Where's the love, NoDak?

I've been doing some research over at Google Analytics, which tracks my blog stats, and I've come to a disturbing realization. I've had visitors from all 50 states except North Dakota! "Why is this so disturbing?" you might ask. It's disturbing because North Dakota may very well be one of my favorite places on the planet. Before relocating to subtropical paradise and more recently to the east coast, I spent a summer in Grand Forks, N.D., and loved every minute. I spent long weekends traipsing across the prairie, soaking in the Big Sky and marveling at the windswept plains. I saw my first buffalo in North Dakota. I did my first solo travel in North Dakota. I saw my first hockey game in North Dakota. But perhaps most importantly for this blog, I learned to KNIT in North Dakota! That's right, my first foray into needles and yarn came during my time in the Peace Garden State. (The Peace Garden reminds me of a time when border patrol accused of smuggling rocks into the country — incidentally not the only time that's happened, but that's a different story...)

Maybe it was the post-college I'm-an-adult-now depression or the loneliness factor of living a thousand miles from anyone I knew. Or perhaps just the need to find an activity to fill the endless summer afternoons — it literally never got dark until 11 p.m.! Whatever the case, something about North Dakota inspired me to learn a new craft. The fruit of that effort turned out to be a really crappy acrylic scarf that I've never worn and never will. (Seriously, it's so embarrassing, I don't even include it on Ravelry.) Nonetheless, North Dakota holds a special place in my knitting heart.

And this is the reason why I'm so upset that no North Dakotans are reading my blog. I know you knit; I've seen you! I know you have computers — and Internet; I've used it! So where are you Bismarck? Minot? Rugby, the geographic center of the continent? Uff da!

For that reason, I'm going to hold a little contest. The first North Dakotan to read my blog and respond with a comment gets a prize! I'm thinking the prize will be some awesome cotton fingering weight yarn I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend, but I'll have to check my stash later to be sure. Maybe the North Dakotan knitters would appreciate something warmer. I'll post some pictures of the fabulous prize later this weekend to entice all you North Dakotan readers. And be sure to leave your email address when you comment so I can get in touch with you. Blogger doesn't provide it automatically.

Long overdue

I know, I know. I've been a horribly neglectful blogger recently. But not for lack of things to blog about. The past month has been a flurry of finishing old projects and starting new ones—and getting a leg up on those daunting Christmas crafts. So without further ado, here's a rundown of finished objects and a preview of things to come.

Bryant's Slipover

My very first sweater-type garment is finished! I wore it to work yesterday, and it was so warm and soft (I used Garnstudio Drops alpaca). Even though it's knitted to gauge and blocked to measurements, it's still a little "gapey" at the top, but I guess that just allows for bulkier undergarments.

Here's another view, and there are even more pictures on Ravelry (subtropicalkatie), if you're so inclined.




Swatch Bangle

I saw these on Mimsie's Ravelry page, and loved the idea, so I went a little Fetching with them. I'm up to three so far—with more to come before Christmas. (Close your eyes for the next few pictures if you think you might be on my Christmas list.)

I used my favorite cable stitch of all time (Hollow Oak from "Vogue Knitting") and some stash Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran in a dark blue for the first one:


The next is just a regular thick cable and some stash Lions Brand Wool Ease in a tan-brown:

I'll keep the remaining ones a mystery for now—at least until Christmas.

I'm a checklist kind of girl, so signing off on all these objects brings me lots of satisfaction. But I'm also an only-happy-when-I'm-busy girl, so I've obviously got a few new projects in the works.

Little Gems Mitts

My first foray into non-Fetching fingerless mitts is turning out well so far. I haven't had any nervous breakdowns or Debbie Bliss withdrawals—yet. Here's a progress shot of the Little Gems Mitts from Interweave Knit's Holiday Gifts. I'm using the yarn used in the pattern, Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift but in a different color scheme. My "gems" will be various shades of green.


And in other crafty news...

The sewing machine has been lugged downstairs and is hard at work again on several new projects. The only one that's finished so far is a modified version of the clutch from the cover of Amy Karol's book. I stumbled on some great Free Spirit gnome fabric while online shopping at Purl and knowing that I was soon to be the houseguest of a gnome-loving friend, I decided to put it to good use. As for the modifications, it's reversible. I added a ribbon along the edge of the solid side for a little more pizazz and voila! I think it was a hit!

'Seconds from the impact and moving way too slow'

After almost exactly two months to the day of working on the Vogue Knitting lacy dress, I'm finished — with the individual pieces. Now all that's left to do is the ever-so-tedious finishing. But before I do that, I have a very important decision to make: to leave the very obvious Amish flaw or to fix it.

