July 19, 2006
O Canada!
Today's entry is dedicated to my heroine, Tracey from Canada. Thanks to a timely comment from her, I now know we received Dulaan contributions from every province and every territory in Canada. I am so terribly, terribly impressed, Canadian knitters. And to think I doubted you at first. Hell, I didn't even include you at first! What was I thinking?! I am ashamed.
Saturday morning I got out of bed, was overcome by a wave of dizziness, and walked straight into the bedroom wall.
Dude. “The Wall” was strictly meant to be a descriptive metaphor; I wasn’t supposed to actually walk into one. Sheesh.
Worse yet, I did it again yesterday morning. The dizziness, she is not so much fun. However, I happily thumb my nose at it since TMK and I are making a concerted effort to help Stephanie draw the universal bad karma toward the blogging community and away from Lee Ann. So far, so good.
To illustrate:
On my end: This weekend I was uber excited about designing the child’s vest made from the bulky/chunky yarn, despite the fact that, design-wise, I know just enough to be dangerous. I grabbed some of the acid yellow 1000-Skein-Avalanche yarn, gleaned some likely measurements for a vest from a book, and took out my largest circular needle and measured it. My trusty little measurer reassured me with great decisiveness that the needles were, indeed, a solid size 13. Slick.
I knit the entire back of the vest, taking careful notes as I went—because, hell, I can't even remember where the bedroom wall is—and cast off.
Then something compelled me to look at the needles, which is when I saw the big, fat number “11” and, I will go to my death believing this, heard a cosmic Bronx cheer, all of which meant I had just succeeded in knitting The Vest Back That Wouldn’t Bend to go with The Warm Wooly That Wouldn’t Bend (is it just me, or does that sound a little obscene?) and the Scarf That Wouldn’t Bend. I am starting to think I am of no use at’all to our Mongolians except perhaps to ones who need firmly knitted girdles or hernia trusses.
On Lee Ann’s end: Her aneurysm is gone.
See how that works? She does, however, have 2 months of recuperation ahead of her so, bloggers, if we do our jobs right, the next two months should be absolute hell for the rest of us. Yippeee!
Despite the dizziness and despite the fact that I’m still 1.5 weeks away from the end of my recuperation, thanks to TMK and knitting enablers who are willing to play chauffeur (although I have yet to convince anyone to wear a uniform and allow me to sit in the back, sipping champagne, playing endlessly with the button that makes the privacy divider go up and down, and doing rude things through the moon roof), I’m still managing to get into trouble.
Behold:
I was just exaggerating before but I now do, indeed, own more than yarn than God. But he says he doesn’t mind because lately he’s been more interested in watching his new flat-screen TV than knitting anyway. Although he hasn’t yet decided whether he’s going to Rhinebeck or not. Depends on if he can get a cheap ticket.
The brightly colored skeins are my first introduction to Malabrigo, Uruguayan pot-died merino:
Similarly, the jewel-toned skein is my first introduction to the products of the Greater Adirondack Yarn Co.:
The flecked pine green, warm yellow and warm brown yarns are my first exposure to Cascade Yarns Tweed:
Cumulatively, my feelings for these yarns are too explicit for a blog like this that has readers of all ages.
With Dulaan in mind, I also threw some Paton’s into my shopping bag, but I refuse to admit feeling warm all over for some yarn that is 75% acrylic. Even if I did. Which I don’t. Much. Shut up.
I'm glad Lee Ann is on the road to recovery. The waiting before your operation is no fun.
As for your dizziness that would go away I imagine as you are able to be more active. There is some medical term for your body's ability to adjust your blood pressure when you rise from sitting or standing. I sincerely hope that is the last time you hit the wall.
Your new yarn looks beautiful, but then doesn't almost any new yarn, sort of like babies and puppies!
Hmmm, now I'm thinking......would that stuff felt? Could we knit some ginormous vests on, say, 17s, and felt them? How cute would that be? Boiled wool vests. Or would they be more like body armour than vests?
Posted by: Norma on July 19, 2006 11:58 AMSerious yarn envy here. I may have to go home and berate my stash.
Posted by: Elaine on July 19, 2006 12:10 PMI heart your yarn! And even the Patons because I do know they do a pretty great job with the colors.
Glad to see you are doing your part for LeeAnn. I am too and happy to do so. I'm also incredibly relieved to see there might be someone out there who owns more yarn than me. *phew!* But Ryan, how are you going to ship this out to brigaders? It will cost a small fortune in shipping. How can we help defray that cost?
