What's Different?

Can you see what is different in these two pictures?

I'm not wearing my wedding band in the second photo. My 5 year relationship ended unexpectedly in December and the final move out happened Saturday. I feel very sad about this because I thought it was different than it was. I cannot say horrible things about knitSB and I wish him well. We'll still see each other because of the puppehs.

I spent Sunday cleansing, cleaning, and rearranging the house to help it feel different. It will take time to get all of it finished, mostly because I have big ideas and only little time with work.

The blogging/vlogging will resume as I have knitting to share. Go hug the ones you love. You never know when they won't be there.

FO Gale Stole

I finished Gale Stole.
Pattern by knitspot
Yarn by Briar Rose Fibers, Grandma's Blessing. This yarn appears to be discontinued. Go look at the other yarn options.
used size 10 nylon circular needle
Cast-on 3 years ago.
for knitSB

I'll post a picture of the finished stole after I block it.
This was an enjoyable knit. A well-written pattern and a nice yarn. I do hope I'll have enough yarn to knit myself a pair of socks with the remaining yarn.

La Cage Aux Folles

A couple of Saturdays ago, I went to Cleveland with Songferret, StageManagerChrissy and knitBS to see the touring company of La Cage aux Folles

It was a delightful show and we had great seats thanks to our theater social calendar coordinator, Songferret. The actor playing Albin, (Christopher Seiber) was full of joy on stage and really brought the house down during the act 1 finale, "I am what I am."

George Hamilton seems tired as he played Albin's partner, Georges. He didn't look comfortable in the role. He was certainly tan. :)

Albin belted out his songs with full gusto, bringing me along for the ride. If you have an opportunity to see the show, I recommend it. It is different than the movie The Birdcage so don't expect the exact storyline. Expect a story of a family who loves one another as another family is starting their life together.

I brought sock knitting with me and snapped this photo. It's the best I could get without a flash and after trying to photoshop it on my iPhone.

knitSB's Sourdough bread

We like bread.
We like baking bread with our BIL Jack.
The last time we visited, Jack gave knitSB a sourdough bread starter.  We've been able to keep it alive for the last 4 months.
Here's a picture of the first loaves made using the starter.

I took this picture a couple of months ago but wanted to share it with Joanne so she could show BIL Jack.  knitSB was very proud of how the bread turned out.  It was rather good and I enjoyed a lot of it thinly sliced, toasted and buttered as a snack. 

I'm making another batch of bread before we start a new diet. Bread won't be on the menu for several months but I'll be able to keep the starter alive.  I might even make bread for people at work or our neighbor, Judy.  I gave her a loaf from last week's baking but haven't heard how it was. 

Yule Log Fingerless Mitts

DH and I were not exchanging holiday gifts this past year. So when I found out that I was getting a "non-gift exchange gift," I thought I should whip up something quick for him.

He commented that he liked the Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes I knit for myself.

I used KnitPicks Swish worsted held with the Alpaca Pete's Alpaca yarn on a size 5 needle.  I wanted these to be very tight knit.   The fabric is so tight, these stand up on their own. See?


I think they look like a Yule Log without the mushrooms.

I lengthened the wrist part a bit much but DH will be able to turn them into a cuff and that should work nicely.

knitSB shows us his

Not one to be left out of all the fun, knitSB shows us his in response to my previous post.



Bag from Old Navy (purchased on sale for $5)
Pencil Pouch from KnitMeredith.
Lopi Socks in Lamb's Pride Lanaloft
Plymouth Bamboo Knitting Needles size 11 DPN
Red Wolfe Lodge in Squaw Valley parking permit
DPN needle holders (with MY DPNs in them. I bought more needles!) Size 2.25 mm
Pranic Healing journal
Sassy Strips, Cascade yarn, 1 skein
 purchased at Cast-on Cafe in Willoughby, OH
Lopi Socks for BIL Jack for Thanksmas 2009
Calorimetry from Knitty Winter 2006
Lamb's Pride Bulky label from a previous project

Kitchener's Stitch Gone Wrong

Kitchener's Stitch Gone Wrong
Originally uploaded by knittingbrow

Yep, I got to do forensicknitting. These are the first pair of socks that knitSB was trying to knit. Nice knitting all the way to the toes. One sock was nicely completed. The other ended with lots of problems on the toe. You might have seen another example of a Kitchener's St gone wrong in a previous post. It's the "ketchup stitch" cause it splattered everywhere.

