I agree...

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

I got my last package from ERIN my SecretPal7, with the theme of SPRING! Yarn, chocolate, a daisy to grow, a pattern and a pink bunny. YAY! :o) I will have photos later, but now I must R-U-N-N-O-F-T to Job #3 of the day.

Do NOT make me go buy new needles...

I can't find a single pair of size 11 needles anywhere in my apartment. This is annoying. Mostly I'm annoyed that I can't find the Denise 11's because they actually have a case, so WHERE ELSE WOULD THEY BE?? I can't think of or find any project that has them in it. Argh and Blarg. I need an 11 to finish off the Ubernatural Sweater (which I'm hoping and praying I have enough Thrift Store Yarn to finish...) and I really would like to finish it. Plus, I'm so not feeling good and cannot even think of trying to knit lace (Elfine's Sock) when every muscle in my body is aching and my head and ears are throbbing. Maybe I should just continue with Pride and Prejudice or a little Discovery Channel...

I miss the family I nanny for terribly. I can't believe their trip is only 1/2 over. Boohoo...!

And just because I feel awful and plan on going nowhere and seeing NOBODY: my hair is lovely today. Pretty, dark, cascading Botticelli curls. (disregard the sick-girl, no-makeup face) Damn.



I need wool.

Once in a while, alone is good.

I have the day off today and I've done nothing but drink coffee, read blogs and take/upload photos. It's been nice. I have a dr's appt later today, so I figure I can veg until I have to leave.

There are notes on this picture--to see them, click on it and you will be magically transported to flickr.com.

Elfine's First Sock.
It's a bit large on me, but it is designed to be...it's not for me, you see!
(did I just channel Dr. Seuss?)

Friday Harbour Sock #1
I like this sock, but it's a bit...umm...I can't explain it. It fits great, I love the yarn...but this yarn needs to be knit at a tighter gauge. It's kinda rough on the bottom of my foot. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? She talks about it in Sensational Knitted Socks. Anyway...

OK, now I'm going to be late if I don't rush. Typical!

Big sigh...

I had a crazy week last week. I was at 5 different houses--that means 5 different Moms and it makes me very tired to meet so many new controlling people. I have more experience than some of these moms and still they have to be controlling and not-trusting. Stress. Stress. Stress. I'm getting fatter from all the stress. Or something. Anyway...fat. I joined 24 Hr. Fitness though. Need some outlet for all the stress and since I can't run (which would be my first choice, ideally...but doc says no running--stupid knee) I figured I may as well--they just built this new facility and it has a pool, so maybe I can swim. Maybe. It's only 2 lanes (what were they thinking??) and I refuse to share a lane because I'm not that great a swimmer, especially now with the fatness and all. But the swimming requires being in a swimsuit, which may not happen either. So maybe I'll just elipticize and ride the bike and do my happy little free-weights. Anyway, I intend on losing some weight. I'm disgusted by myself and quite unhappy about the whole thing.

It's a beautiful day here in Kirsten's head.

The weather today was gorgeous though. That's nice. And I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time. About time, huh Jen?

Oh, knitting. Yeah. Working on the Green Gable sweater, Elfine's socks, Ubernatural sweater. Friday Harbor Sock #2 has to wait until the Elfine's are finished...

Am I truly out of my mind?

I mean, I can handle it if I am.

Why does Dale Baby Ull hate me? I've tried 2 different patterns with it and it as always a weird and wonky fabric for me. It's irritating because I'm having sort of a crappy couple days and KNITTING IS SUPPOSED TO BE RELAXING...as well as something I'm fairly adequate at doing. I don't need another stupid thing that isn't working properly right now, dammit. Argh.

On the YAY side of things:
I just paid off my student loan!!

OK, off to try to keep going on these socks...

The beginnings of a new sock.

I really really really enjoy learning. It makes me happy.
This morning I learned the Turkish CastOn (AKA Figure 8)!

May I present the beginnings of Elfine's Socks--in yellow Dale Baby Ull (funny how "baby" is English and "ull" is in...uh...Norwegian?) on Addi Turbo 0s. I may have to tweak the pattern...my gauge seems to be 44/10cm instead of 33/10cm. Hmm...is that a problem??




Oh! and in almost as exciting news, I colored my hair again. Dark. The way God intended it to be.


Not that you can see the hair so much in this photo--but look! Smiling! And I may have another permanent part-time nanny position...PLEASE LORD!!

dude, didn't you take a drop-spindle class at some point?

Ahem.
Why yes, I did take a drop-spindle class a while ago...didn't I mention it yet...??
Ahem.

