to do list

missliz is back. yaaaaay!

Going all handmade this year for the Christmas gift exchange-o-rama.  Lucky for me, no one I’m giving gifts to reads this site, so I can post about the gift-making without abandon. Watch out!

Here’s a quick breakdown:  Grandma hat, Grandma scarf, Mom bathrobe, Dad bathrobe, Brother bathrobe, BF pajamas.

(Bathrobes: no buttons, no zippers, large pieces, don’t have to fit well. ding ding!)

Four days until Christmas Eve.  Six projects to make.  One completed.  Another in progress. Feelin’ good.

By the way, I am asking for a new camera for the holiday. Mostly because of what follows:

Project in progress, the Grandma scarf:

stupid camera

This is how the Grandma hat and scarf project was born:

• ring ring 
• Me: Hi Mom!
• Mom: Hi missliz!  So somehow Grandma heard, or you told her, that you were knitting her a hat for Christmas.
• I immediately start narrowing the list of offending family members who could have told my lovely Gran this lie.  Then I realize that I spoke to her over the phone on Thanksgiving evening…after my family had powered through two bottles of champagne, pre-dinner cocktails then triptophan laced turkey accompanied by wine.
• Mom: So I think that would be a great idea.  And then, I can buy a matching scarf for her.  Blue is wonderful with her eyes. So there you go.
• Me: uhhhh
• Mom: And the yarn can’t be itchy.
• Me: Well, I don’t think that you’ll be able to buy her a scarf that would properly match the hat I want to knit her.  So I should just knit her the scarf too.
• Mom: Perfect! Bye!
• Mom hangs up immediately knowing full well what her daughter just got herself into

To do as of today:

1. finish – bind off Grandma scarf
2. cast on – bind off Grandma hat
3. cut pattern pieces – sew Mom bathrobe
4. wash fabric for Dad bathrobe & BF pants
5. cut pattern pieces – sew Dad bathrobe
6. cut pattern pieces – sew BF pants
7. wash Brother bathrobe to rid of chalk marks
8. try not to panic at ‘to do’ vs ‘time’ ratio

One more bad pic:

god i really hate this camera

And I was doing so well. . .

Minor set-back last weekend. . . unnecessary yarn purchase.  (Is there an abbreviation for that: UnYP perhaps?)  My laundromat is located next to a little area I call Tujunga Village.   It’s a block long series of shops that range from ice cream parlor to massage parlor to  ‘older woman clothes’ and a tiny tiny yarn shop.  It used to be called Yarn Garden, and is now called The Pink Porch.  It’s small and whenever I get the nerve to go in (usually when the clothes are in the dryer), there are always a couple of ladies sitting at the table working on projects.  I tend to get intimidated going into places like this.  Not because the people are unfriendly, quite the opposite!  But I am a buyer-from-guilt.  I buy because I am afraid of being judged if I don’t.  The store is sooo small, I feel that if I don’t buy something I am a bad person for not supporting such a great establishment and the people there won’t like me.  That’s the only explanation I can find for blindly grabbing something that looks appealing without properly planning out what I’m going to be using it for.  And now that I’ve written that out, that is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard.  But it’s true.  And awkward.

So I bought four skeins (rolls?) of yarn.  I have NO idea what I’m going to use it for.  I think one scarf for the spring and a cozy for my cell phone and another for my camera.  It’s cotten with a tiny bit of wool. If the picture makes you dizzy, like it does to me, I apologize in advance.

