FO: Scottish Monkeys and New Year Reflections

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions. I don’t like putting that much pressure on myself. Besides, I never successfully reach any of them. So this year, instead of going all crazy, I’ve made only one: I will take care of myself this year.

Now, this is why I’m all sneaky. That one l’il resolution is more than enough to cover a wide variety of bad habits I’ve accumulated over the past 27 (gulp! almost 28!) years of my life. That one resolution encompasses the following:

*I will go to the gym more often.

*I will eat more fruits and vegetables. Hell, I’ll just stop ordering so much takeout.

*I will stop drinking Diet Coke. (Again, inner demons laugh maniacally)

*I will read at least two books per month. This might be accomplish-able if I stop listening to Queen on a loop when I’m taking the subway.

*I will focus on my spiritual essence. Whatever that means.

*I will try to remove my UFOs from their sad little shelf. They cry every day and I meanly just shove them to the back and refuse to give them supper.

*I will finish my novel. I will finish my screenplay. I will finish the seven short stories that mope in a little folder in my computer. I will publish something fictional instead of just lots of informative articles regarding your physical health and/or lipstick.

*I will go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. If I can somehow cure my addiction to that little gadget known as “snooze.”

This all sounds crazy. Yes, crazy. But the one secret, magic weapon that makes this all OK is the wording of that one resolution which encompasses all things. I will take care of myself. And taking care of myself means I give myself permission to fail on occasion. It means overall, I commit to living a better life by focusing on areas of improvement but not whipping myself if I mess up. I can slip up and eat French fries and sip my Diet Cokes and not read a blessed word for a whole damn week if I want. But I can do it knowing that I will get back up on the well-behaved horse the next day. I figure as long as I allow myself to act like a complete child once in a while, the adult in me (I know you’re in there!) will, for the most part, emerge to take care of the little brat that likes to take up residency fairly often ‘round these parts.

For example:

Scottish Monkey Socks
Pattern: Monkey Socks from Knitty.com
Yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight in Scottish Highlands

I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship between me and some STR. I did notice that I have this problem with socks. The first one is always way tighter than the second one. I have one of two choices: I can either move to smaller needles for the second one or I can make a conscious effort to knit the first one looser. Boo. I know consistency ain't my strong suit, but I had no idea that this translates into my knitting. But look, I finished one of the projects that had been crying on my shelf! I'm already moving in the right direction!

Also, the heels on these socks resemble Scottish meadows. I watched Braveheart the other day with my roommate while knitting these up. I like Scottish accents. They are muy sexy. Maybe I'll add that to my yearly goals...meet actual Scottish people so I can listen to that accent on a consistent (!) basis.

Prospero Año y Felicidad!

I did not knit a lot over Christmas. Too many cheesecakes to bake, too many cookies to frost, and too many movies to see. I finally saw The Simpsons Movie, which caused me to laugh so hard that I thought my vocal cords would go on strike. I saw The Painted Veil, which was a lovely movie despite the fact that Edward Norton's English accent is only passable at best. I also saw I Am Legend and have conflicting feelings towards it. It was fun and I definitely cowered a lot, but I've read synopses of the book it was based on and the original story seems so much more compelling that I'm surprised the movie says so little about what the title actually means. But that dog was so damn cute. I want German Shepherd puppies. I also saw...(drumroll please)...Sweeney Todd.
IloveditIloveditIloveditIlovedit! Johnny Depp is sexy, even as a mass murderer. Alan Rickman is sexy even as creep. Sacha Baron Cohen is sexy, even in skintight, electric blue pants. Timothy Spall is...not sexy, but he's still wickedly amusing. I did think it was odd that they removed all the ensemble singing, but overall the visual spectacle of everything just reels you in so that you don't notice how weak Helena Bonham Carter's voice actually is until you listen to her on the soundtrack. That's when her singing sounds so obviously lackluster. I have a feeling that Tim Burton was so entranced by her singing lullabies to their baby that he was deluded into thinking she had the voice of an angel. Ah, well, even with the nepotism she's still a good actress.

Here's a sampling of my Christmas booty:

The Sweeney Todd movie soundtrack (and now I have to go get the original cast recording because I lost it and I miss Angela Lansbury), a supercute snowman mug, Pixar's short films, a short story collection by Mavis Gallant, and two Hitchcock movies. There was some other stuff and I finally got myself a pair of Uggs (which I know are as ugly as their name implies, but my desire for them had less to do with fashion and more to do with comfort).

