Done and undone

Meet the Hep Cat. My most complex crochet project to date! Boy is he cute. I made him for Ashley. She share custody of Kitty with her ex and sometimes gets lonely for him. The cat not the boyfriend. I was showing her the book and she said make me a Hep Cat. So I started in April worked like crazy, gave him a time out and he fell asleep. I woke him up for the WIP Wrestlemania event on Ravelry. He competed in the Slingshot event which was any toy. I made him out of RHSS because I am just that classy. Enjoy his awesome bells and cool beret. Do not I repeat do not point out the fact that his eyes are not level. Instead note the awesome cute toes.

On to other things. I have decided after listening to the Gives Good Knit podcast to look up the Modern Library's 100 greatest novels of the last 100 years and start to read the ones that I didn't read yet. Number one was Ulysses by James Joyce. Ahhh my bookiest arch nemesis! I have been trying to read this book for ok I will say it 20 years. Nate's dad bought me a copy of the book when we were dating and I never got past chapter 4. So I decided to download an audio copy from Libravox. I find it easy to listen to and follow along with a print copy. It also helps to read some of the analysis of the book to better understand the stream of consciousnes thing he has going on. I am not going to say I will work my way through the list but I am starting out with good intentions. James Joyce is my undone but I will crush that book's skull if I have to go back and get a master's in english to do it!

Modern Library's 100 Best Novels (1-5)
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
I've read 2,4,5 I am working on 1, and 2.

Hep Cat from Amigurumi Super Happy Crochet Cute by Beth Doherty (rav link)

Modern Library 100 Best Novels List

Gives Good Knit podcast

Libravox audio books

Also check out Wendy's blog she posted a top 100 book list in March of this year and is currently working on a project in which she is trying to read a book about each state.

http://itsjustme-wendy.blogspot.com/

Let's get ready to rumble

Do you remember the big wrestling craze of the 80's? My younger brother was obsessed with wrestling. He love Hillbilly Jim and Rowdy Roddy Piper. He had these action figures that my older brother called dolls to get him all worked up. He had my dad take him to the car show so he could meet wrestlers. Why is Andrea talking about wrestling? I joined the WIP Wrestlemanina 2009 event on Ravelry. I have four unfinished objects that I want to finish before I start some new sweaters. So what we do is we tag our UFOs with wrestling themed tags and spend the entire month of July working on UFOs exclusively. I am competing with Team Redheart again. We kicked but during the Ravelympics so we reformed to bring our acrylic based smack down to the people!

I have my hep cat, tiger eye scarf, dog bag, and the lucadore mask for Mike to work on this month so I hope to busy.

Speaking of RHSS smackdowns I made two pairs of arm covers for my cousin and her co-workers work chairs. I knit two rectangles using a basketweave pattern and wove a pull string through the edges. She just put them on the chair pulled the string underneath and created a very classy chair cozy. I guess you get to a point as a knitter that people think you can make anything. Oh wait I guess I can. Here is the red set. I also did a black set for her co-worker.



I also finished Liesel scarf but haven't blocked it yet so no photos. I have been knitting but don't have much to share. I also have been sewing. I did 5 totes for Morsbags, and 6 drawstrings. I made them out of recycled scrub tops I got from my sister and cousin. They turned out cool, I kept the pockets on the totes so they have front pockets which is handy.

I made a few coffee cakes, some herb and fruit infused waters and spent some time stalking the blue jays out back. I made orange-basil, lemon-basil, lemon-rosemary, and lemon-mint. We have a mating pair with one baby. He is so cute with his white head! He looks like a freak and I like that!

WIP Wrestlemania 2009 (rav link)

Liesel Scarf (rav link)
Morsbags my pod is called eco-friendly bensalem

No more Swallowtail

When I went to California about a month ago I started the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave. I was feeling very confident. I had just finished the Shetland triangle and I had some great merino lace weight in a beautiful brown heathered color from Knit picks. I knit so carefully on the body of the shawl and ended up perfect. Like golden, enough stitches and not too many issues. I started the first chart of the edging and things went wonky. I ripped back and started again. I got to the third row and the first half was fine. I did the first set of nupps and did the ungodly p5 on the reverse. But the second half did not line up. I ripped back and counted no go. I gave it a weeklong time out in the knitting cabinet and tried again yesterday. No go. the nupps were not diagonal they were on top of each other again. I put it in the bag and decided to give it a go this morning on the bus. I pulled it out this morning and sighed. I realized I hated the dang shawl. I decided then and there that I would rip it out and abandon it.

So I did. I even deleted it on my projects page on Ravelry. It is gone a distant memory. Life is too short to knit bad lace! Nupps you kicked my ass but I will be back someday. This photo of J.R. really sums up how I feel. Knitting you have defeated me today.

Swallowtail Shawl (rav link)

Check these puppies out!

