A Curious Statistical Anomaly

The zines went live last night at midnight but I added at least four from people today and expect another one or two tomorrow. So the official announcements have not yet gone out to our mailing list.  If you want to be on the mailing list just go to either SFRevu.com or GumshoeReview.com and join the mailing list. We only send one email a month — we might do a special announcement email once in a blue moon and those, as you know, are pretty rare.

I expect that I’ll soon be back to actually  making posts with content soon. In fact, I’m working on a book review for tomorrow. It’s a fun, light romance with a British slant but oh, so relevant to most of us city folks dreaming of the quiet country side.

Finally, I’ve wrestled my Jali Sweater chart into submission and have almost completed a full pattern repeat. Yeah, me! I only ripped the entire thing out and started from scratch about 6 or 7 times before the light bulb over my head went on. Boy that’s embarrassing to know that somehow you forgot how to read between casting on and following the chart. But more about that project in another post.

One thing about knitting is that it keeps you humble.  I cast on the stitches and knit the first 5 rows and discovered that I should have used the smaller sized needles.  So, I pulled it all off the needles and unraveled.  By then it was after midnight last night.

Today I finally found the size 5 needles right where they were supposed to be after searching there, missing them and searching the rest of the house. I find that if I can’t find something it will show up in plain sight once I give up after a couple of hours. Once again this held true.  So, with needles in hand I cast on again and knit the first 5 rows.  Then I had to change to the size 6 needles.  This took a while because I wanted to move the size 6 to a new length cord and found that they wouldn’t go on that one but they did go back on the shorter cord no problem.  I’m flexible.  So, the shorter cord it was  and the sweater still fit.

The body of the sweater is knit all in one piece up to the armholes.  So the first row is the set up row where you place the markers for the front edge, front panel, underarm panel, back, other underarm panel, front panel, and front edge.  That part went really well.

Next is the first pattern row.  Front panel — no problem.  Get to the back panel and I ended up knitting in and pulling it out four time.  The problem was that somehow I forgot to check the chart for the size I was knitting and make sure I stayed within the right colors.  Evidently, I have a very short attention span, can’t distinguish colors, and/or can’t remember the size I’m knitting.  Finally on try number 4 — I managed to get the right section of the chart done the correct number of time to fit the stitches available.  Then I breezed through the other sections.

Now that the first row of the charts are done it should be much easier to keep track as  I can read the knitting to make sure I find the right place on the charts.  Yeah, I know I’ve probably set myself up for a zap from the knitting hubris goddess but a girl’s gotta dream.

It seems that the old saying, “the faster I go, the behinder I get” is getting a workout in my life.  The zines go live on June 1st.  But then you probably knew that.  But, I’m going to be at Balticon from May 28th to 31st — I think you begin to see the problem. Now add to the mix that I’m going to be on a couple of panels and will need to prepare for that. Then add that I’ll be helping a bit with the WSFA/Capclave table at the convention. My time is being eaten away and I still have things to do, reviews to edit, books to finish, my own reviews to finish writing. I love it when those deadlines come upon me like a tsunami of ginormous proportions — well I should learn to love them it happens so often in my life.

Meanwhile, the cat has been vaccinated, dewormed, chipped, and treated for ear mites. He needs to go back to the vet again next week to get his ears checked out again. I’m not sure how we’ll get him in the cat carrier this time. We had to pick him up and push him in last time getting all four paws into the opening. I understand that they had just as much of a fight getting him out at the vets. They turned the cage so the door was at the bottom and he still didn’t come out. The assistant held the carrier while Hyperion reached in to disengage paws.  After treatment though he couldn’t get in the carrier fast enough. It’s been a few days and he doesn’t take off when we both come out of the house at the same time anymore. It takes two of us to get him in the carrier so he’s very cautious of the two of us together.

I got the yarn for a sweater from the new Interweave Knits; the Jali Cardigan. I had to order the yarn from Lion Brand since none of the stores near me had it. I’m making the sweater in Hyacinth — which is a sort of light many times washed denim shade and no where near as dark as the swatch on the website. Now I just have to find my circular No. 6 needle long enough for the sweater. Heck I even did a swatch and washed and dried it. Love the feel of the yarn — soft and nicely drappy.

I’m really hoping I can finish this sweater in time for Readercon. It’s nice to have deadlines they make such a nice breeze as the pass you by. Who knows maybe I will figure out a way to knit in my sleep and I will finish it. I’ll try to post updates as I move along on this project.