Also, I did knit a little bit. I finished my dad's scarf (which was promptly stolen by my mom because she says her neck is colder than his). So I must knit my father something else. I ended up not finishing the blanket (big surprise!) and bought my mother some cookbooks and mystery books.

But I did do this:

It's the back and godet of Norah Gaughan's Cabled Coat from the 25th Anniversary VK. I am in love. I am in love with the pattern and in love with the yarn. Why can't the world be made out of Berroco Pure Merino? I bought this yarn months ago specifically for this project and can't figure out why it took me so long to get here. I'm trying to knit through some of my stash and this seemed appropriate enough. At first, the pattern seems pretty intimidating, but once you work through some of it, the process is somewhat intuitive. There are definitely errata and the VK website only posts one mistake in the chart so when I finish I'll make a list of the things I noticed.

Fields of moss stitch are so soothing.

And the cable design reminds me of architectural details. I am having lots and lots o' fun.

FO: Fiery Shetland

"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames." -- Rumi

Viv's Fiery Shetland Triangle
Pattern: Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style
Needles: US 8 Lantern Moon circulars
Yarn: Sheep Shop 3, 1.6 skeins red-orange
Mods: Left off last two rows of edging, did 10 repeats of main body chart.

The above quote by Rumi seems so appropriate here. Vivian has been one my best friends for eight years. We met in college and quickly became friends with two other girls, Nicole and Maya, and the four of us have basically shared a brain since then. We do a good job of fanning each other's flames, both positively and negatively. I am not a confrontational person, but these are the first friends I ever had with whom I felt comfortable arguing and fighting. There's something to be said about meeting non-family who will love you no matter what you do or say. And there's definitely something to be said about meeting people who will always tell the truth even if it's unflattering.

So, this is my Christmas present for Viv. A bright, fiery, lacy, cuddly shawl. Seriously, this shawl is almost neon. I half expect it to burst into real flames.

And although the pattern refers to a "fir cone motif," I say, "Pshaw!" This ain't fir cones. This here is what I call fire. Ok, maybe not fire, but at least a flickering candle.

I left off the last two rows of the edging chart because I saw it done so often on the Ravelry lists and I liked the subtler, gentler scallops. The rest of the pattern flows so beautifully that it seems a shame to end it with sharp points.

The underside of the shawl actually does remind me of fir cones. Or maybe sea foam on an ocean of fire. One of the most beautiful things about nature, in my humble opinion, is the repetition of shapes and forms and colors and textures. As if every little thing understands its intrinsic relationship to everything else around it.

I also cannot wax poetic about this yarn enough. This is my first time working with Sheep Shop and I can assure you that it won't be my last. There's just enough shading to lend dimension and depth to the finished product and the color hardly bled at all once it hit my Woolite wash. The feel of it is like the softest of feather down and reminds me of that Little House on the Prairie book when Pa shoots a swan thinking it's a goose and they use the swan's down to line the hood on baby Grace's coat.

Final verdict: This shawl is a quick knit, looks much harder than it actually is, and my other friends say that Viv will faint when I give it to her. I think that's a good verdict.

I Didn't Start the Fire...

...but I can't seem to stop the impulses of startitis. Mostly because I hate shopping for Christmas presents. In NYC, it's basically a bloody nightmare times six, six, six. People shove you around, yell at you because you don't walk fast enough, yell at you because you move too fast, glare at you for taking more than three whole seconds to figure out what you're ordering at Starbucks, and generally transform an ordinarily optimistic gal into a growling, troll-like misanthrope. Did I mention I don't like shopping for Christmas presents?

This is why, when December reveals the true colors of venomous shoppers everywhere, I try to take refuge in things that don't involve waiting in line for three hours to buy the perfect gift. This is also why, inevitably, I fail to finish many Christmas presents and end up running around on December 23 like a chicken with its poor head cut off.

I'm older and wiser now. I'm not trying to knit everyone a present. But Mom and Dad will get one and my friend Viv will get one. Viv has been one of my bestest friends since my sophomore year of college. We bonded over a cappella, Muppets, and our combined sense of mischief. Unfortunately, she moved to LA a year and a half ago to go over to the dark side (e.g., law school). She'll be in lots of offices that pump the a/c like crazy so I offered to knit her a shawl for Christmas. She said, "Can it be bright? How about yellow? I like yellow." Um...I am not knitting her a bright yellow shawl because it will make her look like a banana. This is the compromise:

The beginning of a crazy bright Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. The real color is a blazing coral red with glimmers of orange. I'm a little obsessed with silk/wool blends right now and I'm going to work through a few brands one by one. This one is Sheep Shop 3 and it's heavenly. Soft and light but with enough weight to create a nice solid fabric.

