Thursday, August 30, 2007

Done and blocking...

So it turns out that I don't have anywhere to block FOs that isn't needed for someone to sleep on.

Those are the cushions from the couch, moved to the floor. I could have left them on the couch, but that's where the cats like to sleep.

Looking more closely:

Please note the pedicured toes. That's I'm not really a waitress from Opi. Someone actually said that to me on Monday, "Is that I'm not really a waitress on your toes?" I think I have trendy toes.

And a closeup:

Carp. In my excitement I've managed to blur it.

This is one of the Diamonds on the Diagonal patterns from Ilga Leja. It's meant to be a scarf, but I've added repeats to make it wider, and used two skeins of Celestial Merino in bittersweet chocolate instead of one. I love the way that it looks, and I hope it's long enough. If it's not, I'll have to reblock it somewhere longer, which might mean House Man and I will have to sleep on the couch while the bed gets used for blocking!

And because I love them:

The Boy, Provincial Ex, Truro, 2007

House Man, portrait by The Boy, Provincial Ex, Truro, 2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Stash Swap at KOL

Dramatis Personae:

Ninja Knitter--swap organiser and chief swapper
Mrs. Happy--chief assistant and Vanna White to the Ninja
Assorted KOL Knitters

Act 1

NK: Who wants this lovely skein of Very Desirable Silk/Cashmere/Platinum/Diamond/Merino Yarn hand spun by Famous Yarn Person, from her rare breed of sheep only found on the top of a single mountain in Wales, sheared at midnight on Midsummer's Eve with golden shears, and then hand dyed by Other Famous Yarn Person using dyes from plants found only in the deepest reaches of the Amazonian rain forest, that she picked herself at the last full moon of summer?

Mrs. H: Holds up yarn and waves it around

Assorted Knitters 1, 2, 3: (waving arms in the air) Oh! Me! I do! (look around at each other, slowly lower hands)

AK1: Oh, that's okay, I don't really need it.

AK2: Oh, you should have it, I already have lots of yarn.

AK3: Well, I only want it if nobody else does.

AK1: Seriously, one of you guys take it.

AK2: Well, if you're totally sure, but I think you should have it.

AK3: I'm okay, I got this skein of crappy acrylic already from the swap, I'm fine, really.

NK: Somebody take this yarn!!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Knitter's Honour

Okay, thank you to Mrs Happy for pointing these out, or I might have missed them (I'm a bit behind on Cast On now that I'm not on the bus every day, the bus, of course, being my podcast-listening time). I present the badges that I believe I've earned so far:

The “Proselytize Knitting” Badge

The “Knitting Has Forced Me to Seek Medical Attention” Badge
(Level One)


Okay, I admit, I didn't actually seek medical attention, but I did apply a bandaid. Those knitpicks dpns can draw blood!

The “I’ve Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application” Badge

Baby mittens. The thumbless kind. Only I was trying to teach someone to knit at the same time, and forgot to measure. Might have made a good thumbless mitten for an octopus. Or maybe a thumbless baby arm warmer. I only made one.

The “MacGyver” Badge
(Level One)


Paperclips rock.

The “MacGyver” Badge
(Level Two)


Straight needles to unlock doors that The Boy has inadvertently locked behind him and can't manage to unlock.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Haircut

Before:


After:


life sucks so i knit

I've been obsessing over my site meter lately. Well, ever since the day the Yarn Harlot linked to me and over 2000 people visited my site in 24 hours. It's interesting when site meter shows somebody finding you through a google search. On August 18th, somebody somewhere in Texas googled life sucks so i knit and found my blog. Specifically this post from last summer. Well, I tried the google search, and sure enough I popped up in the results, right near the top.

Today, it seems, my life no longer sucks! Yes, try googling life sucks so i knit. Go on, I'll wait.... I'm not there, am I? Not in the first five pages at least, which is all I could be bothered to scan. So, according to google, my life no longer sucks. Thanks google, showing up in your results for "life sucks" wasn't doing anything to help my current slightly sucky frame of mind!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Disappointing road trip to Gaspereau Valley Fibres

Cate of the no sheep, Mrs. Yes and her family, Charlene & Miss R, The Boy and me all went on a road trip today. The ultimate goal was Gaspereau Valley Fibres, but we managed Just Us along the way, as well as a yard sale where Charlene and Miss R. picked up an awesome wagon and trailer (that's not what they paid for it!). How we fit three adults, two car seats with children in them, and a wagon and trailer into a small mazda, I'll never know, but we did it! Cate might even have pictures!

Gaspereau Valley Fibres was disappointing. Before heading out, I had read this blog post by Ariannah from a year ago. Doesn't that make Gaspereau seem like a lovely place? The shop itself is lovely, full of wool and other fibres from all over, a nice book selection, spinning wheels and other tools, all in a lovely setting with some sheep and some very attractive chickens. The service, however, left something to be desired. Certainly, no staff person offered us the service described in Ariannah's post!

