Category: Blogging/computer

One toe short

I fell off the blogging traincar for awhile there. Part of it is the general ennui that accompanies the grey and rainy spring we’ve had. No doubt some of it is all the political turmoil that has been sucking the soul out of everybody I know. It’s pretty easy to get dragged down into the news/social media cesspool these days. I finally decided to just delete my twitter account last week. There’s one less thing to be outraged over.

Another reason for the post-avoidance is the blog mess that happened two years ago when the blog got hacked, then I lost a whole bunch of photos when I managed to get it up and running again. I’ve been trying to upload those photos to the correct blog posts, but it’s a tedious process, and some of them have been unrecoverable. I decided last week to say just fuck it, and leave the old posts as is. Probably nobody goes back to look at those, and I do have project photos on Ravelry if anyone does get some burning desire to see them. It’s a bit like mourning a favorite possession that you’ve lost. Sometimes it’s just time to move on.

I have been knitting, but mostly I’ve been working on a secret baby project. Said baby is due in June, and I should be on track to finish that on time, as long as I don’t get all distracted and cast on dozens of new projects.

Those socks up there should be done by the end of the day today. I now have a sock drawer stuffed full of hand knit socks, which makes me a very happy person.

I have almost that many more in the sock laundry bin. And of course, John has his own sock drawer.

Next time I’ll drag out the other things I’ve been working on!

Happy blogiversary to me!

Oops. I actually let this one slip by me. 18 years ago yesterday, I did my first blog post! I’ve been a slacker for the past year, not for lack of knitting. I think part of it is that I’m a slow knitter in general. Endless posts about the same sock can get a bit boring. ”Oh WOW! I knit another four rows!”

I also still haven’t gotten out of the mode of keeping much of my personal thoughts and day to day activities private. I still remember the incident where I posted about being sick (“having the plague” was the phrase I used), and had a clinic manager get their knickers in a knot over it. There is also the pandemic, and being stuck at home for much of the past year. It doesn’t give one much exciting to report.

But 18 years! That’s a lot of blogging. And hopefully with spring here, and the pandemic looking at least a bit better, I’ll have more to talk about.

For now, you get this.

It’s a bag. With a knitting project in it. A secret knitting project that I can’t show you because it is a gift. It’s a gift with a deadline, so it’s pretty much all I’ve been working on, and I can’t even show it to you.

Here’s a tiny peak.

It will have a lot more pretty colors than that when it is finished.

I know that someone will ask about the bag, so here it is.

I got this on Etsy, but you can find similar bags all over online. Just google “bento knitting bag” and you’ll find lots of options. It’s a single layer cloth bag to hold a project. It stuffs nicely into whatever larger knitting bag you are toting around, and it keeps your project from being snagged on other things in your main bag. I highly recommend these.

Maybe I’ll go knit on that sock a bit so I have something to show you next time.

Ye of little faith

I finally quit procrastinating and called my blog hosting service earlier this week to try to fix the blog. After close to an hour on the phone with a nice tech geek, he said that he’d have to escalate it up the ladder. I figured that was a euphemism for “I don’t know how the hell you screwed this up, but I can’t fix it”. He said to give it 48 hours or so.

I logged in today, and it is back to working. I had to do some tinkering, but if you see this, I’m back in business.

I have been knitting. I finished a sock for John this morning.

There you go. I’m off to get supper ready.

It’s time for summer knitting

I’m still mostly working on that mystery project which I can’t show you.

OK, here’s one tiny photo.

There is a deadline on this, which is a ways off, but I’m not dumb enough to say anything like “I have plenty of time”.

I dragged out an old project that has been marinating long enough.

This is my Hudson Valley cardigan, which got shoved into time out when last summer turned to fall and winter. I have the back nearly done. I’m hoping to get that finished so I can wear it this summer.

By the way, I hate my blog. Nobody will likely be able to read this post. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’ve spent countless hours trying to fix it. We’ll see if this posts. If not, I may abandon the whole damn thing and move to a different blog platform.

Not in the mood

Blogiversary! Sixteen years ago I hit “publish” on my first post. I’ve slacked off from time to time in keeping up here, but I’m still finding it a rewarding way to connect with the many friends I’ve made over those years.

