Caution! Under Construction

Well, here at Chez Lisa, we are under construction. It's the morning of day three and my head is splitting from the noise of saws, drills and hammers.

It is however all going to be worth it. The leak that has plagued my condo from the date of purchase has finally been located and is being fixed. I am also getting a new door frame to the soon to be rebuilt deck and a new screendoor. Its costing a bundle, but if it eliminates all the stress I carry with me every time it rains heavily or walk into the kitchen and see the huge honking hole in the ceiling over the sink, it will be worth it.

Also underconstruction are a bunch of hats for new-borns.

These are knit from Koigu mill ends and are a mini version of the "James Dean Hat" from Rosie's. Thanks to Courtney's Max for the fabulous idea! The hats I am knitting are going up for sale at a charity fundraiser at the end of the month.

September and October has seen a lot of charity knitting. I am waiting to block Lady E for the same fundraiser above. And then there were the vests for afghans for Afghans.

Stash busting for charity has felt great. And addictive, I have more of the alpaca above, waiting to be another sweater for an Afghan child. I hope they keep some kids toasty warm! Thanks to Allison (Ravelry link) for organizing the drive on Ravelry. Some members knit a truly impressive number of sweaters, mittens, hats and socks.

Now I need to get moving on the Christmas knitting!

Making up

Pomotomus and I have put our differences aside. Our friendship has been resumed and I've cast on the second sock. All we needed was a little time apart to adjust our perspective.

Cleaning Up the WIP

I have been inspired by all of the projects that Mariss is finishing. And think it is time for me to get with the program.

Finishing is not part of my genetic make-up. My mother makes beautiful clothing and taught me to sew. But, if you go through our closets you will find a ton of safety pins...all in the waist bands of trousers and skirts. Now that I think about it, is it a problem with finishing or a problem with closure?

Whatever?!?

Two berets are finished and blocked. (Big thank you to Kate for the raspberry Koigu rescue!)

Beatrix the second is being seamed. My two vests for afghans for Afghans...one is getting its buttons sewn on tonight...one is blocked and drying.

My second Lady Eleanor is waiting for its chance to be blocked and fringed. Maybe then I will do the finishing on my first Lady E. I admit to be a little wigged out by blocking something so big...and I have blocking space issues.

And work resumed at lunch today on Courtney's Claposhrug. One sleeve to go!

Now if only I could get back to the Pomotomus...sigh.

Totally Tubular, Man...

Yeah, I heard you groan....but it is totally tubular. Italian tubular cast-on that is. Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts have been on my to knit list for quite a while. I loved the ones Emily made for her wife Y last year. But once again a pattern got sidelined by a knitting technique I couldn't grasp.


The dreaded Italian tubular cast-on is a bitch to learn and yields a great stretchy edge when done correctly. Fluffbuff has posted a fantastic tutorial with pictures and a video clip. I watched the video a bozillion times before I caught on. The toughest part was that she was casting on to a long much larger gauge needle and I was casting on to a "0" dpn... nothing to tuck under my arm. This technique definately requires that you have two free hands. After repeated attempts using the only two hands that God gave me, with needles sent flying across the livingroom, I figured out how to anchor my needle. A big ol'center pull skein of Noro, wedged between my laptop and my boobs, with the needle jabbed in. Now the next problem was getting Tosca to hit the keys on the laptop to forward and rewind the video clip.


It was worth the learning curve. I am really pleased with how my mitt is working out. Love the colors, Kiogu of course, and I am carrying them in two hands. Yup, a plethora of new tricks to use in these mitts.

Serendipity

This evening I walked down to the Schuykill River to take some photos of the sunset and 7 pm for a Photo-Scavenger Hunt on Swap-Bot. What I found was the Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company Performing the Hidden River Project 2007.


The performance started on the banks of the river at Walnut Street and progressed two blocks to Market Street. The performance encompassed the rock garden, ramps, and underpasses.

During the rock garden section the audience was encouraged to walk amongst the Umbrella Ladies. In ways it was like interacting with the human statues that you find on the street in European cities.

Normally, I am not an audience participation kinda gal. I almost rebelled when we had to join hands to ascend the stairs to the pergola at the top of the spiral staircase, but I sucked it up and held hands with two strangers.

I learned that the first name of the river was Ganshowahanna, Lenape meaning "rushing and roaring waters." Schuykill means "hidden river," the name given to it by Dutch trader Arendt Corssen. It was really lovely to be able to enjoy all of this along the banks of the river and not worry about trash and all the things we used to associate with the Schuykill.