Had to rip out nearly an entire sock yesterday. I’ve managed to finish the toe so far but have a bit of a way to go until I get to the leg area where I dropped a stitch and didn’t notice until it was way to late.

Is there anything other than knitting that teaches a person humility and the advantages of do-overs?

Worked on the garden again today. I’m doing things in 1/2 hour units. So far one per day (unless it rains). Between me raking and Hyperion hauling the leaves away we’ve got half of the side yard raked, 3/4 of the herb garden cleared, and the central area in front of the house.

Next up is to finish the side yard. Dismantle the existing square foot gardens. Replace those existing and rotting wooden sides with the new fake wood sided ones. This will allow us to have a garden area that won’t need to be replaced every three years as the moisture, weather, rain, whatever takes its toll on the wood.

We’ve cleared the strawberry area and now I need to weed it out and then plant the new everbearing plants we bought. I hoped to get this done during the past week but the temps plummeted down into the 30’s over night. So, meanwhile more yard work gets done.

Cut back all the raspberry plants so now their ready to go for this summer.

I’m hating being so limited by the fibro. I get a few good days and even when I really, really, try hard not to over do on my good days — I end up with a down-swing that lasts a few days. If it’s not the pain it’s the stultifying brain fog. — No wonder I keep having trouble with time management. It seems to slip away in the fog of fibromyalgia.

Got Gumshoe Review just about ready to go on April 1st. Lots left to do on SFRevu. One of the other associate editors managed to get an interview for SFRevu for April. Unfortunately, I’ve left Gumshoe’s interview until quite late — I never have figured out how to ask interview question until after I read the book. I’ll pull some questions together tomorrow and hope that once again a kindly author can manage to have time to answer a few quick questions.

Another month goes by without an artist interview on SFRevu. I feel really bad about that because there are so many that deserve to be spotlighted but it’s that time management issue combined with the lack of other personnel who feel comfortable talking/asking about art with someone who does such excellent work.

Got to find a way to get more spinning into my life. I’ve got my spinning wheel sitting in the living room and a basket of lovely green roving waiting to be turned into yarn. I’ve even got a pattern I want to knit from this stuff. It’s another time management issue.

Meanwhile, we’ve had so many days of grey skies combined with scattered showers that I’m pining for the color blue.

The one joy, or should I say one of the joys of life lately, is looking out my office window that faces the side of the house and the forsythia bushes which are cheerfully waving their bright yellow blooms — declaring that Spring is here and it’s time to dance in joy.

It makes me smile. It doesn’t matter what is going on in my life — those bright yellow flowers on their delicate stems bobbing up and down — dancing in the breezes — make me smile.

Life should be filled with things that make us smile. Sometimes it is the little things of life that are really the ones that count.

The mystery genre has whole series of   books that have a knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, and other fiber arts mentioned in them.  In many, the amateur  detective/sleuth owns a yarn store or art gallery and so the characters use these skills — either to help them solve the crime or in the background as the story unfolds.   An example would be Miss Marple calmly knitting as she observes the people around her and listens to what’s going on and then puts it all together to solve the crime.

In talking with friends, I couldn’t really come up with anything  similar in SF/fantasy/horror (and all subgenres).

The closes I could come to that off the top of my head is the Pern series by McCaffrey where many characters weave, knit, or whatever as part of their household duties.  In the Harry Potter series, Mrs. Weasley knits the family and Harry sweaters and other item, Dobby knits socks,  Hermione  knits hats,  and Hagrid knits various items throughout the books.

I read another book YA retelling of Rumplestiltskin, Spinners  by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen where  they not only mention the spinning into gold but throughout go through the process of spinning wool (cleaning, carding, spinning, and plying).

I’m looking for the titles and authors of other books for children, YA, and adults that have  the fiber arts (spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and other crafts)  as an integral part of the story line.

Are there others in the science fiction or fantasy category?  Comment with the author, title and how the craft is used…I’m really interested.

As readers of this blog may or may not know, we collect bears.  We also have a number of Tigers living in our house.  If any of you also have stuffed furry friends in their abodes, you may know just how often having a few critters about can be handy when things go wrong or are out of place — after all they’re home all day when you’re not.

So, did you ever wonder what they get up to when you’re not home?

Well, I work at home so I’m here most of the time.  But, I’ve noticed that things go missing.  Things are often not where I put them.  I swear I put things back after I use them but somehow I have to search the whole house to find what should have been on my table/desk or near my reading chair.

So, imagine my surprise last week when I went upstairs to get my phone (I’d left it on the shelf by the bed) to find this little scenario.

