Bwa ha ha ha! I have foiled Atlanta Rush Hour again!
I think. It's almost 6 p.m. I'm going to search for some sushi soon before Monday night choir rehearsal.
Over the weekend I was really sick. Well, moderately sick. Just sick enough that I had to stay home and knit all weekend (when I wasn't sleeping, which I did a lot). So I did. All the ends of the Fairy Princess Lap Blanket are woven in, so it's officially Finished. AND! I made the fingerless gloves from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, too, out of a random ball of Paint Box I bought on sale a few weeks ago. So pretty. And I made the spiral rib pattern go up in the opposite direction on the second mitt, so they're all symetrical an' stuff.
And the boys who have Autism in my classroom really liked them -- the scratchiness of the wool, the bumpiness of the pattern -- and they made our walk to the busses much easier today because my charge actually wanted to hold my hand. Rock on! Does this mean I can count my yarn and needles as a tax deduction?
I had a hard day at church on Sunday. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my church. Being a minister is my career and all, and I love it. But some weeks I find myself going simply so that I can go to lunch with my church friends afterward. This has been the case a lot in recent months. (I need a vacation. Kind of difficult to negotiate when they don't actually pay you for the job you do. All the other stand-in associates have been sick lately.) Yesterday, however, the sermon was very helpful and fitting to my life. And lunch was absolutely miserable. Some of my lunch companions were perfectly pleasant, and others were so astoundingly rude that I swear it was like being in some alternate universe where their sort of behavior must be okay. I came home and had fantasies about walking out of the restaurant after telling off one particular offender. I sat on the couch going over various bits of the lunch conversation in my head, working on the second fingerless glove with astounding speed. Joel brought me our kitty and said "you're knitting very angrily." And I dropped the needles, curled up beside him, buried my fingers in the kitty's long, soft hair, and squeezed out some hot, angsty, clichéd tears.
And then everything was better.
Knitting is a language my boyfriend can understand. Even if he doesn't know how to knit.
In the face of that, who cares about some jerk's poor behavior over drippy burgers and steak-cut fries a few hours ago?
27 February 2006
23 February 2006
Also...
I almost forgot to mention! My fairy princess Lap Blanket is finally done, except for a few ends I still need to weave in. Joel (a.k.a. Big Meanie) wouldn't let me finish finishing it the other night. Just 'cause we had to be somewhere! Geez!
Anyway, it's done, for the most part. Pix coming ASAP.
Anyway, it's done, for the most part. Pix coming ASAP.
An Oasis in Suburbia
Many thanks to the Knitting Queen for the shout out!
Joel found the card for the (broken anyway but mostly redeemable) digital camera, so hopefully soon this blog will suck less. I have ideas, people! I just can't implement any of them because I am not technologically advanced. Heck, right now I'm stealing wireless internet for the first time ever, simply in order to update my blog. Welcome to the twenty-first century, right?
So, I recently moved to the suburbs of Atlanta. After living in the actual ATL for three years, I finally couldn't afford the luxury of having my own apartment any more (damn student loans!) and broke down and started shacking up with my boyfriend, who has been a grown-up longer than I have, working a real job and owning a house and actually feeding his cat every day, etc. Me? I'm twenty-five and still work the occasional unpaid internship. Anyway, living in sin with Joel has been great so far. The only problem is that I now live OTP -- that is, Outside The Perimeter -- in Marietta. Even worse, I work in Alpharetta. Both of these cities at least used to be their own independent villages with real town squares and everything, so they're sort of redeemable. And our house is a simple brick ranch-style home, not some horrid plywood McMansion in a gated subdivision that was a forest two years ago. But still. I live in the suburbs. I'm not that kind of girl.
