Trish Knits.com

Category: blog

Gray Monday Afternoon Ramblings at the Kitchen Table

Interweave Knits Weekend, Special Edition
I finally scored a copy of Interweave Knits Weekend. Wasn’t it supposed to be coming out on September 15? I had pretty much assumed that it must have come and gone from my local bookstores, as I had been diligently scouring the bookstores in town for weeks. Then yesterday I pop into Barnes&Noble on a whim, and there it is.

It’s full of casual, relaxed clothing that is comfortable and wearable. And not only that, most of the projects are the sort of knits that have just enough challenge to keep your interest, but not so much that your brain explodes. (This is a major plus in my book.)

My favorite pattern is the Autumn Vines Cardigan (here’s a Ravelry link for you.) It’s a sweater with sort of loose, billowy fronts, with cables. Also I love the Provence cloche. Unfortunately, it’s probably not a good style for my bowling-ball head so I’ll have to find someone skinny to knit it for.

Knitting has been slow around here. I haven’t really touched my elephant project except for a few more rows on the trunk. It’s about done now, I think—only one more row, then it will be time to pick up stitches on the body. For some reason I’m stalled at this point. I’m starting to wonder if I have a subconscious fear of this next step. I’m not aware that I’m afraid, and yet, I haven’t done it yet.

I’ve done a few more rows on my Lifestyle Top Down Hat, and have begun what will be a fairly large ribbed section. Then that one will be finally done. Then I have Jennifer’s pink scarf to get done .The weather must be getting chilly in Michigan by now .I should hurry up and finish it! Then I need to hurry up and get going on some boot toppers for me .It’s fall now and I haven’t made any for myself yet. I do have a bunch of different shades of Cascade 220 yarn just for this purpose, plus a super-cute pair of Dr. Marten’s ankle boots. Now I just need to find myself the perfect Aran sweater to go with my fantasy fall ensemble. (Sigh… I don’t think traditional cabled knits are “in” this year. I’ve been looking, and they’re hard to find. Especially in my size. Maybe I should get the hint?)

Fall is definitely in the air here now. It’s gray and chilly outside, and today was truly the first day that I didn’t feel too hot for wearing a sweatshirt. I had not intended to cook dinner tonight and instead opt for something along the “eat leftovers or make yourself a sandwich” genre, but then the urge hit me for spaghetti sauce. A nice, steamy pot in the house on a gray, chilly fall day. Ahhh… that’s good..

October 12, 2009
Falling Behind Again

Hi again! Did you miss me? Tell you what… don’t answer that and I won’t hold it against you for what you’re thinking. I think it’s official now that I am becoming a blog slacker.

The reality is that this is a knitting blog, and there just hasn’t been a lot of the knitting going on around here. I’ve had a couple of really big projects at work and between the stress of it and trying to get it done I’ve often been working very late and only getting about three hours of sleep at night. So, in the evenings during what would be prime knitting time and blogging time, I’ve been sitting like a zombie in front of the computer and playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. Then when I get up my second wind I work for a bit until I can see no longer out of my bleary eyes and then it’s off to bed. 5:45 a.m. comes awfully early under those conditions. Just to give you an idea of how late I’ve been awake lately, do you know what comes on TV after the show that comes on after Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Let me tell you. Jennifer Tilly‘s playing poker these days. It ain’t pretty.

So, my whole life seems a sorry tale of ridiculous insomnia, but that isn’t the case. There’s at least a little bit of knitting going on. Last Saturday we had our monthly knit group meeting, where we said a fond farewell to Jennifer:

Our knit group held a farewell celebration for Jennifer

Jennifer’s husband is in the military, and his current assignment is in South America. So she’s moving down there with him, at least for the next six months or so. We sure will miss her in our group, and wish her well. Yvonne brought a yellow cake with coconut from the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmer’s Market (Yum!), and Marie bought a card for all of us to sign. It was a lovely afternoon.

This week I took the plunge and bought a netbook computer. If you’re interested I bought the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU, which I chose in part because of the reported long battery life. Also it seemed like a pretty hot seller on Amazon and I figured all those people can’t be wrong!

Now I have a little computer when someone else is playing or doing homework on mine, and can write or blog or surf from just about anywhere. Of course, today I had kids playing on both of my computers, and I found myself without one anyway. I did spend quite a bit of time trying to get my photo editing software to install, and then resorted to contacting support. The first guy I chatted with wasn’t helpful at all, but the second guy said, “which netbook do you have?” and knew right away what was causing the problem. He had me up and running in no time after spending a lot of time struggling with it last night. So, I was able to edit my photos, upload, and blog from this new little computer tonight. I think this little machine and I are going to get along great.

