Wool & Words

I have a stash that is far too large. I keep bringing yarn into the house, but very little leaves in the form of knitted projects.

I want to cut my stash in half, at least, 3/4 if possible. Any suggestions for approaching this task? I'll take all suggestions, ruthless or amusing. One of you will be the lucky winner of some delight removed from the stash.

In Other News

Lara Cardigan is blocked and ready for seaming.

I'm working on the back of the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket from IK Winter 2005. I love it! The sweater will be a shop model for Main Street.

I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I've got to turn in something chapter-like on Tuesday to my diss advisor. Wailing and gnashing of teeth from the general vicinity of Athens, GA can be assumed to originate from my home.

Posted by KnitNut at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Read if you like--I love Shelby Steele and wanted to share.

Of Condi Rice, Steele writes:

Despite a childhood in the segregated South that might entitle her to a grievance identity, she has clearly chosen that older black American tradition in which blacks neither deny injustice nor allow themselves to be defined by it.

I don't want to dwell on the topic of the piece--I'm not interested in discussing the 2008 elections and won't be until after I'm married--but I want to dwell in the delicious truth of this statement. This is how I was raised and how I live my life--not defined by injustice, but not denying it either. It's a hard row to hoe, but I try to maintain a positive outlook and to pass that on. Since I teach and work in a bastion of whiteness, I'm largely shielded from the day to day struggles, but I know that they are there and I try to shed light on them when I can in conversations.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finished the Lara Cardigan today. Well, the knitting is finished--I've still got to block it and sew those Really Long Side Seams. Pictures when it's all over.

Cedar Socks are still going--2nd verse same as the first and all. Love the yarn, love the color, love, love, love the Lorna's.

Next Knit: The Pearl Buck sweater from Interweave's Winter 2005 issue in Jo Sharp DK. A really rich red. Mmmmmmm.

So that's my life in knitting--miles of stockinette ahead, punctuated by a few bits of charted stitch goodness. Perfect no-brainer knitting.

I'm trying to decide if I should sign up for the next go-round of Sockapalooza. The button alone is worth signing up...and I love to knit socks.

It's late...I'm off to bed. Expect either spotty or ranting posts this week as I write...

Posted by KnitNut at 01:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks Amy for putting together such a fine list of sock patterns on the net. Excellent resource!

I'm laid up today with a bottle of muscle relaxants, my knitting, and DVDs (watching Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave right now). I'm working on the Lara sweater and the Cedar socks. Both are plain stockinette, which is good since I'm drugged. Why am I drugged? I don't really know. A couple of days ago I started having icky back pain--bad enough to require a doctor visit. Not the stones, but maybe stone-related. So I'm on drugs till my monthly visitor leaves and then we can sort out what the real problem is. Sigh.

Oh, and I've got to have a chapter of my diss ready for reading by Jan. 31. So I'm reading a bit this afternoon too, in moments of lucidity.

One of which I'm using up now composing this entry, so I guess I'd better make hay while the sun shines and all that lot.

Posted by KnitNut at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There are always just so many cool things happening in the knitting world. I've been trying to only sign up for the things I know I have a reasonable chance of maintaining interest in and finishing. My latest? Chrissy's Sock a Month Knitalong and the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. We'll see how well I do in each.

Another bit of lemming-like behavior from me--check this out:

I'm not one to use That Statement often, but I think it's ridiculous that a company can trademark such a common phrase.

What's on the needles?

Socks Falling on Cedars

and

Think of Lara

Cheers!

Posted by KnitNut at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

--from "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Read more at MLK Online

Posted by KnitNut at 12:00 PM | Permalink

First up, thanks for all the thoughtful responses about wedding business (and checkout lines!). I'll be writing a bit more about that situation later this week, so stay tuned (will be drama-lite, though).

Thanks also for the kinds comments about my little plumbing issue. The stone has (thankfully) passed and been sent to a lab for identification and processing--I hope they pulverize that little bastard.

In Knitting Knews:

So, you saw one hat a week or two ago. Here are some others:

2 more EZ Very Warm Hats, modeled by the trusty Maurice:

And here are Steve's nieces and nephews with the fruits of our hat-knitting labors. He knit the hats for the boys, I knit the ones for the girls:

Current projects:

--a pair of socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, Cedar
--a Lara Cardigan in K1C2 Paintbox (see the beginnings here)

Posted by KnitNut at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What are the etiquette rules regarding self-serve checkout counters at grocery and Wal-Mart-type stores? There doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of items you can bring through one, but I think checking out an entire shopping cart of grocery items (complete with produce lookups) VERY SLOWLY is pushing the social acceptibility envelope.

