Fricknits

Drumroll, Please

A hat I made for the Biscuit, which he refuses to wear:

A few moments spent with Microsoft Word, a copier, and the big, scary cutting machine:

And we have a winner:

I gotta pat myself on the back.  This was the most fun contest (for me) ever!  You guys really know how to think outside of the (big) box.  Your favorite FOs ranged from those of others (Eunny is a big favorite- no surprise there) to art installations.  There was emobroidery (nice 'shrooms) and there were quilts.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see a baby, or a marathon, or a bathroom renovation among the lot.  There were Herculean feats of assembly and tiny hats full of hope.  If you haven't already, take a tour through the FO's below.  You guys are amazing!  Thanks for sharing and playing!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a Halloween lineup.  Here's a hint.  Who was I?

Still stumped?

She Asked for It

Sick and tired of these lists?  I will direct you, then, to Diana.  Because she asked for it (see comments for previous post).  Here are 10 more bloggy things, because I'm like the Big Box of lists over here.  Two for one!  Cleanup on aisle nine!  Buy American!  Or just dress like one!  Living wage for none! 

1.  There are four bloggers out there who, for varoius and sundry reasons ranging from mommy-bonding to strange coincidences, know Biscuit's given name.  However, I'm about 8.9 times more likely to call him Biscuit (or Bicketts, or Roo, or Hooterboots, or P.J. O'Pootertoots, or Crankenstein) than to use the name on his birth certificate. 

2.  Speaking of kids, I think Abi and Heather take amazing photos of kids in knits.  I want to squooze their children.  Is that so wrong?  I spend much of my time trying to figure out how to take photos of my students and their knitting without really taking photos of my students and their knitting.  Hence the classic "faceless knitter" shot.  This one is my favorite, and also perhaps the most worthwhile post I've ever written.

3.  This is one of my new favorite knit blog posts of all time.  (Warning/tantilizing tip: illicit drug use.)  Richard III is my Shakespeare of choice, which I know is a bit odd.  I'd love for the ladies of Blue Moon to forsake Midsummer and try out some new colorways: Winter of our Discontent, Grim-Visaged War, Naked Villany, My Kingdom for a Horse...is it just me, or would these be brilliant in sock form?

4.  I am an automated robot.  I must be.  It often takes me longer to get those strings of letters and numbers typed in correctly than it did to write the frickin' comment.

5.  The other day, to no fanfare, I removed the "Neighbors" heading on my sidebar.  This was supposed to be where I kept a list of favorite blogs, but I didn't keep up with it and it nowhere near represented my blogreading life.  Pointless, superfluous, it, like so many adjectives, adverbs, and "really's" peppering my students' writing, was cut.

6.  As a teacher and lover of the language arts, I almost always adhere to capitalization and punctuation rules in email.  I only resort to the use of punctuation-as-facial-expression in the rarest of circumstances.  I have no problem with other folks' use of these new "conventions," though.  ;-)

7.  I am desperately covetous of other people's crafts.  Visiting blogs like this one and this one is an act of self-flagellation.  I dearly long to make a Denyse Schmidt quilt and an Amy Butler bag.  But I need a fabric habit like I need a hole in the head.  (That doesn't mean I didn't buy the Schmidt book, though.  A girl can dream.) 

8.  I do not know how to use Photoshop.  Most of my photos are taken in my living room in front of the mirror (that's my Ouma's portrait in the background) or on the Biscuit's play table.  It has a lovely white laminate finish and sits in the sunniest room in the house.  I use a Kodak Easyshare camera and there are smudges on the lens.  I take dickety-eight pictures for every one posted.

9.  I know this has probably been said before, but as someone who teaches media studies, I am highly suspicious of what we've got going on here in blogland.  (Though doing very little to stop it.)  How many yarn, pattern, and book purchases have you made because of what you've seen being blogged?  Do you not think we're being studied and used as a demographic?  Do you see the writing on the wall?  Soylent green is people!  It's people!