After all, Muffy has had two swims in the river this summer and her flesh didn't melt off!

F%*#@ the Pomatomus

Ah, Pomatomus, that lovely sock pattern. Mine were looking so lovely; knitted in Yarn Pirate's beautiful Sonoma colorway. The yarn is a joy to work with and the feel is so silky.


Until I hit the 2nd graph and the jog in the pattern, I was cruising. And then I spent a week knitting and unknitting rows 5-16 and another week on rows 16-22. Sure, I tried them on and couldn't get my foot into the ankle. I put it down to my fat feet and absurdly high instep. So, I promised them to my mother for Christmas.

Last weekend Muffy and I ventured to the family homestead in CT. I took the socks for my mum to try on. I was heading for the toes quickly and did not want to make them too long. Tragedy struck ...the damn thing was too small even for my mother and her narrow feet with normal insteps. She didn't even hesitate when I asked her if I should rip them out and start again.

You can hear me sobbing as it unravels in a squiggly mound of yarn, can't you?

All of that hard work and I really really love the yarn...now I have to start over and I have promised them to my mother. By the way, this is just the thing that my mother's highly selective memory will remember...sigh...I really want these socks for me.

A gal's gotta have a little consolation in this world, so I stopped by Rosie's on my way home and got the first crack at the freshly delivered Black Bunny Sock yarn. This "Saucy" skein should take away some of the disappointment. Oh, yeah baby!

Allons enfants de la Patrie...

Judy demands a new posting and I oblige. I was scolded on Sunday for not posting in ages. Life I am afraid has intervened, but there has been a lot of knitting going on. This is the first of two Beatrix, knit for little miss Shayna...

The last five weeks have been spent fighting a vicious case of viral bronchitis. Every once in a while I think my boss is going to throw me a fish for being such a good seal. Before that I was sans laptop, after Tosca danced on the keyboard, then settled in for a nice long toasty nap which fried my hard drive.

Saturday, I rallied a bit to celebrate Bastille Day with my friends. In Philly, the Eastern States Penitentiary stands in for the Bastille...nice, grey and very forbidding. There is even a working guillotine for chopping watermelons rather than Marie Antoinette's neck.

Marie grandly declares, "Let them eat cake!" and the crowd below is pelted with...Twinkies? It used to be so much better when it was Tastycake Butterscotch Krimpets...sigh.

It is fun though to see the little kids there with their catcher mits seeing how many they can grab. This is my editorial Twinkie shot...

But even better was the presence of one of literature's most notorious knitters, Madame Defarge. She was so pleased to show off her knitting and be recognized. Fortunately my name was no where to be found on her lovely scarf. My neck is safe for now!

Are you happy now, Judy?

"Did you run out of yarn?"

...my boss asked. Duh...men can be such idiots. I just whipped up this adorable shrug and may have to make yet another.

The pattern is Teva Durham's Turtleneck Shrug from Scarf Style. I knit it in the Rowan Kid Classic specified in the pattern. The fuzziness is lovely and really not terribly itchy for mohair. The shrug is very warm considering its total lack of a front or back. I would definitely use this yarn again, but am a little afraid about roasting in a whole sweater.

This pattern was fast, easy and pretty darn close to instant gratification. And you get a lot of bang for your buck. Even non-knitters were complimenting me on it...too bad I could not take credit for the clever design. I have read that some knitters have found that theirs shift around a lot on the shoulders. This one is staying perfectly in place. I did knit it on graduating needles to accommodate my chunky upper arms...started with 5s on the wrist and worked up to 7s on the upper arms. The changes are not at all noticeable when worn.

And I love, love, love this color! Does anyone else hear the heavenly choir singing in the background? Why am I so obsessed with wearing black when I look so adorable in grape? I have my mind set on some of this in aqua for a ballet wrap sweater from Rowan's fall mag.

What Lisa Needs...

Type your name and needs in the google search bar. First 10 items that come up...

1. Twitter / Lisa: NEEDS a nap. But alas she has a TO DO list that is longer than the nap could ever be. 02:58 PM November 29, 2006 from web ...

2. In Reply to: Lisa needs braces posted by Dental Plan on April 18, 2002 at 05:09:29:. : : what a rollercoaster! congrats with everything!

3. You need a flat, fishes need the sea Lisa needs a tree. Lisa looked all around ... Lisa needs a tree. So Lisa moved to the town With all her family too ...