I first learned about the Amish flaw theory last year when I was working at National Geographic, coincidentally around the same time that I learned to knit things other than long rectangles. I took a tour of the headquarters building, and the guide showed us a beautiful Amish quilt hanging in the corridor between the M Street building and Hubbard Hall. She pointed out a mistake in the quilt and told us about the Amish tradition of purposefully creating a mistake in the work because the only things perfect are of God. This tradition also reminds me of the Greek myth of Arachne. Arachne was a fabulous weaver in Lydia (modern-day western Turkey), supposedly better than the goddess Athena. Foolishly and pridefully, Arachne entered into a weaving contest with Athena. When Arachne's work turned out to be flaw free, Athena destroyed it in a fit of rage. Ashamed, Arachne tried to hang herself, but Athena took pity on her and turned her into a spider and the rope into a cobweb, which Arachne used to climb to safety. And her descendants have forever been exquisite weavers.

Pride and perfection aside, my Amish flaw is a fairly large and noticeable one, which was not put there on purpose. The dress pattern calls for alternating sections of the lacy knots pattern and the lace acorn insert. Having never made lace — or anything of the apparel category — before, it didn't dawn on me that the instruction "(k1, p1, k1, p1, k1) in the next st" meant to do all of that in one stitch (despite the very obvious "in the next st" directions). So my acorn inserts for the main body of the dress are a big jumbled mess (the piece on the left in the picture) compared with my correctly knitted inserts in the sleeves (bottom section of the piece on the right in the picture). I guess Weird Al would say this qualifies as an "Amish Paradise" (sorry, I couldn't resist). Urgh. What to do? I don't particularly want to redo 76 inches of acorn insert, but I also want the dress to look nice. I guess it's time to start frogging. Thank goodness Netflix just delivered a new disc of "24." And don't worry, I have a few other less noticeable Amish flaws worked into the dress. I'm not going to be turned into a spider anytime soon.

So I lied...

My first real post will not be about knitting as promised. I know all you faithful readers—all two of you—are severely disappointed. I may throw in a little knitting shop talk at the end just to spice things up. But for now, I present my beautiful, "new" parquet coffee table. Many of you already knew and loved this table in its youth. What a fun-loving and jovial kid it was. With a flair for obnoxiously bright colors and the uncanny ability to keep sticking around, this table has gone through several reincarnations since it first came into my life six years—almost to the day—ago. Here's a brief history of the table for those of you who don't know or have forgotten. I bought this table used for $5 at a sketchy back-of-a-warehouse second-hand store in Buena Vista, Virginia, when I was in college. (Oh sketchy trips to BV...but that's another story). My roommate and I decided to paint the table hot pink to match our living room decor and proceeded to slather on apparently hundreds of coats of shiny, sticky hot pink paint. I assume the table had the lovely parquet design and some sort of decent finish when we bought it, but that was sophomore year. A lot of it is kind of hazy now. We gave the table a loving and happy home for nine months with only the occasional college party—ahem—"get-together" abuse. The table stayed with me through college, moving into the sorority house and later the slightly more whimsical house I lived in senior year.

When I started graduate school the following fall, I decided hot pink was a bit too juvenile for my geriatric tastes, so I repainted it lime green, a so much more sophisticated choice. Obviously, I didn't first strip the pink paint, I just added on another couple hundred layers of ridiculously colored paint on top. Lime green table survived through graduate school and moved into storage during my first year in the "real world." Which brings us to May of this year, when it moved out of storage and into my brand new, beautiful, grown-up, working-girl apartment. I had new furniture and new decor and it was obviously time for the green to go. So I decided to refinish it. I read up about wood refinishing online and headed to my friendly, neighborhood Lowe's for supplies. I naively thought this project would take me a weekend. I bought only one jar of paint stripper and just a few sheets of sand paper. Now, numerous weekends and about $100 worth of paint stripper, sand paper, chemical-resistant gloves, stain, and finish later, I have a beautiful new table to show for it. I have to say, all the hard work was well worth the effort because my "new" table adds the finishing touch to my lovely grown-up living room.


And now for the knitting. See that pile of whiteness on the ottoman in the picture above. That's the fun, little summer project I started on two months ago. No longer summer and, frankly, no longer fun, the Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2007 lacy dress will be finished if my life depends on it. I'm on the last sleeve. And now that my table is done, I might be able to spend a few more weekend hours finishing it. Until then, I must get back to work...