The other project I cast on is the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm kniting it up in Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which is luscious without breaking the bank.

It's a big project. I may have bitten off more than I can chew. But it's entirely garter stitch and I'm knitting on it every chance I get. I chose camel, brown heather, bright purple and plum. My mom and I have birthdays two days apart in February and the amethyst tones seemed appropriate. And its Mondrian-inspired lines make me feel like my simple garter stitch rows are like fine art. But I may have to plan on a small back-up present in case my knitting powers are not as strong as I imagine.

I also finished up the Helsinki Hat Scarf a couple weeks ago and it's sitting pretty at the store:

I'll try to get a better photo of someone actually wearing it. For now, it's pretty happy sitting on that chair and being tried on by random passersby.

There's also been some indie yarn pr0n Chez Sway:


Top: Chewy Spaghetti in "Serendipity;" Bottom: GypsyKnits BFL Fingering in "Whirlygig," both from The Loopy Ewe. Colors make me happy. Now I have to go finish my Christmas shopping. Durn.

Young Scarf

When I was 10, my father finally put aside his Ph.D. studies and got a job for the first time. That year, we bought our first house and that Christmas, my parents finally sprang for a Christmas tree. A week before Christmas, my dad came home with a giant turkey provided by his office to all the employees as a sort of Christmas bonus. My dad's first name happens to be Young and his co-workers had played a little joke with his turkey crate. Instead of "Young Turkey," someone had added " 's" to the "Young." My brother and I thought this was the funniest thing we'd ever seen. We ate "Young's Turkey" for Christmas dinner.

Since my dad keeps making sad little comments about how many things I've knitted for my mom and how I've knitted nothing for him, I am knitting him his very own Young Scarf:

I'm using Noro Iro and the Braided Mischief pattern by Teva Durham in Scarf Style. At first, I thought about seed stitch, but my hands are not that deft right now for whatever reason and I found it fiddly, especially with chunky yarn. I moved over to a broken rib pattern and was seriously displeased with the curling. I figured I should look through Scarf Style since I've only made one pattern out of it so far and it was like seeing the pattern for the first time. The sample in the book is knitted with Felted Tweed, but the Iro is so much squishier.

I also read this:

I cried a lot. I haven't seen the film version yet, but I hear it's equally heartbreaking and moving. Jean Bauby was the editor of French Elle when he suffered a massive stroke in 1995 that left him paralyzed. The only part of his body that he could move was his left eyelid. Using this one movement, he and his nurse figured out a method of communication by which he eventually wrote this incredibly uplifting and beautiful memoir. The title comes from this passage in the book: "My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly. There is so much to do. You can wander off in space or in time, set out for Tierra del Fuego or for King Midas's court. You can visit the woman you love, slide down beside her and stroke her still-sleeping face. You can build castles in Spain, steal the Golden Fleece, discover Atlantis, realize your childhood dreams and adult ambitions."

I am always in awe of those who refuse to give up despite the awful things that can happen in this world. A year ago, when I was in the depths of despair, I read some poetry by Wislawa Szymborska and found the following sentence: "Not without its charms is this terrible world; not without its mornings worth our waking." This book captures that idea so perfectly.

I also couldn't stop myself. I knitted a sock. Monkey pattern again, this time with Socks that Rock Lightweight in Scottish Highlands:

I think the pattern complements the dye job beautifully. The hills are aliiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusic.

FO: Giant Sea Urchin Beret

Once upon a time, I used to be a pre-med. I thought I would devote my life to saving small children from malaria epidemics in Africa. Thankfully, I reached the understanding that I was not meant to be a medical doctor before I wasted my time and everyone else's by groaning my way through the rest of my chem labs and even through med school with a big frown on my face.

But I did enjoy science a fair bit and I liked my freshman year bio lab well enough. Our TF once handed us male sea urchins and told us to inject the male urchins with a chemical that caused them to ejaculate. Then we were told to take the...um...stuff...and fertilize sea urchin ova. After that, we had the fun of looking through a microscope as the cells rapidly divided.

That's basically all I was thinking about while I knit this the other night:

Giant Sea Urchin Beret

Pattern: Bulky Beret by Lipp Holmfeld in VK Holiday '06
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool, 1.3 balls in color Mulberry
Needles: US 13 24" circulars and DPNs

This may be my absolutely most wearable knit. The thing is, I am not a hat person. Not at all. I hate how they make my head look, I hate how they flatten my hair. Yuck. When I wear a normal hat, I keep thinking of Tom Hanks' line in A League of Their Own when he mutters to the umpire, "Did anyone ever tell you, you look like a penis with that little hat on?"

