The Knitting Glaistig

Cadeau

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 03:17:00 +0000

I love getting gifts after Christmas passes. It helps with the post-holiday slump, work-induced stress and related depression.

I was lucky enough to win some yummy deliciously latte-hued Baby Ull Dalegarn from Madame Del at the end of 2006. And she enclosed the most gracious card.

It really could not have arrived here at a better time. Thank you so much!

And if you enjoy beautiful well-photographed knit creations and posts that make you chuckle and nod your head, please definitely check out her Cozy's Place.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:06:00 +0000

Two blizzards in two weeks are enough for me. Fortunately, they coincided with some vacation time so much knitting and mega-Spock watching was in order.

Pattern: French Girl’s Giselle
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool

I will definitely order more of the French Girl patterns. Giselle was a simple, well-written and super quick chunky knit. The cape has a wonderful cozy weight.

Pattern: Knit and Tonic’s Le Slouch
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride worsted in Ruby (?)

Sadly, I must admit to being affected by pictures of MK and Ashlee and (blushing) even "She of No Panties" in their slouchy berets.

Pattern: Knit and Tonic’s Natty
Yarn: RYC Tweed in Bramble

Excuse the super chapped parched lips.

No Barbeque

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:09:00 +0000

Thanks for the positive vibes! The Power stayed on, no trees fell and the beer didn’t run out until last night. The sun has returned and neither Mr. Glaistig nor I pulled a Jack Torrance.

But the extreme weather did make me act a little wacky, as in picking up and working on my seemingly long abandoned cotton High Society sweater. Wishful thinking?

And, watching the news, I really wondered whether I would have half the grace and patience of many of the 4,700 poor folks who have been stranded out at the Denver International Airport since Wednesday.

One lady stands out. A stereotypical grandmotherly type (e.g., grey hair and glasses), she sat on a bench serenely knitting away on what looked to be a baby blanket while talking to a CNN reporter. Noting that she was forced to share her airport-supplied blanket with strangers, she exclaimed, “What will I tell my husband when I get home? That I’ve been sleeping with another man?” Then she let out the biggest most charming girlish laugh. Knitters!

Old School Colorado Blizzard

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:38:00 +0000

I've never had a work "Snow Day" before so I certainly welcomed today's morning announcement from the managing partner: "Go home."

Home is only a couple of miles from work but trying to get there with Mr. Glaistig at noon was a true adventure!

Porch:

Front yard:

Transfixed fluffy Bentley:

Please God. Let the Power stay on and the snow-laden trees remain upright. And the beer remain plentiful. Amen.

"Faery Folks are in Old Oaks"

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:20:00 +0000

I think I had to recover from knitting that danged Qaplatis or something. I feel utterly spent and I can't figure out precisely why!

But here are some Natalya Gauntlets in Lamb's Pride worsted (Wild Oak):

I've started and frogged the back of the Michael Kors Aran tee multiple times and finally inserted some flipping lifelines (the disco song " Last Night Night a DJ Saved My Life" springs to mind.)

The yarn is some old school Lion Brand Fisherman's (100%) Wool that I've had in my stash since I started knitting a couple of years ago. It comes in big creamy skeins which are oddly comforting.

But, I swear by Pan's hooves, the thing is still in imminent danger of becoming a tote bag or cat blanket if continues to misbehave.

Success

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:45:00 +0000

Pattern: Kate Gilbert's Ubiquitous Clapotis from Knitty (no variations)
Yarn: almost 7 skeins of Noro Silk Garden in #84
Needles: long and straight US8 bamboo
Inspiration: Dogs Steal Yarn

I left it unblocked because I adore the pronounced little undulations on the reverse stockinette side.

Wearing a Clapotis at work through the travails of the day was like being accompanied by a comforting Linus blanket. Its warmth allowed me to subsist on a mere tall soy latte instead of the usual and more calorific grande. Its embrace became the most delightful cure to the ills of trying to work on a gadzillion different trying matters at one time, including responding to desperate client calls, without resorting to jumping out of my (admittedly only half story high) office window.