I found these and thought it would be wonderful to finish them for him :).

Here's a (slightly blurry) photo of the finished sock.

Update

I've not updated you properly on what has been going on in the knittingbrow household.

Two weeks ago knitSB was in an automobile accident and totalled his car. He was in the hospital for three days and released with a fractured pelvis. We were surrounded by friends and family who cared a great deal and offered support by visiting, cooking us yummy food walking our dog and moving furniture around to accomodate knitSB needing to be on the first floor. Thank you.

What has been impressive is knitSB's healthy attitude and progression. He's walking with a cane and still has some pain when doing steps. He started school and has been able to keep up with his homework. :). Monday, he was diagnoised with the flu and missed three days of work while getting that under control. I stayed home in an effort to help him.

We're both getting a little frustrated with each other. (I expect this is normal).

I've been working on How I Became A Pirate which is turning out to be incredible fun. You've seen the posts, right?

On the knitting front, knitSB successfully turned a heal and finished a gusset for our BIL's 2008 Holiday socks. I finished a slipped ribbed shawl using handspun that I bought in vacation this year. The pattern is from Stephen West. It was an enjoyable knit that just needs blocking. I've had to unknit the Collande(sp?) Shawl from the Fall Knitty 2009 twice. That's what I get for trying to watch Torchwood and work on a fairly easy lace pattern. I've fixed it and am using st markers and some better notes on the pattern. It is turning out nicely.

I taught a Color Wave scarf class at Knitters Mercantile this past Saturday for two students. They were a lot of fun and have selected great yarns for their feather and fan based scarf. I wrote the pattern two years ago. Maybe I should post it here?

Expect more Pirate posts and picture uploads.

Eagle Lake, Tahoe

This video was filmed on location at the end of the walk hike to Eagle Lake. I included a panoramic view that we enjoyed as we sat and enjoyed the rewards of a good walk.



This hike is one of my favorites that I've taken while on vacation in the Tahoe area. The hike up took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes and the trip down, 45 minutes.

I did blog about the sock and knitting at the lake. You can find that post here. It gives details about the yarn and pattern.

Albums I gave to knitSB

These are albums that I've given to knitSB to give a listen.

Eurythmics Savage with the song You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart (wow, there's a lot of detail with that "Savage" link)
Erasure Union Street with a nice version of Boy. This video isn't a good one of Boy, but it's live and sounds really close to the album version.
The Who's Tommy the New Musical a great version Tommy Can You Hear Me. I'm sorry that I couldn't find a link to a video for that.
Peter Gabriel US. I enjoyed Come Talk to Me and Digging In The Dirt (with great video visuals in the Peter fashion. He's such the video pioneer. )
The Beatles with Sgt Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band. I never know for sure, but is it always THE Beatles? or Beatles?
Pink Floyd The Final Cut I listened to this a lot while I was in college. I had to listen to the entire album (with headphones on) to get the entire experience.

Bonus videos
Brand New Day from Savage

Reviewing knitSB's albums

The non-knitting videoblog.


Savage Garden's self titled album. One of my favorite tracks is I Want You which got some airplay when I was actually listening to the radio. Video is here.
Michael W. Smith the first decade 1983-1993 included a few hits that were pleasant.
In All Its Glory by James Swearingen has a number of good tracks. It was a good listen.
Let's Talk About Love by Celine Dion was just too much for me, overall. Her voice is too big and the songs seem like power ballads. I wanted to turn her down.
the cranberries with everyone else is doing it, so why don't we? including the two songs I know, Dreams and Linger. I really do like the song Salvation from their second album. The video has creepy clowns in it.

The idea of sharing CDs came one summer when I was on a three person bowling league with Musicaljeff and LibrarianDebbie. Each week, we brought two CDs to share new music with the other members of the team. I got to hear a variety of music that I would have missed. knitSB and I were talking about music and I suggested that we share music that "made a difference" in our lives for some reason or another. Sharing the music like this has been a lot of fun for me. I enjoy getting an inside glimpse of what makes knitSB tick.

What are some of the albums that made a difference in your world? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear about your music.

Celebrating a Birthday

Celebrating a Birthday
Originally uploaded by knittingbrow

I really enjoyed the evening celebrating knitSB's birthday. I think he did too. I can tell by his smile.

