and I want to get another one on the needles ASAP for another Whovian friend. Who knows, I may start cranking these out like some people make touques. I’m not naming any names.