Eh? Who, me?

So I just popped over here and came across an American accent quiz. I couldn't help trying it myself and, well...I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the results.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central   "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm pretty sure though that not all Canadians sound like that!

Knitting
I finished, blocked and seamed the Backyard Leaves scarf. It's amazing what an effect blocking can have on size.

Here's the finished scarf:


Moving prep
The tabby is busy colonizing every box he can reach.

Chilling

Hurrah for the long weekend! I finished one more repeat on the Backyard Leaves scarf.

Meanwhile, the cats lounged,...

yawned,...

and tried to look as wide as possible.

Something finished

Despite my best efforts, I managed to finish this tank top! Woo-hoo!



Yarn: Hana from Artfibers, colour #18, a little over 4 balls
Pattern: A cowl neck tank top that the Artfibers staff printed for me. They have some computer software that can spit out patterns tailored specifically for your body measurements. I think the designs are pre-set, but it's still pretty cool.
Time: I started this last August and finished darning the ends this evening. I stopped working on it for about four months, and I worked on other things at the same time, so I have no idea how long it actually took me.
Screw-upsModifications: I thought I'd be clever and slip the stitches at the armhole edges to make them nice and flat. Hey, it had worked on another tank top pattern. Then it turned out I had to pick up those stitches later to make a ribbed edging, so the armholes are a bit tight. That will teach me to read the entire pattern before starting.

Random statistic
Resident cats who want more foliage in their diets: One. He's shunning the sunflowers though. I'll have to ask the florist what kind the other ones are.

Seattle part 2

So as I said before, we're moving to Seattle this summer. My husband got a job out there. It's a good position, everyone I've talked to says Seattle is a great city...and have you seen their downtown library? Their Friends store sells removable librarian tattoos! "I heart Dewey decimal system" indeed (though that's not the only drawing point for the city).

I'm excited but also a bit overwhelmed, since among other things we'll have to pack a ton of stuff and sort out the things we don't need, and find a mover, and convince the cats that things will be All Right even as we haul them across the country. Those who have experienced the cowcat's wrath and the tabby's...tabbiness...will understand our concern about the latter.

The knitting checklist

I saw this on some other blogs and decided to give it a try.

Bold = stuff you’ve done, italics = stuff you plan to do one day, and normal = stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire and I'm glad I got that one out of the way, because I don't think my wrists are up for it anymore.
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn (maybe)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn (maybe)
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn (maybe)
Domino knitting (=modular knitting) (I think--does the Moderne blanket count?)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (Since I have to ask what this is, the answer is probably no I haven't done it but I probably wouldn't mind trying)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn (I might knit what I've spun, but it doesn't really qualify as yarn)
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit (I think)
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes (I did thumbholes on a pair of wristwarmers in a buttonhole style)
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting (does Anemoi count?)
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars (I like my single circular needle!)
Olympic knitting (I started last year but didn't finish)
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking (what's smocking?)
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art.
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting (what's an example?)
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads (went together with the wire knitting!)
Swatching
LongTail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern (but only for stuffed animals, and they're very vague, e.g. "try short row here")
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies (not on purpose--I can't seem to get baby hats right)
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Yardage

I think I may have a wee problem here.



Left to right: Half of a skein of Colinette Jitterbug, in the Bright Charcoal colourway; what remains of the other half; the sock in progress.

I suspected the yardage might be a bit short for these socks (apparently I'm neither the only one with this problem nor the only fan of this colourway), so instead of doing the 3 Chart A repeats in the pattern I did 2.5, thinking I could adjust the foot a bit. Doing 2 repeats would have made life much easier but at the same time...eh...the leg would have been a bit too short for my taste.

I'm at the heel gusset now, and the yarn looks awfully low. The new scale and the old scale both insist that slightly less than half of the yarn remains, and since half of the stitches will now be stockinette part of me wants to think that will be just enough. But then I look at the used ball, and I look at the unused ball, and the other part of me starts freaking and saying hey, that does not look like slightly less than half of the yarn left in the ball, that looks like I'm going to RUN OUT OF YARN, I had better take out that 0.5 repeat of Chart A...but then the leg will be too short for my taste...oh dear.

Waffling over this has distracted me a bit from worrying about how I'm going to tweak Chart B. Have you seen Chart B of this pattern? Cookie A. threw in an adjustment factor to compensate for the pattern not being square, and I just can't visualize how to apply it when one starts the chart halfway up at what would normally be the right edge of the pattern (the K2tog tbl on row 12 in Chart A). Do I still add something on at the left of the chart, or do I now add it on to the right? Ack!

Other than that things are going well.

Upheaval and hysterics as usual

Yeeargh!

We're moving from Providence to Seattle in July!

Even the intrepid Pomatomus is starting to freak out (when it's not busy sneaking off to unknit itself).


Details to follow.

Take two

Pomatomus, we meet again.



You thought you had defeated me when I reluctantly frogged my first attempt at knitting you. You lurked in a corner as I sadly converted that poor yarn into another pattern. You mocked me silently, as I worked on other socks and brooded over your fishiness and your ripples of colour.

But I am back, and this time I have brought Colinette Jitterbug (Bright Charcoal!) into the fray. Perhaps it isn't as stripey as I had hoped, but I think it will do the trick. Soon, o scaly one, you will be mine.

Finished socks

Yarn: Hand-dyed merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns. I forget the colorway though. I bought it at the store, but it's also available on-line here.
Needles: 2.0 mm Clover and Inox dpn.
Pattern: Generic top-down sock.
Comments: I like a dense fabric as much as the next person, but those 2.0 mm needles get really painful after a while. The yarn was also kind of slippery. But I like how it looks!

Life's equations

1a) Small person + worsted-weight yarn + surprise + relatives who read this = fast but not really bloggable knitting. I will try anyway.


1b) Old camera that is not so good on the close-ups + attempted close-up shot = blur-o-rama.

Yarn = Manos Cotton Stria. It’s too bad I didn’t sign up for Project Spectrum, because the colours would have fit in perfectly!

2a) Drunk neighbours singing Bohemian Rhapsody across the parking lot on a warm night = slightly annoyed husband + closed window

2b) 2a + me singing along = irate husband

Not an equation, just an unrelated thought.
I went to a wedding last weekend and, as usual, brought the digital camera. I felt odd though about using it to take candid shots. It's true that I didn't have to worry about wasting film, since I could just delete the bad photos, but I spent so much time staring into the viewfinder that I ended up missing a lot of what was happening in real life. It made me feel really disconnected. Has anyone else ever noticed this feeling?

Oops

Hey, I missed my blogiversary!

Thank you everyone for reading this blog. It's really been great to meet some of you in person (or figure out who you were from your own blogs!) and make new friends over the past year.

So, without further ado, I present the resident balloon and cupcake.*



*If you're wondering what possessed me to knit a balloon and cupcake, check out this site.