But this hat is different! Yes! Different! Better! Not hair-flattening! Love-worthy! So much so that I stuck a little feather on it and called it macaroni.

Yep, Yankee Doodle ain't got nothin' on me. I actually stuck them together because these are the colors that make me happiest. Deep green, gold, and vibrant purple. I am a bit obsessed by that little feather pen. When I'm down, I dip it into (violet!) ink and scribble away in my journal and imagine I am Charlotte Bronte.

And here is me modeling it in oh-so professional fashion without even changing out of my pajamas. I have also decided that Rowan needs a big round of applause for creating the most perfect plum-purple shade EVER. It's not coming out right in the photos, but the true shade is like the purpliest of purples that leans juuuuust enough towards burgundy. Big Wool is also a scrumptious yarn and I finished this in an hour. You heard me. One measly hour. Truly, a last-minute knitted gift. Only this one is a gift for me.

Totally off-topic, but if you haven't seen No Country for Old Men, get thee to a movie theater!

It was so good that I went through an existential panic attack during the last scene. Ok, that doesn't sound like a positive recommendation, but the movie gripped me in a way that very few movies have over the last year. It's incredibly sad and incredibly thought-provoking. Tommy Lee Jones' weathered face and his understated performance are both just wonderful and Javier Bardem continues to convince me that he's a fantabulous actor with (gasp!) depth.

In addition, I also saw American Gangster this weekend and was a bit disappointed. Denzel is Denzel and Russell is Russell. Not much else goes on other than glamorizing the drug business and painting most of drug law enforcement as crooked. But the common denominator in both movies: Josh Brolin. Who knew that Brand from The Goonies would become a fantabulous actor in his own right? Somewhere, Andy Carmichael is very, very glad that she gave Troy back his letter jacket.

Brought to you by the numbers...

...2 and 8!

Meaning the winners are, in order of my hand pulling numbers out of a hat, Punkin and Tiennie! Punkin, the Cluckers has your name on it and Tiennie, the mag and Louet Gems are antsy to get to your house. So you two need to email me and lemme know your mailing addys so I can send some lover-ly goodness your way!

All your comments were so fantastic, though, and it really got me excited for the holiday season...which is upon us in about, oh, ten seconds. I was also lucky enough to start reading some of your blogs! Over the weekend, I was extremely grateful for friends. I have never really been particularly lucky in the romance department, but my cup runneth over in the friends department. (I'm trying to learn how to scoop some of the leftover friend ju-ju into the romance cup.) I discovered that one girl I've been peripherally friends with for over a year actually loves knitting, too! We had a little gasping session over sock yarn.

Och, and I've kissed the Blarney Stone:

Mighty handsome, no? He'll keep me calm while I try to adjust to the pace of the next few months. This is what my life looks like right about now:

I've committed to writing a screenplay for a friend and I am starting research on it in a major way. I'll continue working on my novel, but I think I need to re-familiarize myself with that thing we refer to as a "library." In my downtime, I am a bit obsessed with Six Feet Under. It also lends me some insight into my screenplay plot so I'm starting to pore over every detail. That last book is my favoritest knitting book evah. I flipped through it a few times and I seriously want to make every single project in the book. Every last one. We'll see how far I get, but most of the projects are small-scale, so I think I'll be reaching in a lot for quick Christmas gifts.

Speaking of quick knits:

Simple Garter Scarf
Yarn: Trendsetter Yosemite, 2 hanks
Needles: US 19 Lantern Moon straights

I know those ruffle-y scarves are referred to as the potato chip scarves, but these chunky garter stitch yummies are my potato chip scarves. Yosemite is some fantastically squishy yarn (50% wool/50% acrylic) and the colors are vibrant. The total length in yards was about 150 and it's nice and long. I casted on 13 stitches this time with just one strand of yarn. The chunky bits remind me of circus peanuts.

I also, er, did some shopping. But part of it was on a gift certificate.

I got two hanks of Schaefer Anne yarn in the Althea Gibson colorway (I think). I can't figure out exactly which color this is because Schaefer doesn't label the colors. This is earmarked for the Trinity Stitch triangular shawl in Victorian Lace Today.

I also bought my first ever knitting bag:

It's the Sanibel bag from Amy Butler's Sweet Life line. It's huge and can double as a weekend bag when I go visit the 'rents in Joisey. I just keep cooing to it and singing, "I think I love you."