The main reason I got the thing though was that there is a lot I want to write lately, and some of my best ideas come to me when there’s not a computer in site to jot them down. I’m no good holding a pen for more than about 30 seconds so this is a good solution. Not much bigger than a day planner, yet, the keyboard is comfortable.

Anyway, it’s late again so I’m going to sign off and go to bed. It’s a three-day weekend so I’m hoping to get caught up on some of that missing sleep. Wish me luck!

October 9, 2009
Knitting Little Things

It’s been a busy and stressful couple of weeks at Casa de Trish Knits. Cars needing emergency repairs, way stressful at work, and lots of extra school related stuff with the kids. Who knew planning for high school next year was going to be so hard? When I was a kid, you just sort of showed up. Apparently, at least in my daughter’s case, it’s not quite like that. So, we’ve been extra busy and extra tired. Not much quiet time, and not much restorative sleep happening, either. Sigh. I’m kind of a caffeine-charged nervous wreck. But, sometimes, that’s just the way it is.

I’ve actually been forcing myself to knit. Staying awake in the car, and knitting. Keeping myself awake at all these extra meetings with the help of my knitting. Trying not to work so much at night so I can veg out in front of the TV and knit. (Believe it or not, I don’t do that very often.) I’ve been forcing myself to knit, because I do think it’s helping. And I have some stuff to show for it, too. Wanna see?

Elijah the Elephant in progress

This is Elijah by Ysolda Teague. At first I thought there is NO WAY mine is going to look anything like the one on the website. But, just tonight, I got far enough on the trunk that I could really see the head taking shape. If you’re like me and you really, really hate major amounts of seaming and finishing, but you want to make toys, Ysolda’s patterns are for you. Already I want to make several others of hers and I have ideas for others based on basic shapes in her patterns. I’m really enjoying making this little guy, and in the end, I think I might be sorry that I’m giving him away. My friend Marie has a friend who is collecting toys for an orphanage in Haiti and our knit group is helping the cause. But I can tell already that this is probably not going to be the only Elijah I ever make.

Then, for my commuter knitting, there’s this, which finally looks like it’s supposed to be a hat:

Hat Progress

I just added my second skein of Noro Kureyon today and I hope to have it finished in the next week or so. It’s based on Charisa Martin Cairn’s Lifestyle Top Down Hat and I’m hoping in the end that it will have a bit of a slouchy beret shape. I guess we’ll see…. wish me luck!

Finally, I have to share this:

Boyzilla and Bird

This is my BoyZilla at the pet supply store this past weekend. The kids like popping in there on the weekends when we’re out and about doing errands because there are always animal rescue people on hand with pets for adoption. This bird started out on my son’s arm and walked his way up to his shoulder. In this photo it looks like my son is a bit unsure about the whole thing but really he was quite excited and took the photo to school to show his second grade class. Isn’t he cute?

This Saturday is knit group already. Time’s flying, but I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully I’ll pop into the blog at least once again before then. It’s late, though, and I have a 12-hour workday to look forward to tomorrow. Oh, joy.

Listen to this article

September 29, 2009
It Just Keeps Following Me Home!

Stuff from Knit Picks, that is. I’m becoming a slut for Knit Picks Kits. It’s true. Why, yesterday, these three babies found their way to my door:

Three Knit Picks Kits

They are the Maeve Hat and Mittens Kit, The Knitter’s Tool Bag Kit (in purple, of course!), and the Line By Line Mittens to Gloves Kit. I can hardly decide which to knit first! This is the year I am going to master the mitten. These patterns, I hope, will get me well on my way. The Knitter’s tote kit, by the way? It comes with the fabric to line the bag with. Way cool.

I don’t have an extra Rubbermaid tub yet but I do have an empty DVD bin on my side of the entertainment center, so all my kits are going in there. Wait! What’s this?

Cat in bin

For some reason, my cat loves to lick plastic bags, and there’s no shortage of plastic containing the knit kits in this drawer. I caught her in there the other day and so snapped this picture. My cat doesn’t love my yarn, she only cares about the bags it comes in.

So all week I’ve been working on this:

Noro Kureyon hat in progress

It’s a simple top-down hat made out of Noro Kureyon yarn, and I think I’m going to love it! I finally increased it to the size I want at the top and will knit for a couple of inches before decreasing to the size of my actual head. The end result, I hope, will be something sort of beret-shaped. Stay tuned on that!

Oh, and I wound yarn for a new project tonight. But it’s late, so I’ll have to talk about that tomorrow.

OMG Have You SEEN This Kid?

And if you liked that one, you GOTTA see this!

