Kiss My Knits!

Made a felted dice bag out of one skein of Kureyon. Pics and more info below cut!

Big-ass scarf, 3/4 done.

Kureyon pouch, knitted. I’m about to toss it in the washing machine to felt. I had to scavenge a little Kureyon from scraps (which fortunately matched) to finish up the i-cord drawstring, but I think if I omit one plain round in the decreases, I’ll have the perfect little 1-skein Kureyon dice bag pattern. I’ll post pics when it’s done.

Jayne hat to accompany said dice bag, knitted save for earflaps and pompom. I’ll finish that up while the bag felts, although I won’t be able to mail the package until the bag dries.

Kindergarten teacher’s bag, body is finished, still needs straps. I think I’ll add a little pocket on the side for a cell phone or whatever strikes her fancy. She wanted pink, and man, is it PINK. That’s being put on hold while I work on more hats, though.

Next up: finish big-ass scarf, then on to hats for LF, MS, MA, ML, and LC.

Autism research: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4661402.stm

Confirms what I had already suspected, and I think many others had as well.

And it does seem to bear out, even going back a generation. My mother’s side of the family does tend toward the analytical, and my husband’s father is an engineer.

It prompted this conversation online between myself and my computer geek hubby:

Tvini: I have long felt this to be true, that there’s got to be a link there.
Mr. Tvini: Me too.
Tvini: However, having said that.. have you seen our house? In what world is my housekeeping the mark of a “systemizer?”
Mr. Tvini: Heh, no, not there, but you have stayed until unghodly hours of the night (morning) working on a promo.
Tvini: I hadn’t looked at it in those terms before, but you’re right.
Mr. Tvini: We’re the perfect storm, baby (heh)

I got a great package from my FiberGodmother yesterday! She pegged me pretty well!

Fiber Godmother Package 1 Colorful hankies! Homemade yarn ball tangle preventer! Two little pins reading “Born to Knit” over a skull and “Yarn Ho!” Cotton bath puff which I am totally going to use later! Extremely clever row counters and stitch markers! Tape measure I have already used! James Bond-esque combination pen/nail file/cuticle thingie! One skein of very soft Trendsetter Blossom! And a magnet to grace the back of the Tvinimobile!

She made up the pattern for the bath puff, which looks like it’s knitted in… I’m going to say Araucania Naure Cotton? and is quite nice. And coincidentally, I had just lost yet another tape measure, so that was a timely gift as well. I really do like everything I got, as you can tell from the abundant exclamation points!

Tvinimobile! Look! Now I’ve got my woman symbol, my old-school rainbow Mac sticker, my The Cheat, my Ani DiFranco “Righteous Babe” sticker, AND a ball of yarn! I’d been wanting something knittish on my car, and here it is!

Yeah, that’s right. I’m gonna be stylin’ in my tricked out Tvinimobile. Uh-huh. You know you wish you were me.

I’m really happy with everything I got, and while my Fiber Godmother said she worried I might know who she was, believe me, I’m not going looking to try to guess. It’s all a total surprise to me. 🙂

Thank you, Fiber Godmother!

David Hasselhoff broke my brain.

Crazycatladymel mentioned in her journal that she had read something recently blasting knitting as anti-feminist. I responded there, but was still a bit irked, so I’m posting here too.

I believe that those who bash knitting as anti-feminist are not examining their position closely enough.

Rejecting domestic crafts because they are traditionally feminine shows an attitude which automatically devalues the work that women have done throughout the ages to keep the household running. By extension, devaluing these crafts because they are feminine exalts masculine work simply because it is masculine.

It is because of the struggle of my feminist forebears that I have the freedom to choose what pastime to engage in, rather than being forced into a one-size-fits-all mold. And if I choose to knit, it is not a rejection of feminist work. In fact, I recognize that I have the freedom to do so because of the work of feminists from my mother back to the suffragists and beyond. It is work I try to continue as I raise my daughter.

Knitting is not less valuable because it has been the province of women. And I am not less feminist because I embrace a traditionally feminine craft. I would encourage those who dismiss domestic pursuits on feminist grounds to re-think the root of their reason for doing so.

The color joins on the Jayne scarf are working out much better now. Every morning I knit another section on the scarf, then work on a hat so I don’t fall too far behind on other orders. I offered this one for $60, because I didn’t want to charge too much without knowing exactly how much yarn and time it would take. Next time, I’ll charge more.

The end is flipped up so you can see it’s stockinette on both sides. Ah, the magic of double-knitting. It’s a great technique for reversible fabrics. In this case, I’m using it because she wanted it to be little v-stitches all the way around, and I a) didn’t want to tie up my circular needle for as long as it would take to knit the scarf, and b) knew that by the time I had knit all those rows on a circular needle, I would have strangled myself with orange yarn from sheer boredom.

Actually, there’s really not much of a reason to post this, since it’s not done and I’ll probably post pics again once it’s done and has fringe attached. However, I’m feeling pretty satisfied with it and what’s the point of a ‘blog if you can’t preen a little?

Side note: I think I want a mannequin/dressform display for showing off scarves. Sadie’s great and all, but she doesn’t exactly scream “class.” Especially since she was used as a dartboard by a bunch of college boys in the 90’s. My husband, ladies and gentlemen.

I have a friend who recently had surgery and is now undergoing chemotherapy. While looking for a gift for her, I found something so perfect that it might as well have had a chorus of angels singing and a heavenly light shining down upon it to signify that this was The Gift.

She wrote today to say she had received the gift, and had been moved to tears. What an incredible sense of satisfaction. This woman is a wonderful, sweet, caring, funny person. I’m glad I was able to brighten her life just a bit, because she’s surely brightened mine.

Billy West, voice of Fry on Futurama, says on his message board that a deal has just been inked for 4 straight-to-DVD Futurama movies.

Second post from the bottom.

If this is true – and I’m going to assume it is – then I COULD NOT BE MORE ELATED!

Way to go, fans, way to go, showrunners. It’s a tribute to your determination. To quote Philip J. Fry, “You can’t give up hope because it’s hopeless! You’ve gotta hope even more, and cover your ears and go BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!”

So. Aussie guy wants to order a hat, but he’s a starving student and is trying to figure out how to cut costs.

I, meanwhile, really want to help this guy, because I always enjoy the idea of someone in a different hemisphere wearing the hat. And c’mon, Jayne hats are just cool.

Aha! I love TimTams, having been introduced to them by my knitting Secret Pal from Secret Pal 6, the fabulous Margie! However, I can’t find them here!

Solution! Aussie guy is going to send me several packs of TimTams (we’re thinking six) and I’m going to send him a hat. It’s significantly cheaper for him, and I’m getting something that I really want but otherwise cannot easily obtain.

Yay! The barter system wins again!