But I've come to realize that I have a severe problem in saying "clapotis" and that thinking "clapotis" and actually enunciating it out loud are two different things. So I am personally renaming it Qapla'. It is pathetic that an harsh gutteral artificial language (which fatally marks its speakers as nerds) is easier to pronounce than the elegant tongue of the Gauls. But success is not always sublime!

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 04:03:00 +0000

Yay, the Clapotis, she is finished! However, due to extensive clapotis-itis*, I am too tired to weave in the ends.

*Clapotis-itis: cramped hand/pained palm syndrome resulting from compulsively knitting at all hours of the day on a huge scarf . . . .

29.3 miles away

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 20:20:00 +0000

Nothing pulls you out of a knitting slump and massive knitting indecision and destroys the mean reds better than a trip to a yarn store that is new to you.

The Strawberry Tree is a chaotic, jumbled, homey little store tucked into the corner of an eccentric strip mall (two stores down from a Irish Folk dancing school). It's full of little treasures like Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool and strange Spanish knitting magazines and discontinued Rowan yarn marked down by 35% and Straker patterns. It's also home to stacks --STACKS -- of Noro* in bags. In other words, it's heaven.

I bought some Silk Garden in colorway #84 for a clapotis (The old unfinished ran-out-of-yarn clapotis was ceremoniously frogged last night. RIP.)

And I couldn't resist some Kureyon in colorway #150 for ??? (fondling, meditation, the pure beauty?)

The service is friendly and purchases totaling $100+ are marked down by 25% (excluding sale items). I think I'm in love.

*Thanks Jenifer for getting me hooked on this stuff!

Fini

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:43:00 +0000

(This is me literally leaning forward and squatting on my porch in front of my automatic timer. Mr. Glaistig took various pictures, all of which were unacceptable. I love him dearly but he does not give helpful, needed directions before snapping a picture, like "stand up straight," or "wait, let me pull the edge of the sweater down so that you don't look like you have a bosom on your back.")

Pattern: Forecast
Source: Glampyre's at Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220 tweed (dark grey with white/tan flecks)
Needles: US 7 and 5
Buttons: plastic in, hmm, a light green mermaid abalone color?

Well, blocking helped the too long button band but didn't totally cure the problem. However, it doesn't seem too noticeable when the sweater's actually buttoned. (The buttons and the slots are fairly aligned with one another using the bobbles for orientation.) I knit the sleeves on DPNs so this sweater was 98% seam-free! Down with seams, I say!

I feel like although the sweater is comfortable, the yoke looks a lee-tle too short. And I could have lengthened the collar too. But overall, I'm pleased with it.

Except for a couple of minor personal debacles, Forecast was a joy to knit. Seamless top down construction plus garter, seed, ribbing and a little stockinette PLUS modifiable cables PLUS bobbles (which you can subtract if you want). No boredom problem arose.

Knitting a sweater is really a journey into the Void for me and I'm happy when I make it back alive!

Be not afraid

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:14:00 +0000

It is no doubt a little known fact that the infamous and heartless Davy Jones can be repelled by a ring of crested buttons.

By some strange coincidence, Obsidian Kitten has quite a collection that she graciously shared with me.

Thanks Madame, I am saved! (Well, at least until I use them for a sweater. . . . )

Definition

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:55:00 +0000

Knitting Nerd - n.

1. A knitter who:

(a) becomes excited upon noticing on November 7 -- for the first time -- that Mrs. McAllister is knitting in the movie Election;

(b) unsuccessfully tries to take picture of television with digital camera; and

(c) immediately submits said reference to a comprehensive "Knitting in Movies" website in order to add to the knowledge of knitters everywhere.

2. Moi.

I hope everyone voted!

