Whatever Lola Knits

Filler

I'm idly knitting away on a couple of things right now, but nothing interesting enough for blogging--Glee is in progress but sooo slooowww, I've gotten some Dulaan hats finished for the big send-off...So in the meantime, here's the meme that's going around. With a twist! I've done more than I thought I had...

Bold = done it, Italics = gonna do it, Plain = who cares, Strike = never ever ever.

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (huh?)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (har har!)
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (LOVE)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (ugh)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public (If a knitter knits alone in the woods, does it actually happen?)

More Getting To Know Me, Getting To Know More Than You Wanted To Know (About Me)

48 Things You Could Care Less About--I'm too nervous about my first day at my new job to write anything interesting!

1. FIRST NAME? Maggi
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No--it just goes very well with my last name, a tidy package.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? When I gave notice at work a few weeks ago--I was surprised that I got emotional about it, I figured I would just be thrilled.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sure. I don't see it often, but it's fine.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? This is a bizarre question, but I'd have to say bacon.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think I'm supposed to say yes to this.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? You're looking at it, baby.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Nope, removed 11 years ago.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No thanks!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I would like to say "homemade granola and soymilk" but in reality, I could eat Frosted Flakes until the cows come home. With 2% cow milk. YUM.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Not if I can help it.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Strong SMELLING maybe.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Anyflavor? Nothing with too many nuts in it. Surprisingly enough, I'm not a huge fan of chocolate-based ice creams, either.
14. SHOE SIZE? Somewhere between 8.5 and 9US.
5. RED OR PINK? Yes please.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My arm-butt. If you don't know what I'm talking about, allow me to demonstrate some time.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Hottboxx and Mrs. Dayment.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Oh, sure.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? It's 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night, so we're lucky that I'm even wearing pants. black sweats, red t-shirt, bare feet.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Tivo'd 60 Minutes--this Darfur segment is terribly depressing.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Here's what I WOULDN'T be: Burnt Umber, Peach, Green-yellow, Bronze, Gold, Silver. Those metallic crayons are such a ripoff.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Coco Chanel's Mademoiselle, campfire, Jeff's armpits
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My brother--I called him to tell him I drove over a rat in my car. You had to be there, I guess.
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? It's all about ass.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? I stole this from the internet. And I LOVES me some internet.
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Water. Vitamin Water. Orange soda. Bourbon. Non-fat Vanilla Latte. More water.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Knife Games
29. EYE COLOR? Brown
30. HAT SIZE? uh, medium? I don't have a huge head.
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? For serious, these questions are kind of dumb. No contacts or glasses.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Neither! Explosions and pirates and topless ladies.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Autumn
36. HUGS OR KISSES? I'm all about the making out.
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? pumpkin pie. pumpkin cheesecake. carrot cake. cake cake. pie. creme brulee. bruleed banana splits. all of the above!
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Doesn't matter.
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Still doesn't matter.
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I just finished a Robin Maxwell novel, another take on the Richard III story.
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? MacBooks don't need mousepads.
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? SNL, of course.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The Flower Duet from Lakme.
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles all the way.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Europe? South America?
46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I'm a whiz with industry intel. I was also going to make a blowjob joke, but I'm trying to keep that kind of thing off the knitting blog.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Seattle born and bred!
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I swiped it from a SP9 blog.

You Always Get What You Came For

After a fruitful weekend of knitting (2" finished on the remaining purple cardigan front piece, 18.5" of reversed hard-to-see-in-bouclé-yarn-so-you-better-not-bung-it-up shaping to go! and I started a hat, because Mer started one when we were at Coffee & Toast on Saturday and it just looked so easy, much easier, in fact, than fumbling with that stupid Debbie Bliss Astrakhan in less-than-ideal lighting conditions) I figured that I would take some photos of the current knitting and post them...and then I remembered that I STILL haven't charged the camera battery since returning home from Spain.  And the camera died the day before we flew home!  I am the worst gadget-owner E.V.E.R. 