10.  I am the worst Socktoberist ever, because not only have I not knit a pair of socks in the month of October, I have no plans to.  I just liked the button.  Can't a girl like a button?  But just for barefoot kicks, I've posted here photos of most of my sock yarn stash.  And because I so want to make a contribution (Sockvember, anyone?), here's a "contest" of sorts.  Post a link in the comments to your favorite FO ever, and I will put you into the hat to win some sock yarn from the stash- something good, I promise.  As you can see, I've got a bit of everything.

10 Bloggy Things

A while back, the Grumperina posted a new meme, "10 Knitterly Things." As I started composing my own in my head, I realized that most of what I wanted to tell you was not about my knitting, but about my blogging about my knitting.  And that's where we'll begin our list:

1.  I don't know which comes first in my heart, the writing or the knitting.  The knitting definitely came before blogging, but I've been writing longer than I've been knitting.  I once, in Grade 4, composed a poem spoofing Ann Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of our House."  Mine was entitled, "Upon the Finding of a Louse."  You can tell what was taking up the school nurse's hours in those days.  (Remember sitting on that little chair while she ran the comb over your scalp?  Remember how nice it felt?)  In Grade 5, I kept a journal while my family was at the beach, and composed stories with shocking amounts of kissing in them.  Nobler literary pursuits followed, but the early poems and stories, they were thrilling.  (And may save me later on a slow blogging day.)

2.  The story of how I got started blogging is the usual one.  Girl reads blogs, girl yearns for blog, girl is finally spurred to blogging because a friend does it first.  My first loves were Cathi and Jen, and then I found Cara, as did so many, through the Jaywalker-along.  At the blogger meet-up at MDSW '06, I regressed to my middle school wannabe days.  And then Beth blogged.  And I was not about to be left behind.

3.  It took me an embarrasingly long time to discover what bloglines could do for me.  I used to click, and click, and click, and click, hungry for new posts.

4.  Until this September, I had no Internet at home.  All blogging was done at work or, over the summer, at my parents' house.  This meant schlepping the camera and the Biscuit, snacks, toys, and diapers, and hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't discover just how non-baby-proof this arrangement was while I was in mid-post.  Needless to day, there was a whole lot of "saving as draft."

5.  I believe firmly not only in replying to comments (even if it's days later-sorry), but also in visiting the blogs of those who leave comments here.  I suppose it's lucky, then, that I'm not the Harlot, with her dickety-billion commenters.

6.  The greatest number of comments I've ever received was on my latest post.  So I thought this would be a good time to finally show my face.  You made this goofy gal giggle!

7.  I've received many gifts from readers of this blog- most of them comments.  However, I must take time to give special thanks to Lorinda for some gorgeous blue stitch markers, one of which graced Shedir for a time, to Nikki the (once again) Blogless for vintage German glass bead stitch markers and a lovely playsilk for the Biscuit, and to Heather for the most wonderfully random act of blogging kindness ever.  After reading about Forecast's sad day at the library, she made certain that I'd never have to wait for Knitting without Tears to be returned ever again, because now I have one that's mine, all mine!  The "on hold" wars have ended! The townsfolk rejoice!  Pie for everyone!

8.  I add a new blog to my bloglines almost every other day.  I've only ever removed a few: when it seemed the blogger was gone and never to return, when I felt I'd never live up to the standards being presented and therefore decided to save myself by reading no more, or when s/he never ever, no matter what, answered a comment.  Here are my three newest favorite reads: The above-mentioned Heather, because she's a girl after my own heart- a reader, a smartie pants, and a generous soul; the ever-green Kelly, who lives where I wanna live and isn't smug about it, takes beautiful photos of flowers, and who isn't afraid to blog about laundry; and Megan- you had me at "philistine."

9.  While writing this entry, I received my 700th comment.

10.  A post I'll always remember: Thanks to Grumperina for this post, which has saved me countless diaper dollars.

*Above photos of WIPS- Mr. Frick's seamless hybrid (with special secret message inside!), Classic Elite Provence all wound up for a baby blanket, and a cashmere cowl for me, me, me!

A Day in the Life

I had such a plan for the Forecast "unveiling."  As I knit this number almost exclusively while watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2," I had visions of graveyards, vamp teeth, and stakes.  Black boots, miniskirt, mausoleums...the whole shebang.  It was going to be great, I tell you.  After all, this is a high-drama knit, even if I did reduce the bobbles from 5 stitches to 3.  And it was designed by the Glampyre!  Pointy teeth de rigeur! 

