September 12, 2003
At Last We Know Where Missing Socks Go!
Despite it's public nature, I find this blog is sometimes a good forum for unburdening one's soul. Making confessions, if you will. My confession for today is...Sock monkeys give me the creeps. And, if sock monkeys, with their disturbingly red lips and ghoulish white crania, aren't bad enough, now there's this.
What astounds me even more than the freakishly weird creatures are the names. "Ninnyhammer," "Wronky," and "Kludd" I can understand, but "Genevieve?" How can you look at something which is made of used socks, that is slate blue, has a red face, four arms, googly eyes, a pooched-out belly, stumps for legs, and a tail and think, "Hey, I think I'll name it 'Genevieve!' " One can only hope that the artist did not name the macabre wee beastie after a friend.
Knitting Knews
Below, a photo of the silver buttons destined for the ends of the Sisyphus Scarf to give it a little je ne sais quois.
I bought these buttons at a Joanne's Fabrics after a VFEAMLYS (Very Frustrating Experience At My Local Yarn Store, pronounced Vuh-FEE-Muh-Lis). Said LYS has a veritable sea of buttons to choose from, all stored in tubes with sample buttons affixed to the top. But the "sea" was misleading for, when all was said and done, my choices seemed to be:
The right button but the wrong color.
The right color but the wrong button.
A tube whose sample button didn't match what was actually in the tube.
A tube with one button in it when I needed six.
A tube with two buttons in it when I needed six.
A tube with three buttons in it when I needed six.
A tube with four buttons in it when I needed six.
A tube with five buttons in it when I needed six.
A tube with no buttons in it.
Drat, double drat, and even fershlugginer, for those of you who remember that all-purpose swear word from Mad magazine. But I'm very happy with the silver ones. They echo the lace of the pattern and contrast well with the blues and purples of the variegated yarn. The scarf is slated to be washed, blocked and buttonized this weekend. Photo Monday.
Dye Garden Dyegest
I've finally figured out why my regular readers keep coming back: So they can see fascinating, awe-inspiring photos like this:
All right, maybe not fascinating and awe-inspiring but I have my hollyhock-stained fingers crossed that natural dyers (or natural dyer wannabes) might find this at least faintly interesting. It's a small branch pruned from a cherry tree which branch I, ahem, "liberated" from a local park and which is slated to have its bark pared off à la birch branch.
I have now gathered some madrona, birch, and cherry bark. Unfortunately for me and Mossy Cottage readers, these barks all have to soak for a long time before I can use them (not to mention the fact that I have no wool, mordanted, unmordanted or otherwise, to dye right now anyway). I'll try to get pictures of the soaking bark and bark-dyed wool up as soon as I can.
Posted by Ryan at September 12, 2003 09:07 AMMaybe I do read you for the stick photos. Hmm.
Now, sugar, what did you do with the tampon angel link I sent you? Did you lose it?
I saved it for you, instead of using it myself!
Will send again if you need it.
And believe me, if you don't have it, you need it...
Posted by: Anne on September 12, 2003 09:35 AMFinally, someone else who hates sock monkeys! I have never liked them...ugh! I also (slight cringe) don't like Curious George. I cringe because you have no clue how upset supposedly adult people can become when you admit you don't care for Curious George. You would think I said I hated Mom, Apple pie........etc.
Tampon Angel? Please, please oh please!! Gotta see this. Just have to.
Lisa
Posted by: Lisa on September 12, 2003 09:57 AMAnne, email on its way to you begging for, nay, demanding the tampon angel link instanter. I don't recall ever receiving it, and it sounds like something one would never forget.
Lisa, I completely understand your position because I find Mr. Rogers of "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" fame creepy. Talk about upsetting people! (I promise not to tell K you don't like Curious George. She would frown mightily at you, especially since her office is dotted with Curious George tchotkes. Oh, wait. She reads this blog and all the comments. It's probably too late already. Neeeevermiiiinnnnd.)