I almost missed it, I’ve been just a little preoccupied with work, and when I’m home, I have tended to just go brain-dead in general. I’m working three days a week in clinic doing primary care internal medicine, so don’t have the exposure that I would if I were working in the hospital, but it is still very stressful right now. It doesn’t help that I’m in that “over-60” group, and so is John. I am very fortunate in that I work for Kaiser Permanente—we’ve had a somewhat heroic response to the pandemic in the past few weeks, in terms of getting ready for what’s undoubtedly coming our way. I think we are miles ahead of other medical groups elsewhere, and certainly anyone that is in private practice.

As someone who likes things that are nice and orderly, and doesn’t enjoy big changes, this has been a challenge, but I’m doing OK. John and I certainly are in a privileged position in that my job is pretty secure, we’re both healthy despite the age thing, and we have enough “stuff” of every variety to outlast any epidemic. I certainly have enough yarn around here to last through an apocalypse.

Since this is in fact a knitting blog, here is some knitting.

I’d like to try to finish those this week. Since I can’t leave the house until Monday, that is a possibility, even for a slow knitter like me.

I think I actually have managed to match the stripes on these.

I still haven’t fixed all of the older photos from the blog after I deleted everything earlier this month. It’s sort of tedious going back into individual posts, finding the photos (if I still have them), and uploading. Right now I’d much rather be doing something less annoying.

Take care of yourselves, wash your hands, and stay home unless you have to go out. There, I’ve covered both the “knitting” and the “doctor” part of the blog!

Thirteen!

Blogiversary!

Thirteen years ago today, I hit the “save” button on my first blog post. I’ve had lots of fun and learned a lot about knitting in that time. Here’s to at least a few more years blogging.

There’s not much new going on at Chez Knitting Doctor. I haven’t gotten alot of knitting done this past week, but finished adding length to one half of John’s sweater. I’m working on the other half. It makes good basketball knitting.

Is there any question who we’re for in this family? Go Heels!

It’s My Blogiversary–

And I forgot it!

Or I almost did, anyway. 11 years of Knitting Doctor!

It’s been a terrifically fun 11 years, and I’m not ready to give it up just yet. Even if I’m sometimes a pretty lame blogger and an even lamer knitter, I’m still here.

This will be short and very sweet, since I was in the middle of flute practice when I remembered it was an anniversary. We ended up having a great time on the cruise. Here are a couple of photos.

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Yes, I took my flute and practiced. The guy in the Princess Theater wagged his finger at me and wouldn’t let me get up on stage. I did have a few people drift in and out, and one guy asked if I was part of the orchestra.

Here’s the link to John’s blog post about the trip, since I’m lazy that way.

I’m off to practice. Back to those scales.

WIPs, Weekend, And A Winner!

Wow! I know those “Free Yarn” posts always get lots of comments, but you guys just overwhelmed me! If you haven’t gone back to the prior post, please do and read the comments. There are lots of terrific pattern ideas in there.

So, you all want to hear about the winning entry, right? First you get to hear about my WIP* Weekend. I REALLY really want to start knitting with that fabulous red lace yarn that I posted a couple weeks ago. But I already have 3 shawls on the needles, including two that are years old. So I dragged out one of them this weekend to work on it.

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This is Morning Glory. It’s a rectangular shawl in two parts, grafted together in the middle. The first part is done, though I have quite a bit of yarn left. I’m tempted to make each half one repeat longer. We’ll see. I’m a couple repeats away from finishing the second half, and I’m pretty good and sick of this. The yarn color is Froot Loops, though I think it looks like a Tequila Sunrise.

Now, on to what you all came for: the yarn prize winner. The Random Number Generator chose: MK, otherwise known as Merry Karma, you win the reward challenge! Congratulations! These were the four patterns she recommended:

Elphaba (the pullover), Ishbel Shawl, Honey Cowl and Storm Water Shawl

You will recall the rules: you get to pick ONE of those four prize packages in my last post. Let me know what you choose, and I’ll get the prize off to you!

Thanks, everybody, for playing along. Eventually I’ll get around to making a big list of those patterns, but there are some gems in there, so really, go check them out.

*WIP= Work In Progress, for you non-knitters

Blogiversary! Free Yarn!

Here we go again! Another year of blogging. Let’s see, this whole thing started in 2004 with this entry.

Since then, there have been 623 posts, including this one. There have been 8557 comments! You guys can be a talkative bunch.