But everyday suburban life intervened, and so you get this- Forecast for the working mom.  Our day starts in traffic, naturally.

(Not pictured: Forecast squirts juice box all over self in vain attempt to get Biscuit to chill out in the backseat.)  We now progress to the grocery store, where Forecast attempts a second toddler-calming-through-food manuever:

(Not pictured: Forecast dings own car with shopping cart.) It's a beautiful day.  Other people's landscaping companies have arrived to rake and trim other people's lawns.  Time for Forecast to keep up with the Joneses!

(Not pictured: Forecast rescues neighbor's escaped bunny AGAIN.  Attempts to remember bunny's given name, but in the end, agrees with Mr. Frick to just call it "Horatio" and be done with it.) Next up: Forecast heads to the library to pick up some new reads.

(Not pictured: Forecast weeps as she places Knitting without Tears into the return bin.  Damn you, putting-it-on-hold person!  This means library war!)  Naptime!  Forecast, a generous soul, helps cast on Mr. Frick's seamless hybrid.  One good Cascade 220 deserves another, I guess:

(Not pictured: giant piles of leaves still waiting to be bagged, just outside window where knitting is taking place.)  Biscuit's up!  Let's head out to the local street fair and the Chalk for Peace project:

Forecast gets political:

But wouldn't you?  Warning, Virginia: There's an ignorant bigot on the loose!  What?  You mean that's par for the course? 

Yes, it was your average day in suburbia.  Not the glamorous, stake-through-the-demon-heart slayfest I'd hoped to present.  Sorry if I bored you.  Too bad I can't tell you about my night job...

'Cause then I'd have to kill you.

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Julia

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My Ouma's first name was Julia, though everyone called her Fran.  My parents also had a good friend named Julie at the time of my birth.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? The Biscuit was born two days after the horror in Beslan. That was a powerful cocktail of pain and joy and thinking about parents and children and loss.  We think about that community a lot.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? A for effort, C+ for consistency.  Thank the skies for keyboards.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? The word lunchmeat gives me the skeeves. 

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, if only for the perks.  I'm very generous.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Having a bit of a meta moment here...

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep, and also my toes!!

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Only if pushed.  By someone willing do endure a black eye, a knee to the groin, and a few thousand yanked hairs.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I am a Cornflake Girl.  (But I hang with the raisin girls.)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes, but the only tie-up shoes I wear are hiking boots.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I'm a mother.  Hell, yes.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? A really good mint chocolate chip does wonders for a foul Frick mood.  I even paid premium price for a couple of hanks of a special Lorna's mint chip sock yarn.

14. SHOE SIZE? 8 1/2

5. RED OR PINK? This question seems vaguely pornographic.  I only say that because I can't figure out why else it's being asked.  Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My social awkwardness and tendency to overthink everything.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I really miss the Bluths. 

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Not sure what this means, as it was never sent TO me.   If others want to post it, great!  Let me know and I'll come and check it out!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?  Grey pants, black sweater, black embroidered shoes.  It's Parent Conference Day, so I'm going with the neutrals.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? A donut hole.  The upside to Parent Conference Day.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Planes flying into National Airport. (Just TRY to get me to call it Reagan National.  Go ahead.  Make my day.)

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Eucalyptus.  The Biscuit's head.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Some guy at Boden. 

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Hands, eyes.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? So very, very much.

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Margarita on the rocks with salt. 

28. FAVORITE SPORT? Knitting with two strands of mercerized cotton. 

29. EYE COLOR? Brown

30. HAT SIZE? Medium.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Mr. Frick makes a mean Pad Thai.  Can't beat a burrito, unless it's with a burrito that has more sour cream and guacamole than the first burrito.  That burrito kicks burrito booty.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Scary endings to happy movies.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer outside, winter inside.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Please.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? They don't call it a pie hole for nuthin'.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Was this originally an email?  This would explain #s 18, 38, and 39.

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? La, La, La, I can't hear you!