Maybe he'll comment about what he got for his birthday. If he doesn't, there will be photos on my flickr page.

Baby Snuggie

Ugh. knitSB couldn't help himself and bought on of these. It was on SALE! *face palm*

I knit another baby hat out of Rowan Calmer. I'm rather fond of the inside of the hat for it's reverse stockinette row when I changed colors. I'll be using this design feature the next time I knit another baby hat. Or a hat for me. I have enjoyed the simple design of this hat. It knits up quickly on a size 5 needle. K2P2 rib is not the fastest knitting for me in the round but the stretch of the pattern is quite pleasing.




The idea of knitting a plain round in the new color comes from an Elizabeth Zimmermann book when she's talking about knitting some socks with replaceable soles. The stretch of the K2P2 rib was not impacted at all.

knitSB's Side-to-side Sweater Yarn

I took a class teaching me how to knit a sweater side-to-side. I'm really enjoying the design and the knitting is quite rewarding and the color play is enjoyable.



You can tell from the videoblog that we've been inspired to knit another one for knitSB. Actually, I have two other side-to-side sweaters that I would like to knit.

The Citrus Malabrigo wasn't the right color as you can see here.


The dyed color is much better, isn't it?
The process of dyeing with icing dyes was actually straight-forward but I got a little scared with I found out that vinegar sometimes fractures the icing dyes into the separate colors. For instance, purple fractures into blue and red, an unexpected twist. The contrasting color yarn is neatly displayed in a basket we had around the house.














I have two pair of glasses that I swap out. Just in case you're wondering.

Weekend knitting

I'm in Michigan as I write this spending time with my three brothers. This is our annual boy's fishing trip. I really enjoy the time together. We do things together and things separately. It's all good.

I've been knitting on the shawl for #1 but I'm not able to post any pictures. I left my MacBook at home with knitSB so he could connect to the internet while I'm gone. I have his laptop and desktop with me for my (amazingly kind) brother to do some work on them. They run slowly and he's able to help do the computer work. It looks like memory will help the laptop's speed increase. I also won't be able to vlog either because I don't have that capability without my MacBook.

You won't miss me will you. *grin*

I think I've done too many decrease rows on the shawl. I'm 4 sts off. I need to decide if I'm going to tink back or increase 4 sts. The malabrigo lace is quite nice to knit.

bring back memories?

So, knitSB has been enjoying the DVR. So much that he's been able to record shows that he's wanted to see. The most recent obsession is Dr. Who.

That brought me to remembering this song. Do you remember this? I remember dancing with trixiethebear back in the day. A fun song. Enjoy

Tuesday Evening

was great fun. knitSB and I had dinner with KnitMeredith at the North Star Cafe. A good time was had by all. Not only was the dinner good but so was the conversation. We ended up going for coffee at cup o joe. And we knit for hours and talked about this and that and this and more of that. I like knitters.

Exciting Artwork on view

knitSB and I went to the Oberlin College area on Saturday and saw the Allen Memorial Museum. Open to the public for free, this little gem of a museum has some amazing pieces of artwork available to be see.
knitSB was amazed to see "Landscape at Cagnes" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.


I was amazed to see Alberto Giacometti's "Figure" from 1951 and took a reality style photo of the event.

Knittingbrow and knitSB celebrate one year

KB &knitSB anniversary 1
Originally uploaded by knittingbrow

It was one year ago on 7/7 that knittingbrow met knitSB.

I'm very happy. :)

knitSB and knittingbrow: abridged

I've not told you, but I've got my "something better."

We met last year and spent a lot of time together. I taught him to knit. He continues to knit and is good. He's just learning to knit a sleeve on double points. He's using the EPS.

Ever know when it is just better than you ever expected? I do. And when that happens, I like to make a commitment. And I like to exchange jewelry. See?




We had them specially made.

They say "my something better"













knitSB's has my handwriting on it.















Mine has his handwriting on it. And the wonderful thing is that the writing is cast into the ring, not just etched in. So it is not going anywhere.


The place that made the rings was thrilled to have such a unique request. They were wonderful to work with in the creation. We're thrilled.

We've done something private but are considering a ceremony sometime in the fall. And probably a party. I mean, we all need a great reason to celebrate, right?