April 21, 2008
Of New Blogs, Finished Socks, and April Snow
Yarn Harlot here tonight! Third Place Books on Bothell Way, 7 p.m. We’ll be there early-early (five-ish), so come on down and squat with us, local homies!
Now that I’m an old squinty-eyed, wart-riddled, blog hag—five years today, thank you very much—it’s been a kick watching the younger generation, i.e., TMK, get all giggly over the blog experience. Any guesses how many times she checked for new comments this weekend? A whole frickin’ lot. So thank you to everyone who dropped by and made her feel welcome to the world of blogging. I think she has some important things to share.
I must say her blog makes me extra appreciate the inanity of mine. I mean, her blog is serious, about serious stuff: Quality of life, diet, metabolism, physiology, weight training, cardio, lifespan, heart health! Oh, the responsibility! Mine is about yarn, patterns, idiotic happenings while knitting, idiotic happenings at the gym, and my ongoing struggles with haute couture, as pictured here.
Started here in the world of no matchy-matchy:
One step forward:
One step back:
And ta-dah!
Yes, the Splocks are finally done. TMK was particularly intrigued by the splotches on the bottom of the socks, which is how and why we ended up taking this ridiculous photo, which, for those of you who are serious fans of the Narnia books, makes me feel like a Dufflepod:
While on the subject of ridiculous photos:
The good news: I didn’t knit this. The even good-er news: My mother, who could be severely emotionally distant, did, so the sweater is very special to me indeed. The good-est news: Even though it’s huge, and even though it seems to grow every time I wear it, and even though the neck is big enough to fit over a cow, and even though it’s made of acrylic, and even though the acrylic is curiously scratchy, this is my favorite sweater to wear. I don’t wear it often because…well…look at it, but in a year like this one when it snows in late April:
(An azalea that is both blooming and covered in snow. That's just not right.)
…you need something both emotionally and physically cozy, so I whipped out this sweater and schlumped around in it, feeling warm and dandy indeed.
Whenever I get too caught up in my own yarn elitism and the myth of the Must Fit, I remember this ratty, old, and outrageously ill-fitting garment, knit by someone long gone, and how much it means to me. Do you have something like this?
Posted by Ryan at April 21, 2008 02:13 PMOh ya, Crocheted Hats and scarf sets, my mother sent to everyone one year. I have all of them in a drawer. She died in 1989 so they are very special. As are the SCARY clowns she made everyone.. some with BOOOBS..shudder.
Posted by: Annie on April 21, 2008 02:26 PMI have pictures of cactus and palm trees with snow on them, from our "freak snowstorm" a couple of years ago.
I'm LOVING the splocks. They remind me of all those pictures of Jupiter that I pasted to my science fair posters in about sixth grade - stripes and stripes of color with the odd killer storm splotching up the surface.
I crocheted my daughter a huge hideous (now I think so anyway) afghan to take to college. She loves it, keeps it in her home, says it's like a hug when she feels bad. Makes me feel good and cry at the same time.
Love the Splocks, especially the name. Have fun Harlot-ing tonight! I'm so jealous.
Posted by: Barbara on April 21, 2008 03:05 PMI have a cardigan my (paternal) Grandmother knit for my mom. My mom does not wear, has never really worn cardigans. It is really in good shape, but it probably acrylic. It doesn't really matter, my Grandma made it.
As for the splocks, they really looks like you spilled bleach on the socks you worked on in Hawaii.
Have fun tonight. I wish I could go, but I think I should probably care for child that probably has mono. (Note, do not share anything to eat or drink with teenagers from my daughter's HS.)
Posted by: PICAdrienne on April 21, 2008 03:18 PMI love your story about your Mom's sweater. I have a christmas tree skirt that my mom crocheted many years ago that I just can't part with. I bring it out every year and put it around the tree. Also I made my daughter a huge, huge afghan out of acrylic yarn many years ago and she still has it. It's her sick afghan. She brings it out when she is sick and wraps up in it. Love that.
