Insubordiknit

Rockstar or BUST

I've always wanted to be a rockstar but since I've no musical talent to speak of, I'll have to settle for rockstar spinner! Well, at least for this month anyway. Hurry, run get your newest issue of BUST and check the bottom of page 33! That's my yarn, and my URL. Yeah. Rockin' the pic with heidi, dharia, and lexi. Rockstar!

Garnet sweater

This is gonna do much to dispel the myth that I'm in the family way. I'm not, I promise. I'd tell ya if I was. I will tell you when I am, how's that? deal? Okay. I have dear friends that are babylicous and this is for their little one when it comes rockin' into this bright world. On a real baby I hope the sleeves are more short to 3/4 instead of the puffy monstrosity they are on Garnet, my childhood friend. I know it'll only fit for a month or two, but won't it just be the cutest 8 weeks ever?

And yes, that is a short row collar, my first off-the-cuff employment of shortrows, and it worked just like I planned. And puffy sleeves. The lovely yarn is less than a hank of wool in the woods, 98% cotton 2% nylon. And the pattern is, like I said, off the cuff.

Fairy dust and tiny sweaters

After the near death debacle of the other night (who knew knitting could be so treacherous?), I settled in last night for a nice easy knit. Something sweet and scrumptious, and far too tiny to strangle me with it's knitted tenticals. Not that this is gonna do much to dispel the myth that I'm in the family way. I'm not, I promise. I'd tell ya if I was. I will tell you when I am, how's that? deal? Okay.

I have dear friends that are babylicous and this is for the little one when it comes rockin' into this bright world. On a real baby I hope the sleeves are more short to 3/4 instead of the puffy monstrosity they are on Garnet. I know it'll only fit for a month or two, but won't it just be the cutest 8 weeks ever? And yes, that is a short row collar, my first off-the-cuff employment of shortrows, and it worked just like I planned. Yay for shortrows.

Below is our Spring family painting. We do one at the change of every season and hang it on the front of the house to welcome the . In spring it's the Spring Fairy. In fall it's the Good Gourd, yeah, are ya done laughing yet? Good, listen up, this is a good one. Last fall the Good Gourd brought LB a trampoline, he supposes the gourd must've rolled it here, seeing as he's a gourd and has no hands. So now, when people ask him where he got his trampoline, which happens often, apparantly it's a big giftitem, he relpies The good gourd gave it to me and they, without fail, reply back to him, with a smile The Good Lord, how nice.... Heh.

My favorite part of the painting is the little blue fairy that Little Bit painted. I thought it might be a mosquito but he assures me that it's a fairy, and the fence he painted next to it is how the fairy get to spring. It flys over the fence. to spring. He's awesome. He named the pic, in a big booming voice, Fairy sprinkles dust and spring begins on Earth.

Knitter gone awry

This is how you see me, isn't it? Prancing around my house, pits 'aflowing, heat cranked up to 80, wearing a handknit halter that the best (and I don't just say that because she buys so much yarn, but because she's awesome and kind and sweet and generous) customer-turned-friend in the world sent me, sipping some home-brewed and mysterious liquid that not only makes you long, lean, and strong, but also endearingly tipsy. I know, it's the carefree and enviable mystique I cultivate.

It's just a front though. Observe, an insubordi-knitter-gone-awry in her natural habitat, it's rarely seen, pay close attention:

ohh, first she's posing, looking a bit too happy with herself considering what she's...what? is that the fabled bea arthur coccoon sweater? It can't be...I thought it was a myth...knit in once piece, starting at the horizontal middle of the back? it boggles the mind.

and clearly our subject has become boggled of mind, or addled, perhaps. She seems to be caught, tangled, or could it be that it's actually attacking her.

Yes, yes, I think it is attacking her. She's trying so hard, you see the beads of perspiration flying off her crazed face? She no longer in her zen place. Look at that raw fear and panic. I fear the worst for our troubled knitter...

Yes...the worst had indeed come to pass. She's gone. Not truly dead, but more like in a living knitting death. Notice the glassy eyes, the contorted body, the smug and partially knitted object, not too many knitters make it back from the living knitting dead. A shame, that's what it is. Take heed it doesn't strike you. Take heed, and give bea arthur the respect she so deserves.

The food, it was 'apoisoned

I thought being vegan would shield me from this type of thing, alas, it's not security against those buggies born of starches and/or lazy handwashers. It's really wrong for a human body to be put through that particular ringer. The one that involves constant explosive as for me, I've trouble even saying one of them and doing the other. I mean, any word that trails off with a consonant like that, not a pretty sound. Like poo, ick, but add a p to the end and magically I can say it all day long poop, poop, poop. Heh, did I just increase my mystique, my allure, my appeal, for ya?