Nobody greeted us when we arrived in the shop, even though there were no other customers there at the time, and two staff people. Charlene, Cate and I had arrived early, which meant we had to wait for Mrs. Yes and family, who were "cottaging", and therefore not coming from home. We had a quick look around the store with The Boy and Miss R., then went outside and waited quietly, down behind the store where we had parked the car, sat under a tree and ate our picnic lunch. The Boy and Miss R. had a quick game of hide and seek--our children are nice kids, and both very cute, and were laughing and playing. When Mrs. Yes and her family arrived, we left Mr. Yes outside with the children so that we could browse around the store without them. There were 4 children aged 2-8 (newborn Gabriel came in with us), and they were quite happily chatting away at a picnic table conveniently located under a tree outside the store.

When we returned to the store with no children (except Gabriel) and started browsing, I found a lovely row counter bracelet, that I decided to purchase. I picked it up and continued browsing the yarn. I was taking my time, enjoying the freedom to browse a yarn store while somebody else minded The Boy. I picked up many different yarns, browsed some books, looked around at various things. There was some Misti alpaca that I was seriously considering purchasing.

After a while, I realised that one of the two ladies working in the store seemed to be hovering, in fact, she'd been following me around for a while. Not actually saying anything, mind you, not making any conversation, asking if I was visiting, or if I needed any help finding anything. No, just hovering, and had been since I picked up the bracelet. Finally, she asked me if I was intending to buy it, to which I said yes. Her response was to tell me that we should go ring it in now, because it was turning into a bit of a picnic in the store (I think she was referring to the fact that Mr. Yes had just brought the children in to see if we were ready to leave yet--we'd been there for a good twenty minutes at this point, without actually being approached by either staff person until now). So, a staff person finally approaches me, but it's not to ask if I was finding what I needed, but rather it's to tell me that she thought I should pay for the bracelet in my hand now.

I'm a little dense, so I didn't realise right away how odd this was. As I was paying for the bracelet, I realised what was going on. SHE WAS WORRIED I WAS GOING TO STEAL THE DAMN BRACELET. I was nowhere near the door at this point, and was actively browsing yarn. In fact, I had fully intended to buy yarn at the store today, but she rushed me to the cash register without asking if I was done because she thought I might forget to pay for a $20 bracelet. Gaspereau Valley Fibres lost a sale from me today, at least $30 in Misti alpaca for sure, possibly more yarn if I'd been left to browse longer, or better yet, been asked if I needed any assistance or engaged in friendly conversation of any kind. I am stating right now that I will never spend another penny at Gaspereau Valley Fibres after my experience there today. I am very glad that Gaspereau is not my local yarn store, and thankful that the lovely people who run my local yarn stores would never make me feel like a thief.

It gets better too, but I'm going to let Mrs. Yes blog the next part, because it's her story to tell! Lesley, I hope you tell it well, because I'm still fuming about the whole experience today!

However, the day was not a complete loss. Just Us is lovely, and the wagon, well, the wagon will serve Miss R. well for a long time to come!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Brush with fame...

The. Yarn. Harlot. Linked. To. Me.
Must. Try. To. Breath. Slowly.

Okay, for those coming from the Harlot's blog, the post you're looking for is 3 posts down from here.

Ravelry again

I'm in. My username is Alison in case anyone wants to know. Not that it matters, I'll hunt you all down anyway!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Ravelry

106 people ahead of me. Just sayin'.

A Harl-lot of fun in Halifax

Okay. The bad part about the Harlot visiting Halifax? I had more fun last night than I've had in ages but today at work, I couldn't tell anyone about it! Yes, I work with a library full of muggles, and they just would not have understood. Thank goodness I have the KOL girls to share this with. We may not have anything else in common, but we'll always have yarn! Have I told you before how much I love them all, despite how impatient they might be?


Okay, I'm not feeling particularly creative right now, so I'm just going to share my favourite pictures from the night.

A young knitter (Miss R.), enjoying herself immensely


Ladies, boobies forward


Gabriel, plum tuckered out


The mandatory picture of me and the Harlot (Stephanie, you are taller than me, I have like 2 inch soles on those shoes!).


I don't look that happy, but that's because Lesley blurred the first picture, where I really was smiling!


See what I mean?

Knitters out on the town: the Master and Commander (possibly not a knitter??), the Harlot, Hope and the Pharmaceutical Speed Knitter (I can't believe I actually caught her not knitting in this picture!)


The Ninja Knitter and Mrs. Happy having fun (I think they were having fun. Does that look like a fun face? I'm not really sure!)


And all who have been following her blog will be pleased to know that Mrs. Yes did regain the power of speech before the event


Jesslyn had fun too


Jesslyn, I said fun!


Much better!

Moe tried out the latest fad, invisible knitting


She's quite good at it!

Okay, I'm done. Somebody e-mail me a picture of all of us, would you? I didn't get one, because there were just too many cameras, it didn't seem fair to push the kindness of strangers too far!

Okay, stole it from Mrs. Happy. Thank you Mrs. Happy!


And Lesley redeemed herself with a picture of me that's both blur-free and smiley, taken with her own camera



See?