Posted by: Cindy on April 21, 2008 04:19 PMOh that sweater! I guess she wanted to make sure every little bit of you would be toasty warm. ;)
Posted by: Kristen on April 21, 2008 05:50 PMI do. These huge, screamingly yellow socks someone knit me. I can't quite bring myself to wear them out, but they're my fave socks for indoor winter meditation sessions...I really do love them
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on April 21, 2008 07:57 PMWhat a great post, Ryan. And did Cuzzin Tom know we talked about his socks while waiting for the Harlot tonight? Good to see you.
Posted by: KarenJoSeattle on April 22, 2008 12:26 AMHappy Blog-i-versary! I used to wear (and love!!!) a big Norwegian-style reindeer sweater that my Mom knit for my Dad when they were in college (she made one for herself first to sort out gauge and get her tension right- she was very tiny then so my girls kept it in the dress-up box). We used to drive from NY to MD many weekends before she lost her battle with breast cancer and on the weekend of her funeral, I left the sweater at their house. My brother and SIL flew home after we left and Dad lent her the sweater (technically it was his) which she took home, promising to "wash it and send it back". Yep- she shrunk it (jeez- 18yrs ago- bitter much!!?). I still have them both, and if I ever lose about 40 or so lbs I may yet be able to wear Dad's sweater again! :)
Posted by: Tish on April 22, 2008 11:42 AMMy mom isn't as much of a knitter, but I have paintings she made and other pieces of found art. She made my quilt, which I need to rebind. The edges are horribly frayed. But I love it anyway.
Someday I hope that she'll make more of her wall hangings. They're gorgeous.
Posted by: Seanna Lea on April 22, 2008 12:18 PMYup. I have a sweater that my MIL knitted for me. Out of cotton (which she hates). Based on a sweater I wanted to order out of a catalog (which she hates). It's too big, and the neck curls up funny, but she wrote that pattern and used that cotton, and (especially now that I'm a knitter) it means a whole lot to me. So I wear it when I'm feeling down and need to be reminded that sometimes, someone will do something hard just because they love me. (BTW, I am so entertained you mentioned Dufflepuds, I can't tell you. I mock my husband regularly for naming a childhood cat of his Dufflepud. He will feel vindicated.)
Posted by: Jocelyn on April 22, 2008 03:05 PMHappy Blogiversary! I have my first coming up soon; I feel like a newlywed still.
And I was there, right there, for that very snow, which required my plane driving back to the terminal to be deiced! When one is flying from Seattle to Minneapolis near the end of April, and one has to get deiced due to snow in SEATTLE, something is very strange. Especially when at the same time, there is an earthquake in the Midwest....
It was my first time in the Seattle area -- I loved it. Not my last.
Hope you had fun last night!
And BTW, the Splock Socks are curiously mesmerizing.
Happy bloggiversary! It was good to see you again last night.
I have a cardigan ... oh man, I should have brought it. Made in Paton's Astra (acrylic baby yarn) in a pale lilac (which as you know, having met me, is likely the *most* attractive colour in the universe on me. No, rilly.). It's at least a size 18, and I am not. The sleeves cover my knuckles, the bottom hem is well below my butt.
Some of the cables are mis-crossed.
My mother made it for me last year for xmoose because I had said I got cold about 4am when working the graveyard shift. She has some arthritis so it was a heck of a feat for three weeks of knitting.
Man, I wish acrylic would felt ...
Posted by: Rabbitch on April 22, 2008 06:25 PMUhm, darlin'? Shshshs....have to tell you, that sweater's a tad too big! {heh} But anyway? You look ADORABLE in it. The sox and the splox are fab; I've had a loss of Knitting Mojo (it hit about half-way through the LAST toque) but it's ending, and I feel some sox coming on. I should try them NOW so I have them to work on Monday when the Harlot comes to see US, right here in our very own Madison! And...Happy Blogiversary!! I have to check; mine may be coming up. For sure a "work in progress", but you're an inspiration.
Posted by: dale-harriet in WI on April 22, 2008 11:22 PMHappy Blogiversary!
Thanks for all the moments of pleasure you have given us over the years.
Side Note: I am loving TMK's blog but I can't leave a comment - it ignores me. Tell her I am a steady reader and will follow her career with considerable interest - I just can't tell her so.
Again, happy happy joy joy.
Posted by: Childe on April 23, 2008 09:53 AM