Sea Slug Hat

Thanks, y'all, for the supportive comments. Every day I get a little less pouty about things. And, hey, I got to torture my first waiter today.

I got the new Vogue Knitting and was intrigued by the EZ Snail Hat. I guess I hadn't noticed it in The Opinionated Knitter (I think that's the correct book), but the pics in Vogue piqued my curiosity. Still on my service project knitting binge, I grabbed the last skein of Lion Brand Woolease Thick and Quick in the house (it's one of the washable "go-to" yarns that I use for charity knits) and cast on. This thing flew off the needles--about 2 hours of knitting. Maybe the color wasn't the best choice for this particular project, though; it kinda looks like a slug. I'm not sure how many people who don't know who EZ is would really want to wear it. (There are some pretty "interesting" designs that get a pass in the fiber community but seem a bit strange to non-yarny folk.)

I'm making great progress on the Ribby Pulli that had been hibernating for a while. If I put my mind to it, it could be done by the weekend. After that, I want to cast on a sweater that was reverse-engineered at the Cat Bordhi retreat I attended in October. (The pattern isn't public yet, but there were plans to do so.) The process was really fun. Someone brought a thrifted sweater with really interesting construction, and Cat and Judy Becker (of Judy's Magic Cast-On fame) dissected it and wrote it up. I'm not sure how it is going to look on me (it reminds me of something I would have worn in the late 80s or early 90s, but I don't think it's dated, actually), but I want to make it as a kind of souvenir of that really great week.

Aptly Named

Isn't it true that you never want anything more than when you are told that you can't have it? Well, that's the way it is for me, at least.

Basically, the genetic train wreck that is me is dangerously close to derailing (sounds dramatic, no?!), and I am having to give up a number of things I love in order to continue down the track. The occasional Sazerac Cocktail, gone, ditto the Sidecar. Red Velvet Cake, you are banished, and take those potatoes and pretzels with you. The medical hammer has come down, and basically I am on permanent South Beach Diet in order to stave off some not-so-fun medical consequences. The good news: I could end up a skinny bitch. The bad news: I may not be kidding about the bitch part. (The drag is that I drink rather moderately as it is (average two drinks a week), and there is no bottomless cookie jar here at the house, so when you think that you eat reasonably well already, to find out that you have to be even better is a bit of a blow. Hell, beets, a vegetable I love, are on the "avoid" list. I already eat whole wheat pasta, and that isn't helping. Damn.) So, Purls Before Wine it definitely is. Grumble, grumble, bitch and moan. There are many worse things to suffer, but it still sucks. At least I can still eat (non-fried) oysters, so get out yer shuckin' knives, boys, cause I am all over those slippery little devils. Unfortunately, I will now be one of "those people" at a restaurant. "Um, can I get the roasted root vegetable without the parsnips and the rutabagas? Oh, and light on the olive oil. Is there sugar in that dressing? Can I just get oil and vinegar. Do you have brown rice? No bread. Just berries for dessert." I apologize in advance to event planners, waiters, waitresses, and line cooks everywhere. I didn't choose to make your job more difficult on purpose--believe me.

There is knitting and spinning to report, but they lack proper visual documentation, so I will post about them later in the week.

Just had to vent into the series of tubes for a moment. I promise that this will not become the "what I wanted but couldn't have or my blood sugar will spike" ranty-type bloggy thing. I'm sure many of you deal with similar and worse situations with a great deal more dignity and stoicism than am I. *End of temper tantrum*

We will soon resume our regularly scheduled high-in-fiber blog diet.

Finish What You Started

One of the things I hope to do in 2009 is finish at least one project a week. That may mean finally sewing up a sweater started in 2008 or it may mean that I have to cast on a baby hat at 6pm on a Sunday night just to have something to finish. However it happens, that's what I would like to do. So far in 2009 I have completed:

a Noro striped scarf,

a Sophie's Toes Magic Ball scarf,

two baby hats for the service project currently running in the Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry,

a Chevron Scarf,

a charity blanket made for Blue Moon Fiber Arts that Tina will give away,





and two Brangelina Hats, also for KFO.

The blanket was the only project that had been on the needles at the start of the year.

I've also decided to evaluate UFOs. Either it gets finished or frogged. I've picked up the Ribby Pulli again, but the Hiker's Waistcoat bit the dust, mostly because I'd lost my place and was too lazy to figure out where I was. (Seriously, it's not a hard pattern, so that's a pretty pathetic admission.) I plan to cast the vest on again and start fresh, but I did pick up a similar one on sale at the Sundance Catalog for a great price, so who knows how that will go.