Yesterday, however, I discovered a coffee shop between home and work that, although it is one of a chain, is really rockin' and doesn't feel like it's just on the other side of the ever-expanding highway-to-the-exurbs from a gigantic mall. Okay, so there's a Porsche dealership next door. But still. There were two geese magically finding food on the perfectly-manicured (pesticided) strip of grass between the parking lot and the street. The girl at the counter has hair that's dyed multiple colors that couldn't possibly have grown out of her head -- but not in that tacky, trendy, trying-to-be-hip kind of way. And she gave me a free drink before plopping down at a table with the manager (constantly having non-work-related converstaions on his cell phone) and a guy I think is her boyfriend. There's an actual lake out back. I'm not asking if it's natural or bulldozer-made, because I might be disappointed. I sat down in a comfy brown leather chair and sank into knitting my brioche hat for a good 45 minutes. The hectic day with the eight-year-old who can't find his nose and "forgets" how to walk just melted away. I felt like I was back in the coffee shop where I worked while I was in college. It was awesome.
Amazing what free coffee and good knitting can do for the soul.
Anyway, I came back today. Here I am, right now, stealing wireless from a nearby Cigars, Etc. (shame on you, Caribou, for making your customers pay for internet access! I spent four dollars on the damn Turtle Mocha I'm drinking!)(so much for that free drink I got yesterday.) and looking out the window at the peaceful lake. And I'm going to try to write job applications and knit. And pretend that there's not a Porsche dealership next door.
Amazing what knitting can do for the soul, despite the four-dollar coffee.
(the "free" internet helps. Thanks, Cigars, Etc.!)
Joel found the card for the (broken anyway but mostly redeemable) digital camera, so hopefully soon this blog will suck less. I have ideas, people! I just can't implement any of them because I am not technologically advanced. Heck, right now I'm stealing wireless internet for the first time ever, simply in order to update my blog. Welcome to the twenty-first century, right?
So, I recently moved to the suburbs of Atlanta. After living in the actual ATL for three years, I finally couldn't afford the luxury of having my own apartment any more (damn student loans!) and broke down and started shacking up with my boyfriend, who has been a grown-up longer than I have, working a real job and owning a house and actually feeding his cat every day, etc. Me? I'm twenty-five and still work the occasional unpaid internship. Anyway, living in sin with Joel has been great so far. The only problem is that I now live OTP -- that is, Outside The Perimeter -- in Marietta. Even worse, I work in Alpharetta. Both of these cities at least used to be their own independent villages with real town squares and everything, so they're sort of redeemable. And our house is a simple brick ranch-style home, not some horrid plywood McMansion in a gated subdivision that was a forest two years ago. But still. I live in the suburbs. I'm not that kind of girl.
Yesterday, however, I discovered a coffee shop between home and work that, although it is one of a chain, is really rockin' and doesn't feel like it's just on the other side of the ever-expanding highway-to-the-exurbs from a gigantic mall. Okay, so there's a Porsche dealership next door. But still. There were two geese magically finding food on the perfectly-manicured (pesticided) strip of grass between the parking lot and the street. The girl at the counter has hair that's dyed multiple colors that couldn't possibly have grown out of her head -- but not in that tacky, trendy, trying-to-be-hip kind of way. And she gave me a free drink before plopping down at a table with the manager (constantly having non-work-related converstaions on his cell phone) and a guy I think is her boyfriend. There's an actual lake out back. I'm not asking if it's natural or bulldozer-made, because I might be disappointed. I sat down in a comfy brown leather chair and sank into knitting my brioche hat for a good 45 minutes. The hectic day with the eight-year-old who can't find his nose and "forgets" how to walk just melted away. I felt like I was back in the coffee shop where I worked while I was in college. It was awesome.
Amazing what free coffee and good knitting can do for the soul.
Anyway, I came back today. Here I am, right now, stealing wireless from a nearby Cigars, Etc. (shame on you, Caribou, for making your customers pay for internet access! I spent four dollars on the damn Turtle Mocha I'm drinking!)(so much for that free drink I got yesterday.) and looking out the window at the peaceful lake. And I'm going to try to write job applications and knit. And pretend that there's not a Porsche dealership next door.
Amazing what knitting can do for the soul, despite the four-dollar coffee.
(the "free" internet helps. Thanks, Cigars, Etc.!)