This past year I was sort of a slowpoke in the knitting category. I actually finished very few projects. I’m hoping to get a few more done this year. Stick with me and you’ll see what I’m up to! There should be knitting, spinning, perhaps some dyeing! And as always, cooking, travel, and just general silliness. And whiskey and frogging, you can almost always count on that now and then.

In my last post, I showed the frogged lace cowl thing. It did get restarted on a 16 inch circular, which is working out better. Here’s a photo.

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I’m about a third done with it, I think. This yarn is really, really fragile. It also has a major halo, which is OK in a cowl, but I don’t think it would hold up to any kind of wear and tear. Click on that photo to see the fuzziness. The KAL on the KnitCompanion website includes a wrister pattern to match, but I’m not sure I’ll do that. I doubt I’d wear them, and I’m sort of sick of knitting this. I have so much other stuff on the needles that I would rather work on. So there. It’s my knitting, I can do what I want.

Last but not least, let’s do a giveaway in honor of the blog anniversary, shall we? That always draws out the crowds.

Here’s how you enter. All you need to do is leave me a joke in the comments. It can be a knock knock joke, a shaggy dog joke, a limerick, or anything else funny. I’ve done this one before, and it always provides me with days of laughs.

What are you playing for? It will be for one pair of sock’s worth of yarn from my precious stash. I’ll draw one random winner from the bunch, and since I know tastes vary, I’ll let you choose from four different possibilities. Here they are:

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Click to embiggen and really see what’s up for grabs.

From left to right we have:

  • Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes, color Ann Mare (AKA very pink), 367 yards
  • Mama Llama Sock, color Day, 400 yards
  • Jitterbug, color Lagoon, 267 meters
  • Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, color Flames, 430 yards total
    (2 skeins)

Let’s see. Let’s give you all until this Sunday at midnight, my time (Pacific daylights savings time). After that I’ll pick a winner, and you can choose some lovely yarn.

Let the laughs begin…

 

Test

Or,

New Knitting Project

Sheesh. I’m trying this from the WP app to see if this works better on the ipad. Let’s try a photo, shall we?

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Those are my new socks. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces, color is the January color of the month, A River Runs Through It. It came in the mail, my husband saw that blue, and said, “mine”. So these will be socks for John.

That’s all I have. I’m just trying to find a better way to blog on the road.

Blogiversary!

I almost, but not quite, forgot about it! Good grief. Eight years ago today, I got this blog up and running. It has been great big fun, I’ll tell you! I’ve learned a lot in the process, and met some terrific people. Even though I occasionally lose it and forget to blog for weeks on end, I’m still here!

In honor of the day, I decided to post some actual knitting. I know, you’re shocked. The past few weeks since we got back from vacation have been a bit of a slog at work, but I have done a few things. Here you go!

First up is True Blood. This is slowly but surely coming along. I have finished both sleeves, and started the hood.

 

The first photo is more like the real color. After the hood, I just have to attach the sleeves, then knit a big honking button band all the way up one side, around the hood, and down the other. And it’s a hemmed band, so it will be eleventy billion stitches. Then I can attach my little garnet and silver faery buttons, and I’ll have a wonderful wool hooded coat, just ready for summer!

Next up is an actual finished project!

 

Project Details:

Houdini Stole

Yarn: this is a combination of Art Fibers Houdini and Kyoto. The Houdini is a wide nylon ribbon, and the Kyoto is a silk mohair blend.

Pattern: made up stole pattern (see below)

Needles: Big ass 12 mm needles. This was a little like knitting with beginner crayons.

For: Me

Started: March, 2011

Finished: yesterday

What I learned: I don’t generally go for artsy fartsy novelty yarns, but this actually turned out quite pretty, and I think I will wear it. It’s quite long, good enough to wrap a couple times around my neck. The shop lady at Art Fibers just made up the pattern on the spot after I picked out the yarn. Since it’s hand written in pencil on a piece of scrap paper, I’m pretty sure I’m safe to share it here.

With Houdini, cast on 3 stitches. Knit every row (garter stitch). Increase at the beginning and end of every other row until the piece measures about 20 inches (or as wide as you want). Then increase at the beginning of the row and decrease at the end of the row every other row, until it is as long as you want. Then decrease at each end every other row until you have 3 stitches left and bind off. AT THE SAME TIME, alternate the two yarns (Houdini and Kyoto) every two rows. So, two rows of Houdini, two rows of Kyoto. I just did the increases and decreases with the first and last stitches, and did a knit in the front and back increase, and a simple K2tog decrease. The yarn is busy enough that you can’t really tell.