I am not a good spinner. Of course, I haven't spun much--like, almost nothing really. The "yarn" I did spin in class was balanced...which means something to spinners and not-so-much to non-spinners. I guess it was one of the good things about my spinning. :o) Our instructor kept raving about how good we all were, but I think she must've been focussing on Casey's yarn (scroll down to see her brown yarn along with her beautiful attempt at her home-grown angora!) and not so much looking at mine. Mostly my opinion of the whole thing is based my preference to immediately be good at something and never ever need to practice. So take these statements with that in mind. I am also mostly not very good at the drafting--the most important thing, I hear. Argh. I think I would really enjoy it if I was instantly good at it without ever having to practice. I'm a cheapskate as well as a perfectionist, so "ruining" a perfectly good batch of yummy roving seems...just...wrong. Even though our instructor pointed out several times that we should not worry about using up wool by practicing, that sheep/goats/bunnies were going to continue to produce their luscious furriness. Hmm.

OK, here are some photos:

My first yarn. Spun on an Ashford Drop Spindle.
Can't remember the fiber--it was wool. :o)
This is where I choose the very best section of the yarn to photograph
so that you think I'm a yarn-spinning prodigy...! Call it yarn-airbrushing...


Here's the truth...the inconsistent, yet well-balanced truth. Isn't it a pretty brown?


And this is a later attempt at spinning...done at home
while watching the Olympics I believe. This stuff is so incredibly
over-spun it's ridiculous! I really have trouble with the drafting...
it gets all stuck and I resort to MAJOR pre-drafting.
But it looks so nice on the spindle. I really should ply it...

So. There you go. Somehow I escaped the Attack of the Contagious Spinning Bug. Which is good because I really can't afford the expense of another fiber-related hobby and there are PLENTY of fabulous spinner's already out there. For example: Maia. Check out the Meyer Lemon Merino. Mmmm.

Previously on GlutenFree Knitting...

Kirsten was mentioning that she wanted, nay, needed to start a sweater.

In this episode we hear about her LYS adventure and learn the shocking truth about Lisa.

She decided upon the Green Gable Sweater from Zephyr Style and set out with her trusty friends Julie (knitter) and Lisa (non-knitting-enabler). They made their way to 3 of the 12 LYSs in the Portland area in search of the perfect cotton-wool blend for Kirsten's New Sweater Project. LYS #1 had only one choice in the cotton-wool blend arena: Green Mountain Spinnery's Cotton Comfort. Alas, none of the colors they had in stock appealed to Kirsten as she was looking for something bright and cheery for Springtime. Plus $11...not the right price either. Meanwhile, Julie found yarn with which to create more of her Hats and Scarves for the Homeless she has been pumping out lately: a minty green and a chocolately brown. She will be creating Mint Chocolate Chip scarves and hats all this week! Helpful LYS Lady suggested Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool--a yarn Kirsten does indeed enjoy knitting with (she thinks...it's been so long it's hard to remember...). However, she figured she had 2 more stores to look into...the last of which she knew carried Cotton Fleece, which, deep in her heart, was truly the yarn she was looking for. That is, until she came across the lovely and drapey Cascade Sierra Quattro in Cranberry at LYS #2 (also known as The Yarn Store We Don't Like So Much): they had only one skein. Not helpful, but Kirsten then remembered that helloknitty.com carries that yarn and probably for a much more reasonable price...$9.80 was still higher than our dear poor Kirsten was willing (read: able) to pay. It was here, at LYS #2 that the truth about Lisa was uncovered: although she is NOT a knitter, she has somehow become A YARN SNOB! It was completely shocking for Kirsten and Julie to hear her say, as Kirsten was leading Julie to the Encore Worsted as a good learn-to-knit-socks-again yarn: "You can't get that yarn for socks ...you have to get Socks That Rock!" as though poor Julie had no knowledge whatsoever of yarn and she, Lisa, was the true expert. Utterly flabbergasted, Kirsten burst out laughing and Julie looked mortified--had she made a fatal knitter's error?? And if she had...how did LISA know?? It was truly an eye-opening moment for this group of friends. And quite amusing as well! Julie went on to find herself some yummy Nashua Wooly Stripes with Lisa's blessing (which you may recall seeing on this blog as The Red Socks recently completed...not surprisingly, these socks belong to Lisa!) to re-learn to make socks with, as well as some lovely pink and beige yarn for another BBBB ("Big Bad Baby Blanket" for the uninitiated...). [Isn't it cool how much knitting Julie does for others? She's nice. :o)] Anyway...with Julie at 7 skeins and Kirsten at 0 skeins, the small entourage headed for LYS #3 where the three friends learned from an 8-yr-old that the knitted cupcakes (from the newly released One Skein by Portland native Leigh Radford) were "just tiny hats upside down!" She was adorable, and already a knitter at 8 years! In there with her dad buying a gift certificate for her mom. So sweet! But I digress...the Cotton Fleece was indeed in residence, but not it any colors that jumped into Kirsten's brain and wouldn't let go. So alas, the LYS adventure of three friends ended without any yarn purchased for the Green Gable Sweater and they went off to Taco Bell (which isn't gluten-free...).

