>>> You’re looking for a particular skein of red/black/white yarn. You find the same brand in a different color – tans/browns. You remember debating with yourself over which color to buy. You remember debating with yourself about buying both.
>>> You have a dreamlike recollection of choosing one, but thinking you’d come back for the other. Dreamlike because, while you always remember the yarns you buy, leaving yarn behind in the store always seems like a nightmare.
>>> While searching for the red/black/white yarn, you find
a fewseverallots ofa ton of yarns you’d forgotten about. So much for the always remembering theory.>>> You also find two large storage tubs you’d forgotten about. They are both full of yarn, but not what you’re looking for.
>>> As you continue your fruitless search, you realize that not only have you forgotten about buying some of these yarns, there are a few you don’t even recognize!
>>> You no longer trust your own memory. You seriously consider calling the LYS to see if they remember you buying the red/black/white yarn three years ago. But you’re afraid to, because you now recall that there was also a nice blue/white/grey colorway, and if they tell you that’s the one you bought …
Thankful for San Fransisco 2017
Happy Thanksgiving.
Because I Have Not Tortured You Lately
Kitten vs. Shakespeare, round 1:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
William Shakespeare – Richard III
Now is the tent of our Winter Disco
Made glorious by Donna Summer’s song of Work.
Toot Toot – Hey – Beep Beep
Kitten WAW – Just Dickin’ Around, Ai Yai Yai
Green ERR-OH!
I found a 6 stitch x 8 row color work chart, flipped it on it’s side and tried to use it as an 8 stitch x 6 row knit/purl texture chart.
I may have set the world record for the most consecutive failed attempts to count to 1, but considering that I couldn’t count my failures either, we’ll never know.
I had so many false starts due to knitting from the wrong side of the chart – I couldn’t grasp the concepts of up becoming left, down becoming forward, right Side and Right side being opposites. Slip the first stitch of every row began to mean have a (some) cookie(s) while you figure out what to do on this row.
I finally worked out mnemonics (after 4 out of 8 repeats) using a blue stitch marker on one side, and orange on the other:
Blue = Base Row, Orange = Offset by 2, Blue = Baby Step, Orange = One more, Blue = Backup, Orange = Over 2 again.
This worked very well for getting the pattern right. Unfortunately, when I stopped needing the cookies, I also forgot to slip the first stitches. Rip Rip Rip.
Anyway, it’s finally done. Care to join me for a (some) cookie(s) while I think about how to cruelly abuse yarn what to knit next.
Kitten Did A Good Good Bad Bad Thing
My local LYS, Imagiknit, has frequent events like yarn and needle tastings and designer trunk shows. Earlier this month they featured Knitter’s Pride needles. This is the second KP event I’ve attended there, and they’ve been a fun way to meet folks while trying different types of needles, plus they had prizes. Last time I won a 24″ interchangeable cord and sizes 6 and 8 Nova Platina Cubix tips and a size 5 Bamboo tips. This time I won fixed circulars, Dreamz size 7 32″ and Royale size 8 24″. I’ve liked every KP needle I’ve tried, but I do have a favorite – Nova Platina Cubics. I’ve added the 40″ and 16″ cords, and I’ll add more needle sizes as I need them … unless I win a full set from one of their blog’s frequent giveaways. Right now crochet hooks are up for grabs at this blog post.
While there I picked up some yarn:
2 Island Yarn Velvet, colorways Mocha and Mudslide, 3 Noro Silk Garden Lite, 2 colorway 2052 and 1 colorway 2066, 1 Koigu Kersti dye code looks like 16521, but I can ‘t find that on their site, and 1 Knit One Crochet Too Batiste color 575 Spring. For those who keep track of such absurd things as money and not being able to pay the rent, the Velvet was $16.99 ea, the Noro and Batiste were $8.99 each, the Koigu was $9.99. Yes, I have gone waaaayyy off the Thrift Store Yarn Diet – like about a year’s thrifting budget. It felt soooo good!
Marching To The Thrift Shop
Today resulted in a great haul of Knit Picks Yarns and a few other goodies:
Counter Clockwise:
14 Palette – 6 Iris Heather and 9 Clematis Heather
13 Shadow – 5 Basalt, 2 Redwood Forest, 3 Juniper and 3 Sunset. The bits and bobs are all wool, but I didn’t bother weighing them.