You end up with a big long rectangle, but with the knitting on the diagonal.

Now that I finished that, I’ve resurrected an old lace stole pattern that’s been marinating quite long enough.

The is the Morning Glory stole, by Anne of Knitspot. The yarn is Harmony, a discontinued yarn from Brooks Farm. The color is named Froot Loops. This is sort of “moose lace”, but the pattern takes a little concentration. It is patterned on both sides, so no easy purl back row, and the pattern repeat shifts around on almost every row, so markers are a bit useless. It’s making me pay attention! It is knit in two halves, then grafted together.

Enough for today. We have a cooking class tonight, which should be a lot of fun. I’ll report back…

 

We Have Winners!

Boy, I keep forgetting how putting up the “Free Yarn!” sign gets people to comment. I haven’t even come close to replying to all of you, but thanks for all the terrific suggestions for knitting patterns. I found some great suggestions in there, many that weren’t on my ever-growing Ravelry queue yet.

I know, I know. Quit yapping, Lorette, and get to the winners. I used a random number generator, crossed out the handful of people who said inexplicably that they didn’t want any yarn, and numbered the rest.

The first winner is Dorothy, of Missouri Star fame. She wins the red yarn (see previous post for a picture). I’m thinking that this would make a cute little girl’s dress! Or maybe an adult vest or short sleeve summer top. Dorothy’s favorite pattern is the Evenstar shawl, which I have as a UFO in a bag upstairs. It will get finished eventually.

The second is Debi, who commented that she likes to knit patterns she makes using EZ’s percentage system. This is actually a technique I’ve never tried, but may do so for my next sweater project. Debi gets the two skeins of sock yarn.

Next time, some finished spinning, and my report on how I did with my March knitting and spinning goals! Congratulations to the winners, and thanks again to all of you who keep up with my silliness!

Oh, and Lewey says “thanks” to all of you who were sad that he wasn’t one of the prizes!

Seven Years! Free Yarn!

Happy Blogiversary to me! Seven years ago today I started this blog. I’ve done 548 posts, and had 7626 comments in the past 7 years. I’ve met a bunch of really interesting people through my blog, and “met” a lot more virtually online. You all have stuck with me through silly knitting mistakes, goofy whiskey-related incidents, and one big accident that put me out of commission both for knitting and work for 3 months. You’ve cheered me on during bad work weeks, during a stressful job move, and encouraged me to be a better knitter/spinner, just so I wouldn’t have to show photos of crap here. I think I’ve become a better writer and photographer because of the blog, though I have a lot to learn still about both.

In honor of all of you, I’m having a contest! I have two things from my stash that I’m giving away. Here’s what you’ll play for, if you decide to participate:

The first is a sweater’s worth of Phildar Aviso that’s been aging in the stash long enough. It’s a cotton acrylic blend, and is a true crayon red. It is a heavy worsted weight, and there are 888 yards of it, enough for a short sleeved sweater (or something for a child!). I really like this stuff, but I tend to buy a lot of red yarn, and I have yarn in the stash for at least four more red sweaters.

Lewey approves, but wants to point out that he’s not included. Here’s a photo without the Corgi.

The second prize is two skeins of sock yarn. These are both from Three Irish Girls, and are two from her Sock Yarnista yarn club.

The one on the top is her Finley fingering superwash merino, color Seacoast. The bottom one is Beckon merino, a light sport weight, color Arboretum.

As usual, all yarn from this house comes with plenty of free dog and cat hair, though it mostly is stored out of their reach. There is no smoking allowed in my house, if that’s a concern.

How do you enter to win one of those prizes? Very simple: just comment, one comment per person, and tell me what your favorite knitting pattern is. I want to hear about sweaters, hats, mittens, whatever strikes your fancy. It can be something you’ve knit many times, or something you really want to make but haven’t gotten to yet.

Contest starts as of now, and I’ll pick 2 winners using a random number generator. Let’s say you have until Tuesday night, the 29th, at midnight Pacific time. After that, I’ll choose a winner! Good luck, and thank you all for 7 great years!