Sockhead hat

sleeves, and hats, and flowers…because

On August 4, 2010, in books, husband, knitting, recommendations, sweaters, video, by Lori

The other day, my husband came home from a trip to midtown with an armload of flowers; he’d been near the flower district, so he just thought to bring home flowers. Sweet, so sweet – no reason, other than that he thought of it, and he knows I love flowers.

stargazer lilies, our favorite

pretty yellow, especially nice in a squat arrangement!

So that’s one thing. Another is a bit of knitting content! I’m making some good headway on the first Peasy sleeve, which is thrilling now that I don’t have to watch my needles, because I’ve gotten quite far in Never Let Me Go, by Ishiguro – highly recommended, and review to come when I finish. Reading + knitting = happy, happy me.

it's really getting to be a sleeve!

all those stitches!

And since I’ve been in the subway a few times this week, some work on my little Sockhead hat, using the yarn Anna gave me for Mother’s Day (Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Galaxy, the Jupiter colorway):

my starry night hat, with yarn from Anna

And finally – a musical gift to you, courtesy of my daughter Katie. Katie has always loved The Beatles, with a kind of fanaticism. So adorable, little junior high Katie wearing one Beatles t-shirt after another, challenging you to name any obscure Beatles song, and she could tell you what track on what side of what album it was first published. She posted this video on her blog recently, and since my laptop has crappy speakers, I didn’t listen to it until this afternoon, when I had headphones plugged in. OH….you think you’ve heard every cover of every Beatles song, you think you’re bored of it, you think it’s not possible to do one of their songs with a unique voice while still being the song, and you’re absolutely 100% wrong. Listen to this – Because, sung by Melody Gardot. Be prepared to get chills.

See? I told you. Thank you Katie. In the immortal words of The Continental, wowie wow wow wow.

Tagged with: flowers • husband • knitting • Never Let Me Go • Peasy • Rowan Felted Tweed • Sockhead hat • stargazer lilies

reining in consumption

On July 22, 2010, in knitting, by Lori

I don’t know if you’re like this, but I have a very itchy mouse-finger. When I see yarn or tools or patterns I like, click! click! click! Right into the electronic shopping cart. Or the Ravelry queue. More, more, MORE! About a year ago, I realized that I could stem the spending tide by putting things in electronic shopping carts and clicking “save” instead of “check out.” That seemed to do the trick, somehow; it satisfied that momentary craving, and after a while, I didn’t really need whatever it was I’d put in the shopping cart. My Amazon account is like that too.

Now, though, now that I’m in the period between having a stable income and figuring out how to have at least enough of an income, it has a new urgency. Frugal is my new watchword, at least in this interim period.

So last night I went “shopping” in my ravelry account. I looked at the excesses in my queue (though I’m not as bad as some! one raveler has 6,182 projects queued and 20,141 things faved. I’m going to have to unfriend her because when I look at my friends activity page, it’s always flooded by her and we don’t have the same taste). Anyway – long diversion there, sorry – I looked at my 183-item queue and put some real order in it. After I finish the projects on the needles, what do I really want to knit? Really?

I have 10 projects ready to go, matched with yarn that’s already in my stash:

Austin Hoodie, knit with my porcelain tosh merino light
Sockhead hat, knit with some cool sock yarn my youngest daughter gave me for mother’s day
A Noro striped scarf, using some really beautiful and soft Noro I stashed
Inaugural Sweater, with yarn I bought specifically for it
and A Very Braidy Cowl, with yarn I got from Kelly when she was destashing