Stoopid quiz du jour . . .

What Pattern Are You?

Has anyone else noticed that these quizzes all seem to be all geared towards teenage girls?

At the train station this morning there were two armed men in an unknown-to-me uniform patrolling the platform. I wonder what that was about, but I really don't want to know I guess. They didn't mess with my knitting so everything's okay. I heard on the news last night that there are supposed to be "major disruptions" in Washington next Friday because of the World Bank protests. Oh, goodie.

Ooooh! Ooooh! Didja see that the Knitty button has changed? Won't be long now . . .

Did a bit o' knitting last night, but domestic chores got in the way a lot. Bleah. I need a maid. But here is the second sleeve.

And for your viewing pleasure, my sock-in-progress is here.

9.19.2002
Congratulations Ms. Johnson -- it's twins!

Yes, I actually managed to make the Opal Mexiko socks match. Lookie here. This is the most successful sock match-up I've had to date. Sometimes I think the yarn is screwie.

Yeah, the legs of the socks look really skinny -- I used a deep rib because the recipient has skinny ankles.

Last night Stasia asked if "Zauberflöte" means "magic flute." I very cleverly responded "I dunno." So this morning I went to Google's Language Tools page and tried their "translate text" function. And it worked! Yep, it means "magic flute." I heart Google.

And speaking of Zauberflöte, here is a photo of the wool. Yummy!

9.18.2002
Wednesday

Does it make me a bad person because when panhandlers approach me in the subway I pretend I don't speak English? ("Jag tala inte engleska!") I'm always surprised when this works and they leave me alone, particularly because I'm wearing a U.S. Government identification card when this happens.

I sewed my first sleeve into the body of Rosendal last night. Here it is. And here is a close-up. I like the way Dale of Norway sweaters are finished on the inside -- you knit a facing at the top of the sleeve that you sew down over the cut edge of the armhole after setting the sleeve in the armhole. Here is what the inside looks like. Very neat.

I do have a bit done on the second sleeve -- look here. Rosendal will be done within a week.

By the way, I'm convinced that this sweater was designed for an orangutan. I'm making my sleeves a good two inches shorter that the pattern directs, but they will still graze my knuckles.

What's next? I'm so glad you asked! I'm knitting "Zauberflöte," a design by Jade Starmore, available from Virtualyarns.com. It's a cardigan, but I'm going to make it as a pullover, as I like pullovers much better than cardigans.

9.17.2002
Feeling loopy

Knitted the button loops on Rosendal last night. The pattern tells you to crochet loops, but I made i-cord loops instead.

Mark the front band where you want your loops. Then, with dpns, pick up three stitches on the edge of the band. Work an i-cord to the length you need (mine was 13 rows long), then knit the 3 stitches together and bind the one stitch off. Here is how the body looks with the loops done and buttons sewn on. Here is a close-up of a loop and a button.

Need some i-cord help? Here are some great resources.

I got email last Friday from Ellen Harpin, the woman who runs The Ships Project. She was letting me know that the socks I sent her were on their way to Marines on board the U.S.S. Austin. Check out the website for this great project -- maybe there's something you can send.

9.16.2002
Email and viruses and spam -- Oh my!

I get masses of email. Tons of spam. I delete all spam without opening it. I delete without opening everything that has an attachment, if I'm not expecting an attachment.

I'm quite sure I've deleted some knitting-related email from some of you. I apologize. I know for a fact I've deleted a couple. Someone emailed me asking information about blogs and how to start one. She attached two jpeg files that were improperly named, which crashed my system. When I restarted, I had lost her email.

If you send me an email, please put something descriptive about knitting in the subject line. I get lots of spam from search engines, online directories, and hosting services with a subject line of "your website." I get porn spam with the subject line of "Hi!"

If you want to send me a photo, please send me two emails, one without the photo attached, letting me know that the other one has a file that you attached to it. That way I'll know I can open it without fear if viruses.

Sorry for harping on this, but spam and viruses are a way of life, unfortunately, and this is the best way I know to deal with them.

Okay, back to knitting!