Discrimination!

I have jury duty. ARGH. I have managed for my entire adult life to avoid it one way or another, and so now was my time to bite the bullet and do it.

And, yes, I got chosen. Double ARGH. I get to miss going on a holiday home tour with my two best buds tomorrow while I do my civic duty.

Now I actually have a lot to complain about, but I am trying to handle it with as much grace as I can muster.

EXCEPT (you saw that coming) when reading this-

"The lobby has a metal detector and an airport type x-ray machine for screening purposes. All weapons, including pocketknives of all sizes, tear gas, stun guns, scissors, knitting needles, etc., cannot be brought into the courthouse. Even the smallest of these objects will not be allowed."

I was telling Maurice that I should take two ball point pens and some chunky yarn and whip out a quick scarf, and he informed me I was nuts and would get thrown in jail for contempt of court.

I opted to take a book.

So not fair.

Next on the List

I'm on a roll. Next up is Dashing, a pair of "manly" fingerless mitts for a guy who drives a lot. Hmmm.... wonder who that could be.

Started them last night, and they are going quick. Should have one done today. Don't you love school vacation?

Improvisation

If your name is Jean and you live in Wisconsin, do not read this post. God is watching you.

My Koolhaas hat is done. And quite lovely too, if I say so myself. My crush on Jared Flood is going strong. Hopefully Jean will like it. It is her color, periwinkle, and the pretty TrueLove Fibers yarn feels very nice.

Don't you think she needs a pair of mittens to go with it? I do. Problem, of course, is that there is no pattern for the Koolhaas mitten. So I made it up. I've made up things before, but this one I'm particularly proud of, since it was a little more complicated.

Since I in no way want to infringe on Interweave Knits or Mr. Flood, I won't claim this is my pattern, but here is how I did it:

Cast on 48 stitches on #5 needles. Do 2x2 rib until you like it. Do one more round, switching to #7 needles. I used the magic loop with Addi Turbos since I couldn't find my Knit Picks Options needle tips in size 7. Probably on something else I have forgotten.

Anyway, start the Koolhaas lattice pattern for two rows. Then start thumb gusset as follows:

Gussett round 1:Knit needle one in pattern. On needle 2, knit 11 in pattern, place marker, k1 f&b, k1 f&b, place marker, knit in pattern to end of row.

Gussett round 2,3,5, and 6: knit in pattern

*Gussett round 4: Needle one knit in pattern. Needle 2: knit 11 in pattern, slip marker, k1 f&b, k2, k1 f&b, slip marker, knit 11 in pattern.

*Gussett round 7: Needle one knit in pattern, needle 2: knit 11 in pattern, slip marker, k1 f&b, knit 4, k1 f&b, slip marker, knit 11 in pattern.

continue increasing like this every third round until you have increased a total of 8 times.

*Note: the pattern stitch right before and after the marker was knit through the back loop most of the time, and crossed when it made sense. This is why I don't write patterns for a living.

Next round: knit in pattern to first marker, remove marker, slip stitches onto waste yarn, remove second marker, knit to end of round in pattern.

next round: when you get to thumb gap, cast on 2 stitches using backward loop method to allow for pattern to flow right.

Continue in pattern until you have completed chart a total 4 times, do row 1 again, then follow the hat pattern for the decreases.

Pick up thumb stitches and knit in stockinette until long enough, decrease a while and end.

Easy as pie! Thanks Jared!

Still knittin' blue

How weird is that?

I don't like blue. It is my least favorite color, except for maybe grey. And I've been knitting the giant blue jellyfish (or some may refer to it as the Hemlock Ring Blanket) for awhile now, and I'm getting bored. I'm on row 100 of 117, which sounds like I'm almost done, but I'm not since each row has over 400 stitches and growing. When I look at the project, I like how it is coming along, but I'm amused that I am knitting in blue.

I finished the striped socks. They were blue! And grey. And I liked them a lot, mostly because the self striping yarn striped very well. I haven't taken a photo of them yet, mostly because they are in the knitting bag which is in the car and not by the camera. Lazy. Sorry.

Then I went and started the Koolhaas Hat, you know, my Jared Flood hat from Holiday Gifts. Its blue too! Well, more like periwinkle, but what's going on? Am I crazy? I like this a lot too, the yarn has bits of purple in it and is very pleasing to look at while I'm crossing a zillion little cables. It makes me happy.

I missed Naughty/Knotty Knitters this morning since I was at training this morning for work, but I hear that we had a visitor that had seen us knitting at the coffee shop and this morning brought her knitting to join us. How fun is that? I am way too much of a chicken to do that, but it sounded like it went well. Aren't knitters cool? The funny thing is that when she arrived, it forced the "Cindy's gone let's talk scrapbooking/photos instead of knitting" girls to get back to the task at hand. Ha. Ha Ha.

I taught a person at soccer practice (a coach that I didn't know) how to do magic loop. That made me happy too.

By the way...

Happy Birthday Emily. I do hope you like your Pirates loot from Disneyland. You're the best. I love ya babe!

Post-wedding panic = need to shop

Oh. My. Goodness. I've just received two DVDs filled with images from my wedding. The photos are lovely. I will post the cream of the crop when my panic attack is over. How on Earth will I make a scrapbook of normal size from literally 900 images from my wonderful wedding day? Not to mention photos from showers and all that. YIKES!

This type of problem will only be solved with serious shopping. Shelly! Mom! When exactly are we going to that scrapbook store in Bakersfield?