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (out loud to my class), just finished Autobiography of a Face and hope to start The Pox Party: (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing) soon, because the author and I go (a little) way back.  In knitting reading, I've got Knitting Without Tears at my side.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? My finger.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? We don't have television reception.  I watched "Go Fish," an episode from Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Mermen!

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The clunk of a package on the front step, crackling fires, the Biscuit "reading" In the Night Kitchen.  ("Milk!  Milk!  Milk for the morning cake!")

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Stoner

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? In miles, Prague.  In the "worlds away" sense, Haiti.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Levitation.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Portsmouth, VA

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Lifted from Cara.  See #26.

News from the Department of Irony- Finished photos of Forecast have been delayed by...wait for it...bad weater.  Stay tuned!

For Linda and Louise

This is what I know about Linda.

 

She was tone deaf.  Her father in law would give her a dollar just to hear her sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  When her son was born, at a whopping 9 pounds, 11 ounces, she turned to her husband and said, firmly, "Only one."  Her pantry was never without a can of Crisco.  Once she spent all day making authentic Italian meatballs, and when her husband pronounced them just "fine," she burst into tears.  She called everyone "honey chile" and couldn't pronounce the word dollar.  Later, her son couldn't pronounce the word poem, and so they'd crack each other up by saying to each other, "Come let me read you a poiym about a boy who lost a dollah."  At the neighborhood Halloween party, she dressed up like a nurse and played pass the orange from chin to chin with the mummies and zombies, smoking and laughing.  She lost a baby.  She didn't lose her hair during chemo.  She died when Mr. Frick was nine.

This is what I wish Linda could know about me: I'm taking good care of her son, and he of me.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I don't know about you, but I'm feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of "awareness" we're supposed to have these days.  Get your yellow ribbon for the troops, your pink ribbon for your breasts, purple ribbon for your man parts, and puzzle-stamped ribbon for autism.  Awareness is being marketed as one of the hottest new brands.  (Oh, and don't forget to check here daily for important information regarding awareness,  especially around election season.)

While knitting this hat for Louise, I practiced a different kind of awareness.  I thought, with each stitch, about Linda, and about Louise.  About mothers, and sons.  I carried this hat all through the woods during our three-night field trip in the wildnerness, watching my students free fall through the air, through the last year of their childhood.  I brushed daddy longlegs and mulch off of it after having to leave it aside to coach a frightened child through a challenge.  I thought about Linda and Louise, and how one's son still cries for the loss of her 22 years later, and the other's helps her negotiate her holistic regimen and tells her she looks cool, enlightened, with her newly shaved head.  I decided that the awareness I will practice in my life will be about individual people, not abstractions.  I decided that this, I can handle. 

Oh, My Aching Forehead

Tomorrow I promise one truly beautiful knit made for two truly beautiful women.

A little something to keep you occupied in the meantime.

One caveat: Learn from my mistakes and JUST QUIT before you get to the banging-head-on-desk stage.  Especially if there are impressionable youngsters present.

Subtext?

What is a knitter to do when her husband sends her snippets like this one?

Excerpt from called Is it OK to be a Luddite? by Thomas Pynchon:

But it's important to remember that the target even of the original assault of l779, like many machines of the Industrial Revolution, was not a new piece of technology. The stocking-frame had been around since 1589, when, according to the folklore, it was invented by the Rev. William Lee, out of pure meanness. Seems that Lee was in love with a young woman who was more interested in her knitting than in him. He'd show up at her place. "Sorry, Rev, got some knitting." "What, again?" After a while, unable to deal with this kind of rejection, Lee, not, like Ned Lud, in any fit of insane rage, but let's imagine logically and coolly, vowed to invent a machine that would make the hand-knitting of hosiery obsolete, and so he did. According to the encyclopedia, the jilted cleric's frame "was so perfect in its conception that it continued to be the only mechanical means of knitting for hundreds of years.

Innocuous history lesson, or eerie threat from knit-weary husband?  Too soon to tell...

