(Kwik (blech) Monday Update: On vacation, so no posting today. See you Wednesday, Dear Readers!)
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Oh, Dear Readers, do I have a treat for you today! I have discovered the one and only craft project in the entire frickin' universe that combines both knitters' interests and The Mysterious K's: Making mittens with a hand sander. You heard right. Making. Mittens. With. A. Hand. Sander. Go. Look. See for yourselves!
Woolen Rabbit has historically been the source of some of my favorite pictures and, once again, Kim hasn’t failed me. Once you've marveled at the mittens, go here to see a picture of what looks like a sheared rabbit that has had the helium let out of it (the fourth picture under "Buns"). Imagine what Ms. Bunny must have looked like originally, with a ribbon tied to her leg, floating serenely along in the air, bumping gently against the ceiling. And don’t miss the photos of the rabbits wearing coats made out of sweatshirt sleeves.
But Kim wasn’t done there. Through her blog I surfed to this entry at Woolybuns with a picture of a particularly adorable baby angora bunny (at the top of the entry). Fer sher click on the thumbnail to get the full effect. If that doesn’t immediately make you develop four nerve-deep, root-canal-worthy cavities... I love particularly the slightly worried look.
As always, Kim, thanks for posting such great pictures and links!
Knitting Knews
My friend Kit has a truly remarkable talent which requires her to do nothing but sit, listen, and quietly emanate knitting wisdom. To wit: I stopped working on the burnt orange cable sweater a couple of weeks ago because something about the shaping for the left shoulder just didn’t make any sense. I kvetched about this in an email to Kit and insisted that she be at Ferals Monday night to help me figure it out. And she was. And she sat, and listened, and quietly emanated knitting wisdom while I railed on about what a stupid mistake there was in the pattern, and how it was all the designer’s fault, and how I was just lucky I caught it and how, well, look, Kit, watch, let me just diagram the rows for you so you can see the mistake for yourself and...and...and... Oh. Now I get it. See? She fixes problems just by being there. An amazing skill.
Question for the Dear Readers Who Knit: When you cast off for the neck, the stitches along the neck edge end up being loose and gappy as a result of the casting off process. How do you reconcile casting off loosely with not wanting loopy, gappy stitches along the neck edge?
Posted by Ryan at January 14, 2005 10:45 AMI do it by saying, "look over there, it's a terrorist!" Oh, wait, no, that's how republicans reconcile the verbiage of democracy with the cancellation of civil liberties, sorry....
Usually, the neck gappies take care of themselves in some mysterious way when you pick up for the neckband - even if you have to pick up extra stitches there and then decrease them away. Wish civil liberties were so easy.
Posted by: CarolineF on January 14, 2005 11:01 AMI love the cast off on this site http://www.socknitters.com/toe-up/lessonsix.htm
It's great for everything, not just socks.
well usually the picking up process has helped. as well as blocking.
btw I sent that link to my co-worker about the sheared buns... and he says it looks like the rabbit is melting. I couldn't stop laffing.
if worse comes to worse google tublar cast-off and see what you get.. helped me last nite with the socks.
Posted by: anj on January 14, 2005 11:40 AMHeh. I had to drag one of my coworkers so she could experience the near-toxic levels of bunny cuteness. She was reduced to baby talk, which was pretty funny.
The deflated sheared bunny was pretty startling--I know cats can achieve a fur monolayer when they're especially relaxed, but I didn't know that rabbits could do the same. She looked like a white, furry hovercraft!
Hmmm, still got most of our civil liberties - move up here!
Also - long ends help - you can fake a grafted stitch or two over the hole, or if you're me, don't cast off and pick up all the stitches and decrease to the desired # of stitches.
Posted by: Angela on January 14, 2005 12:10 PMThanks for the fun comments about my bunny Puff Daddy. Anytime you have a hankerin' for one of your own, let me know - I have extras at times. Hehe!
I like your blog (yes, I went beyond the fun references to my bun)!
Posted by: Chris on January 14, 2005 12:51 PMNo, Chris, thank YOU! Your bunny picture made my day yesterday when I found it, and continues to make my day today. But, sigh, the house rules say I'm not allowed to have any rodent-like pets. I get too attached to them, and they don't live long enough.
Posted by: Ryan on January 14, 2005 12:55 PMHmmm.........I'm beginning to think you just might need a bunny...LOL!!! Just think, you could give the Mysterious K the wool and she can whip up the mittens.....LOL!!
Thanks for the kind words :-))
Posted by: Kim on January 14, 2005 02:11 PMNo rodents for pets! No matter how CUTE they are! ;-)
TMK
Posted by: The Mysterious K on January 14, 2005 02:28 PMSo, I snap my fingers at you and you shake your fist at me. Where will this end, I ask you?
I spent way too long reading past entries at woodka.com--thanks for referring us there! The whole mitten thing is pretty amazing, but I was brought to a complete stop by the phrase "3 and a half hours later..."
It's been a while since I've knit a sweater with cast off stitches around the neck, but I recall that I did some judicious duplicate stitching on the inside to pull in the inevitable holes. One good bit of advice I was given was to pick up every available stitch and then decrease to your wanted number in the first round--looks neater and not so many gaps appear.
Posted by: Janine on January 14, 2005 02:29 PMErm, Janine? I don't think I referred you to woodka.com. THAT site seems to be all about politics, Taoism and meditation. As hard as I looked, I didn't see anything about angora bunnies and hand-sanded mittens. ;-)
Thank you everyone for the advice and reassurance in re the loose neck stitches. I can now proceed with confidence!
Posted by: Ryan on January 14, 2005 02:36 PMHey, you're right! Stop me when I stop making sense at any time. I followed a link from the Sears Craft-o-matic Mittens to woodka. Too easy to get lost in this vast digital universe.
Posted by: Janine on January 14, 2005 03:26 PMVacation again??? Geez. YOu vacation more than anyone on earth....I was lookin' forward to my fix too....
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on January 17, 2005 01:38 PM