So I had this great idea. I would try to knit a pair of socks during my eight hours flying to CA. I had a lay over in Houston dot dot dot. So I got out the only sock yarn in my stash. It is Lorna's Laces I was gifted during the Yoga Swap. It is in a wonderful teal color varigated with light blue and grays. I love the yarn and was hording it. I tried socks last summer and made the practice socks in Ann Budd's sock book but I hated the whole flapping heel and picking up stitches thing. I felt like it was too out of control for me. But I have been pattern stalking some awesome sock patterns on Ravelry and decided to try my hand at socks. So I did a search for the yarn and the Jaywalkers by Grumperina were suggested as an easy pattern. So I took the plunge and I made some socks. On tiny size one bamboo needles that made me feel ham handed but I did it anyway.

Here is my finished sock along with it's fledgling mate at Valley Forge on Memorial Day.

Two socks how awesome! They turned out great I had one small hole on the second sock where I picked up stitches but I did a small repair and you can't even tell.

Here is a snap I made the boss take of my first sock. I was sure I wasn't going to finish the second and I wanted proof that I made at least one sock. How weird are my feet? In yoga class they call them monkey toes. Our instructor said I had awesome toes for yoga. Sister would be so grossed out by my foot on the internet for sure!

HEY JACKIE I MADE A PAIR OF SOCKS!

Pattern Link (ravelry) Jaywalkers by Grumperina

Ok so things are much different in CA!

Ok so most people know that I am traveling this week. My colleague (aka my boss) and I are at the Innovative Users Group Annual Conference in Anaheim California. We flew in on Saturday and spent the weekend sight seeing and getting acclimated to the time change. Today was the first day of the conference and I am on a lunch break. Last night we were relaxing and watching tv in the room after spending all day at the Getty Center in LA. So around 8:30 we were laying around and the room started to rumble. The window starting to make crackling sounds and it felt like things were swaying on the 8th floor of the Hilton. Ok so it turns out we had an earthquake. How nutty is that? So I freaked out and was like oh did we just have an earthquake? E was totally unfazed and was like “Welcome to California”

Turns out earthquakes are not a big deal in this area. No emergency broadcasts, evacuations or anything. The lights didn’t even go out. How crazy is that?

On a knitting note I am working diligently on my Jaywalker and have turned the heel and am working on the first foot. I have to say that I am not loving sock knitting. It seems so messy and things are hanging open and looking like the sock is made for monster feet but I will trust in the instructions and the power of blocking. Plus if they suck I will give them to my sister! (Ha I know your reading this week).

Here are some snaps I took at the Mission San Juan Capistrano on Saturday. More snaps to come for sure. Check it out Mom I am a holy roller. I got a present for you and it is not a crow on a cross from the 1700s.

Hyper what?

How could I forget about the hyperbolic crochet event two weeks ago? I actually got to craft on company time? We have a science museum where I work. For the first friday of every month we have a event where the museum is open late. This year they are doing a hands on science theme and two weeks ago it was hyperbolic crochet. I knit a few samples for the event and we spent a few hours teaching people to crochet and talking up crafting. I met some great people both knitters and crocheter and had a great time crafting on company time.

I made two samples both varigated. The first was a purple ruffled hyperbolic and the second which I didn't photograph was a blue tie dyed sample that I gave to Andy. He said he wanted a toupee! I wish I had a photo of him wearing it.
The action shots are from Clare who works at CHF. Thanks Clare! The other photos are mine I took them at work so you can see my workspace. How fun? The first one is in my window. That is my pine cone that I got in California a few years back. I was on a library trip to see a donor and his wife gave me this pinecone from a giant pine tree in her garden. They lived in Redwood City how fitting?

See Andy in the left hand corner? He stayed for the event but didn't crochet.

Here is Audra teaching Ashley who works with me in the library to crochet. I am just running my mouth. I met a woman who spun her dog's hair into yarn. I was fascinated.

Here I am teaching and of course running my mouth again. The couple I am talking to are mathmaticans. She knits he doesn't. He was a good sport.

Here is Sarah. She works at Chf and is a fantastic crocheter. I hope she doesn't mind me showing her photo but I wanted to show and action shot of my purple hyperbolic. All the yarn was either RHSS or Vanna's Choice.

Seven Sins of Greenwashing

Green∙wash (grēn’wŏsh’, -wôsh’) - verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

How terrible is greenwashing? I can't stop reading about it. Check out this page, It is a great source of info and the graphics really drive the point home about how companies are scamming people who are trying to do something good for mother earth.

The Greenwashing Index will reveal the worst offenders to you. Check them out.

Why am I talking about green washing? Well I care about the earth of course, really it is not a distraction technique to keep you from realizing she has no knitting to share! The snap is a close up of the boss' african violet. He actually has three and they are massive. I have been practicing with my macro lens.