Autumn Mix

Here's another great thing about knitting: once someone's got the basic knit-and-purl down, everything else is a piece o' punkin pie.  Witness Hanny, the double-point virgin, who came to visit this weekend with a deep yearning to learn the ways of the twice-pointy sticks:

God, she's cute.  One Ann Budd handy pattern, one-and-a-bit balls of stashed Mission Falls 1824 Wool, and one day later, she's even cuter in her "Autumn Mix" topper.  (Hubby Eddy, unwise to the ways of the knit, observed, "You're sitting there, hardly even moving, and then suddenly boom! There's a hat!")  Why Autumn Mix, you might wonder?  Well:

See the connection?  No?  Well, far be it from Hanny to keep you guessing.

SP9, and I Feel Fine

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
First a question.  Why is "not" enclosed within asterisks?  I'm somewhat unsure about this usage of the asterisk, as usually it seems to be a little wink at the reader ("I am *so* thrilled with this box full of plastic yarn!)- the asterisk of irony, if you will.  But here, that makes no sense.  How exactly does one dislike with irony?  Here are yarns I've worked with and loved: Socks that Rock, Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, Cascade 220, Rowan All Seasons Cotton, Manos, Malabrigo, Classic Elite Lush, Habu anything (see below), and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino anything.  I'd love to try some new yarns, and I'm developing a yen for tweedy ones, sea silk, and all things Sundara.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A big, disorganized basket and a Mason Jar.  I would LOVE a system for my circular needles.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting for quite some time.  However, we're currently studying the Greeks in school, so I'm hyper-aware of the great sin of hubris.  Let's say I'm an intermedite plus.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, but it's ill-tended, so no.
5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
Eucalyptus, rosemary- woody stuff.  Though I really don't dig scented candles.  Those stores with the giant candles with scents like "Grandma's 13-Flavor Poundcake" and "Ole Timey Logpile" give me nasal hives.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Not really.  I'm a savory kind of gal.  I do love the Ginger People candies.  Candied ginger would be a great colorway name.  (I have mixed feelings about the word "colorway," though.)
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don't spin.  I used to collect stickers.  Scratch n' sniff, oilies...but I was nine then.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
The House of Frick rocks out to: Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, Beastie Boys, Madeline Peyroux, The Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Feist, Cat Power, Lucinda Williams, and The Sippy Cups, among many others.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I have a deep and abiding love for all things purple and red, but I enjoy just about all colors. 
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Mr. Frick, the Biscuit (see below) and I cohabitate with two unfriendly cats.  In my wildest dreams, my secret pal volunteers to take them off my hands.  They're beautiful on the outside, just like Tyra Banks.  Fierce!

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes.  Though I prefer the terms "Isadora Duncans," "noggintoppers," and "wraps."
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I'm just getting into sweater mode, and it's been a blast so far.  I'm pretty much pleased as punch to knit whatever catches my fancy.  It's slow, and easy to catch.
13. What are you knitting right now?
Forecast and a seamless hybrid for Mr. Frick.  I always have a pair of baby socks on the needles, because I have very fertile friends.  Could you be one of them?
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Sure.  Do you make cheese?  Wine?  Time?
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I knit most everything on Addi Turbos.  I prefer circs to dpns in most cases, though dpns are handy when burglers, rogues, and pundits are afoot.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes!  There was great rejoicing in the land on the date of their purchase.
17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Older than most cheese, but younger than most wine.  (Bonus info: I love both wine and cheese.)
18. What is your favorite holiday?
Yell "fudge" at cobras day.  Thanksgiving is also pretty cool.
19. Is there anything that you collect?
I do collect nichos from the Cielito Lindo Studios in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  If you get me one, you are officially a rock star.  Officially.  I will make you a badge.
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Interweave Knits.  I'm considering investing in Knitpicks Options, as I have a giant needle collection and still never have the size I need.  I've recently discovered the wonders of the library for knitting books, but would love to start an Elizabeth Zimmerman collection.
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'd like to learn the two-handed color technique so that I can knit Mr. Frick a We Call Them Pirates.
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, 8 and a half. I'm jonesing for some knee socks.  Any takers?
23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)  August 11, Midnight, Sharp.  A birthday shared with Hulk Hogan and this man, whom I despise.  As I was born at midnight, I might also claim to share a birthday with Suzanne Vega, Mark Knopfler, and Sir Mix-a-Lot. 

Now that's better.