July 2004 Archives

There are four new Rowan pattern books out! Preview them at The Knitting Garden. Okay, I just came back and I like what the Rowan team has designed for fall/winter. I like Aimee, Chantel and Joy from Vintage Style; Fanny and Ona from Big Just Got Bigger. What are your favorites, if any?

For those of you interested in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, here's the official site. Good news: it's live action! It will be released December 2005 by Disney. And there will be 7 movies total, 1 for each of the books in the Chronicles. Yay! I've put away Anna Karenina for now while I re-read the books, and I've already read the last four. They're such short stories though; I imagine there will be a bit of filler in the movie, I just hope they don't Disney-fy it too much!

Did I mention I love cables? I'm normally not into a lot of texture in my clothes, but cables like these are starting to change my mind. I am loving the braid, and the little 2-stitch cable... The double cables were a little difficult at first, but it's all about yarn tension, you know? The 12-row pattern was easy to memorize once I separated them into the different cable patterns. I made a few changes: I used a c2b instead of the pattern's Tw2R, as knitting that way caused a huge gap between the knit and purl stitches. Also, it calls for binding off the last 46 stitches, only to be picked up again later for the collar. Why bother? So I'm following Anita's lead (see July 6 entry) by keeping the stitches live. Then I'll k2tog over the cables on the first row of the collar.

I wanted to make this in Cotton Angora in the first place, but the LYS didn't have enough balls, so I bought the 12 they had on hand. And knowing that I had to have instant gratification, I rushed over to Joann's and bought the Cotton Ease. In Knitting Workbook Debbie Bliss indicated that cotton shows up texture better than wool, so I just went along with that. Jessica knit Lola with Cotton Ease and it came out beautifully.

I must've been thinking about cycling, because I bought some yellow yarn: KFI King Tut in #3050 Yellow. I'll probably knit a tank top with it for my sister.

Aah, Grace, how I adore thee! I had been thinking of knitting this lovely confection ever since I saw Debbie Bliss' Cotton Angora at the LYS a couple of months ago. Back then, cables seemed so complicated. Today? I can watch Lance demolish the competition* at the Tour and still do those c4bs and c4fs no problem! My thanks to Wendy for her cabling without a cable needle tip! I also found another tip by Becky on starching cables, which I'll keep in mind a year later when I've finished this! I'm using Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in #101 Strawberry Cream; the Cotton Angora I horded from the LYS is being reserved for Katy. I'm up to the shoulder shaping at this point, and hopefully I'll finish the back by Friday or Saturday.

Received a package from Nathania sometime this weekend: schmoo gumballs, milk candy, apple jelly marshmallows (yum!) and what looks like peach chewies? The marshmallows are all but a happy memory, and I'm about to start on the gumballs. BF is opening the milk candy as I type this. Thanks Nathania! And thanks to Erica for creating such a fun knitalong!

I picked up the needles this weekend after a torturous week of not knitting! And I must've been so depraved, I knit up about 8" worth in a couple of days. I'll do a show and tell in a couple of days. My tendonitis is slowly going away; my physical therapist/climbing buddy Rennie worked on my finger on Thursday and found that the bone was not aligned properly in the socket (I guess I did tweak it badly) so she pushed it back in (yow!!!). Ugh, it's not the most serious injury I've had, but certainly one of the more frustrating ones.

Egg on my face. Lisa just reminded me that The Magician's Nephew is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. I stand corrected! I can't wait to hear the production details on this movie! Will it be live action or animated? I wonder how Aslan will end up looking! Amy, I didn't know A Confederacy of Dunces was being made, I'm looking forward to that too! Say hello to Her Bubbly Babbly Pinkiness, Share, I think she needs some cheering up...

Finally, dear Froggy, I've tried to comment on your blog but my IP is blocked. I also tried your address but my mail didn't get through... I'd like to say thanks for your comment on my tank! Please let me know if you read this!

Have a happy Monday! Drink lots of water and stay close to the AC! If you're in the L.A. area in August go to Stitches West--JenLa have some details on their blog. Maybe we can do a meetup.

Go see Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies at the California Science Center. Nope, haven't seen it yet, but it sounds incredibly intriguing!

Also on the web: LAist.com, the L.A. version of popular Gothamist.com, although it should've been named "Angelist", in my opinion.

OMG! Talk about weird, I was discussing this just last night with a friend of mine... My favorite childhood book, C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia is being made into a movie! (scroll to last item) It's being directed by Andrew Adamson, an Australian director from New Zealand who did Shrek and Shrek 2. I haven't seen either of those, but I've heard from basically everybody that they're both GREAT movies. So I hope he'll do a good job with this. I wonder if the movie will be based on the first book (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) or if it will be on all...

Bush flips off Pennsylvania man, courtesy of Kottke.

My next purchase. Because I am. No really, I am.

Thank you all for the comments on the tank, I have to admit that this has been my favorite project so far! I've knit a couple of things in my oh-so-short knitting past that haven't turned out well, so I will definitely choose my projects and yarn wisely from now on.

I haven't started on any projects since last week and it feels weird! I have in my knitting bag yarn for my caramel ribby scarf (another Candy-Along project, which reminds me, I have candy to send to someone), yarn for Grace in Debbie Bliss' Cotton Angora, and yarn for various people's beanies. I'm itching to start something--anything! BUT. I have tendonitis in my left ring finger. I pulled my tendon a little more than a month ago climbing in Maple Canyon, and since then my finger hasn't been the same. I feel little aches in the finger or joints when I hold a pen, pull on rock, or hold a knitting needle, and sometimes the pain shoots into my palm and down the arm. I've been prescribed rest, no strenuous finger/hand activity, and lots of ice if I want to get better. So (sniffle) I'll have to knit vicariously through my list of knitbloggers for another week before casting on again. Darn.

In the meantime, here are some items of interest:
• The cutest cat photo ever
• Tag the Dog
• Have you had your daily dose of imagery?
• Happy Tree Friends! 'Nuff said.
• Kirsten Ulve's splendid illustrations.

Pattern: #33 Wine Red Top in Rebecca 25
Yarn: Patons Katrina in #10510 Sherbert

Why, it's the finished top! Such the procrastinator, I sewed it up Friday evening in a hurry because BF announced we were going camping for the weekend. Did I mention I loved knitting this? The elasticity of the yarn worked well with the Rebecca pattern, so there wasn't even any gut-sucking! (Wish the yarn could do something for the front porch, but sadly, there are limits!) For anyone interested, click here for project details.

Here's another of me at the campground. Imagine a little stream bubbling behind the bushes....

I didn't hit the yarn stores there, I figured I'd try to catch up on Anna Karenina. The read-along is moving steadily, some have already gone into Book Two and I'm still on page 90. Yikes, gotta get moving!

Santa Barbara was, as always, beautiful. We'd been there before, many times in fact, and this time around we decided to look around the area for places to live. Santa Barbara attracted us for a number of reasons: life there seems to be less hurried than L.A.; people are much friendlier; the area is bike-friendly; it's close to a lot of quality bouldering and climbing. Sadly, every apartment/house rental was *expensive*, and although our bank accounts are healthy, I can't imagine paying a ridiculous amount to rent when it could go toward a monthly house payment. So we're still here at the beach, not that that's anything to complain about...

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth!