Monday, April 8, 2013

Mitts, Pups and Bits



I'm on a trickle of an internet connection right now, tethering on a phone with a very sickly battery. My computer is about to have the same problem and I've been hating it for other failures lately as well. It still technically works, but not particularly well. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Because I'm thinking it's time for a new laptop, and maybe a dedicated video camera.

Speaking of video, I promise to have the next podcast episode out... soon. As I'm stranded in the beautiful woods with minimal internet, I've done a lot of knitting and other activities but not so much the writing and podcast prep. It could happen today, who knows?

So since I'm an incoherent happy mess right now, I thought I'd show you a picture of a pup who I think is the most gorgeous thing in the world. His name is Cassius but we always just called him daddy man because he's figuratively and literally a stud. *ahem*
He's gone back to live with a brother in law, but for several years he lived with my bestie and her husband and I got to know and love him quite well. Having a 90 lb. manatee dog snoring in one's lap is unforgettable, if you're into that sort of thing.


In the meantime, I finally knit the second mitt of the pair and wrote up the pattern. Actually, I completely changed the original pattern because I found out that my verbosity is not pithy and charming when translated into knitting symbols. So it was deleted, re-written and much improved I think. I can't update the google doc until I'm on real internet unfortunately, but it will be alive (and perhaps have charts?) later today. I really love these, btw, and had knit them as a gift but now I need a pair myself and might have a little texture change version soon.

I also totally forgot that I knit a cowl the day before I left to come here to Katy's. It's a a Cat Bordhi Moebius and I will also replace this blather with a link to her video and my choice of textures written out in a semi-sane little blurb with gauge and a picture.




That's Katy, my bestie and her husband Tom. Their friend just got a new Polaris RZR XP which is apparently a very nice little 4WD vehicle in which one *could* hunt or do farm work, but what it's really for is going crazy damn fast over meadows and screwing around on/ in the mud. I must say, it's an ungodly amount of fun. Naturally high from the adrenaline and the cold (um, hello? Wasn't the tropical weather supposed to follow me?) I marched everyone out to take pictures, and I rather like them. I did a crappy job of fixing the reflector glare for Kate but she forgives me.

So this is a picture of Katy and Mimi. Katy is an esthetician who doesn't like doing makeup, working at a spa that didn't have a free makeup person at the moment. So when Mimi came in and needed a little foundation and blush for some kind of video, Katy had me do it and I'm super proud of the results. Mimi was perfectly happy about having it done too, and that was a very nice surprise because she can be a little unpredictable.

We ended up having dinner with Mimi on Saturday at the golf course and my hair was clearly a topic of open conversation and staring but fortunately no outrage. You never can tell with those country club people.


Monday, April 1, 2013

Episode 11 is live!

Happy Belated Easter! I'm pleased to announce that Episode 11- Bunnypunk went live yesterday.



rav- http://www.ravelry.com/people/biddypunk
blog- http://biddypunk.blogspot.com/

Vanilla Socks- http://ravel.me/biddypunk/vs
Crochet Blanket- http://ravel.me/biddypunk/b1
Black wool watchcap- http://ravel.me/biddypunk/w1
Fingerless mitts- http://ravel.me/biddypunk/7yy7h

Also, the first half of this pattern is available here-
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/biddypunks-fiber-podcast/2526059/1-25

But only if you're a ravelry member.
Blog shoutouts-
http://weekendknitter.com/
http://craftstash.tumblr.com/
http://knittingincirclespodcast.blogspot.com/

I also hope you'll join the group page there as well-
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/biddypunks-fiber-podcast


It's a shorter episode but heavy on the jibber jabber.

I'm also pleased to have more photos and bloggy stuff, though I warn there's a lot of overlap with the podcast, so without further ado...



This week's LYS haul, less some boring black sock yarn, a pair of US9 Cubics and a pair of US5 Red Lace.  And there at the bottom we have my latest creative endeavor, a pair of Malabrigo Rios fingerless mitts for my brother's girlfriend. So if you didn't see it in the above notes, I finally made a Rav group for this shindig and you can find a draft version for the left half of the set. I knit up the right side this afternoon and should have a fully test-knittable version ready by tomorrow, which I will also announce in the group: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/biddypunks-fiber-podcast


Easter dinner last night was just precious and my mom made it gorgeous as she always does. We had sirloin steaks, broccoli, asparagus /w hollandaise, mashed potatoes and a bottle of malbec.  I love it so much when we eat from the pretty china and silverware.

I just have to interject that I'm so happy to be reunited with my car. She is a tiny blue panther and I'm so sad I have to go back to driving a big old boring sedan when I get home. But for now I'm in driving heaven.

Random beam of light in the grocery store was perfect for the drinks with texture elements suspended in them.

And then there's this amusing little story. I was really anxious to see how my dorset/ texel fleece would spin up so I combed it up on a hair comb. Much to my surprise, it worked! I wouldn't do a fine fleece or any quantity this way, but I did successfully prepare something like a sliver and spin it up. 

 Oh, and my spindle was a little unconventional as well, HA! Yes, that's a small crochet hook and an irrigation bulb. What?
So that's what's new and weird in my world.