18 February 2006
WIPs
I woke up this morning thinking about my WIPs, listing them in my mind and thinking about how much I might be able to accomplish today. This is the first Saturday I've had totally free for a very long time. School's out for a four-day weekend (I'm have no idea why -- President's Day? why do we get both Friday and Monday off?), but this past week was soooo busy and I didn't have any knitting time at all, and I got sick on Thursday night (My Immune System? meet Elementary School. Elementary school? Meet my Immune System. Hey, Elementary School, why are you beating up my Immune System? Stop that! I mean it! Stop! Hey, ouch!) and so I slept until noon on Friday.
So today, I bounced out of bed around 10:30 thinking about that modified Laptop Purse from AlterKnits that I started months ago and have been debating frogging, but suddenly wanted to finish after all. And I thought about the sock I still need to knit in order to complete the pair I started at that conference in August. (This is why I'm not much of a sock knitter -- having to make two of the same thing bores me.) And I thought about the Rio that is begging me to turn it into a sweater. And I thought about the Last Minute Knitted Gifts raglan sweater I'm going to frog completely because I don't think that raglan sleeves will be a flattering and comfortable cut on me. And I thought about the fairy princess Lap Blanket that is sooooo close to done! And I thought about this blog, and how I haven't had time to update all week. And I thought about the semi-broken digital camera that I asked Joel to fix last week so I could finally post some pretty pictures on here... and I thought about the sticky buns we bought yesterday at the DeKalb Farmers Market... so I catapulted out of bed, made coffee and heated up a sticky bun in the microwave.
It's now a little bit after 1:00, and after all that I have not knitted a stitch. But I have caught my blog up to date and eaten a yummy breakfast and watched quite a bit of Olympic Women's Cross Country Skiing. And now I think I just might go upstairs and grab some knitting and come back down to watch more Russia kicking everybody's butts.
So today, I bounced out of bed around 10:30 thinking about that modified Laptop Purse from AlterKnits that I started months ago and have been debating frogging, but suddenly wanted to finish after all. And I thought about the sock I still need to knit in order to complete the pair I started at that conference in August. (This is why I'm not much of a sock knitter -- having to make two of the same thing bores me.) And I thought about the Rio that is begging me to turn it into a sweater. And I thought about the Last Minute Knitted Gifts raglan sweater I'm going to frog completely because I don't think that raglan sleeves will be a flattering and comfortable cut on me. And I thought about the fairy princess Lap Blanket that is sooooo close to done! And I thought about this blog, and how I haven't had time to update all week. And I thought about the semi-broken digital camera that I asked Joel to fix last week so I could finally post some pretty pictures on here... and I thought about the sticky buns we bought yesterday at the DeKalb Farmers Market... so I catapulted out of bed, made coffee and heated up a sticky bun in the microwave.
It's now a little bit after 1:00, and after all that I have not knitted a stitch. But I have caught my blog up to date and eaten a yummy breakfast and watched quite a bit of Olympic Women's Cross Country Skiing. And now I think I just might go upstairs and grab some knitting and come back down to watch more Russia kicking everybody's butts.
The Post I Wanted to Write Monday, But Didn't Have Time
I started a new job this week. No, not in a church. I'm working as a Special Ed classroom assistant in an elementary school. There are five kids in my classroom; I'm in charge of two boys, both with Downs Syndrome and Autism. It's a pretty tough job, but I like it so far. On Monday, I picked up the brioche hat I'm knitting and sat behind two of our kids as they were watching a computer reading of Cat in the Hat. We'd parked one kid's wheelchair in front of the computer so he could see the screen -- this kid's growth is very stunted, he can't speak and he can't really move his body much, but he can turn his head a bit. Anyway, I was sitting behind these kids, knitting and repeating "sit on your bottom, sit up in your chair, put your feet down" ad nauseum with the one mobile kid, and the boy in the wheelchair turned his head around as far as possible so he could watch me knit. And he was smiling, which is a huge deal (smiling and looking at something are the only ways he can communicate at all). He was smiling and watching me knit!