I need to chillax

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:17:00 +0000

Forecast is finally baking (blocking). I reknit the lower body just fine but the button and buttonhole bands are now worrying me. One's longer than the other and I know that blocking won' t fix it. *sigh*

I am currently consoling myself with MTV Cribs Spock and several fizzy highballs.

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:22:00 +0000

"'Course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time." -- Little Edie

Today, I was really going for the simple look of the tragic but irrepressible Little Edie, who worked wonders with a sweater on her head:

But I occasionally felt more like Norma Desmond (aka the Great Nora Desmond a la Carol Burnett):

Mr. Glaistig enjoyed treating his physical therapy clinic patients in Nerd drag, which included a deluxe artificial hair comb over, pocket protector, high water pants, white socks and 2 Muppet buttons:

(Other clinic folks always go wacko too so he wasn't alone! Boulder is home to many confirmed loonies.)

Next year, I think we've got to dress as Max and Nora.

HAPPY SAMHAIN!

Mother Dear

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:07:00 +0000

"It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. You know what I mean? It's awfully difficult." -- Little Edie

The curiously strange, amusing and sad Grey Gardens was on TCM last night.

Does anyone else in blogland have a mother-daughter relationship resembling that of the Beales? (Though I am not really sure which one of us is Big and which one of us is Little.)

I'm afraid that if I dress like Little Edie tomorrow at work for Halloween (my office is very informal), no one will really notice a difference. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants. . . .

Triskaidekaphobia

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 19:44:00 +0000

The AntiCraft published Savida's (she of many aliases and talents) Glastig cloche for the Samhain issue. And I just happen to have 2 skeins of green Koigu begging to be cabled.

Congratulations Savida for getting your charming topper published! It looks perfect for Fall.

Moran Taing!

______________________________________

I'm beginning to believe that working on Forecast last Friday the 13th while watching Poltergeist wasn't the wisest move. Is it possible that various unseen forces placed a dropped stitch w-a-a-y back on the arm piece which mysteriously took forever to fix with the crochet needle?

Then the selfsame malevolent forces subsequently garbled my garter and reverse stockinette necessitating several rows of untinking and unbobbling in the round.

Then, as I started on the lower arm border, I realized that the main lower body border was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong beyond all wrongness, space and time and requiring immediate code blue frogging.

At least the accursed arm is finally finished:

I hope that now -- as the ultra fabulous Tangina would say -- this sweater "is clean."

46 seconds of pure pleasure

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:52:00 +0000

and proof of the Many Worlds Theory:

Pirate Swag

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 22:26:00 +0000

My dear friend Anetra knows me so well and gifted me with some wonderful goodies from Urban Outfitters for my birthday last Thursday.

Gorgeous Trek card and envelope with a picture of my other husband, a pirate glass for endless glasses of beer and pirate bandages!

A lovely buttery soft top with ribbons:

And what every well-dressed scalawag with Parisian leanings wears on the high seas:

Thanks Anetra!

I was remarkably restrained and didn't buy much, unless you count some pink Brown Sheep cotton fleece for Rusted Root. Oh, and some shoes.

It's close but no cigar for almost finishing one of the Forecast sleeves. Taking a mini-break from Forecast, I knit up an Amelia Earhart hat but I don't know if I am too crazy about it on my noggin.

Tahki Donegal Tweed is a gorgeous yarn though. For some doofus reason, I thought I was using Cascade tweed until the label fell out of the center of the skein (which had been wound at the store) towards the end of knitting. How I could confuse the two is beyond me since the Donegal is extra tweedy in texture.

Glaistig's Recipe for Early Sunday Morning Insomnia

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 11:40:00 +0000

Ingredients:

-One (1) slightly snoring husband

-One (1) large asthmatic snoring cat

-One (1) medium-sized cat, reclining on human owner’s arm until circulation is restricted by 95%

-Miscellaneous generalized worries and sundry thoughts (pending work litigation, what buttons to choose for sweater WIP, nuclear testing in North Korea, etc.)

