September 09, 2005
Friday Miscellanea
I was so entranced by the unique pattern in the Turkish Hat that I spent considerable time yesterday surfing the Net to learn more about Turkish textiles, designs and symbols, hoping to find something that would translate well into another, similar hat. I found a few sites and pages with lovely patterns, like this and this (scroll to the bottom) and this.
...And then there was this—a lovely, colorful, intricate sock pattern, a truly astonishing and wince-worthy pattern name. I can just see it: Someone walks up to me at Guild and says, “Cool socks/hat/scarf/whatever!” And I say enthusiastically, “Why, thank you so much! It’s the Cow Piss Pattern!” ...And my Guild membership quickly and mysteriously evaporates, and knitters I have come to know and love somehow "lose" my phone number and email address. Even sanitizing it to “Bovine Urine” doesn't help much.
StalkerAngie “tagged” me for a meme, one which has been floating around for quite a while and which, I'm afraid, Dear Angie, I Just Don’t Get. The task is to go to your 23rd blog entry, find the fifth line, and report what that line is. Whuh? Why? And “whuh?” again, followed by another "why?" But StalkerAngie is a snookums so, for her, I’ll do this. The answer is:
“In fact, she had been maniacally chasing it around the yard a mere 30 seconds before.”
Thumbs up to anyone who can tell me who “she” is, what “it” is and why "she" wasn't chasing "it" anymore. And two thumbs up to anyone who first imagined TMK maniacally chasing something around the yard—but you’d be wrong.
On a depressing note, TMK tells me she thinks we only biked five miles round trip last weekend. (Seriously, I think she enjoyed telling me that much more than was warranted. How else do you explain the gleeful twinkle in her eye?) But, as she also noted in a comment, she bought a cyclometer which will now do the measuring for us. We refer to it variously as “The Moderator," “The Arbitrator” or “The Marriage Counselor.” We bike again this weekend, weather permitting. I’ll be sure to let you know who gets to keep Frankie after the split-up.
And, lastly, I wanted to share with you my latest blog find. How could I not be enchanted by someone who puts a mouse in her bra to keep it warm? My kinda woman! (She now reports, however, that the mouse has gone to mouse heaven. Pooh. Reminds me of the demise of Barclay.)
I certainly can't end my Friday entry on that awful note, so here, something to make you smile.
I really like the turkish patterns. They are so geometrical and yet so floral at the same time! I will find the book and knit (try to knit) the beautiful hat.
Posted by: laura on September 9, 2005 11:27 AMI have never confessed -- but I went back and read all your blog whilst you were on vacation a while back. Since it's probably not fair to peek, I'm thinking it was Frankie -- and it was either a squirrel, vole or toy. Do I get an "A" for effort?
Posted by: martha on September 9, 2005 11:27 AMFrankie and a now deflated ball?
Posted by: Annie on September 9, 2005 11:29 AMOk, scary stalker moment and because the deflated ball is taken, I say Frankie chasing her ball that became the garden "gazing globe" thingy. And thank you for humoring me, Blog Mistress. :)
The Turkish patterns are just too cool.Wish I were a better knitter.
Have a great day!
Posted by: Stalker Angie on September 9, 2005 11:43 AMRyan, someone recently showed me how double-knitting works, and I'm wondering if those Turkish hats would work. I guess the ribbing would be tricky (remembering where to knit, where to purl) but the pattern looks like it might be fun. What do you think? Are there other double-knit-suitable hats in that book? My bookstores are out so I'll have to order it.
Posted by: Jenn on September 9, 2005 11:48 AMJenn, I have no idea how you would combine stranded knitting with double-knitting. In fact, it boggles the mind! The good news is the Turkish hat in the book is already thicker than normal because of carrying the second strand of yarn along. (Oh, and also, the pattern doesn't actually call for any ribbing. It has a different edge which I didn't want to do (sort of a sideways braided edge) so I just slapped the ribbing on to make it easier.)
Posted by: Ryan on September 9, 2005 11:56 AMCurse you. The Hats On! book is now winging its way to me courtesy of Overstock.com because, you know, I needed more knitting books. And they also had the Marvelous Mittens book so that's coming to live here as well. On the plus side, this means I need to knit some Dulaan items from them.
Cow Piss? Did they run out of normal names for patterns? Were they stinkin' drunk? Maybe someone lost a bet...
Posted by: Melanie on September 9, 2005 12:09 PMWell, ahem, I'll just toot my own horn here. They say that this has something to do with Turkish tiles, though I didn't know that when I designed it. http://tinyurl.com/7z634
Mary deB, non-famous knitwear designer.
I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that the Cow Piss pattern just happens to be knit up in primarily yellow tones...
That answer to the meme is one of the more hilarious nonsequiturs I've read in a long time, and the funniest part is, if I had to guess which blog it came from, it would most likely be yours ;-)Thanks, I needed a laugh today :-)
These Turkish patterns are very intriguing. I have finally realized why my Turkish hat (same pattern you used, Ryan) looks so different from your pink and white version. I used a dark blue and a yellow--but I used the dark blue where you used the white, and the yellow where you used the pink. Just transposing the two colors makes for a completely different look! Sort of like an Escher painting. Now I want to knit it again with the colors transposed and see how it looks that way....very interesting.
I would heartily recommend that Hats On! book to anyone--rarely have I seen a knitting book that contains so many wonderful patterns--I want to make ALL of them! Definitely worth the money for me! Mary B
Posted by: Mary B on September 9, 2005 01:03 PMMary deB--the hat is beautiful!! Just the kind of thing I want to design now that all this Turkish nonsense has gotten under my skin.
And now MaryB has me wondering how one could create a hat based on an Escher work...
Posted by: Ryan on September 9, 2005 01:11 PMShe is Frankie, it is a ball, and she wasn't playing with it anymore because she chomped on it and it deflated. I think. I don't really remember, but I do recall a picture of Frankie with a dead balloon or something.
Anyway...I like the Turkish cow pee design...
L
Posted by: Libby on September 9, 2005 01:39 PMI'm no cartographer (but it is my word of the day) - mapquest has Sand Point and LFP Center at an evil 6.66 (I'm so not kidding) miles apart. The Burke Gilman trail sticks pretty closely to the streets on the map, I don't think the trail cuts the distance in half...
Of course there are billions and billions of Starbucks out here and you may have gone toward Ballard, that would change everything.
I was going to vote for Frankie & a ball, too, but since that's taken, I'll vote for TMK & a peach.
Posted by: Samina on September 9, 2005 02:14 PMElaine, so you can continue to dabble in your cartography, we biked from Matthews Beach at 93rd to University Village (at about 30th). What do you get when you plug that into mapquest?
Posted by: Ryan on September 9, 2005 02:20 PMPerhaps you can elide "cow piss" into a pseudo-Turkish word, like "copis" or "cowpice?"
Posted by: Jessica on September 9, 2005 02:56 PMI get cowpiss, in mapquest land 93rd is either in Greenwood or Southpark. But I have revised my earlier opinion, it is probably closer to 5-6 miles round trip.
You should try the ride out to LFP, it's lovely and ends at a bookstore. :)
Posted by: Elaine on September 9, 2005 03:29 PMOk I know I'm not the first person to say this, but before even reading the comments I say, Frankie, her ball, because she bit it and it deflated. Now I'll go read what others say....
Posted by: CarolineF on September 9, 2005 05:26 PMNo, I changed my mind after reading, I agree with whoever said it became a gazing ball. Frankie barked at it as if she'd never seen it before.
Posted by: CarolineF on September 9, 2005 06:53 PM