I think it's an important discovery.
Was it the colors of the yarn? Was it the action of the needles? Was he simply looking at me and telling me he liked me? I don't think it's the last one -- he was looking at my hands, not at my face. Anyway, he liked watching me knit. I wonder if that will be justification of me knitting at work in the future. That'd be awesome.
I think it's an important discovery.
Was it the colors of the yarn? Was it the action of the needles? Was he simply looking at me and telling me he liked me? I don't think it's the last one -- he was looking at my hands, not at my face. Anyway, he liked watching me knit. I wonder if that will be justification of me knitting at work in the future. That'd be awesome.
09 February 2006
Knitting Olympics?
I'd like to participate in the Knitting Olympics (My gorgeous red Rio is calling out to me!), but I just don't see how it's going to happen. I think I will be reduced to observing from the sidelines this year. I don' t have a sweater pattern I like. The timing's just not right. I should be working on job applications.
But I want to knit!
Alas, it is not to be. But in 2010, baby, you can count me in!
I did send my sister (an Important Editor at an Important Newspaper Sunday Magazine) information on the Olympics and the link to her local team. It's news, people! The Knitting Olympics is even bigger than the Actual Olympics! Maybe somebody in the mainstream media will pick up the story. I feel like I've done my part, at least.
Fairy princess pix coming soon, I promise. And then my blog won't look exactly like Annie Modessitt's anymore. I hope.
But I want to knit!
Alas, it is not to be. But in 2010, baby, you can count me in!
I did send my sister (an Important Editor at an Important Newspaper Sunday Magazine) information on the Olympics and the link to her local team. It's news, people! The Knitting Olympics is even bigger than the Actual Olympics! Maybe somebody in the mainstream media will pick up the story. I feel like I've done my part, at least.
Fairy princess pix coming soon, I promise. And then my blog won't look exactly like Annie Modessitt's anymore. I hope.
07 February 2006
In which I stop numbering my posts
So, I have discovered something Very Important about the phenomenon of having a knitting blog. I felt very obligated to get more "into" the knitting community today (not that I've actually posted a comment anywhere yet... I'm still figuring all of this out and I know nobody is reading me yet, except maybe Jennie), which meant that I spent a lot of time looking at other people's blogs that I haven't read much before. Normally I check Crazy Aunt Purl and You Knit What?? and Mason-Dixon Knitting and then carry on with my day. But I spent most of the day jumping from blog to blog...
And not knitting.
I've only done about two inches of my fairy princess lap blanket today, and I knit close to half of the whole project yesterday.
But on the upside, I finally made a Half.com wishlist of knitting books.
And not knitting.
I've only done about two inches of my fairy princess lap blanket today, and I knit close to half of the whole project yesterday.
But on the upside, I finally made a Half.com wishlist of knitting books.
Post #3 -- In which I actually talk about knitting
Still finding my voice on this thing. Please be nice.
So I'm starting a new job next week, meaning that I don't have anywhere I have to be during the day right now, meaning that I've been doing a lot of knitting lately. My current pet WIP is the lap blanket from Melanie Fallick's Weekend Knitting. Love Melanie Fallick. Love Weekend Knitting. Love the lap blanket, which looks like something a little girl would imagine a fairy princess would like -- it's all purples and blues, with a bit of pretty sparkly gold/purple/aqua thread my sister gave me. Someday I will actually take a picture and post it, when I figure out how to do that. I'm halfway through it right now, and have already used it to warm my lap. Which makes me feel like a fairy princess.
I'm also looking for a great sweater pattern for some beautiful red Rio de la Plata worsted wool (a thick/thin, though, so the great pattern quest becomes trickier) I scored the other day. Actually, this is a great story, all about me being a winner. My main LYS had a giant sale just the couple of days before New Years, and I fell in love with this red stuff. Love at first sight. I had to have it and make it a sweater. Alas! they only had four hanks, enough for about 3/5 of a sweater. Sigh. But I bought it anyway, because it was something like $4 a hank, and I was in love.
