Becca's Blog

Almost like a socialized person.

I did make it out of the house last night, and into the city for a spoken-word event in the Mission. It would have been very easy to skip it and watch the rest of the "Top Chef" marathon, but then I would have been really disgusted with myself. I often think that if it weren't for the hypnotic pull of Target, I would be in real danger of becoming a recluse.

Anyway, so I went (alone), I introduced myself to strangers (although I had a connection as an excuse to introduce myself), I made small talk (although it was small talk about books and translation theory; I was among my people), I hung out (although it was in a dark bar at first, so I could be incognito until I felt comfortable), I got home after midnight. All qualifications aside, it felt like an effort and an act of bravery, so I'm proud of myself.

My first Dulaan item of '06.

A cloud hat, more or less. It's adult-size, however. It fits me. I'm sure there are cold-headed teenagers in Ulan Bator, so I'm not too remorseful--but I probably could have finished a lot sooner if I'd paid attention to the gauge and cast on fewer stitches.  I spent most of our rainy Sunday on the couch in my pajamas, finishing this.

The yarn is the leftovers from the creamsicle sweater--Lion microfiber in mango, and Patons Diva. I actually had to find my swatch gauge and rip it to finish up; I thought surely I had enough mohair left for one hat. Again, attention to gauge might have helped. The whitish stripe is a bit of leftover Artfibers' Kyoto. I've got a bunch of bits of that from a big scarf I made, but I think I want to keep that for a scarf for myself--and I'm still trying to focus on the WIPs I've got now. (Although I really need a good project for a quick trip this weekend.)

And not that I'm looking for any new yarn, but in perusing elann.com, I see that they have Filatura di Crosa mohair (98 yards) for about $3 per ball. Perfect for cloud hats, I think. 

The second watermelon-pink silk-alpaca sock is also progressing nicely; the heel is done, so now I just have to knit about four inches of leg. And I confess that the stockinette is a wee bit boring at this point.

I did fall off the "no new yarn, no new projects" wagon last week about this time, when I decided that I had to make a hat and socks for the almost-1-year-old who came for dinner on Saturday. So after a visit to Skein Lane I found myself with this:
Machine washable cotton/acrylic, fingering weight. Nice and smooth, but still not much give. I started a hat with it and ripped, because again, I ended up with something that was going to be huge, and the brim wasn't rolling. I think I'll have to cast on with size 5s or something to get the edge to be loose enough. Gosh, maybe a gauge swatch and a trip through the washing machine is in order. I ain't swatchin' for the socks, though. I'm using this pattern. I've also got a pair of these going for Dulaan in some stash yarn. I foresee that quite a bit of the stash could be used up this way.

Did you know that almost-1-year-olds aren't quite old enough to drink cow's milk? Or eat cupcakes or chicken hot dogs? Now I know...

Thanks, Nancy!

I love the purse kit!  I've never tried felting, but Cascade 220 is my favorite, so this will be fun.

One good thing happened last week.

Well, actually two. Well, really three not counting the fashionable flipflops whose purchase kept me from breaking down in sobs, but I'll just tell you about the two.

A couple of my photos will be published: in a book, with a credit. Jane's company publishes travel books and likes to spend as little money acquiring art for them as possible. We took tons of photos on our trip to Paris a couple of years ago, and one of Jane's employees had a book about France to find illustrations for. When your boss says, "We have some photos that might work," you don't say no. So we picked out a few appropriate street scenes and Jane took them in for consideration, a couple of months ago. I figured they would be tactfully forgotten, but last week the book went to the printer with several of our photos in it. I won't get to see which ones got chosen until I see a copy, hopefully in a few weeks. I don't think either of my favorite shots made it, since they don't really fit the theme. This is one of my favorites.

The other thing is that Jane did love the show posters, and wants to hang them in her office, as predicted. She likes the kind of scary-looking one, the one I almost didn't buy, better.

Oh, and tomorrow the Harlot will be in Berkeley.

I'm a genius fuckin' gift-giver.

Obviously, not only do I have no false modesty about this, I'm exceedingly proud of it. If I know you well, I know what you'd like, and I remember when gifting time comes. I'm also unstingy: I'm as happy to spend money on frivolities for you as for myself.

Why this grandiose outburst and why now, you ask? Well, my wife's birthday is this week (and she never reads my blog). And even though I will not be finishing her hat (or even restarting it), she's going to be really happy with her gifts. The latest Carl Hiassen is out in paperback (and I just realized that I got it for the same price at Target as the Amazon discounted price--hah), and she is getting posters from a couple of shows we saw at the Belly Up in the past couple of years. I blogged about one last Thanksgiving. She'll be totally surprised, and think they're totally cool, and want to put them up in her office at work. The anticipation makes me giddy--I'm hoping I can pick them up in time to get them framed, maybe in Mexican silver frames.

Addendum: I'll be giving her these posters if I can manage to raise the vendor. Grrr.

Addendum the second: Guy came through, they're cool, I'm excited through my crabbiness.

My dad's birthday is also this week, and he's getting the promise of some scrumptious pork-burgers the next time I see him. He'll be nearly as happy with that as Jane will be with the posters, and way happier than if I buy him some best-seller or a golf shirt.

Jane's dad's birthday is in a month, and he's getting a personalized crossword puzzle, created by yours truly. I need to get to work on this...