In other news, I am going to attempt a picture-a-day until the end of the year.  It’s something I wanted to start at the first of the year, and you can see how well that turned out.  But I figure six months will be a good experiment in commitment.  I’m laughing already.  I can hardly commit to a blog, a picture a day will be a true test.  Well, check out my sidebar in the next couple of days after I figure out how to get my Flickr site up.

stress on the block

I had a great experience knitting up a scarf for a friend.  And I credit it to hours of preparation (read: thinking about it, false starts and stress).  She was with me in the yarn store and chose the Noro herself.  Then, at her apartment, she showed me other scarves she had and told me what she like and disliked about each.  So the result was a six foot long scarf in 1×1 rib.  But as with most Noro, the yarn varies from thick and fluffy to very thin and delicate. When finished with the scarf it isn’t a uniform width overall. I know that it is time to block it.  I have read about blocking on blogs and heard about it from shows.  Now. . .the only book I have on knitting is Stitch N Bitch. And the author does offer instructions on blocking. Those instructions involve submersing your newly constructed wool garment in water.  I read these instructions many many times before I decided to give it a shot.  Because frankly, it defies logic.

But there it is. Under water.  In my kitchen sink. Which was meticulously scrubbed and cleaned before this endeavor began.  Soaking a wool scarf.  Well alright then.

There is the happy scarf on my kitchen floor drying on my Star Wars R2-D2 towel (I have revealed too much).  The result was fantastic.  Though I have to note that’s two scarves as gifts and none for myself.  boo.

mid-air knitting

I’m currently in Phoenix (look! cactus!) working, and did some research into flying with knitting needles before I got on the plane. Check out:

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1252.shtm

for the TSA’s official stance on taking needles on board the plane. I normally have the bamboo knitting needles, but my most current project is on metal needles, so I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to bring them on board. But while checking my bag at the curb I was sneaky and asked the sky cap if it was okay if I brought them. He then flagged down a TSA official (you can recognize them by their snazzy shoulder epaulets) and asked her if it was okay. She said yes, so I snatched the needles and yarn out of my suitcase.

Then the snotty lady behind me said, “You can’t bring lip gloss, but you CAN bring metal knitting needles. ungh.” I smiled beautifically at her, then pranced into the terminal.

Oh, and did I knit at all on the plane? Of course not.

I was taking a nap.

I really don’t have an excuse for not writing for two months. So I will just say I was taking a break. A nap. Though really, since I started blogging in October, that’s akin to saying I took a nap at 1pm after I woke up at 10am. Which I’ve done before. I’d rather not say when.

I think the reason was a combination of working a lot around the holiday and suffering a bit of burn out. Plus I hadn’t been crafting as much as I would’ve liked, so I didn’t feel like I had anything to post about. And being such a fan of the blogs listed to the right, I had a bit of low blogger self esteem. Low blogger esteem? e.g. . .I’m not such a witty writer. . .I don’t craft that often. . .my skill level is clearly beginner, etc. But I had a revelation over the past couple of days that there are blogs for everyone. If you are a super pro and knit complicated sweaters or hand piece and hand quilt award winning quilts, then there are blogs for you. So I will make this blog my own.

I do have some show and tell items, but I don’t want to blow my wad all at once (dirty!) so I will trickle it out a little over time. I guess I have start back at Christmas with the brother scarf. He loved it!!!

And I think it looks very dashing on him. He took a trip to the cold and rainy Pacific Northwest, and he said it came in quite handy. Which, honestly, is the best thing, I think, about making a gift for someone. That they think it’s handsome and useful. Right?!! I almost think useful is better. Well, that’s not true. Handsome and useful is better.

six more working days until christmas

Just working along. Work work and more work. Working on a Saturday, working at 4am, working at 9:30pm. My sewing machine wimpers at me when I pass by. That being said, I can’t complain for working [though I am], especially before the holiday. The town shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. And my next job doesn’t start until the week after New Years. The extra income now will be handy then.

I think I’m going to frog the Brother Scarf. It’s too wide and the longer it gets, the heavier it will be. So I’ll start over and knit it skinnier. I do love the seed stitch. It’s dense and nubby and it gives the piece a ‘not traditionally knitted’ look. I also think it’s a bit masculine, which my brother will like.

In other news… I’m not exactly sure when getting older happened. But clearly the new accessories on my face speak to something.