-Strange roof sounds

-Unfortunate thoughts about Captain Spaulding due to mistakenly watching husband’s latest horror movie Friday night

Instructions: Mix together thoroughly and let marinate for approximately 2 hours until forced to rise, make tea, knit and watch CNN while sun rises. . . .

Serves 1 neurotic.

Gluttony

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 21:11:00 +0000

- I'm giving Forecast another whirl in a Cascade 220 charcoal-y tweed:

The light-colored loopy things in the lower third = my pink lifeline. (I don't want to pull it out yet. Sad, huh? ) The other white and brown spots are the actual "tweed." (The leaf placement is courtesy of Mother Nature.) It took me three Homer Simpson-tries to figure out when to knit the cable rows.

- About 20 cm of one (1) Anna sock in Regia wool/silk are completed. Thanks to some reviewers alerting me to the fact that there is absolutely NO shaping, I started with US2s and am preparing to switch to US1s. Eek and yuck.

I really, really hope I can finish these socks and am praying daily to the Goddess of WIPs.

-I've been a little crazy lately buying knitting books and online single patterns. Can I turn this into this?

- I'm in love with this lovely dress (minus the bottom ruching) from the wonderful new Knit 2 Together:

-Oh, and what about these cute lace trimmed knickers from the same book?

And, yes, there is this gorgeous top too.

Hippie Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 20:35:00 +0000

I reknit Aijay's Tank from Craftster in Manos.

Entirely eliminating the bust increases de-poofed the pattern. (I could have sworn I had a bosom.) And I added more decreases in the stomach area.

The color is considerably darker than in this Colorado bright post-noonish picture. But, alas, Diane Arbus I'm not. This is the first project I've knit using Manos and it's delicious! It's a winter version tank and I'll wear it with a long sleeved thin top.

Make it so

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:31:00 +0000

Your results:You are Jean-Luc Picard

A lover of Shakespeare and other fine literature. You have a decisive mind and a firm hand in dealing with others.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

High Flying

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 21:02:00 +0000

The final, more severe stages of the cloche appeared in 1928. They were made of molded felt with no details beyond the silhouette of the head. The front portion of the brim was folded back, like a cuff, against the hat leaving the forehead visible once more; hence the name “forehead” hat. By 1930, the back portion of the brim was pushed down over the neck resembling a streamlined helmet.

-- Fashions of the Roaring ‘20s by Ellie Laubner

The concept was simple enough. Knit up IK's Brooklyn cap with flaps on both sides, instead of one, felt it, add red lipstick and go. Except the result is a little more Snoopy then I had wished. I suppose the flaps make it extra flapper-y.

Raspy

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:46:00 +0000

Hurrah, I finally finished that flippin' Rowan Raspy sweater last week:

(excuse my post-Sunday mimosa brunch stupor pose)

The arms are obviously, ahem, "oversized" lengthwise but I don't mind. I'm thinking that another throw in the washer and dryer may help some. A little of the blue dye rubbed off my bamboo needles (as Rowan forewarned) but that is not surprising given the light-years of stockinette this pattern requires and none of the dye ever rubbed off on my hands or clothing while knitting. It's a very comfortable slouchy sweater, perfect for lounging around the house on the weekends.

I learned that it's ok to take an entire week to seam a sweater. I also learned that, sadly, leaving French cookies and a bottle of Perrier out at night next to my sweater will not entice house brownies to finish the sweater for me while I'm sleeping.

The good news is that Mr. Glaistig now would like me to knit the Combat sweater which will, of course, require my ordering and buying a gadzillion skeins of Rowan yarn. The bad news is that I will have to knit up those gadzillion skeins of yarn. . .

More Starfleet Washcloths

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:42:00 +0000

These are for the Sci Fi KAL. Really, I'll stop now. I promise. I choose to blame fellow geek Vinny.

You might

noreply@blogger.com (Glaistig) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:08:00 +0000

be a nerd if you knit a Star Trek washcloth then take a picture of it with your Enterprise model. Yep, you just might be.