It's been a while

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Oh my, it's been quite a while since I last posted here. I haven't been feeling myself in recent months and I've been making very little or no knitting progress. I can't even stand to look at or touch yarn most of the time, the thought of yarn makes me feel itchy! I can't even think about wearing a scarf right now, not that I would want to with the warm weather we have been having. I'm feeling miserable or uncomfortable most of the time so I'm not good for doing very much. I can't even concentrate on knitting while watching TV. And I haven't been up for the usual knitting internet activities.

The good news is that I'm feeling a little better, not quite as bad as the worse times, but I'm not 100% better yet. I'm taking stronger meds which has a long list of side effects. One of them is increased appetite. I always have the munchies now and I just finished half a Chinese Mooncake before I sat down in front of the computer to type this. If you've never had one of these, you should know that it is quite rich/dense and not exactly the healthiest thing to eat. Hey, it was that or an apple strudel I picked up at Costco (8 to a box!). The lady at the sampling station at Costco was evil, she had to mention that they could be frozen and that they'd be great with ice cream. How can you resist knowing you don't have to finish 8 of these things before they expire in 2 days?

Another good thing is that I think my local medical group has made some improvements to waiting times before seeing a doctor. I took some yarn & needles with me on 3 visits with the hopes of starting the toe section of a sock. During each visit, I didn't even have enough time to finish JMCO! I didn't even bother to bring knitting with my during my last visit, and it turned out to be the correct call. Not so good for sock progress, but very happy about not having to wait a long time in the waiting room. :-)

I'm still chipping away at Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris, nearly done. And I finally got my hands on True Blood season 1. Yay! I've watched the first 4 episodes so far. It's somewhat similar to the book. Some things aren't as I had imagined them when I was reading the books.

I decided to try a new restaurant for dim sum. I think they need to figure out which country they want to be, cuz the place is called Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor in Sunnyvale. The wait for at able is insane, be prepared to wait. A. Long. Time. Bring a book, bring your knitting. And once you get called for a seat, you'll find it is a mad house inside. Noisy too, due to lack of carpeting (for one). The tables are packed in tightly; the carts can barely make it by without bumping a chair or two. You may need to be assertive about getting food onto your table, depending on where you're seated (by the wall is not good). Don't be shy, get up and take a closer look at what's in the cart. The food is average but affordable. (Avoid the turnip cake, it is sub-par, turnip cakes should not be that mushy). At least you won't have a problem finding parking at the little strip mall the restaurant is located in.

Dim sum seems to be a brunch thing here in the US. I was surprised when I was in China (aeons ago) and saw restaurants serving dim sum at dinnertime.

The Little One mentioned that she prefers going out for dim sum with Nai Nai & Yeh Yeh (grandma & grandpa). Smart girl. She knows that when we go out for dim sum in a larger group, there are many more dishes for her to try! Her eyes are always wider than her stomach, and she'll always say, "I'm still hungry," when you know she must be full after all the food she's just consumed. Her favorite dim sum dessert is the Dan Taat, an egg custard tart.

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Of course Deb would guess that the photo in this post was a dishcloth. Well, not actually a dishcloth, but close enough. It's knit with kitchen cotton, the same stuff you might use for a dishcloth.

It all started many many months ago while I was at Mom's house and she showed me her floor mop. She couldn't remember the name of the mop, and it didn't look like my Swiffer so I knew it what it wasn't. Mom mentioned that she wanted to find more refill covers for her mop.

Fast forward many months because I'm just plain forgetful. I was browsing up and down the aisles at my local Big Bullseye Store, wandered down the mop aisle and saw a mop which looked similar to what I remembered my Mom's mop looked like. It was a Scotch Brite. So I picked up 2 of the extra mop covers:

And then used the mop refill as a sizing guideline to knit a cover for her. Actual fit size is slightly smaller than the dimensions mentioned on the packaging due to the "overhang" along the edges. So although the packaging says 5.2" x 16.2" , I was aiming for something a little narrower. The "pockets" were 3.5" deep. For the mop to fit my knitted cover, I needed the width to be at least 4" wide and length at least 16". My goal was a knitted rectangle of around 4" wide and 23" long. Why 23" long? So that I could fold over the ends to make 2 "pockets" --> 3.5" foldover section, 16" mop section, 3.5" foldover section = 23" total length.