In other news, Jen and Kirsten--of Kirsten and Jen's Knitalong fame--have formed a sock-knitting alliance to encourage and equip each other for any and all upcoming sock patterns they should need to complete. It remains to be seen if they will post their adventures on the afore mentioned Knitalong Blog.

EDIT: I just found the Sierra at WEBS for $6.30 a skein!!! Holy flipping crap! I think I am buying it...right...now...!

I forgot I took these...

So here are a (random) bunch of photos of my life in the last week. Enjoy!

The true color of these cozy handwarmers...
and my crazy cabling--I made it up as I went.


And for the Third Entry into the Trader Joe's Flower Show:

Plus you can see the color we painted one of the walls!


A Gluten Free Feast!
Tinkyada Spaghetti with Muir Glen Sauce accented by Parmigianna Reggiano,
TJ's herb mix salad with GF Ranch Dressing, Oregon's own Erath Pinot Noir.
Delicious--in fact, the leftovers will be my lunch today--minus the wine...


"Hey, you put your stuff on my chair, it's mine.
Now off you go...unless you're going to give me cuddles..."


This is maybe the strangest thing Jamal has done:

He's currently obsessed with the OUTLET that the space heater
is plugged into--here he seems to be enthralled with where the cord enters the heater.
Very odd. He sat and stared at it for 45 minutes at least.


And last, but certainly not least, the Friday Harbor sock makes it's bloggy debut:

This is my progress on 3-6-06.

This is ten minutes ago.
[click on the photo to get a really good look at the yarn]


And this is:

1. Proof of sunshine in Portland, OR
2. Another great use for a Trader Joe's container
3. My favorite thing to knit right now
   

Friday Harbor Socks

That is my current knitting obsession. However...I just did a Google search and found several entries in flickr. Umm, yeah--I completely, utterly, TOTALLY messed up the top bit-o-lace. Really. I had my suspicions, but you can't see it very well in the photo in the book (Knitting on the Road, Nancy Bush). Anyway. The most exciting part: I DON'T CARE! Because I absolutely am in love with the Fleece Artist yarn. Y'all need to CLICK HERE and buy yourself some, because it's really beautiful. I keep holding it up to admire the gorgeous yumminess of the colors all floating around being smashing. And saying, "I love this yarn," to which Lisa currently answers: "Yes, I know." I imagine soon it'll be: "SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR DAMN YARN!"

"Yes, unless you are going to give it to me,
I don't want to hear another word about the yarn..."

Also, I am having a "Need-to-knit-a-sweater" Phase. I'm liking the Blue Sky Alpacas Zip Cardi, Wendy's Essential Stripe Sweater, and this Zephyr pattern. Oh dear. I really really really want to knit a sweater. I've only done one previously. It turned out really well, but I discovered that worsted weight 100% cotton is not my best friend. But it turned out nicely. Anyway, thinking of Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece for any of the above sweaters. Or the new KnitPicks Main Line--but I don't like the color selection at KnitPicks as well. Like it matters--I'm out of work for 3 weeks starting Friday, so yarn buying is on hold. (OK, not totally out of work, but the family I work for is going to Australia and I will be trying to get temp jobs--and hoping I don't end up having an anxiety attack over meeting new people every day...STRESS...must get red wine immediately!!)

And am I the very last person in the world to find these FREE PATTERNS??

The Ship--no knitting content here.

OK, I mentioned a couple posts back that I will be in Croatia for my birthday--my 35th birthday, mind you. Just thought a bit of explanation may be in order!

I'm helping to lead a team of 5-6 Project Workers for 14 days to Trogir, Croatia. We will be working on the LogosHope--a ship that's being refitted to be used as a passenger ship/book shop/cultural melting pot/extreme learning experience for those crazy enough to join and be a part of the madness. In it's former life, the LogosHope was a ferry between Denmark and The Faroe Islands. It's now owned by a non-profit based in Germany (Gute Bucher fur Alle) and we will be raising support to be able to go help out while she's in dry-dock.

