pepperknit

I mean, when IKEA fashions a little room as a yarn shop, what has the world come to? Average folk who cruise the Ikea looking for inspiration–Ikea has decided they are potential LYS owners!

The demo yarn is all Lion Brand, and it’s all mounted to appear as if the bins are overflowing. This totally cracks me up.

As for me, I got a new lamp for the living room that I have high hopes will transform my living space. I’d been hating how dark the room was; though it’s light out I can tell it’s making a difference. I also got new curtains, but they’re not up yet. Instead I did the whole “winter out / spring in” wardrobe switch, which literally just took me an hour and a half. I have limited space and am prone to messiness, so I had to refold all the winter stuff. It’s done though!

Knitting-wise, I’m working on the blue and brown koigu socks–just a simple stockinette with a regular stripe. I considered fancier colorwork, but ultimately realized that I need a commuting project that I don’t have to think about much. I knit on the way to Ikea.

MD Sheep & Wool is this weekend! And because I did my taxes so late, I just got my refund! So: YARN!!

I didn’t knit a stitch today!

I’m sad to say there’s no Eye Candy this week. But! I have a small rant–that’s just as good, right?

This photo is from the latest Cooking Light. Unfortunately, clicking on it isn’t going to get it much bigger or afford much more clarity. But if you can make it out you’ll see, or you can just trust me, that whatever this woman is doing is not knitting. That’s why I’m calling it “knitting” in the subject.

She’s happily wrapping the yarn from the ball using her right hand, which would be fine, except she’s wrapping it around the left needle, and the two needles aren’t doing anything with each other. so basically she’s just in the middle of a row wrapping yarn willy-nilly around the wrong needle! And what is up with all the balls of yarn that seem to be leading to the work? I’m surprised that no one at the shoot knew how to knit–who provided the cast-on? The stylist’s friend, who did it as a favor?

I know it’s at its heart a cooking magazine, so I can’t expect too much when they delve into other things, but just a little attempt at accuracy? I haven’t even read past this page, so I don’t know what it tries to say, if anything, about knitting. But phooey on them, I say.

today, we’ve got some global warming in effect.

Girl, it is December 14. I don’t care that the high was 60. You just can’t wear a khaki skirt and Old Navy flip flops to work today. You just can’t.

Let’s see if you guys can spot the locations. Tricky test . . .

1. A roach crawls into your lap at dinner.
Yes, an honest-to-goodness, 1.5-inch long cockroach appears on your lap just moments after your food is served. So: Did this happen in New York City? Perhaps in the Lower East Side? If you said, “Yes,” you win! A roach did show up in my lap on Friday night. I was able to pick up my napkin (nicely layed out on my lap) and shake the beast off onto the floor. Everyone was grossed out, but it was no big surprise, and we dug into our food (quite good; I’m kind of amazed I got through it).

2. You knit in a car.
A car, not a taxi. Not a subway. And not a bus. A car, driven by someone you know. Does this happen in the city? I suppose it can to some people, but not to me. This was definitely NOT a New York event.

Do you like them? I kind of love these socks. They’re my latest design, and they’re a gift for the boy’s youngest sister. I’ve even got a name for them already: Zephirine. I picked the name because the lace panel I used reminded me of a rose, the delightfully pink yarn (actually, peony) was like a rose, and Zephirine is the name of a kind of rose.

The pattern will be available soon. I’ve cast on for the second sock, am taking better notes, and will be debuting an FO soon.

3. In order to open the oven door fully, you are required to open the refrigerator.
I know, I know, this one is really hard. Because it’s really common in spacious homes to have to maneuver your way around every little thing like this. Because in the suburbs or, hell, any other city in the States, existing in miniscule places is soooo common.

Oh, come on, it’s a New York thing! You knew it all along. I hope it’s clear in the picture the several-inch overlap I’ve got going here.

4. You go to a “sporting goods store” and find yourself in what amounts to a museum of hunting.

Crazy to think this isn’t NYC, huh?? Wow, was this nowhere near or like New York, in every way. The place is incredible. It’s enormous. Think of the biggest LL Bean you’ve been to, and then add space for displays of animals set in a “natural” setting–with live fish in moving water. There were zebras, an elephant, crocodiles, lions, gazelles, a moose, bears, wild turkeys, muskox, polar bears, badgers, beavers, and deer, deer, and more deer. My friend knew I’d get a kick out of the absurdity of it, so we stopped at Cabela’s on our way to visit a friend.

Thanks for playing my little game. How’d YOU do at answering the questions?

I’m not trying to post really frequently, but I seriously had a knitting dream last night!

There were a lot of details in this dream–friends driving friends to get to dinner, deciding to turn back for no apparent reason, warnings of a cold that you could catch in windy conditions–but the knitting part:

I was at some kind of party. There were a lot of people milling about, and I was there with my boyfriend. An announcement was made, that I only vaguely heard, but I realized what it was saying: It was telling me who in the room I was supposed to knit a sweater for. I found her in the crowd: She had shoulder-length dark brown hair and was wearing a knitted red cardigan (I think it was my Pam, only in a vibrant deep red). I turned to the boy and whispered, “I’m going to have to knit a sweater for her. I should have already started it! And I don’t even have any yarn!” And he suggested I use my lateness as an opportunity to study her and decide what her personal style was so that I could make the perfect sweater for her. (Smart boy.)

So the last thing I remember from the dream was thinking hard about the “perfect” sweater for this woman who, in all honesty, resembled me! Guess it’s time to find a pattern for a really good sweater–not some simple stockinette thing, that’s for sure.

I’ve got a new blog for you all to check out. Feed Dog. It’s pretty new, but I can vouch for the proprietor: impeccable sense of style and a good writer, to boot. Go send him some love, and watch for all the cool things he’s going to do! I can’t tell you how much his real-life influence (coupled with Ashley’s virtual influence) has me wanting to make a quilt!

I’m filing this under “oddities” because it makes me giggle to do so. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it, too.

But this woman I was walking behind on my way home yesterday was doing just that.

What is up with this? The footwear is like that of a hippie, and yet she was wearing a short skirt and was altogether not a hippie. I saw them and immediately thought, “I have just got to take a photo of these.” So I got out the camera and tried to be as subtle as possible. But it’s kind of hard; you need to stop moving so the picture will come out, and so you take a few steps up to get closer so that when you stop and she keeps moving you can still get some good detail. Took me quite a lot of shots. Which is even more ridiculous, when you think about it, because it means I was taking a few steps, stopping, then taking a few more steps. I can’t believe she didn’t turn around! I’m quite pleased with the end results, but I’m still baffled by the garment. I can’t even express how out of place this was here in Philly.

Have you all seen the knitting grafitti artists? Bunch o’ crazy knitters. But fun!

Ok, I might be starting to feel the inkling of sock love. Because I Love These Socks. They rock! And—phew!—they fit.

Click to see it in closer detail!

I’m just a few short inches away from the toe shaping. I’m feeling all sorts of confidence about the impending Kitchener, but I may be foolish on that count. We’ll see.

On my walk to the gym tonight, I passed the funniest snowman:

Click the photo to see a close-up of his ingenious eyes! Brussels sprouts! (Yum!) Also note the black eyelash scarf! How stylish.