So here, have another meme-ish thing, from Fluffa:

Pullovers or cardis? As much as I'd prefer to knit everything in the round, I still prefer cardigans over pullovers.  There are only 2 or 3 (store-bought) pullovers in my wardrobe, and they're all v-necks.  Deep-v cardigans fit better and look nicer on me!
Lace or cables?  Oh, lace, always lace.  Cables look deliciously complicated but they a) use way more yarn, and b) make chubby arms look chubbier.  No thanks! 
Intarsia or fair isle? ACK neither.
Stripes or variegated yarn?  Both?  I like tonal variegation AND stripes. 
Hats or socks? Hats hats hats.  You only have to make ONE.
Double points or magic loop? DPNs all the way!
Colin or Keanu? TOTALLY Keanu.  Remind me to someday post the almost-novel that I wrote when I was 14--detailing our life together, me and Keanu.  And when I say "post", I mean "post on my secret passworded blog where no one will be able to read it and have knowledge of my shameful longings for Keanu's hot but dim-witted bod."  That would never do.

Socktoberfest Rears Its Triumphant Head

...and claims another victim!  I re-started my Mountain Colors Mountain Goat socks and am bound and determined to finish them sooner rather than later.  Last we saw, the sock looked like this:

Never mind the swirling/pooling action, forget the wild and loose cast on--look at how huge it is!  I should have put something in the photo for scale but oh well.  That was taken a YEAR ago, the week after we returned from our Italy trip.  Now the yarn has been transformed into two tiny and almost-equal balls of gorgeous mohair-blend sock yarn.  How almost-equal are they?  I eyed them as I was winding and managed to get the second ball within 5 grams of the first ball.  I am AWESOME. 

So in honor of Socktoberfest, here are my answers to Lolly's sock-related questions, a week late:

When did you start making socks?  Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative?  Or in a class?

I finished my first pair of socks in July of 2005.  Meredith and I began the journey together with a trip to Weaving Works, where we each bought a skein of Opal Uni and a Fibertrends pattern for a basic top-down stockinette sock.  The process was fiddly but much easier than I expected--I just had faith in the pattern and followed the instructions, and everything turned out fine.

What was your first pair?  How have they held up over time?

The Opal Uni socks were a good first attempt, but I would make a few changes if I were to knit them again.  First, a gauge swatch--I had plenty of yarn left over so I know there was enough for the swatch that should have been.  The knitted fabric ended up a big loose, and the socks fall down all the time.  I also wish that I'd gone with a 2x2 ribbed cuff (that's what Mer did) instead of the 1x1 rib--my 1x1 ribbing always looks messy.  I would also knit the gusset a little differently--knitting into the back of the picked up gusset stitches would have eliminated the holes I got there.  The socks have held up fine--I've machine-washed them many times and the yarn is still relatively soft...but the color has faded! 

What would you have done differently?

Probably knit them on US1s instead of US2s--that would have made a huge difference in the knitted fabric, and make them easier to wear in shoes other than my Dansko clogs!

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Having only knit a few socks and starts-of-socks, I don't know that I can accurately judge--but like I said, I'm loving that Mountain Goat business.  Cascade Fixation makes an incredibly cozy sock but it wreaks havoc on my hands and wrists when I'm knitting with it--the elastic component is so weird!  I love love love Knitpicks Sock Garden, but I've never knit socks with it, just my mother's Clapotis.

Do you like to crochet your socks?  Or knit them on DPNs, 2 circs, or using the Magic Loop method?

I've never tried crocheting socks, and it seems like the resultant product would be very...bumpy.  I've only knit socks on DPNs, and those work well enough for me.  2 circs seems like it would be more convenient--Steph, you have to show me how! 

One sock method/formula that I'm really interested in learning is the EZ moccasin sock--I love the idea of being able to replace the sole when it inevitably wears out.

Which kind of heel do you prefer?  Flap or short-row?

I've only done heel-flaps, but I've been reading short-row heel tutorials and it looks really cool!  I also like the looks of the eye-of-partridge heel, so I'll try that one of these days.

How many pairs have you made?

Counting the Opal socks?  ...One.  I've knitted several individual socks, but I've been stricken with Second Sock Syndrome more than a few times!  I suppose I should focus on finishing the Cascade Fixation socks before I get going on the Mountain Goat pair...so many socks, so little time!