After seaming both ends and snipping off the excess yarn, I ended up with 10 pieces of yarn! It was partly due to not having enough tail for seaming one side, so I'd have to join more yarn to finish that off. I also sewed up each seam in both directions for extra strength.

Oh and if you look carefully at how the ends come out from inside/outside, you'll see that I couldn't even do the simple task of folding over the ends on the SAME side. (Ends are on the outside on the left side, ends are on the inside on the right side). One is folded over on the RS and the other is folder over on the WS ... not that you can really tell the difference when the stitch pattern is reversible. ;-)

Here's what they look like side by side. You can see what a bad job I did of turning the ends. The pocket on one side is longer than the pocket on the other side. My finished rectangle was more like 24" long. I should have thought to center things so that both pockets or folded over sections were the same length. I worked a chain selvedge along the edge and folded over 12 chain length on one side and 16 chain length on the other.

Here's what the underside looks like.

Keep in mind that I didn't have Mom's mop to test for fit while I was making this cover. I brought the thing with me the next time I visited Mom and tried it on her mop. It came out too loose. That might not seem so obvious in the photo. It is definitely too loose. And it will become looser once the cotton becomes wet. In retrospect I probably should have added some ties to help secure it to the mop. My guess is that Mom will probably not use it because it fits so poorly.

Well now I know. I'll have to make it snugger next time. And maybe add some ties to secure it better, since wet cotton stretches like crazy.

PersProjNotes for this cover:
-- Lily Sugar & Cream; 4.5 mm.
-- Box Stitch from HG2 pg 18, mult 4 + 2.
-- CO 22? 1&4: K2 * P2 K2 *; 2&3: P2 * K2 P2 *.


Well, it's time for me to finish my Jasmine tea and then go get dinner started. Can't we just skip to dessert? There's still one lonely apple strudel waiting to be consumed...
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Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits

Luna Progress

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Making more progress...

... on this shawl. You saw the beginnings here. Here's what it looks like after the 3rd repeat:

3rd repeat: 1-14, 15-34 x 3

... and after muddling through it a little more, I completed the 4th repeat:

4th repeat, 1-14, 15-34 x4

I'm working on my 3rd hank of yarn at this point (4th repeat).

My first shawl, the red one, came out too short. I followed the instructions, knitting only 3 repeats before doing the ending (15 to 24 + edging). This time I decided I had to work more repeats. I'm just not sure how many more repeats I need. This is a different yarn so it may stretch/block differently.

How do you know when to stop?


Lots happening in my neck of the woods, unfortunately much of it is not knitting. I'm still stuck on virtual farming, although I've stopped farming as "aggressively". I'm on level 30 in Farm Town, and am in no hurry to level up.

Remember that new sleigh bed I mentioned earlier? I apparently have two big bruises, one on each upper thigh at exactly the same height as the footboard. Hmmm... I guess I bumped into it a few times while rounding the corner ... yes, while going in both directions. (Oddly, DH hasn't had any problems with banging into the footboard) Well, those bruises are the least of my problems these days. Let's just say the word corticosteroid rolls off the tongue real easy these days. I am not a happy camper. I've got a doctor's appt early tomorrow morning and I'm setting the alarm on my cell phone cuz I am not a morning person (especially these days when my problem wakes me up around 2AM like clockwork and keeps me awake).

The Little One has requested a purple Pooh Bear washcloth so she can use to "wash" her Pooh Bear. Yes, she specifically wanted it to be purple. So now I need to go find a pattern and some purple kitchen cotton yarn. I know I have lots of variegated S&C/P&C yarn and can't remember if I have any solid purple in my stash. It's been a while since I went stash diving for kitchen cotton. Since this is a knitting project of interest to the Little One, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to "help" me look for some suitable yarn. Perhaps we'll do that tomorrow after I retern from my doctor's appt. I made her an Elmo washcloth a while back which she now has folded up and calls it a "sponge". I'm not sure why the Elmo cloth is a "sponge" while she refers to the Pooh bear cloth as a "washcloth", when she knows they're both pretty much the same thing.

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.

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Furniture

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In an earlier post, I mentioned looking for bedroom furniture. After looking here and there, we finally settled on this set. This is my first sleigh style bed. The furniture set looks good in our bedroom. We decided not to get the mirror or the bench. I've had a mirror on an older dresser and didn't really care for it. I want to get a full length mirror instead. We don't have enough room for the bench, however if we ever do move into another place with a larger bedroom, I'd like something like a chest which could provide a bit of storage too.

