alisonknits

Holiday weekend

I actually forgot that I have Monday off until last night. And this morning when I first woke up, I thought I had to go in to work. And then I realized that that might be because I haven't had a day off in three weeks! Today I stayed home all day knitting. I had the cranberry alpaca FedExed to me so that I could do the cranberry version in time for Knitty's winter issue deadline. The hat went quickly and I'm now about a third finished with the scarf. It's such a treat for me to knit on bulkier yarns; I've grown so accustomed to complex patterns on fine gauge yarns. And I still like doing complex stuff, but it sure is gratifying to finish stuff!

Speaking of complex designs, I'm still working on and off on Hank8. I usually can only manage two rounds at a sitting. How pathetic! I haven't figured out what is making it so slow for me. Pretty soon I'm going to have to start worrying about finishing it in time for Christmas! My sister's sweater is on hold at the moment, halfway up the first sleeve. I'm not worried about that since it's bulky, but I also want to make one for her boyfriend, who apparently was secretely hoping I'd make him one last year. He's been with her for at least 8 years now and they just moved in together... I think he deserves a sweater. (Is there a curse of the sister's boyfriend's sweater? Maybe I should instruct Meredith to get it back from him if they ever break up.)

ah... that's better...

Wow, TypePad's help is really... helpful! And speedy. I'm so impressed that they answered my questions so fast, and didn't even sound cranky that it was totally my own inexperience that was causing the problem. Turns out I just had to clear my cache to make the design changes show up in my browser.

And as for the hat I was growling about, well, it didn't grow as much as I'd though, it's just a little bigger than I would like it. I'm going to take a big chance and try to shrink it a little in the dryer. I'll be very careful. The alpaca version of the hat is coming out nicely, but I'm not crazy about the color I bought. So I just ordered the same yarn in cranberry from Patternworks, and got enough to make the matching scarf. The hat only takes one ball of Reynold's Andean Alpaca Regal, which retails for $8.95-$10.50, so it's a pretty good deal. I think it's a great substitute for the cashmere, although the fuzziness gives it a different look. Anyway, it's pretty.

I started working on the pattern and description last night, and I'm bringing the hat to my knitting group tonight to see if anyone has suggestions for a name. I'm also trying to decide whether to have Scott photograph me in the hat, or if I should try and rope a friend into modeling for me. I was hoping to have my friend Amy do it, but she's going to be away this weekend. Too bad; they would look really cute on her.

argh

It's becoming a very frustrating day. My changes to the design of this blog aren't publishing correctly - actually it now looks like some bastardized version of the design I created yesterday that I was trying to change.

And even worse, I washed my cashmere hat & scarf this morning according to my boss's instructions, and it has grown about an inch in every direction. It may be ruined. Argh!

Under construction

I'm fooling around with the design again... if you're reading this while I'm playing it may look wierd. But hopefully in an hour or so it'll look fabulous!

Just a little test...

I just wanted to see how the image uploading on TypePad works.

(If you're interested, that's a pumpkin I made from a needle felting kit I bought at the NY Sheep & Wool Festival last fall.)

A New Start

I keep hearing how great TypePad is, and it sure looks more swank than Diaryland, so I thought I'd give it a go and move over here. I've been neglecting my blog again - we seem to have an on-again-off-again romance. Hopefully the new venue will encourage me to be more faithful.

But my main obstacle to writing in the blog is that I just don't feel like I have much of interest to say. Who cares about the intricacies of my little life? And it seems like all I write about is how stressed and busy I am, and who wants to read about that? Plus in an odd way it feels like bragging: "see how cool I am, I have all these things to do all the time." I dunno. Blogs are sort of a wierd phenomenon. We'll see if I actually keep mine beyond the 30-day free trial.

So what's new with me? Well, I have indeed been very busy. On Saturday we had a Coffee House at my church - sort of like a talent show with cozy lighting and refreshments - and although I chickened out of playing the piano, I donated a hat to the raffle, and it was one of the most popular prizes. That felt good. And it looked adorable on the girl who won it.

I've been working on the hats that I'm submitting to Knitty. I'm making an alpaca version of the hat and scarf I did in Karabella Supercashmere, since I can't imagine any normal person shelling out $250 for a hat and scarf. (For those of you just joining me, I did not spend a dime on the luxurious yarn; it was a gift from my bosses at the yarn store.)

My least favorite thing about this submission process is that I have to come with a name and description of the items. And reading Knitty, they tend to be cute and/or clever. I have little faith in my ability to be cute and/or clever. I'll get Scott to brainstorm with me; he's pretty clever. And cute too.

It occurs to me that I haven't posted any pictures lately. I'll work on that for next time.