July 09, 2007
I Survived the Second Bungee Jump
What happens when:
(a) a knitter with little to no design sense
(b) gets ahold of four balls of purple yarn (Why, God? Why purple? Why not, say, a nice subtle, sage green?)
(c) underestimates how much garter stitch gobbles up yarn and
(d) runs out of every color before the end of the project and has to get creative, which explains why the stripes start to get lame-o at the bottom and why the jacket doesn’t close.
Looks a little kimono-esque, don’t it? Fortunately, I was able to predict that I was going to run out of yarn (which is the point of stash-diving, after all. On that score, at least, I was supremely successful.) and didn’t make buttonholes. My crystal ball tells me, however, that there are five i-cord loop closures in my immediate future.
On the positive side, I “get” the BSJ pattern now—but only because I've reconciled myself to the fact that, at least in the case of this pattern, one man’s “increase by 10” is another man’s “increase by 14.” And I’m good with that. Or so my therapist tells me I will be—with time.
While I tortured my poor brain contemplating the true meaning of knitting, purling, increasing, decreasing, casting on, casting off, art, beauty, life and death, the smarter one of this Seattle duo was doing the satisfying, the fulfilling, the simple of the simple opposite—painting the bat box black:
For those not in the bat-box know (which would’ve included me until a couple of months ago), this is to ensure that the box and, hence, the bats, stay as warm as possible. (TMK kept the inside plain in order to keep as much of the chemicals from the paint away from the bats as possible.)
Speaking of which, Saturday night I was convinced I heard bats in our yard—which boded well for TMK’s long-term bat husbandry plans—until I noticed that the “bats” had followed me into the garage, into the kitchen, into the living room, and into the bathroom and were, in fact, two quarters clinking lightly together in my pocket. It's a good thing my future includes a lot of knitting and little, if no, animal science.
Thanks to a few goober-headed slip-ups on my part, I’ve had to update the Dulaan 10,000 list again so if you emailed me to say, quite rightly, “I knit my five items. I mailed my five items. You told me my name was bolded. But it’s not. Pleeeeze bold my name!,” check the updated list. I think I’ve got it right now.
This last week, I’ve been working on gathering things for the prize. So far the basket includes:
Three balls of pink oh-so-soft Cashmerino
Two balls of one of my all-time favorite yarns, Muench Tessin
Three skeins of beautiful blue and green Koigu, generously donated to the cause
A Franklin Habit tote, also generously donated
And some scrumptious chocolates, which I'm trying very hard not to eat because that wouldn't be at all sporting
I will pick a winner on Wednesday!
The sweater is lovely! I don't think the stripes are lame at all.
Hope Frankie made it through the fireworks okay. My doxie whined and stayed glued to my side all through the long weekend.
Have a great week!
:)
Well, I'm fairly smitten with your BSJ, I'm liking the stripes you have there.
Great looking bat-house too.
I like the stripes, too! And I was happy to read that you were planning on i-cord closures, cuz when I was looking at the sweater my first thougth was - gee, that would look nifty with little i-cord closures.
Posted by: Tasha on July 9, 2007 04:43 PMIt is common knowledge that purple is by far the most pleasing and elegant of colors. (And if it's not common knowledge, it should be!)
Posted by: Lisa on July 9, 2007 05:13 PMAwwwww. I think the BSJ is so cute. In fact I like the striping/design changes. About the bat change....I won't think about jingling change in a person's pockets in the same way ever again! (Doesn't that person realize they have bats following them around????)
TMK - you are so thoughtful to think of the chemicals on the cute little bats! Now that is using y'r noggin'!
Posted by: Naomi on July 10, 2007 07:20 AMOK - I love that little sweater, I have the book, I've looked at it, Lawsy knows I have plenty of stuff in my stash to make one and I'm sitting here thinking I might be the last knitter in the country who hasn't tried one. I'm convinced. Don't know if I'll have your kind of success but I'm going to give it a shot.
I agree with the kudos about the bat box. If they ate Japanese beetles I'd make one myself and put in free wifi, an exotic fruit bar and a jacuzzi {sigh}
Posted by: Dale-Harriet in WI on July 10, 2007 04:15 PMThe sweater looks lovely to me, but then again I am fond of purples. (I am planning on trying one out of some gorgeous green wool for a sweater I was secretly making three years ago for my older sister. She had envied this wonderful handmade cardigan in a yarn store. After stuggling with the complicated pattern directions from Britain for a few months I had reached the half-way point. Then she let me know she was disappointed to find she was newly allergic to wool and wanted to know if I wanted any of her sweaters! Argghh.) I can just picture a little green kimono sweater with wooden buttons. Hopefully this vision will help when the directions get confusing.
The bat house is such a wonderful idea. We have a lot of little brown bats in our neighborhood. They eat half their weight in bugs each night!
The prizes look lovely. And since the chocolates probably won't ship well with such heat in much of the country, I vote you should eat them!
I love the purple stripes, did you know there was a Bat walk at greenlake tonight starting at 8pm at the bathouse theatre, sounds like its a great place to see them, Cheers A
Posted by: andrea on July 10, 2007 10:58 PMWell, I'm all about purple. Let me know what kind of yarn you've run-out-of, perhaps I have something that can help. You do know that at one time purple was reserved for royalty, yes? This is going to be a very special child who receives your BSJ.
Totally looking forward to next weekend!!!
(Pls note change of e-mail address. I just got DSL, and I'm LOVING it!!!)
Posted by: Gail on July 10, 2007 11:37 PM