kmkat and her kneedles

Eye candy Friday.

Just in case you wondered how I feel about the shenanigans in Wisconsin...

The Game continues.

Premiering April 1 on a cable network near you.

While Andrew was home for Christmas we watched Season 1 on his laptop. Excellent.

I had clued him in on these books a couple years ago, and he had found somewhere on the web where he could download a pdf of the text. He put them on his iPod Touch and read whenever he had a minute or two to waste -- waiting for an elevator, in the bathroom, wherever.

Last year when A Dance with Dragons, Book 5 of the series, came out I emailed him to let him know. He replied that he already had an autographed copy*, acquired when he went to hear George R.R. Martin speak. Rotten kid, taking advantage of all NYC has to offer.

 * "[He'd] already got one, you know." Name that reference.

Go. Sign.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

 
Ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.
Every child in America deserves access to an effective school library program. We ask that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provide dedicated funding to help support effective school library programs. Such action will ensure more students have access to the resources and tools that constitute a 21st century learning environment. Reductions in school library programs are creating an ‘access gap’ between schools in wealthier communities versus those where there are high levels of poverty. All students should have an equal opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to learn, to participate, and to compete in today’s world.

 

The librarians need 5,083 5,074 5,073* more signatures on this petition…

wh.gov/Wgd

via http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/

* The first number was how many more signatures were needed when I first went to the website. Between then and when I went back after verifying my account via email, 9 more people had signed. Then I did.

Why don't the traffic cops in Minneapolis do this?

I could show you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Back in the days of novelty yarns, I made a scarf for my SIL. She asked for one in red and purple to wear to her Red Hat meetings.

I obliged.

 

 Did she ever wear it? I don't know (she lives 400+ miles away). Would you?

Thing #4. And the beginnings of Thing #5.

  

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden #271 and 279, about 1/2 skein each.
Needle: US#7. Or maybe it was a #6. Or maybe I did the ribbing on #5 and switched to a #6 or a #7 for the stockinette. Anyone? Bueller?
Pattern: A pastiche of hat patterns. I wanted a hat that got bigger after the ribbing, sort of a slouch/tan. This is that, if I rearrange the slouch -- which is minimal -- after I put it on.

Now I have a sort-of matched set of hat, scarf, and mittens. They are all Noro, just not all the same Noro.

 

 

* * * * *

Matthew requested another hat for himself, this time in charcoal and 2x2 rib. He specifically said, No cables, no cuff, none of that stuff that is such fun for knitters. Sorry. Mom. He also does not care for the lines formed on the crown by columns of decreases, thus, the 2x2 rib that can hide the decreases. I sent him links to about a dozen different superwash merino DK yarns in charcoal. He chose Tanis Yellow Label, a yarn I had never used nor even heard of before I googled.

As soon as I ordered it I started noticing all the Ravelry projects made from it. Once the yarn arrived and I cast on, I learned why it is so popular. Nice stuff! Soft like merino but still with a bit of woolliness. The color is tonal, and it looks GREAT in ribbing -- very 3-dimensional.

What is that gap in the ribbing, you ask?

I could tell you it is for the unicorn horn at Matthew's hairline, but that would be... a lie.

Most of you already know this but just in case somebody doesn't: when knitting in the round, it is NOT necessary to join immediately after the cast on. That way lies madness twists.

Knit back and forth for a few rows, then join. You can easily see how the knitting should be joined and avoid that dreaded twist. Use the tail from the cast on to sew up the little seam; no one will ever notice when the garment is worn.

Observe:

In the case of the hat, above, the viewer will be so distracted by the jog in the stripes (does anyone have a good method for avoiding that job when the stripes are only 2 rows tall?) that they will never notice the seam in the ribbing. In the mittens, I defy you to find the seam.

* * * * *

In other breaking news, I tripped over something invisible in my office last night and fell. My can of soda and bowl of popcoarn went flying, and I smacked my hand on a chair. (I know the thing that I tripped on was invisible because after I got up there was nothing there to see.) No huge damage to myself, and Lucy The Wonder Dog was thrilled that I had thrown an entire bowl of popcorn onto the floor for her, instead of the usual few kernels, but the index, middle, and ring fingers of my right hand were very sore. So sore, in fact, that I could not knit.

Wah! It doesn't look bad -- no swelling, no bruising -- but it is sore.

The next day the fingers were still sore but not enough to prevent knitting, only to make it go a bit more slowly. Yay!

 

I made another thing.

 

Yarn: Knit Picks Sugar Bunny (worsted weight, 80/20 merino/angora), ~1-1/2 balls.
Pattern: Slip Slip Cloche, from Boutique Knits.
Needles: US#5

I started this hat in November, but because I had so many things on the needles it didn't get finished until nearly Christmas. It is adorable on Alex.

I made another thing(s).

Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk (worsted weight, 55/22/23 alpaca/silk/merino; discontinued), color Allspice.
Pattern: Vancouver Fog. 
Needles: US#7.

That is Alex's lovely hand above. I made these for her from the same yarn I used for her hat and cowl last winter. Great pattern, fast to knit*, impressive result. I have plans to make myself a pair from the same yarn in my stash but in blue. These are the BEST fingerless mitts I have ever knit -- I loved making them and I will love wearing mine.

* "Fast to knit", assuming the knitters does not miscross cables -- and who among us has NOT miscrossed a cable or three? -- or lose her place in the pattern. I ended up rewriting the pattern to demarcate the cable panel from the stockinette portion, after which I did not lose my place again.

Oh, by the way...

This is democracy in action.

What is it? This is a screen capture of Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board's webcam feed of their personnel verifying the one million (ONE MILLION!) signatures on the Recall Walker petitions. (You may not remember, but the number of signature required for a gubernatorial recall election was 540,000 and change. We blew that out of the water.)

Yeah, it's kinda like watching paint dry, but at the same time it is thrilling.