A solstice a long time coming…
I am so happy to report that my Jo Sharp “Solstice” sweater is finally finished, nearly two years after I started the damn thing! I ran into difficulty in September (2003) when I started sewing it up and realized that I’d made a complete cock-up of the drop sleeves. I’d cast them off too tightly, which meant that the armhole was rather tight and not nicely drapey like it should be. Unfortunately I only realized that after I’d sewn the sleeves on and woven about 50,000 ends into the seam. Frustrated and annoyed, I packed it in a bag and set it aside to work on happier projects. It languished for over a year. Periodically I’d take it out and pick at the seam, then sigh and put it away. I just couldn’t deal with it, you know? Then last month I had a flash of inspiration: Why not pay somebody to fix it for me? So I took it in to work and gave it to Ann, the lady who runs our knitting clinic. She worked on it all through our holiday and had it ready for me when I got back today. She not only fixed the sleeves (and added a bit more needed length), but she also seamed the sides, knitted the collar, and wove in the remaining 100,000 ends! Of course, as part of the deal I had to put up with a fair bit of griping and criticism from her about my crappy finishing techniques, but hey, I was a beginning knitter, all right? And she did compliment me on my even knitting, which was nice. (Apparently my final measurement was only two centimeters off the 130 specificed in the pattern.) At any rate, it’s finally finished and I can wear it… in about six months when this damn summer heat wave ends. *sigh* But aren’t the colors great? I wanted something big and crazy bold to wear with jeans in winter, and I think this will fit the bill nicely.
Author: Kris
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Solstice is finished!
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The Catholic Mafia
Okay, seriously, Notre Dame’s Alumni Association are scaring the crap out of me. They’re like the Catholic Mafia or something. First incident: earlier this week I received the annual ND “Christmas-card-and-donation-plea” but was surprised to see it addressed to both myself and the Snook. How in the hell did they know we got married? I didn’t tell them. That’s spooky. And then today I got an e-mail asking me to fill out an alumni survey… addressed to my Gmail address. I’ve never given them my Gmail address. How do they know this stuff? How is it that members of my own family don’t even know my address over here but Notre Dame has me under total surveillance? Am I the only one?
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Knit a Womb
I got an e-mail this morning notifying me that the new Knitty is up, but before I could even settle down into it Andrew forwarded me a link to this pattern. Heh. (Based on the URL, I thought it was going to be a wombat.) Maybe I’ll knit him and Kathleen one for a wedding present? 🙂
Later: Okay, now that I’ve had a read, there are a couple other patterns that caught my eye. This hat is adorable and I love the little skiers. This cuff may tempt me into trying bead knitting. I’m always up for more socks. And I know the Snook would love a tux penguin! But my absolute favorite is Belle Epoque. *swoon* Sooo Elizabeth Bennet.
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Place the State.
Place the State. How well do you know your US geography? My score: 96%, 8 miles, 319 seconds. (I really only messed up one or two at the beginning and then the rest were all perfect.)
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Turn your Mac into a typewriter.
Turn your Mac into a typewriter. Well, not really. But that nifty bit of shareware makes typewriter noises whenever you push a key, including a nice clunky carriage return when you hit “enter.” It scared the crap out of the Snook and made me giggle like crazy, which is pretty much a glowing recommendation. 🙂
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Comment Spam Vigilante
The comment spam is really, really pissing me off. I’m happy in that I’ve succeeded in keeping it from showing up on the site, but I still growl every time I log in and find I’ve got 400 pending spam comments to delete. I’ve just coded in my latest grenade in this escalating war: a limit on the number of links per comment. Let me know if any of you legitimate users bump into it. (I don’t think you will.) Is there some way I could show this crap to Google and just, you know, have them remove comment spammers’ links from their index? Because that would rule.
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Lush soap = drug trafficking?
Whoa! Somebody on MetaFilter is reporting that a friend got busted by US Customs after a bar of Lush soap tested positive for THC. She was threatened with jail time and received a $500 fine. And there I was three months ago, blissfully unaware as I marched through airports across the US carting about twenty pounds of Lush products home for the fam!
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We’re home.
And while it was so awesome to see my family again, I’ve never been so happy to get back after a trip before. Almost three years to the day since I migrated here… and I guess it’s really finally home in my heart now. We’ve got lots of pictures and stories to tell, but for now I’ll be sleeping off my cold and my jet lag for the next 24 hours. Many thanks to Helen for watching the fort for us. (And as for the cat? We might as well have only been gone for an hour. Sheesh.)
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Last minute San Fran tips?
Last minute San Fran tips?
Man, I totally miss blogging about, like, random Internet stuff instead of my life all the time. Only five more days til we’re home! In about twelve hours we fly off for San Francisco. We’re staying in this funky hotel and so far all we have booked is the Anchor Steam Brewery tour on Wednesday and Alcatraz on Thursday. Any last minute recommendations? I’m thinking of maybe making a pilgrimage to the Apple Store… -
Well, it’s over.
In the end it was all bright smiles and happiness. I made a minor error coming down the aisle when I forgot to stop at the right place and continued on with the rest of the bridesmaids, but luckily the preacher (and half the guests) waved me back. (Fortunately, both Snookums and my uncle Ron – the official videographers – were aiming at the little flower girl and ring bearer behind me, so my mistake has already been expunged from posterity.) Everybody said I looked really pretty in my orange dress, even though my sparkly dyed shoes turned my toes red. The Snook, as always, looked pretty fly. He completely cemented his place in the family with a stunning karaoke rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” during the reception. Afterwards we headed to the hotel for a little jacuzzi and Papa John’s action. *sigh* And now all this wedding crap is over, so hopefully we can all get back to more meaningful pursuits… (like the second season of The O.C.!)