Then, this weekend, I decided to check out another store I'd just found on the internet. Never been there before. I popped in 20 minutes before closing on Saturday afternoon, found a couple of good things in the sale bin, but it's a mostly-fun-fur kind of place. I'm not-so-much a fun-fur kind of gal. Then! In the very back of the store! They had about four or five colors of this Rio that my other LYS carries. And Lo and Behold! They had four hanks of the Brick Red. I bought them -- dye lot be damned, I knew I'd figure out some kind of alternating scheme or something. And I brought the four new hanks home, put them next to the four I already had, examined the labels, and what do you know? They were the exact same dye lot. I win!!!
So, that's my story about me being a winner.
Anybody want to send me some great free sweater patterns? I'm thinking a size 7 needle would be about right (i.e., roughly 15 sts=4in, St. st.). I have just under 1100 yards, should be plenty.
'Cause I think I'm going to rip out the raglan sweater I started last week (only got about 2 inches anyway, not sure that I like the fabric, and I'm iffy about raglan sleeves with my body shape), and the brioche hat I'm making (also from WK) is pretty easy and kind of starting to bore me.
What, brioche boring? I know, that was blasphemy, wasn't it? But I just finished another brioche hat of the same pattern, and two in a row is just a bit much.
So I'm starting a new job next week, meaning that I don't have anywhere I have to be during the day right now, meaning that I've been doing a lot of knitting lately. My current pet WIP is the lap blanket from Melanie Fallick's Weekend Knitting. Love Melanie Fallick. Love Weekend Knitting. Love the lap blanket, which looks like something a little girl would imagine a fairy princess would like -- it's all purples and blues, with a bit of pretty sparkly gold/purple/aqua thread my sister gave me. Someday I will actually take a picture and post it, when I figure out how to do that. I'm halfway through it right now, and have already used it to warm my lap. Which makes me feel like a fairy princess.
I'm also looking for a great sweater pattern for some beautiful red Rio de la Plata worsted wool (a thick/thin, though, so the great pattern quest becomes trickier) I scored the other day. Actually, this is a great story, all about me being a winner. My main LYS had a giant sale just the couple of days before New Years, and I fell in love with this red stuff. Love at first sight. I had to have it and make it a sweater. Alas! they only had four hanks, enough for about 3/5 of a sweater. Sigh. But I bought it anyway, because it was something like $4 a hank, and I was in love.
Then, this weekend, I decided to check out another store I'd just found on the internet. Never been there before. I popped in 20 minutes before closing on Saturday afternoon, found a couple of good things in the sale bin, but it's a mostly-fun-fur kind of place. I'm not-so-much a fun-fur kind of gal. Then! In the very back of the store! They had about four or five colors of this Rio that my other LYS carries. And Lo and Behold! They had four hanks of the Brick Red. I bought them -- dye lot be damned, I knew I'd figure out some kind of alternating scheme or something. And I brought the four new hanks home, put them next to the four I already had, examined the labels, and what do you know? They were the exact same dye lot. I win!!!
So, that's my story about me being a winner.
Anybody want to send me some great free sweater patterns? I'm thinking a size 7 needle would be about right (i.e., roughly 15 sts=4in, St. st.). I have just under 1100 yards, should be plenty.
'Cause I think I'm going to rip out the raglan sweater I started last week (only got about 2 inches anyway, not sure that I like the fabric, and I'm iffy about raglan sleeves with my body shape), and the brioche hat I'm making (also from WK) is pretty easy and kind of starting to bore me.
What, brioche boring? I know, that was blasphemy, wasn't it? But I just finished another brioche hat of the same pattern, and two in a row is just a bit much.
06 February 2006
Post #2 -- In which I post a funny link
A college friend passed this link on to me, and I think it is noteworthy because it provided me with the Great Belly Laugh of the Day. And because it's the first link I've ever made, to this blog or to anything else. Ever.