And who, exactly, is a wedding for? My attention has, of late, been turned to the whole guest-list-reception drama, and I'd like to hear what you thoughtful ladies and gents have to say about family traditions vs. the bride's desires and the matter of inviting folks to one part of the hoopla and not another. Are the times a' changing? Pardon me if I'm being vague--I've just got these questions swimming about in my little mind.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

If you like a good bit o' sass (Ann and Jen, I know you do!), check out

The Rhetorical Letter Writer

I almost peed my pants.

Speaking of P

No stone yet. New prescription for Demerol. Mmmm.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just thought I'd toss one out there:

Posted by KnitNut at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks for all of the well wishes. I'm still confined to my apartment. Yesterday was apparantly the honeymoon period--quiet, so quiet in fact that I thought perhaps I'd missed my sweetie's passing.

Not so, I'm afraid. This morning I awoke and the little bastard was moving with a vengence. All I can say is, thank God for hydrocodone. For those playing the home game, the stone is 4 mm. Get out your needle gauges.

I wish that I could say I've been enormously productive on any front, but I can't. I was more productive in the hospital. Witness this (crappy phone) pic of me working on a hat:

Nothing like knitting in a hospital gown with an IV in. The nurse was nice enough to consult me before the jab, so that I could knit without fear of--well, fear of whatever one fears when they've got a tube connected to their bodies. And I have to give them props on the blanket--it was heated (bless them), which was nice since the anti-nausea medicine made me Very Cold.

2005 FOs

Socks: 9 pair (4 for me, 5 for others)
Shawl/Wraps: 4
Hats: 12 (the big holiday push--8 of those are actually EZ's Very Warm Hat, so I may be cheating, but darn, I knit 2 whole hats for each one hat)
Sweaters: 2 (tanks that didn't fit)
Mittens: 1
Afghan: 1
Scarves: 1

Not bad, I suppose, although I haven't yet done the list of started objects...and I haven't really included all of the class models I've knit.

I'm having trouble maintaining mental coherence (blessed drugs), so I'll leave you with pics of the last FO for 2005, modelled by the recipient, my nephew Trey.

and side 2

Back to the couch.

Posted by KnitNut at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ann asked in the comments if my urine ever turned the hoped-for-blue. I'm sorry to say that it didn't, but it was certainly an unnatural shade of orange for several days. Sigh.

Of course, that course of treatment was for naught, as I painfully discovered Monday evening. I was driving home and felt a horrid pain in my side. I called Steve, who asked me what hospital I was going to. Smart man, that Steve. I drove to the hospital, got triaged, peed in a couple of cups, had an IV drip (with an anti-nausea drug and some delicious Demerol...I shudder to think of how much that's going to cost!), a CT scan and finally left, 5 hours later, with a diagnosis of kidney stones and prescriptions for yummy drugs.

So I've been drinking copious amounts of water all day and trying to catch the stone (yes, that means what you think it means). Sigh. Of course, enforced house boundedness means I've been reading blogs--oh, so many blogs--in an attempt to catch up.

I also started a list of all my knitting FO's from 2005. I'll post it tomorrow, along with a list of UFO's...I wonder which will be longer?

Posted by KnitNut at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Friday:

We didn't do much--just some small running around shopping.

Saturday:

The family bonfire, a New Year's Eve tradition, went on as usual. Before the show, we visited with one of my uncles, bought a boatload of fireworks, and picked up a Scrabble dictionary.

We played lots of Scrabble last week.

A very heavy fog started rolling in while we were driving home. By the time the fire was lit, there was a mist covering everything--my hair was soaked from being outside for 15 minutes. We didn't let that stop us, though--the gumbo was great and the fireworks were still pretty awesome.

Sunday:

After attending Mass and visiting with my mom's family (I love my uncles), we left Lafayette and headed to Mandeville to see an old friend from college. Aaron's a great guy, and I didn't want to leave, but the UTI was acting up, we had a long drive ahead of us, and, quite frankly, I wanted to be home in my messy apartment.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:53 AM | Permalink