With the bed and the new latex mattresses we got, our bed is much higher than before. I'm still getting used to this. I used to be able to sit up in bed and reach over to get something from my little knitting tote bag. Now it's quite a stretch.

I didn't think I would need a bed skirt with the new slight bed, however the bottom mattress still peeked through so I ended up having to use one. Oh and I must admit that I have already bumped my thigh while trying to round the corner around the bed. But it has only happened once.

Perhaps I should just plop my little knitting tote bag in an open nightstand drawer instead of putting it on the floor by the bed.

The drawers have these dangling rings that my little one likes to push up. She has her own idea about how things should be.

That skinny drawer on this chest is a jewelry drawer. It's not really something I care to have, but oh well. I guess I'll put something in it.
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While shopping for mattresses, we tried out a RejuveNite latex pillow and loved how it felt. So we picked up a pair, since it was B1G1F. I've slept on it for a couple of nights and still like it. This is a good sign. :-) The only thing you need to do with these is let it air out for a day before using for the first time, cuz it has a very strong odor !

I had to move boxes of yarn out of the bedroom to make room for the furniture. Some of it went into the living room, some went into the storage room, and some went into DH's closet (shhhh). I used to have an idea of what lived in the bedroom, now it'll be harder to find my yarn. :-(

I've been chipping away at a sock while watching TV. We finally caught up on the last 5 or 6 episodes of BSG. Yes. I. Know. It's been months since the series ended. Thank goodness for Tivo. I still have TW Children of the Earth to get to.

I gave up on that Donna Leon mystery, and started Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris instead. Harper (the main character) is able to find dead people. It's a creepy skill to have! This is the same author who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse series. She's actually written tons of books, and has several different series. I'll eventually work my way through them all.

The Little One has "graduated" to the next classroom at her daycare, she'll be starting in her new classroom next Monday with the other "big kids". She seems ok with the idea. She wanted to bring cupcakes on Friday (her last day) and made a very big deal about it. During the usual night night routine on Thursday at bedtime, she made a point of reminding us to bring cupcakes to school on Friday. So I had to get up early and hunt down some cupcakes Friday morning. It feels weird to buy cupcakes in the morning. Nothing gets by those kids. I walked into the classroom with them in hand and was walking towards the counter to put them down when one of her classmates shouts out excitedly, "Cupcakes!!!!"

I'm still sucked into that farming game, Farm Town. And I finally gave in and checked out that other farming game, Farmville, because all my neighbors from FT sent me gifts from FV (cuz apparently they all play both games). I was ignoring them during the past couple of weeks, but got tired of seeing all those gift requests enumerated on my FB requests page. I think (but am not absolutely sure that) you can see my Farm Town lot here. Please let me know if the link works or not. My farm is still a work in progress. I'll think more seriously about how I want it to look after I have reached Level 34. One thing I know is that I'd like to try to build a waterfall !

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.
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Time sink

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Let's see, what's been going on in my corner of the world lately? Well, I seem to have been sucked into some Facebook games. Who knew I'd like Farm Town so much, it's quite addictive. My farm is coming along nicely, I've upgraded to the largest farm lot. I need to figure out how to arrange everything on the farm, my crops are planted in a boring square/rectangular fields. I've seen other people with very creative farms. I finally have enough neighbors to hire plowers. :-) I just reached the level where I can plant Peppers. My 4 yr old vetoes peppers and onions. She wants me to plant grapes, raspberries, and sunflowers. The other game is reminiscent of The Sims. I was addicted to The Sims many many many many years back. I haven't picked up Sims 2 yet, and they're already out with Sims 3!
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Remember that little trip I took to Healdsburg? Here are a few more pictures.

This statue is dedicated to Healdsburg residents who served in various wars.

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Some painted benches by the park.

And a painted wall which is very difficult to capture when there are cars parked in front of it.










What else is new? Well, we're replacing our bed with a sleigh bed, getting some bedroom furniture, thinking about getting a latex mattress, and moving stuff around to make room for the bedroom furniture. The downside of this is that most of what needs to be moved are boxes and boxes of yarn. And there really is no other place to put it.


Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.