Posted by: Ryan on September 12, 2003 10:34 AMAh........well, K is probably sending telepathic frowns as I type..........sigh. I am sure the responses are similar for dislike of Mr. Rogers. "What do you mean, you don't like Curious George?" accompanied by a suspicious frown, of course. Sidelong looks follow......as if they are waiting for my horns to show themselves. Confusion, disbelief, anger. All the cycles show themselves..........hence, I try pretty hard to keep my mouth shut about it. Of course, now I have posted to a world-popular blog, read by millions........I will probably start to receive hate mail...............
Posted by: Lisa on September 12, 2003 10:52 AMHey, I have those buttons! I bought small ones to put on Emily's grey Mendocino cardigan, and bigger ones to put on my Morven cardigan. Got them at Joann's. I frequently have the same experience at Joann - search and search; find button I love; find out there are 4 and I need 6; repeat.
Posted by: CarolineF on September 12, 2003 10:56 AMHey! I feel the need to step in and defend my childhood faves...How can anyone NOT like Mr. Rogers and Curious George? Especially, Mr. Rogers' kitty! You're all crazy! Crazy, I tell you! ;-)
The Mysterious K
Posted by: K on September 12, 2003 11:19 AMLisa, see? Whatd'd I tell ya?
Posted by: Ryan on September 12, 2003 11:21 AMThe mysterious K steps for a moment into the pool of light under the lamp post.....Dark eyes gleam beneath the brim of her hat as a breeze rustles her trenchcoat....cigarette smoke curls upward as she growls "Hey...."
Couldn't resist. It's Friday, after all. ;)
Posted by: Lisa on September 12, 2003 11:30 AMAre buttons safe for the ends of a scarf? What if you dramatically fling it over your shoulder and whack yourself? :-) Very pretty buttons!
Posted by: Fran on September 12, 2003 01:09 PMBelieve it or not, Fran, the "button whacking" threat did cross my mind! But then I thought, hey, if, for the sake of beauty, we wear teetery high-heeled shoes that squeeze and deform our toes and give us bunions, and have our eyelids and other bodily parts painfully waxed, and have our ears and, again, other bodily parts, pierced, I say, a smack in the eye with a metal object is nuthin'. :-)
Lisa, you're a kook! ;-)
And just so everyone knows, The Mysterious K's comment about Mr. Roger's puppet kitty was aimed directly at me. As much as Mr. Rogers gives me the creeps, the kitty gives me them ten-fold. And The Mysterious K KNOWS that if she wants to irritate me she just has to put "Meow" in front of everything, like "MeowRyan" or "MeowYes" or "MeowNo" and I'll get totally freaked and dance around on my toes and plug my ears and say "Stop, stop, stop!" Sigh...relationships. What are ya' gonna do?
Posted by: Ryan on September 12, 2003 01:42 PMHmmmm... now we all know how to get Ryan completely tweeked out......."meowthinks".
Kook? I can live with that. Certainly I've been called worse.............
:)
Lisa.......who has way too much time on her hands these last few hours of Friday....
...add Winchel Mahoney puppets and Howdy Doody to that list... give me the willies! I think the Twilight Zone even capitalized on these guys...
Janet
Even though I don't understand how anyone can find Mr. Rogers or Curious George creepy, I do have to agree that Sock Monkeys are extremely icky and sinister, along with Lamb Chop (Sherry Lewis' little friend). Pretty much anything with a face, which is made out of a sock, is high on my creep-o-meter.
The Mysterious K
Posted by: The Mysterious K on September 13, 2003 01:36 PMI'm not sure how I feel about sock monkeys but I did have a sudden urge to buy a bunch and send them to you grin!
I think I've been to that LYS. They do appear to have a ton of buttons but when you start digging around, they don't. It is frustrating. I do like the ones you selected and sometimes JoAnn's is a good resource for items like that.
Posted by: Rebecca on September 15, 2003 09:34 AMRebecca, your threat to send me some sock monkeys reminded me that my co-worker actually *collects* the loathsome things. Not only that, but apparently he has a *giant* one. Please, Lord, don't ever let me be invited to his house...
Posted by: Ryan on September 15, 2003 01:33 PM