Hideous Acrylic Pinkness in terrible shape. Even the full skein has been hacked up a bit. They may not even be worth re-donating. I hate getting yarn in this condition, but in this case I never intended to keep it anyway.
Two unidentified cream wool sock weight two ply and one Karabella Aurora 8.
Total was $29.50 was but a $10 off $20 coupon and a $5 frequent shopper reward brought it down to $14.50.
An Appallingly Large Dose Of Kitten WAW
There’s an awful lot to talk about, so I’ll dive right in with the oldest item, which is also the newest. Back in April 2015, whilst running back and forth to Mom’s to deal with her neighbor and the retaining wall (still unresolved since November 2014!), I’d entered a giveaway for a Gleener on Kristin Rettig’s Knitionary blog. The Gleener is one of those products I’d seen reviewed several times over the years, and was very interested in, but hadn’t allowed myself to invest in. Due to the merry-go-round existence I was living at the time, I missed the announcement that I’d won, and found out by accident just recently. Mama didn’t raise me to be rude or ungrateful, so I sent Kristen an apology for never having responded. Kristen’s wonderfully generous response was that she still had the prize and would send it along! It arrived last night, and I’m already a fanatic for this product. The top pics were shot across the fabric to give the ant’s eye view of the terrain before and after.
I was pleased to see that the pills were removed, the halo remained and the yarn was not at all damaged. It took only minute or two to go over an area about six inches square with all of the three heads and the lint brush. This was really more than was required, but, when The Kitten gets a new toy, he plays! Taking care of a whole sweater would probably take less than a quarter hour, and would certainly be more than worth the time and effort! Thank you again, Kristen! (You may also know her as Kristenlynnea on Ravelry.)
Next oldest, also the next newest, was a giveaway on Laura Nelkin’s Nelkin Designs Blog for a kit containing the absolutely gorgeous Three Irish Girls Mclennan Lace yarn and beads for her Escapado Shawl. Although the giveaway was held in May, the kits were put together in November. As you can see, well worth waiting for:
I chose the Agua combination, and I wish this picture could really convey the silvery sheen in the upper skein, called Slainte, and the blue and grey Globetrekker is just as lovely! Thank you , Laura for this luxurious prize.
I don’t remember June. Maybe that’s because in July I started a new decade, the one where everybody younger thinks it’s about time you start forgetting everything.
Moving on to August, when this sky was a bit of a novelty and, I thought at the time, rather attractive:
Now the sky is always dark, and nowhere as spectacularly so, but just in a gloomy way. On a brighter note, there was also some thrifting in August:
The three tweedy brown (3.9, 3.35 & 2.5 oz) and two purple (3.45 & 1.75 oz) are labeled as Mattgarn (rug yarn) and are appropriately un-smooth and un-squishy, and very tightly spun. I’m thinking they’ll soften just a little when washed, and if so they’re perfect to make Mom’s slippers longer wearing. I’m going to soak one as a test. The dark brown bulky weight (2.05 oz) is wonderfully smooth and squishy. The lace weights are also very nice to the touch, the weights are: Tan 2.2, Pale Blue 1.5, Grey 1.4, Green .75, Red .8 and Pinkish Tan 2.05 oz each. $5.98
This is from the Resort Fashions book, but I think it would be great for a Retro-Mod wedding dress, this length or longer. $1.79 total.
September Yarn and Buttons
3 skeins of Plymouth Yarns Gina, $5 ea from Imagiknit. I’m thinking of using these as the yoke of a sweater. I’m not sure what color the rest would be, but I’m leaning towards Blood Red. That’s because I don’t have Blood Red in my stash.
Asst. buttons 5 packs of 5 x $1.25 Scotties, 3 packs of 6 x $.89 bone and 1 pack of 6 x $1.29 pewter hearts from the discount button bin at Fabric Outlet of SF. I went crazy with the Scotties because I thought they’d be cute marching around the rim of a hat. Ain’t happened yet. Probably won’t.
