Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes....

Well, in all honesty, we are skipping the knees here, but I'll cover heads, shoulders and toes in this post! Let's take it from the top, shall we, with a darling baby hat in Pipsqueak yarn:

And, since there was a baby head covered, shouldn't we also cover those sweet toes? Of course we should!

And then I lost my head...I fell down the rabbit hole that is ARM KNITTING (cue the falling music, Wonderland-like) with some bulky yarns I've been stashing for awhile. It's a scarf, and I think I like it. 

A few weeks ago, my friend Connie brought some arm knitting to Thursday night, and she gave it a go. It was not her thing, and I remained at the other end of the table, resisting as well as I was able. I did just fine for a few weeks. Then, on a whim, I went to the basement to do some stash wrangling, and I ran across that box of bulky yarn. The next thing I knew, Whoops! I was making a scarf!

And, just like they say in all the You Tube videos, it took about half an hour, and it was (dare I say it?) kinda fun...lol! I'm not sure I really love the finished scarf...it looks good, but the stitches are really large (arm-sized, in fact), so I am constantly worried I'll catch them on something, and I don't like the place where I joined the two ends together because it is very bulky there. But, I think I have the solution for that last problem...provisional cast on and grafting together like a sock toe. I know. I knoooowww. I said it was a rabbit hole, and I still have a substantial box of bulky yarns...it's only a matter of time, isn't it? lol! And, with yarns this bulky, my neck and shoulders will NEVER be cold again! :)

Have you ever tried arm knitting? "If you never did, you should. [Arm knitting] is fun, and fun is good." (Loosely translated, Dr. Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.) And that's all I have to say about that. 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

In Like a Lion...?

It is March 1st. The sun is shining, and the promise of Spring is in the air, and in the longer days...but I'm not counting the daffodils just yet. I live in northeast Ohio, where it is not uncommon to see snow well into April. So, while I sit on the sofa, warmed by the cats and knitting a lovely scarf for my daughter-in-law, 

I know that winter still has some bite to it...and the weather gurus predict another day or so of dumping snow in our very near future. Don't be fooled by that sunshine, March is coming in Like a Lion this year. Are you ready? I think I am...

I have a sweater to finish,

and several new balls of yarn on their way to my house (because the Thursday night knitters have placed orders for the past two weeks in a row...it's becoming part of the regular routine).

Yes, I will weather this next winter storm just fine. After all, I've got "my Love" (plus yarn, plus cats) to keep me warm!

Stay warm, especially if you live in my neck of the woods (or anywhere these next two storms are promising to converge)...and Knit in Good Health!

Patronizing Pants

I wish that my pants would stop patronizing me.

::Wait. What? Your pants?::

Yes. My pants are very patronizing. Allow me to explain...

Back when I broke my fingers (trying to get fit, I fell while jogging) I was at a decent weight. Not an ideal weight, but I was down several pounds from where I had started a year before. I had even bought smaller pants, and ditched many of my "fat clothes." Since the fall, however, I have not run. Actually, I haven't done much since then...well, except knit. (Side note: knitting with broken fingers is possible, but difficult...and really, the calories should have continued to burn themselves just out of respect for my determination to knit! But they did not.) Because I have spent more time sitting these past few months, the weight I had lost has come back, and I think every pound has invited a friend. Eventually, I knew I would have to shop for new pants...and I did.

At the store, I had trouble. I don't know why it is so difficult to buy pants that fit, but I've talked to lots of women (of ALL sizes) and this is a fairly common occurrence. After trying on about a gazillion pair of jeans in a variety of sizes, I picked up a pair that had no zipper...that is to say pull-up jeans, with an elastic waist. In my head, these are also known as gramma pants, fat pants, and/or lazy pants... But I needed pants, and they fit, so I bought them.

Then, as I was getting dressed about a week later, I thought I was holding the pants backwards. There was writing on the waistband...wait. What does that say there?

It says, "You are GORGEOUS." My pants have just told me, in a moment of weakness, while I was having trouble distinguishing the front from the back of a pair of pants...my pants have just told me that I am pretty. Now, every time I get dressed or go to the ladies room, they continue to patronize me! If they weren't so darn comfortable, I'd have to burn them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that I am not gorgeous. Obviously I am pretty, because I am Pretty! But do my pants really have to pander to me that way? It's like they are saying, "You're not fat, you're fluffy!" Or perhaps they are proclaiming, "You have such a pretty face!" I know that I have a pretty face, and I know that I am fluffy...and despite the latter, I actually have a pretty good self-esteem these days. However, I'm always a little offended when I feel patronized...

What do you think? Are my pants patronizing? Are yours?
Are all pants involved in a conspiracy against women finding jeans to fit?
Are there curve-less, straight-and-narrow, toothpick designers out there just laughing at women who NEED their pants to tell them they are pretty?
Should I just stop all this madness and get back to the knitting?

Let me know your thoughts, and let me know what is the very best thing about YOU in the comments! My very best thing is that I am finally learning to have a sense of humor. It is a weird sense of humor, to be sure, but at least I have started to loosen up before this lifetime is over!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and Laugh) in Good Health!

Yarnigan? Yarn, again!

I made yarn! That is to say that I took another bunch of fluff,

and my prettiest spindle (both from 7yaks Design), 

and I came up with yards and yards of this:

Yarn!!!

I've made yarn again, and here are the details:

Fiber: Merino, SW Merino, Mohair, Nylon (15%), Firestar, Bamboo - a total of 3.4oz. 

Direction: Singles spun Z, 3-plied S

Weight: Fingering

Yardage: ~310yds (if I counted it right)

I did take photos, along the way and at the finish, but I never did use a coin for perspective. I know it's fingering (more or less), a little thick here, a little thin there, but mostly right on, and I ended up with a decent yardage, so I am pretty happy about that! :) If I could change just one thing, I think I would have added a little less twist while plying...it seems a little wiry to me, and I think it's over-plied? Not sure...if you're an expert, please chime in! I do wish it was just a little softer and squishier, but overall, I like it! It's so very PURPLE!!! And SHINY!!! =D

Now, what should this Yarnigan knit with the yarn she made? She made yarn again!!!

Crickets

Recently, I attended a ladies' brunch at our church, and there was a "stand up and tell us about you" moment. These moments always make me a little bit nervous, for several reasons: 

1. I like to talk. Some would say that I like to talk too much. So much so that I know the average listener tunes me out after the first half-hour or so, maybe sooner. 
2. Most everyone at church knows me, and they know a LOT about me. I'm a really bad secret keeper when it comes to all things Pretty, and I have occasionally been handed an actual microphone at church...so, yeah. There's no mystery here.
3. I like to think that I am funny. I like to think that right up until that moment I say something out loud, something that sounded really funny in my head...and even the crickets are silent. 

Anyway, while I was sitting at my table, waiting my turn to stand up and tell them about me, all kinds of things went through my head. Funny things. Seriously funny things. Imagine my horror, then, when I stood up and said simply, "Hi, I'm Pretty. (nervous smile) I've been going to this church since 1995. Sometimes I'm funny (silent pause, nobody laughed, not even the crickets. should I go on? what choice do I have?), and sometimes I'm not." Some of the polite, church ladies offered polite, church lady laughs, but the truth is that I bombed. Even the crickets were embarrassed for me.

Perhaps I should knit myself a cricket.
My cricket will validate me.
Always.