February 23, 2005
via via via
From Cynthia, via Ellen, via her pal Ellen B, the whimsical textiles of Felieke van der Leest. Somehow I missed this when Ellen first posted it, and even if you've seen it, I think it's too marvelous not to take a second loving look upon. Yep. We're practically beside ourselves over that glove. And "Je suis une Lepel". And, of course, Pippi Longstocking's Balaclava. Absolutely everything on this artist's website is wonderful. She's said everything we ever wanted to say today :-) What's left? Little Jack, surveying Wednesday for you.
Have a creative one! Oh yes! Weiner-yarn sock weinners: mail is going first class, not priority. Cheers! And thanks again!
February 21, 2005
Textiles: Rags and a Nag
Seeing the stories about knitters recycling fabrics, clothing, and yarn in the new issue of Interweave Knits reminded me of the time I gave all my business clothes away. When I moved into an IT job, I didn't need to wear Power Suits, and so donated all of the ones I owned, plus matching pumps (!), to an organization that helped women who were coming off welfare. This place accepted gently used, professional business attire and passed it on to women who had graduated from job training programs provided by the state. They arranged for these low income women to have fresh haircuts and manicures, taught them interview skills, and then offered emotional cheerleading until the women had gained jobs. In remembering this while hoping that no one was recycling usable clothing for art or craft projects, I ran across this story about an organization doing similar work in Boston. Is there an agency like this in your community? Knitting up your old t-shirts is great, as is making quilt tops out of thrift-store neckties, or purses out of Goodwill sweaters. But if you have business clothes you no longer use or need, how about checking to see if someone in your community could use them to actually wear on a job interview? We thank you.
Pups
Monday. We hardly know which way to turn.
We wish you a day filled with clarity and grace and time for knitting! Peace out, dearies.
February 18, 2005
Everybody's a Weiner
In Tuesday's Caption Contest, after much dachshund deliberation, we are pleased to announce, after checking our stash, that everybody is a winner! Sock Yarn prizes for everybody! Send yer snail mail addresses immediately! Special notice and Grand Prize Winner awards go to Susan ("Della says, just because Valentine's is over doesn't mean you can't give your loved ones some tongue.") and Cari ("What's this weird taste? Why does my right upper lip taste different than my left upper lip? Wait. Lemme try it again. Nope, still different... oh... squirrel in the yard? Food bowl? Belly scratch? Wait, my lip. It tastes funny. What's this weird taste? Why does my right upper lip taste different than..."), both of whom will receive something Grander than Sock Yarn when they send me their mailing addresses. Thanks for making me smile, all of you!
Clarification: Everyone who ENTERED wins sock yarn :-)
So! What's on your agenda for today? Mikey is busy deciding whether to trample the cyclamen or the narcissii.
We hope you have a lovely Friday in store!
February 16, 2005
You May Have Already Won
The dachshund prize patrol is still on a roll; you are all so good at captions that we've decided we can hardly decide on a winner! But we're trying. Stay tuned!
Some knitting eye-candy that we missed somehow; maybe you did too. Marsha has a new book listed, Knitting with a Smile, with 30+ original and modernized stranded knitting designs. And, we're mightily intrigued by Dejavu Knits, especially that Sanquahar Sampler and the Peruvian Chullo (follow link; scroll to the bottom).
Della would like to know what's so funny....
Happy Wednesday, you clever knitters!
Oh! P.S. Meg Swansen speaks!!! Scroll down for audio file!!
February 15, 2005
Last refuge of bloggers
A caption contest:
Since we've got nuttin' here, we'll let you make with the clever talk. The caption I like best wins a nice prize specially selected from my overflowing stash. Actually, since my stash is still pretty much packed up, you'll probably win a 100 g ball of sock yarn. My choice of color. Also my choice if I decide to send a ball of Eros or something else. In fact, everything about this contest is my choice except whether or not you participate :-)
Happy Tuesday, all. We're very busy here, but thinking of you.
February 14, 2005
February 11, 2005
What's that you say?
Things must be getting a bit less chaotic around here because at odd moments of the day, I am thinking of projects I want to start. Yes! It's the haunting siren song of startitis! Must. Ignore. Until at least next weekend. But there are mittens I want to knit from the books that wonderful Minna surprised me with, and I want to knit them right away! Plus, the Applebutter red and gold for the Knitted Stitch Cardigan is practically shrieking my name. Well. I intend to resist the call to start stuff until things are more organized here. Or at least until next weekend.
