When I'm not tied up with tearing out a kitchen, keeping the cats from waltzing through the sticky stuff that the floor guys are using to lay the Amtico in the family room, navigating my increasingly stuffed living room (there are 4 rooms of crap valuable belongings stacked in there at the moment) or figuring out what to do about dinner when there is no stove, no microwave and no flat surface to prepare or eat upon... I knit!
Never let it be said that I am a layabout (you can think it, but never let it be said).
I saw this hat at K-2 Knits in Tracy a while back and the lady who runs the store promised she'd email me the pattern when she wrote it up. Knitting people are so great - when they say they'll email you a pattern, they actually do it. I love knitting people! It took about a day and half and a skein and a half of Noro Kureyon to get this:
It's knit flat (obviously) and the slanting rib pattern is very easy to do. This was some lovely TV watching knitting... back in the days when our TV was plugged in. Oh how I long for those halcyon days...
Anyway.
Once you get the flat piece knit and bound off, you line up the cast on and bound off edges and sew them together, thusly:
Can you see the sewn rib? It's there, I promise. I did my best finishing job ever on this hat. I hate finishing since I'm a knitter, not a sewer, but I decided to practice my invisible seaming and it was worth it.
Once the seam was sewn, I ran a loop of yarn around the top and pulled it together. This was actually a bit tricky, as Kureyon is a single and tends to break fairly easily if pulled too tightly. In future I might use a piece of leftover acrylic yarn to do the job, as it's a lot stronger. I don't think it would show. Last, but not least, I flipped the brim:
Cute, no? It's a flapper hat! All I need is a bob and a drop waisted, heavily beaded, psychadelically colored dress (and a much flatter chest) and I'm set!
For now, I leave you with this haunting image, and a question to ponder: which is creepier, my freaked out but vacant expression or my Giant Sausage Fingers From Hell?
Have a great Thanksgiving all! Tune in next week for more Tales of the Kitchen!
Posted by GoddessKristin on 11/22/06 at 01:13 PM [link]
Tuesday, November 21st
This is not my beautiful house
So. Because we are absolutely insane we decided that now would be the best possible time to remodel our kitchen. Right before the holidays. Nay, smack dab in the middle of them.
We are not smart. You don't need to tell me that.
Also, because having someone qualified do the work would be Very Expensive? We're doing the majority of the work ourselves. Thus, I am getting a vast and very quick education in the Many Uses of Shims. Set a brace a quarter of an inch too low? Shim it! Cabinet too far from the wall? Shim that sucker! Shoes a little too tight? There is nothing the shim cannot fix!
Prior to setting off on this little adventure, we had a perfectly servicable kitchen, of course. Ass ugly, but servicable. Sure the shelves bowed in the middle so that all the items in the pantry had an unsettling habit of clustering in the middle of the shelf and appearing to be masterminding a coup. But we had someplace to actully put the pantry items. Namely, a pantry. We started off last week with this:
As of the end of last week, after a lot of noise and much cringing by yours truly, we had this:
Doesn't this seem, at first glance, like a step backward? Day 1 - perfectly usable kitchen, Day 2 - somebody stole everything?
Actually, nobody stole anything! It's all a mere 5 feet away! And I do mean all of it...
This arrangement might appear at first glance to make everything just that much easier to find, but contrary to intuition, I can't find anything. I mean, I find stuff (how could I not?) it's just never what I'm looking for.
Sigh.
This past weekend we made even more progress and as of today, the new floor is installed in the kitchen, the wall cabinets are up and all the other cabinets are built and making things even more difficult to navigate. Furthermore, as I type this, there is a complete stranger downstairs laying down the Amtico vinyl in the family room. Progress is occurring, is my point. Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow, when I will be banished once again from the downstairs!
Posted by GoddessKristin on 11/21/06 at 11:00 AM [link]
Wednesday, November 8th
More YouTube
Because I'm too lazy to write a real entry. Also because you need to see this if you haven't already.
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope. The other choice was (get this) Haven. My mom wanted to be a hippie, I guess. I dunno. Thank God my dad told everyone my name was Kristin before, you know, my mom went and named me Haven.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Um... a couple of weeks ago? Things have been good. I haven't cried in a while. (Now watch... waterworks in 2 minutes. Thanks for jinxing that)
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Pretty much. I didn't for a long time and spent a lot of time altering it. Now, for the most part, I'm OK with it. When I'm in a rush it's a mess though.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Roast beef. With Swiss cheese. And lots of mayo. Because I am the whitest girl alive.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I would love to be friends with me. In fact, I think I am friends with me. Jealous? You can be friends with me too. I won't mind.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I do, yes. You can't read it.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Not on your life, buddy-boy.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Grown up cereal: Cinammon Life. Favorite cereal that I don't actually eat anymore? Fruity Pebbles. It's hell growing up.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No. Especially if they don't have laces. People think you're crazy if you do that.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Mentally, hell yes. Physically I'm a weenie.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Um... wow. Root beer float or vanilla (in a root beer float. Are you sensing a theme here?)
14. SHOE SIZE? 9.5 to 10.
5. RED OR PINK? I used to be violently red, but started wearing some pink and it didn't burst into flames so... yeah. Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? When I lose my patience. You don't want to be around me when I lose my patience. I don't want to be around me when I lose my patience.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My father.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Everyone? That's more people than I know.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black pants, red shirt (see? I told you red), pink pirate Vans (so then, yeah. Pink. It's a conundrum).
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Kozy Shack Rice pudding cup
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? A videotape about the American Revolution. The excitement never stops around here, l'll tell ya what.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Is this a psychological test? What happens if I say a color that doesn't exist?
Meh. Periwinkle.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Fresh baked goods. All of them.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom.
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their eyes... mouth... the whole face, I guess.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? Actually, I don't recall who I stole this from. I've read it a number of places.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? HAaaahahahahahaaahahahahAHAHAhahahaaaaaaa. It is to laugh.
29. EYE COLOR? Brown
30. HAT SIZE? Why? You gonna buy me a bowler? I have no idea.
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Just one? Can't be done. Current craze is fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with lots of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings I guess. "Scary" movies just tend to be gross, I find.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter. Totally.
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Depends who's offering. Santa Claus? Hugs. David Duchovny? Kisses fer sure.
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Probably cheesecake. Or lemon bars. Or bread pudding. Ooooo... and ... maybe I should stop.
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Nobody. I'm alone in this.
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? The dog.
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Books? Like more than one? During the school year? It is to laugh, dear friends. One book. Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley. And I'm lucky to be getting through that.
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Mickey Mouse
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? CSI: Crime Scene Investigators. The original.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Dave laughing, the dog chasing his toy, the cats stretching in the sun (that is, in fact, a sound), the last bell of the day.
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles. Bien sur.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? South Africa
46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I can flare my nostrils and tie a knot in a cherry stem with my tongue. Often at the same time.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Daly City, CA
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I stole it from a long forgotten blog.
Posted by GoddessKristin on 11/06/06 at 02:26 PM [link]
Notes from a Yarn Hacker