October seems to have escaped my notice, or vice-versa. No, wait – that was when Mom had a water damage loss. When my folks bought the house in the mid 70s there was a copper tube for an icemaker sticking out of the kitchen wall, right where they did NOT want to put their fridge – nor did they use an icemaker anyway. They just pushed it back into the wall and papered over it and forgot it. The connection to the supply line developed a leak, unfortunately it was right over the ceiling of the linen closet, where it went unnoticed for several days. When it had spread far enough to be noticed, I made an exploratory hole, and just by luck it was in the perfect spot to be able to wrap the pipe and wick away any further leakage. We contacted the plumber – who was unable by law to do any work until the area was tested for asbestos and lead.
Meanwhile I reported it to her insurance company, who didn’t get back to us for two days. I called again and spoke to a claims handler who immediately started denying the claim and refused to send an on-site adjuster until all the work was completed. The next day an on-site adjuster called out of the blue and insisted on coming around right away. When I mentioned who our plumber and water damage recovery company were, he got snotty and commented that they’d “run into those guys before” and that they had a “kickback arrangement” between them. I set him straight right away, and informed him that I had no problem with a company having a “referral arrangement”, and that I did not appreciate him trying to negatively influence me against companies that I trust. He left without saying anything about the status of the claim.
A few days later we got a letter denying the claim because it was caused by “rusted/corroded pipe for your laundry drain line”. UMMM – NOT! This is a copper (there for not rusted nor corroded) supply (not drain) line, in an attic (really just a crawlspace), where no drain line would ever be. I contacted the agent, who contacted the claims handler, who turned it over to a claims supervisor, who said that was just a “cut and paste” error. He then claimed that the leak had been a “recurrent situation, resulting in calcification lines where it had leaked, dried out, leaked again, etc.” .
UMM – NOT. It was a one time event. I told him there are no calcification lines. Correction, there were no calcification lines, because, of course now, there is no ceiling, period. He claims to have pictures from the adjuster, which the company, by law, does not have to show us, even though they are supposedly part of the basis of denying the claim.
They are also trying to quote me as saying it had been going on “for some time”, a phrase which connotes a longer period than what I actually said, which was that it may have been a week to ten days, but not longer, based on what I observed.
They have pretty much stopped talking to me, except for the agent, who isn’t getting any results dealing with them either. This may be because I called them liars. I’ve asked for copies of any correspondence to be sent to me, since Mom’s vision is so bad, but so far they’ve refused.
They don’t know it yet, but I have pictures from the water recovery company which clearly show there were no calcification lines.The technician confirmed that it was a one time event, and also feels that it could not have been much more than a week before I discovered and mitigated the situation. That kind of proves they’re liars. It’s a copper supply line in an attic, not a rusted drain pipe. That kind of proves they’re liars. I’m not sure the State Insurance Commissioner will agree with me, as I worked in insurance long enough to know they tend to protect companies more than insureds. But I plan to carry this through as long as I can. Not only have they lost Mom’s business, but I intend to keep them jumping through hoops until their collective time and expenses have far exceeded the $2500 they refused to pay to cover the cost of this loss.
November. Ah yes. Sweet November. First, there were some elections.
Nuf’ said.
Then there was more thrifting
Magazines 9 x $.29 and 1 x $.20 and One Skein Wonders $1.49 from ThriftTown, 7 x $.50 from Community Thrift. Please pardon the shadow line in the photos.
Now we’re back up to December, and I’ve resurrected the Bathing Beauty Playing Card fabric to show you the current status of the Creature From The Scrap Lagoon. See how The Kitten’s mind works? The colors are more accurate in the sectional pics. It’s now just under 5′ long, and the width averages about 25 inches, but varies as you can see. It’ll maybe block out a bit more even, but that doesn’t worry me as it’s rustic looking anyway, and might make a cool super-scarf. I’m also considering a poncho, or the Cocoon Coat from Knit Simple, Fall 2006, and for either of those there’d be some border that would visually smooth out the waves … maybe?
And this post is finally over! See ya later, I’ll try not to make it so long next time.
Crochet or Knit?
Cardi-volution
Two From Bernat 1958
Two From Bernat 1966
One From Bucilla 1976
One From Simplicity Knitting 1987
And One From Bergere Du Nord, Date Unknown.
Happy 90th, Mom!
Mom’s 90th Birthday is Wednesday 4/27/2016! Ain’t that just wonderful? For those of you who haven’t met her, here she is as a Minor Baby and Major Babe!
She won’t give me anything more recent to show, but she’s still beautiful, and still independent and busy. Happy Birthday Mom!
Kitten WAW 