It came and went though. I'd like to say it went as quickly as it came but that would not be true. Not at all. Food poisoning is a slow heal. It sticks with ya, if not in exhaustion and rumble tummy, then in the equally tormenting fact that you now must wash all you sheets, towels, PJs, back up PJs, and finally those clothes that aren't PJs but are comfortable enough to lounge around sick (it's a good thing we got well, I was down to dickies and clever, witty t-shirts). Yeah, it sticks with ya, and with all the areas that now require scouring -- the sinks, the trashcans, every enamalish thing in the loo. Oh, and the reparations to my skin, it apparantly needs hydration and sustanance...baby. Yeah, it's a slow heal.

I also realize, along with it being wrong for a human body to go through it, that it's wrong for a human to have to read about it on a blog. What the hell is the matter with me? Next I'll talk about viscosity and frequency. Eeck.

So today, the 2nd day that we can function more than 2 feet away from the uh...couch, we're packing up and heading to pastures greener -- I know, who'd athunk that'd be York? But LB can play with the girls and I can spin all day, otherwise the shop would stand bare and still come Monday, and that just can't be, mama needs to buy some new deterergent.

Sadly, during my time of filth, I couldn't knit. I could, however, plan. An empty girl with plans is a dangerous thing, I've learned. So, just to get my mind around it -- because once you get where I am, you need to see it in front of you to really grasp the enormity and/or stupidity of your venture -- here's what's on my needles:
- Cabled hoodie (back and fronts done. hood and arms remaining)
- Bea Arthur monstrosity (back and psuedo-fronts done, sides, huge and crazy arms and band remaining)
- LB's socks (just turned the heel on first one)
- Handspun sock (on the gusset of the first one)

and the things that will be going on within the next week:
- Orangina for Sexy knitters KAL -- anyone have any yarn sub recommendations?
- Tiny cotton jumper (really a sweater but i'm making an internal language shift) for tiny baby not yet born.

Insanity is my heritage, I just hope to channel it into knitting prowess. Also, 2 days ago 10 hat kits, 3 ragamitten kits, and 5 yarns went up on Kpixie.com, all that remains is 1 ragamitten kit and 3 yarns (plus 2 old ones). Check it out, there's a few crazy ones, pre-food poisoning, if that sort of thing matters to you.

food poisoning

We just can't catch a break in the health department this season. Food poisoning all around. It's been 2 days. I'm totally empty. I think I even saw my spleen come out, it looked like a corn niblet.

yarns, socks and books

Shoppity shop is updated with all new yarns. Five, count 'em, five monster hat kits for you wild knitter out there, two ragamitten kits, and 8 yarns, including one with 'peace-silk' coccoons ( i hope you like them as much as i liked them the first time I saw lexi put them in a yarn). And if that's not enough for ya, I sent kpixie.com 25 new hanks and kits last week so those should be up soon too. Yep, and my stock is wiped. Also, I'm proud to say that 100% of my yarns are now from humane sources -- farm/animal sanctuaries, and a small family farm. Yay!

Hey, look what I spun! 5 oz. at 360 yards of soft wool!

Rockin' sockin' yarn! And I just couldn't help myself, I know I've got like a gazillion things on the needles, but I gave up last night's regular knitting and knit this. It knit up on 3s at 7 stitches an inch and makes a nice, winter sock weight. It's so freakin' pretty. Handpainted with big, random yellow stripes. I'm thinking about carding the next one with a bit of nylon or even cotton for added strength. I can't wait to finish and wear these warm things ALL SUMMER LONG! Heh.

In other knitting news, the cabled hoodie is teetering on the brink of almost done (except for the arms) and almost frogged. I was unhappy with the arm shaping so I'm in the process of ripping both fronts back to the pits. The back is fine, I think, but I've gotta unbind a bit because I think I'm gonna leave everything live and do a 3 needle BO. Oh, and I'm reworking the hood too.

The Bea Arthur coccoon monstrosity is also wackin' around, looking nothing like a sweater but it will, mark my words, it will. I make it up as I go along.

And for a little non-knitty fun, here's the book meme that's going around --

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
(Life of Pi - Yann Martel)
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
(The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini)
(The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold0
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History - Donna Tartt)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(Atonement - Ian McEwan)
(The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

and I'm always looking for great books to read. I've been dissapointed lately so if you've got any recommendations, leave me a comment! I'm about to finish The Poisenwood Bible and am gonna need something good!

Homeschooling tastes good

Today so totally rocked my handknit socks (that I actually forgot to wear, lulled by 80 degree temps yesterday, and therefore was very cold). My homeschooling martha stewart (who's real name is Mary) eared us onto a homeschooling group activity at a nearby nature center and we got to spend the day learning about that brown sticky stuff you sometimes see in the woods...yep...maple syrup!

It was so super cool. Ten kids about LB's age, all making their own spiles (what you use to tap the tree), hiking through the wood, tapping a tree, watching how indiginous peoples boiled it down (in cool hollowed out trees boiled with dropped in hot rocks), how the settlers did it (of course, first old whitey butched lots of trees, thinking a hatchet would would better and faster than a finesse tool), and then how the preserve does it. Then we tasted. Man oh man, homeschooling tastes goooood.