Sock 7 FO

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Practice Pair #7 is finished, my first lace attempt here. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I'm sure I'll use this stitch pattern again from bwt1.219 (livre bleu). Since the directions are for flat back & forth knitting, you have to convert the WS rows for knitting in the round: K <-> P; SSK <-> P2TogB; K2Tog <-> P2Tog. Easy as kahlua pie.
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I started both socks in this pair from the toe. Each time I have started the past few pairs of socks, I've been telling myself, I'll start the next pair from the cuff. Perhaps the next pair. I've only made one pair cuff-down, it was my first pair. I get the impression that most people prefer starting from the cuff. Perhaps I am missing something here. Surely there must by some advantage I am overlooking. I really should give that another try to see why most people seem to prefer that method. Next pair.

Anyhow, I started both these socks with what has now become my "standard" favorite toe-up. I've found that I can do JMCO with the stiff pointy sticks; I only tried it when Michelle mentioned it could be done. It's a little easier using circs, however now that I've had some practice doing it with the stiff pointy sticks, I don't find the fiddly start quite as frustrating and it is easier that stopping to go fish out 2 circs.

I chose to do SRH again on both socks and am not getting better at it. I would somehow end up 1 stitch short, no clue why. And this happened with both socks! I'm hoping to get faster at the SRH. It is still taking me an hour to complete the entire process. Is this normal? Or am I just slower than average? I don't like to put the sock down while I'm doing the SRH (though it happens often enough) because I feel like I'll lose my place and my momentum. So I usually try to start the heel when I know I have a good chunk of time to devote to it. I think I am gtting better at reducing holes where the SRH meets the instep. I've been picking up an additional stitch there (kinda like how you would when you join a heel flap to the instep). I'm pretty sure this helps. I just decrease it in the following round.

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. It's the same pattern used in my dishcloth (see 09Nov06 post). I've been meaning to use it in a scarf, but the P2TogB on WS rows just kills me! I think the pattern is much easier to work in the round, so it's perfect for socks. :-)

Oh one more thing. I used 2.75 mm on Sock 1 and 2.50 mm on Sock 2. I like how Sock 2 came out, it just seemed to fit better using the smaller size needle.

PersProjNotes (almost everything needed to recreate this pair):
S1:
-- Pattern from Bwt1.219.
-- Work RS rows as is in pattern.
-- Convert WS rows for knitting in the round as follows: R2: K2, SSK, K4; R4: K5, SSK, K2; R6: K6, SSK, K1; R8: K4, K2T, K3; R10: K2, K2T, K5; Row 12: K1, K2T, K6.
-- JMCO 12/24 3xinc -> 64st 2.75mm ~7.5-8 spi
-- Start SRH @ 6.75" (no inc b4) = 54 foot rnds (not counting toe)
-- Work SRH until 14 sts centre, 9 sts sides
-- Resume lace pattern with Rnd 7; plain knit on back on Rnds 7 & 8, then begin lace on back side with Rnd 9.
-- PU add'l st when joining srh w/instep to reduce holes
-- 11 total rpts of lace patt = 132 rnds
-- 8 rnds k2p2 cuff
-- bottom of heel to end of lace patt on leg = 9" + 1" cuff rib
S2:
-- JMCO 12/24 3xinc -> 64st 2.50 mm
-- Start SRH @ 6.75" = 58 foot rnds
-- Resume lace pattern with Rnd 11; plain knit on back on Rnds 11 & 12, then begin lace on back side with Rnd 1.

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I got this link from blogless Les. You must check out this incredible cross stitch (actual link)! Wow!



I finally finished reading Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (book 9 in the Sookie Stackhouse series). I'm wondering which vampire Niall was referring to at the end of the book. Is it Bill or Eric? I have the feeling it is Bill. Book 10 isn't out yet. Now what?

Well I guess I could try to finish Acqua Alta by Donna Leon, which I've been working on during the last 5 or 6 weeks.

I've been furniture shopping lately, looking for a new bedroom set and new mattress. We finally chose our bedroom set this past weekend, it's a sleigh bed. I'll find some pics for you next time. I'm thinking of the Simmons Latex mattress as a possible "greener" option. The cool thing is that it has a 20 year warranty. I tried out the Tempurpedic Comfort Pillows at one of the mattress stores and it felt good ... until I discovered it is a $125 pillow. Ouch! I don't think I can spend that much on a pillow.


Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.

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