Post #1 -- The KnitBlog Experiment, Introduction, and anticipated FAQs
I've been telling myself (and my partner) that I'm going to set up a knitting blog for months now. Months, I tell you! I may have been considering it for as long as a year. But probably not quite that long.
So here I am, humbly submitting my voice to the cacophany of knitting-and-whatnot blogs out there. Finally. I'm doing it.
But what can I contribute to the knitting blogosphere, you ask? Who do you think you are, my senior seminar professor? Screw you. I may or may not have anything new to say, but we won't find out until I say it, now will we? In the mean time, I need a more appropriate outlet for my knitting enthusiasm than my current options provide. So here I am, the Holy Knitter.
How did I pick this name/persona, you ask? Well, first of all, after months (months!) of trying to think of a good blog name that hasn't been used, I lit upon HolyKnit.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, that one was already taken. By somebody who's not even using it. Grrr. So I tried a derivative, and this one was available. And so, the Holy Knitter was born.
Who the heck is the Holy Knitter, and why are you being all mysterious, you ask? The gist is this: I'm a minister without a pulpit. I graduated from seminary this past May, but have yet to get an actual job in an actual church. I'm working on it now, but had taken a break from the long-term job search process because of some short-term life stress and therapeutic needs (i.e., seminary is hard, and will make you crazy!), and because I opted to do a continuing education program certificate that made my life hell for four months but is now finished. I am certified! (note: that is different from being certifiable.) Anyway, now I'm looking for real jobs, in real churches. And because of the nature of the job search in my denomination, I find it prudent to stick with remaining more-or-less anonymous at this point, at the risk of someone on a pastoral search committee somewhere finding this blog and it influencing (positively or negatively) my chances of getting the job. This blog, after all, is only one part/one expression of who I am, not the full picture. Of course, anybody who does figure out who I am is really really smart and, um, I'm sure they wouldn't be influenced by a silly thing like a knitting blog!
Actually, I'd like to expand this blog to talk about knitting as a ministry (also not new, I know), and how my knitting and my ministry impact one another. I'm sure that will all happen in due course. For now, I just think it'll be fun to have a knitting blog.
So here I am, humbly submitting my voice to the cacophany of knitting-and-whatnot blogs out there. Finally. I'm doing it.
But what can I contribute to the knitting blogosphere, you ask? Who do you think you are, my senior seminar professor? Screw you. I may or may not have anything new to say, but we won't find out until I say it, now will we? In the mean time, I need a more appropriate outlet for my knitting enthusiasm than my current options provide. So here I am, the Holy Knitter.
How did I pick this name/persona, you ask? Well, first of all, after months (months!) of trying to think of a good blog name that hasn't been used, I lit upon HolyKnit.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, that one was already taken. By somebody who's not even using it. Grrr. So I tried a derivative, and this one was available. And so, the Holy Knitter was born.
Who the heck is the Holy Knitter, and why are you being all mysterious, you ask? The gist is this: I'm a minister without a pulpit. I graduated from seminary this past May, but have yet to get an actual job in an actual church. I'm working on it now, but had taken a break from the long-term job search process because of some short-term life stress and therapeutic needs (i.e., seminary is hard, and will make you crazy!), and because I opted to do a continuing education program certificate that made my life hell for four months but is now finished. I am certified! (note: that is different from being certifiable.) Anyway, now I'm looking for real jobs, in real churches. And because of the nature of the job search in my denomination, I find it prudent to stick with remaining more-or-less anonymous at this point, at the risk of someone on a pastoral search committee somewhere finding this blog and it influencing (positively or negatively) my chances of getting the job. This blog, after all, is only one part/one expression of who I am, not the full picture. Of course, anybody who does figure out who I am is really really smart and, um, I'm sure they wouldn't be influenced by a silly thing like a knitting blog!
Actually, I'd like to expand this blog to talk about knitting as a ministry (also not new, I know), and how my knitting and my ministry impact one another. I'm sure that will all happen in due course. For now, I just think it'll be fun to have a knitting blog.
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