We have basically very little idea of what we will actually be doing! "Being flexible," is my general answer to that question...getting dirty and sweaty, working our butts off...when I worked dry-dock in Singapore on the Doulos I was one of the people at the main desk. Announcements and answering phones. I'm positive I won't be doing that! I'm all about dirt this time.

I just wanted to share a bit about it. I watched THIS VIDEO and got all nostalgic and teary about it. These ships are a huge part of my life--Jen visited while we were in Japan! The two years I was on board were the hardest and best 2 years of my life and I'm super excited to be able to be an active part of the whole thing again. Some of my friends are still there and it'll be great to see them as well...

Crew and Staff of the MVDoulos, Christmas Day 1999
Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. I'm circled in blue...

Thanks for reading this. It's about the only thing that brings a smile to my face right now...that and Alison Krauss/Gillian Welch singing "I'll Fly Away."

PEOPLE!

Clapotis is NOT lace.

Geez. I feel better now.

Presents!

One from Anne--all the way from ENGLAND!! I got this package on Saturday. She sent a "surviving without gluten" book and several GF treats...a couple of them had already been gulped down (the marzipan and one of the chocolate drink mixes) by the time I got to the camera... Oh, and the little birdies on the card informed me that WORMS are indeed gluten-free! I'm so glad to know that...Thanks so much Anne. :O)


Plus: SECRET PAL YOU ROCK!
Lookie what I got TODAY from my SP7:


I think I'm addicted to sock-knitting.


Finished my KnittinMitten #2 today (counts toward Project Spectrum, yes?) along with the pattern. It was kinda fun to attempt writing out a pattern...I'll have to try it again sometime.



And here's Christmas Clogs for Dad (yes, 2005...leave me alone...I mean it.) to show the difference SHAVING one's felted items makes. The color is way off, but the point is: LOOK AT HOW FUZZY AND HAIRY THEY WERE!! (the one on the left is pre-shave...in case you were wondering and couldn't tell...).


And now I'm tired of posting.
Bye. I leave you with a photo of Jamal. Because I want to be Just Like Chris. (sing with me: "like Chris, if I could be like Chris...I wannabe, I wannabe like Chri-is!"):o)

Loads of pictures.

Finished Objects:

Proof that 2 red socks do exist. Finished 2-27-06.
Ladder of Life pattern from IK free patterns.
Nashua Wooly Stripes in Fiesta.
Denise 8s--magic loop.

Clapotis by Kate Gilbert. Finished 2-23-06.
Published at knitty.com.
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Somerset.
Denise 5s.


Multi-directional Triangle Scarf. Finished 3-2-06.
Pattern by Iris Schreier.
Noro Kureyon, color 95.
Addi Turbo 8s.

Other things to take pictures of:

Jamal and Jake.
Trying to convince me that they
are wasting away to practically nothing--starving even!
I'm not buying it.

Pretty Flowers from Trader Joe's.

We bought some from a place-which-shall-not-be-named
and they were dead in TWO DAYS!
These TJ's fleurs I expect to last at least 10 days. Lesson learned.

I should blog once in a while.

Well, I should. Because now there is so much I want to write about but I can't remember it when I sit down to write.

So, I'm still a bit on the blah side of life. I'm just going to be where I am. But I don't like to be all "waa-waa-waaaaa!" all the time here...not sure whether it matters so much. Whatever.

Knitting:
Finished Clapotis (did I already post that?). I like it a lot. Very twirly and warm. Started a pair of socks to represent the reds/pinks in Project Spectrum--they are FOR ME! Using the Fleece Artist Merino Sock yarn I got in Seattle to make the (appropriate) Friday Harbor socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I'm thinking that all of my Project Spectrum objects might very well be socks, as I have many patterns I am enamoured with and yarn with which to do them. Finished the Multi-Directional Triangle Scarf as well. Needs a good soak in some yummy lavendar Eucalan and it will be perfect--for next winter... [small aside: I will post photos when I am home long enough to actually open up my iPhoto program, not sure when that miraculous event will occur at this point...] Ummm, what else...? I'm kind of at a mysterious place right now because I feel as though I don't have any projects going. This in not true, but it is mysterious. Working on the second KnittinMitten and trying to write out the pattern--more for myself, to see if I can actually write out an easily followable pattern.

Note to whomever: red wine is nice. Thanks to CrazyAuntPurl for enabling this statement. :o)

More to follow someday.