Chptr 44: In Which I Finished a Scarf but Also Have to Go to Shopping Mall

60 hours in which I knit about 12 (the rest were wasted time)

Kinda digging this scarf which is the first of 5 I need to plow through in the next couple weeks so I can (stop reading if you're worried about my retirement and the Acura's alignment) order more yarn.  (This is the yarn I got from the lovely Nangellini.)

I'm going through a long-striping-repeat adoration phase.  Colinette's speckles and sprays of color will one day absorb me again, but right now it's all about the Silk Garden.

Where I knit on this scarf:

• At a Starbucks on a mellow Wednesday night awaiting my sweet Em
• In bed
• On the Metro (red line)
• In  meeting about implementing a company-wide purchase order system
• At the Cosi on Dupont Circle in the sun on a spectacular warm November day
• At a doctor's appointment
• On the couch watching gratuitously pop-culture bad television (mostly CBS but also some NBC)
• NOT IN THE BATHROOM

I have been accused of maybe hiding in the bathroom at work and knitting but, really, that has never even occurred to me.  I find it disconcerting when I'm in a public restroom and someone starts talking and it turns out they are ON THEIR CELLPHONE whilst doing... private... things.  Or, even more disturbing, whilst I am doing private things.

If you ever get a gift from me, yes, it may have been blocked on a floor, it may have traversed the DC area and picked up some interesting particles, and it may have been mashed in my purse or totebag (each of them a whole universe of mystery; I never know WHAT I'm going to pull out and some of what I pull out of them, I really don't remember ever putting IN them) - but never, oh never, will it have been in a bathroom.

Pinkie swear.

What are you knitting?  Post your blog links, especially if they are holiday gifts and if they are for BOYS.
 
Oops, almost forgot:  Speaking of boys, the requested gift for my soon-to-be-7-years-old nephew, Ryan, supposedly lives at a shopping mall 30+ miles away.  It's the KINGDOM (not the CITY) Lego advent calendar.  I do not like malls.  More and more as I get older and older.  Not sure why.  Maybe it's because all the STUFF is disturbing (says the woman with two or three bathtubs equivalent of yarn - seriously, I can't think of any other way to articulate how much yarn I have).  Oddly (or maybe not oddly) flea markets are disturbing as well.   Same stuff being sold, but on different ends of the "used" spectrum.  (And I need to state that the Amazon links I use on this blog (like the one to the left) are solely for illustrative purposes.  Easy and legal way to illustrate the things I am chatting about.)

But I digress from actually getting out of bed and getting ready for this visit to The Mall.  From which I may or may not recover.


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Chptr 40-something (sound familiar?): While we're on a mad rant to knit scarves...

I got my Christmas present a couple days ago - yarn to knit for menfolk (yarn without much pink) - the boys at work are getting scarves this year.  And I owe one to Mr. Sedaris, can't forget that.  Ravelry member Nangellini beautifully packaged, card and little felt balls and tissue and all, the Noro Silk Garden for the man scarves I'm now knitting.  Obsessively.

Ravelry members are the most fun to order from - Ravelry member Marjut included Finnish chocolate for me (I now have a pining for the Geisha bar) with the Colinette mohair I will be tackling after holidays.  

I will definitely be visiting Nangellini when I hit Philadelphia next.  Meredith loves this mandala that is displayed on Nancy's site (check under the "fine arts" tab).  I am tempted to neglect these scarves to start knitting something lacy in the round, but I must stay focused... must stay focused...

Have recently been participating in an online discussion at the site KnitIdeas.com about left-handed vs. right-handed yarn holding (ostensibly English vs. Continental style, but there are so many variations on at least the Continental side of things).  It's an interesting discussion to participate it, and if you have any firm convictions one way or another please chime in!

I find my method of knitting (Russian-style, yarn in left hand but a different motion to pick up the yarn from Continental) so darn quick when it comes to rows with knitting and purling.  I can whip out a 1x1 rib so quickly, it'll blind you.  If I do say so myself.  Although this video is entitled "Russian Knitting in the Rounds," it actually demonstrates ribbing and shows how easily you go from knit to purl to knit to purl in the same row.  Watch this (not me) and imagine this happening a lot faster (me) and be amazed (not that I'm arrogant or anything).



Morning is breaking (sorry, have to do this, hit ME), and dogs need a-walking.  Here is a lovely blog about walks in Ireland (and knitting, of course) - makes me want to document my own local wilderness more closely inspired by Nikki's amazing pictures.

Happy clicking or hooking or spinning or weaving.  As my sweet Meredith would sign off:  Peace.


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