Speaking of the weekend, Mikey is so ready!
I have lots of work to do this weekend; I am hoping I can do some of it on the patio with Mike, Jack, and Della. It's been a long week!
One thing I meant to tell you about earlier this week, from an entry I read on BoingBoing.net. They linked to an online magazine called ReadyMade that was featuring an article on how to turn your favorite ratty old t-shirt into a pillow. Now, turning a t-shirt into a pillow is not a completely brilliant new idea, however, I love the idea of having a pillow made from, for example, your old Slayer t-shirt. I have a tee from a marine research place I used to work, and I wore it a lot because it reminded me of the time I was wearing it and I got to pilot (for about 5 minutes) the Research Vessel Lionel A. Walford. As the years passed, this tee became too tight to wear comfortably (well you KNOW how cotton shrinks!!!). So I think I'll make it into a pillow I can keep in my bedroom and see every day because it points to such a happy memory. Maybe you have a shirt like that too.
We wish you a Fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend full of opportunities to make happy memories. Cheers!
February 10, 2005
Every day a new beginning
We admit to being in a foul mood after losing our knitting time to cleaning up after spammers. However, we know you've come to expect cheerier content, thus, we leave you with a cheerier image than the one in last night's entry, one we're sure Sheridan would not find appalling. Little Jack reminds us that things always look better in the morning, don't they :-)
Happy Thursday, everyone!
February 09, 2005
If Sheridan were here, he'd be appalled
Our entire knitting-time budget was used up deleting spammer-pings, one by one. Perhaps there is an easier way to do it? I did it the laborious way, so now I'm vexed with all spammers everywhere.
We also ran out the clock on our dachshund photo-shoot time. Instead, we present "Count the Dots." Look closely!
Hee! Happy Thursday! See you tomorrow!
February 08, 2005
Bogus Lace
Hiho, knitters and knitblog-readers. Happy Wednesday! It has remained rather gray and drizzly here, so I tried for an indoor photo of my phoney-baloney lace shawl. The colors are very much off; the wall behind the music stand (digression: like many other knitters, I use a music stand to hold charts and patterns-in-progress) on which the shawl is draped is actually a nice mistletoe green, not gray at all.
A little closer:
Cheerful! This is a simple triangle knit with variegated laceweight on US9 Addis. It's not lace, but it's lacy, isn't it :-) Talk about yer mindless knitting! Bogus, bogus, bogus lace! I like it and will be happy to wear it. I'm exactly a third of the way into the increases, and knitting it, I am reminded of how lovely it is to knit with lovely wool yarn. Laceweight is the only weight I've tried from Morehouse, but I can't imagine any of their other weights could be any less soft or cuddly. Winter is a good time for cuddly, even in Central Texas.
Bogus Cakes and Champagne
I kept going back to look at the tea room referenced in yesterday's entry. Knitted foodstuffs always fascinate me, but the idea of knitting a radio is really brilliant! Why not a payphone? A china cupboard? Could you make a chaise that was a Latvian mtten? A headboard that was a Fair Isle sweater? To what extent can knitting be stiffened and shaped into something that is still textile, but textile masquerading as something else? No more bogus than calling gigantic stocking stitch "lace," I'd think! And why, with all these knitted cakes and sushi and plucked chicken hats, has no one knit a wedding cake? Dripping with lace and knitted rococco embellishments? Imagine Miss Havisham's Bridal Breakfast at Satis House knitted up in all its rotted splendor. Spooky! As my smart nephew says: "Is someone writing this stuff down???"
Pups
We have happy hounds here; even though the days have been gray, they've been a bit cool, so our little hot-dogs have been feeling frisky. They love their little garden! Makes the move completely worthwhile. Here's Jack showing off one of the lime trees:
Mikey just shows off his pearly whites:
We wish you a happy day! If you knit something delightfully bogus, send us a photo, okay?
February 07, 2005
404 Blues
A bit of unpleasantness with our ISP has been resolved after chipping away at the problem since last Thursday. Della was quite alarmed by our 404 status. We are missing our February entries from last week with all of your nice comments, but we are exhausted from battling with Technical Support.
I'm still knitting on the projects I mentioned last week; this semester is demanding and I find I've had to give up a bit of knitting time for reading texts time :-(
However, we wanted to let you know we are alive and well and back with bells on! We'll take new progress and pup photos maņana. Meanwhile, did you see that totally knitted tea room? Ciao, babies! We'll see you around the blog ring!