Speaking of tasting good --

This week's vegan eats:
lentil loaf (no really, it's good!)
tofu pot pie (recylcled from last week, we didn't get to it)
chilleeee
chickpea and spinach curry (that's what i'm talkin' about)
mango and ginger tofu

flax muffins

raspberry chocoloate chip blondie bars (new recipe!!)

Update delay

Due to many biggie orders and playing catch up on custom jobs, my yarn shop will not be updated this week, though there's still a few yarns left. Sorry. Please check back next week and be sure to e-mail if you want any custom yarns or kits!

Yin and yarn

Those gals at kpixie.com sure know how to make my yarns sing and shine. Uhhhh huh. The first 8 kits sold in a day and they just put up 2 more and 10 yarns. Here's hoping they don't last either. It's exciting, somehow, to see them sell off another site. And the pics look so good I almost bought one myself. Heh. Check 'em out.

A while back I saw another handspinner spin in some dyed silk cocoons, and while I don't use silk, they looked awesome! So I went on a hunt and found something called peace silk. Have you heard of this? The cocoons aren't gathered until after the silk worm has emerged and gone on it's merry little wormy way. No death to little wigglers, which is something I'm all about (the no death, not the death, 'cause I'm so not all about death, though in highschool...well, that's another story entirely... Yeah, so pretty cool. They're expensive but I ordered a few to see what I thought. And soon we'll see what you think too.

Physically I'm feeling better. I may have not mentioned my health issues, but I've had 'em. Three week headache (which is a motherfucker for someone not at all used to that particular pain in the neck), fatigue, and a strange inabilty to be in a lit room without sunglasses. Yeah, don't even say menigitis, K. That was my first guess. However, B-ill's wonderful pop, who's an accupuncturist and holistic doc, gave me the once over, popped the hood, stuck some needles, gave me some herbal tonics and I'm seeing straight and making lists again. Feeling much better. Yin deficiency and adrenal fatigue be damned.

Yarn shop update

Yarn's up! A vegan one, lotsa cool crazies, and four monster hats! Kpixie put up 7-8 hats friday at 6pm and by saturday afternoon they were all dissapeared! I was all giddy and for a minute felt like a rockstar spinner! They've got a few more and some freakin' beautiful yarns to put up in the next few days, so keep those peepers peeled! Also, check out their new material whirled yarns too! Those girls can rock a wheel!

Did I tell ya I got a new wheel? I did, and she's a spinning slut-machine, taking everything I give her and begging for more. Dirty, dirty. She's a lendrum dt and I'm a maniac with that girl. Also, here's proof that my plying station is officially out of control. Look at all of those colors! yowsa.

Here's the progress on the cabled sweater. Going along quite well. One more night on the left front and then it's on to the right one and then whip through the sleeves. I'm workin on the cocoon monstrosity too, pics of that soon.

Oh, and if you've e-mailed me, I'm not ignoring or spurning, just churning with business and fatique. Soon.

Sleeping beauty, vegan eats

So we've been reading fairy tales, biding my time before I can get into myths. We've got a book of greek myths for kids -- which means all the bloodshed, none of the sex -- so we're doing fairy tales first. Not that they couldn't freeze your blood, some of them. Absent mothers and pushover fathers make way for evil-stepmothers and mysoginistic storylines. But we talk about that too, thanks to a brain and a tiny book called PC fairytales that's nice to reference every once in a while.

Okay, this last week we did Sleeping Beauty, or Napping Average-girl, heh, kidding. We read that story many times, talked about it, retold it to each other, acted it out and then I read it aloud and he told he each characters he thought would need a puppet if we were gonna do a puppet show. I made a list. Then we sat down and made little paper and stick puppets. Little Bit drew them all except 2, and I'm not even sure you could guess which 2 (the evil fairy and 'sad prince that gets caught in the briars #2').

Listed in order from left to right and then top to bottom, here's who they are --

king, queen, bad fairy, 3 nice fairies, baby sleeping beauty, 15 year old sleeping beauty, guard that falls asleep, sad prince that gets caught in the briars #2, prince that mades it through the briars (notice only the small bloody splinter on his forehead - hehe), sad prince that gets caught in the briars #1, frog, flower for briars, briars, spinning wheel, fire.

How cool is that? We're performing a puppet show later today. Our audience will consist of B-ill and about 10 stuffed friends. Two drink minimum.

oh, and vegan eats menu below, some meals heald over from last week because we were out, at a birthday party in NJ, or otherwise indisposed.

This week's vegan eats
Mains--
Pesto linguini (last night)
winter veggie stew
quinoa with panfried corn and orange zest
adzuki beans and winter squash sautee
tofu pot pie

sides -- broccoli, brussels, greenbeans and garlic, spinach

dessert -- keylime cheesecake

muffin - banana bran muffins