I do think TMK can probably cover your walls with some of that yarn so that when you are bouncing against them it won't be so bad. Either that or make a yarn suit for you to wear.
Posted by: Laurie on July 19, 2006 12:35 PMI fell instantly in lust with the Malabrigo! Those colors remind me of parrots in the South American jungle.
Posted by: Diana on July 19, 2006 01:02 PMI occasionally run into the walls when I am having a Dizzy Spell That Has No Medical Cause. I even went for testing, although I suspect that was just a lab tech's elaborate joke. I mean really, wear a paper cone over my head and stand on a squishy roll while they try to push me off? Sounds like nerd-frat initiation to me. No wonder they didn't find anything.
(Don't you love how all my comments about YOUR blog are all about ME?)
Anyway, I bet if you set up some sort of paypal Dulaan account, we could send you money to cover the costs of the shipping. Plus the little fee that paypal charges. Overestimate a little, and you can make sure not to go broke, and give any extra to FIRE.
Speaking of the wall, are you drinking your water? Don't make me send Nurse Mot over to your house, cause I will and a red-headed Nurse telling you to drink water ain't any good!
I am in lust with your yarn. Guard it with your life!
Posted by: ReeBecki on July 19, 2006 02:13 PMRunning with Norma's idea...there was a pattern in an issue of Knitters a few years back for a felted Fair Isle vest and bag, I think. (I'll look it up when I get home.) If I remember correctly, the vest was basically knit in a tube, felted, and then you cut in the holes for arms, head and split it up the middle. Sounds easy, doesn't it?
Posted by: Annie on July 19, 2006 03:04 PMDude, watch out for the walls -- they hurt! I second the PayPal/Dulaan idea; no way you should have to fund all that shipping. And I want some of that yarn ;-)
Don't feel bad about the Paton's -- that stuff is lovely soft and feels wooly, it's not at all bad. Perfect for some little Mongolian kid's first warm sweater/hat/scarf/whatever.
Posted by: kmkat on July 19, 2006 04:15 PMI *love* Malabrigo. It knits up like buttah!
While I can't say that I understand completely how the Wall feels, it sounds much like vertigo? I hope you feel better soon... I'm sending tons of healing thoughts in your direction!
Posted by: Sara on July 19, 2006 04:59 PMLet me know when you're going to be sorting and boxing and I would be more than willing to come over and help out, and take some home with me too.
I am wondering if a couple of the patterns in the Morehouse Farm Merino Knits would work for that bulky yarn. Several use size 11s but if you used the 13s the item would just turn out a bit bigger, no big deal really. Same with the Warm Wooly vest, try knitting their pattern with the larger needles and see how it comes out. Just a thought.
Posted by: Ginger on July 19, 2006 05:09 PMsomehow I manage to walk into walls monthly (I would say weekly but that would just be sad wouldn't it - even if it is true) But then again I am always trying to figure where various bruises came from - I have thought about doing the whole Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Ray) thing with a notebook to note each bump and knock I get so I can look up where the bruise came from.
Posted by: rho on July 19, 2006 05:51 PMI smashed my foot ~and~ I'm having a crappy time at work right now. Yay for Lee Ann's recovery!
And yay for your new yarn, but I think you've done your part for her recovery and can stop smashing your face into the walls now.
Posted by: Rabbitch on July 19, 2006 07:10 PMHurts less to walk into a wall when it's for Lee Ann, doesn't it? I swear, you should see the huge injury I have done my toe in the name of infection prevention.
Glad to hear you are feeling somewhat better but not so great to hear about walking into the wall. Perhaps you could staples some of that yarn to the doorframe and bounce off it? Or would that just be adding another layer of hard building products to walk into?
I will happily take some of the wool off your hands. Unfortunately I live in CT so shipping is necessary - but is there a "100 skein avalanche shipping fund"? I'd be happy to kick in money for that.
Posted by: Emily on July 20, 2006 06:04 AMTotal yarn porn. Thank you. My keyboard will thank you when I stop drooling. Hee
Must know the name of the Patons colorway. I know it's mostly acrylic but the colors...also, preeeeeetty. I am not above begging for the name.
Also, I am doing my part to keep the bad health mojo away from Lee Ann. That's some blogger love right there.
Posted by: Stalker Angie on July 20, 2006 09:32 AMHave you had your hemoglobin checked? Recent surgery + GI problems could = low blood count and dizziness! Hope your eating lots of meat/vegi to get the iron and rebuild your hemoglobin levels.I second the need to drink more water. Carol,a critical care nurse.....take care and get up slowly.
Posted by: carol on July 21, 2006 10:02 AM