That’s all for now; I’m off to bed at a decent hour for once this week. What? It’s not a decent hour? Well poop. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Listen to this article

September 24, 2009
A Day of Beauty

Wow… what a difference a little sun can make. The sky was a cloudless bright blue today and the weather was warm. I think I feel better today than I’ve felt all week. I hope I can somehow squeak in a couple more days like this one before Fall gets here in earnest.

It started with a yummy dish of Shrimp Alfredo (The Lean Cuisine variety.) After weeks of eating beefaroni from a can and other less than wonderful things, it was good to eat something at least somewhat tasty for a change. Then I went off for a long-overdue haircut. The stylist was running late, but my mom and daughter and I made the most of our unplanned half hour and headed for the Merle Norman store. We went to buy some concealer and face powder for the daughter (Tuesday is school picture day), but I wound up with some eye shadow and blush for myself. How’d that happen? I rarely wear makeup.

The haircut was great! Except when the chick did up my hair with product, it looked a bit like Kate Gosselin, which all at once scared me a little, and made me say, “Oooooh that’s cute!” But we’ll see how I do it when I have to rely on my own hair styling skills tomorrow.

Then it was off to Hecht’s. (Oops, I mean Macy’s; old habits die hard.) The daughter needed a top or a dress or something to wear for the picture. I’ve gotten off easy for the school pictures thus far because they wear uniforms, but because she’s in 8th grade this year, she can wear what she wants. Anything, apparently, as long as it’s black. Her taste, not mine, but she did pick a cute top to go with some pants she already has, and a dress. I guess she’ll decide what to wear on Tuesday morning. So, it was a successful shopping trip.

I then went to the makeup counters at Macy’s, intent on completing my face. At the end of the day, I had all of this:

Eyeshadows, blush, foundation powder, and lip glosses

Hey, when I go after makeup, I tend to get a whole face full all at once. It’s not the cheapest way to go, but it makes me feel good to start fresh every so often.

So, look for me tomorrow, all prettied up with cute (yet scary), Kate Gosselin hair. And I’ll be smiling. Hey, the sun’s out.

Listen to this article

September 19, 2009
Diary of a Knitter, Still Feeling Slumpy

Dear Blog,

I’m sorry if it seems I’ve been ignoring you lately. But you know? Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say.

You know I love you, right? It’s just that lately I’m having a hard time making steady progress on anything at all, and instead, my brain is on one of those crazy junkets where I’ve got a million ideas happening at once, which leads to lots of new projects getting started, but making real progress on nothing at all.

So, despite the new fair isle hat, and the new Noro hat, and the pink scarf that’s still screaming for attention from the bottom of my bag, now there’s this:

Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole underway

It’s the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole from Scarf Style, a brilliant little book edited by Pam Allen a few years ago. I think nearly every knitter I know owns this book. I’ve been drooling over nearly every pattern in it for years, but, as per usual, I’ve never made anything from it. But you already know this about me, Blog. You know that I have scads of knitting books here, and that I continue to buy more, even though I don’t knit from them. Mostly. I will, however, say that knitting books give me lots of creative inspiration. So that makes them worth it. Right?

What I don’t understand, Blog, is why my knitting is making me so antsy lately. Why I can’t just stick to something and get it done. Why I can be so excited at the thought of so many knitting projects, and dreading starting them, all at once. And finishing a project? What’s that? We both know it’s something I rarely do.

(For the curious reader, I’m making my stole out of Silk Garden Chunky that I picked up at Stitches East last fall. I am making it with lots fewer repeats than the pattern calls for because the original yarn isn’t so thick. Plus, I’m finding that I don’t think the 10 skeins will go as far as I wish the would. So, I’m getting a good-sized scarf plus, if I’m lucky, a matching hat out of it. We’ll see.)

Could it be the weather? It’s been unseasonably chilly and gray here for the last couple of weeks. The kind of weather that makes me want to curl up under a blanket and sip cocoa and do nothing but knit all day. Which, since we’re talking about knitting, might seem like a good thing, except that in reality I don’t have time to hide under a blanket. Work is insanely busy, it’s middle school soccer season, it’s high school application time, and so on, and so on…. With the grayness of the sky I have not wanted to keep up with all of these other things. I’d really just rather knit, and sleep. Or sleep and knit. And the fact that I can’t have a life full of such self-indulgent luxuries? Would I be complaining if I said sometimes this just pisses me off?

So, I’d like to find joy in what knitting time I have. I’d like to finish something once in awhile, so I have something to show for my knitting time. Are you with me, Blog?

Great! Let’s kick this slump. Show it the door. Knitting is supposed to be fun! Now I just need to figure out what that is again.

Thanks for being here, Blog. It’s great to have someone to talk to.

Listen to this article

September 18, 2009