Knitting Machines galore since one is never enough, photo tutorials, and knits gone wild

The sun came out yesterday so the kids and I lugged the garden storage box up from the basement. While they cleaned and filled containers with potting soil, I tried to determine the germination odds of vegetable seeds from as far back as 1989. I don’t have much hope for the lettuce, but the tomatoes and squash should sprout. Around here, tossing seeds, unless they absolutely refuse to grow, happens about as often as tossing leftover yarn.
Continue reading…

Emily at Yarn Miracle had a great idea – how about a sock exchange for the commitment phobic. She designed a sock so small that it only requires some leftover yarn, a couple hours, and a 39 cent stamp to mail it off.

It’s my first exchange and my mini soccer sock is ready to dash due East.

Continue reading…

The good news – I decided four months was long enough to avoid knitting on a Passap. My last experience with an original Pink Duomatic ended in jammed locks and frustration, no matter what I tried. The Pinkie remains in exile on the top shelf of my closet.

Rather than walking past her bigger and newer sister for the hundredth time yesterday, I pulled up a chair to the Duo 80, sat down, opened the instruction manual, and knit some beginner swatches.

And it worked!
Continue reading…

Growing up, I hated girl shoes. HATED THEM. Anything that wasn’t comfortable or had a heel taller than an inch was pure torture. I’m still not much of a fan, but even I don’t need Stacy and Clinton to point out that my Birkenstocks don’t show off a new spring dress to its fullest.

However, I’ll gladly forsake comfort for fashion when it comes to my hand knit socks, especially if it means the difference between wonderfully striped painted colors or ugly pools of blotch-ville.

Which brings me to my Jaywalker experience. The only way I could keep the colors flowing and not knit a tourniquet was to make a much looser fabric and continue the pattern all the way around.
Continue reading…

I’m so ready for spring. Daylight savings time and frost free mornings can’t come soon enough. I’m tempted to plant peas in protest, even though they’ll rot in the frozen morning ground.

To help say goodbye to the frigid season, here are a few of my winter shots.

Continue reading…

If your vicarious seminar gush-o-meter is overflowing from everyone’s ecstatic descriptions, I’m here to help flush the pipes with a dose of reality.

There is a dark side to knitting seminars.

With so much estrogen crammed into a single venue, personality quirks are bound to collide. No matter how hard you try to enjoy the differences, someone will likely push your buttons.

Over the years I’ve attended numerous events, big and small, hand knitting and machine, where I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the following species.
Continue reading…

Before reading any further, go visit Scarlett and enjoy her entry on the 9 Words Women Use – Fine, Five Minutes, Nothing, Go Ahead, Loud Sigh, That’s Ok, Thanks, Whatever, and Don’t Worry About It, I’ll Get It.

I loved the definitions so much I emailed them to my significant other as he telecommuted in the basement because as usual, it was faster than actually getting out of my chair and walking downstairs. When he came back up, he wanted to know what happened to The Royal We.

So I offer up number 10 for the list: The Royal We
Continue reading…

My emergency knitting plan isn’t going too well.

I was stuck last week, so I took out the easy pair of socks. Just a few rounds, I told myself, then they’re going right back into the orange sherbet case. Well, if 148 (times 2) are a few laps, then I guess I kept my promise.
Continue reading…