Well, this finally explains the missing knitting needles, yarn, and the occasional pattern book.  What I really can’t figure out is why I don’t have extra hand-knit (excuse me tigger-knit) socks in my drawer.

Sometimes I think I live in an alternate dimension — or the Twilight Zone without the weird music.

We woke up this morning to this only with more fog…

The front yard with lots of snow and fog

The fog has lessened a bit but the sky is so grey.  The snow is light but the wind is blowing so it’s hard to focus on anything out there except what’s close to you. The birds have been crowding the feeder, we had refill it already today.

Hyperion drove down to the mailbox to check if we’d gotten anything. It’s also a way to scrap the snow off the middle of the road where it hasn’t been shoveled or plowed from the first storm so that the two wheel ruts will still allow us to get out of here if necessary. He found a plastic bag with a box and several big mailing envelopes in the snow bank that was for us but no mail in the box. He re-shoveled the mailbox out but with this wind it won’t stay clear.

The wind is really howling through the upper branches of the trees. So far none have come down. It’s hard to tell how much snow we’ve gotten so far. In some places about 6 inches in others just 2 — but with wind and drifts it could be anything in between.

Government is closed again today, so Hyperion’s is home. It’s nice having him around. I’m still working because — well, gee I work from home. I’m taking more breaks to sit with him but then I read (so I’m still working since the books are ones I’m reviewing for the next issue). But we’ve also watched a few movies over the last few days. I’ve got most of the foot done for my first sock from the Rocking Sock Club. I had to unknit about an inch because I didn’t read that the heel started earlier than I expected (I usually start 2 inches from the heel making the extra increases and this one is 3 1/4 inches from the heel. Looks good though.

I don’t get to knit much except during those times when there’s not much else to do that requires my hands — so I knit when the PC locks up (which lately is a lot and knitting keeps me from trying to get it to work by pressing keys, thus making it worse) or when watching TV or DVDs, when we have company and just sitting and talking.  But somehow, to my surprise I managed to finish a few things that have been hanging around.  You know how it is — a bedroom project, a living room project, an office project, and one that fits in the purse for travel.

First, I finally finished these socks made with Red Heart’s Heart & Sole with Aloe yarn. As usual with self-stripping yarn they’re fraternal socks. The colors aren’t quite right but they’re a beautiful orange, burnt red, purple, brown, yellowish that reminds me of desert sunsets. They’re just my basic sock pattern only with a broken rib pattern on the leg section. Only since I really don’t like doing purl, the purl band only shows on the inside and the outside has some interesting bumps and texture that I really liked.

Next, I blogged about knitting the Baby Fan Mitts of a Paton’s Silk Bamboo yarn in a previous post. The pattern is a free Ravelry download designed by Morgan Wolf that you can find here. The pattern is very clear and the mitts are beautiful and dressy without being too fussy.

I had plenty of the yarn left over so I decided to make a matching cowl to go with the mitts. I used a pattern from one of Barbara Walkers’ books and started knitting. It took a few tries to get what I wanted but here it is drying. (Don’t let the color fool you — this is the same yarn as the Baby Fan Mitts and in the same color — for some reason I just couldn’t get the same color in the pictures. Actual color is a very pretty blue-teal — closer to the mitts photo than the cowl one.

I think it came out pretty good and I’m pleased with it. I’ll try to get a picture with me wearing it at some point. I’ve been thinking of writing the pattern up and posting it but don’t know if there would be much interest. Would there? Should I?

But because now I didn’t have anything but sweaters on the needles, I needed to start another pair of socks. These are a beautiful green/gold/red/yellowy tweed using Paton’s Kroy Socks yarn.

I haven’t yet decided what to do with them. So, I’m making a plain foot and will do something with the leg portion when I get there. I’m debating making these as a Christmas gift for someone so I’ll have to see how the foot looks before deciding how to do the leg. Right now I’m thinking a plain 2×2 knit purl ribbing or some other simple ribbing pattern.

I’m rather pleased with myself at doing so much over the past two months. But then the fibro has been pretty bad and knitting is something I can do even if I can’t really think straight as long as it’s just plain knit and socks are mostly that. Luckily when you’ve been knitting for years even using double pointed needles to do socks is second nature.

I signed up for the Rockin’ Sock Club by Blue Moon Fibers this year. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I finally managed to hit the enrollment period with the money to do it (just got paid for a freelance gig). I’m really looking forward to getting the first shipment of yarn and patterns. If I can keep up with the socks from the club I should manage to keep my feet warm next winter and hopefully a couple of the pattern will make great gifts for those who keep asking me for socks for those family members who keep hinting for socks.