4. dental plan, lisa needs braces. some guy: "and that's when i realized that my glasses were on my *head* the whole time!" dudes: " .... " ...

5. This 'Mona Lisa' needs a bigger grin and lots more warmth from an overly conscientious Julia Roberts.

6. LISA needs to more clearly communicate to clients how they can benefit from being members of LISA. Up until now, many of its benefits have been ...

7. Amazon.com: "What Lisa Needs in Her Kitchen" A list of products including, Cuisinart DLC-2007N Prep 7 7-Cup Food Processor, Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 2-1/2-Quart Shallow Saucepan with Lid, ...

8. Ethics Report 20 Oct 83 how Lisa needs to handler lower conditions.

9. MySpace Profile - lisa needs more fun, 46 years old, Female, , RHODE ISLAND, US, i like the way you say yes.

10. Lisa needs work... If you haven't heard Top model writers are having a fit about not having no union on the show, but my thing is i didn't know Lisa was a ...

...Silly? You bet!

Now some knitting stuff... my first stitch markers. Aren't these chicken beads a scream? They are for a swap and my partner has a thing for chickens, found these on ebay. I did find extra special lampwork chickens on Etsy, check out these expensive, but incredible beads.

And a new liter of kittens popped out of the Bernina. Two of the kittys are on Etsy.

There is some knitting going on, but no pics. Calorimetry and matching fingerless gloves in Malabrigo are done and in daily rotation. The turtleneck shrug/scarf from Scarf Style.

Open for Business

I have finally gotten off my tail and opened my Etsy Shop.

Many thanks to the lovely Maris who stood out in the cold today and modelled my handbags for me. Aren't her new bangs adorable!?!

Yup, there has been a proliferation of cuteness going on in my house. More kitties keep coming out of my sewing machine. I have actually run out of stuffing. Those who have witnessed my trunk full o'stuffing should be amazed.

I am really in love with this gal. She is my first sale!!! A work friend asked me to make a kitty for her granddaughter. The granddaughter is a two-year old, so I had to rethink the button eyes. The embroidered daisy was an inspired idea if I do say so myself.

This kitty is on her way to Tove in Finland. Tove sent me a wonderful yoyo doll in my first Recycled Stuffy swap. While browsing the site I saw that she had not received anything from her partner. I was really upset by this, Tove even sent a mousie for the cats. I wanted to make sure she got some love in return, so off goes this kitty. I know Tove will give her a loving home.

There has been another kitty sighting on Krissy's blog. And check out all the gorgeous red accessories she has for her office from See Jane Work. I stopped by and bought this snappy journal in Lime.

And speaking of cute...did you see the news? A wallabee is on the loose in Berks county?

Fetching, indeed

Many thanks to Wendy for her enabling words that allowed me to say ppppthhht to 2007 resolutions not to buy more yarn. They came just in time for me to uncover these gems at Rosies. The Anne has such a lovely sheen and the colors are pretty subtle, no pops of hot pink here. The big debate is whether the skein will become socks for my stepfather or moi! The other skein is Autumn House Farms, Alpacita in the Hattie's Zinneas colorway.

The Alpacita was immediately cast on for a pair of "Fetching" fingerless mitts. I confess to being a bit obsessed with this pattern...this is my fourth pair- two for me, one for my mom and a pair for Muffy. I keep tweaking the pattern, the cuff on these is lengthened (to compensate for all the 3/4 length sleeves in my closet), an additional repeat is added at the knuckles and I did a regular bind off. Go on, knit a pair or five!

I have also been hitting the swaps again. This little kitty is for another Recycled Stuffy swap on Swap-Bot. She is headed off to Cielle on the west coast. I hope they have a happy life together...bye sweet kitty!

January 6th?!?

Could this really be January 6th? In Philadelphia? Are you sure it's not June 6th? Today it soared into the 70s and Rittenhouse Square was packed with people and their dogs. I sat with the cutest duo today, Fred and his husky, Jack. I am smitten. It was the perfect chance to hang out in the park and get my knit on and work on my third pair of socks... Jaywalkers in some scrumptious yarn from Black Bunny Fibers. This is a great sock pattern and I can see why so many of my friends have knit these socks.

Cruisin through the city today I ran into many friends...the fabulous Maris and her friend Olivia, Mike and his partner, Sharon C and Josh, and made some new acquaintances in the crowd at the Mummers Parade.
I lived in this city for many years and held the Mummers in great disdain...grown men strutting down the street in dresses, feathers, and make-up? Now as an adult I now appreciate the Mummers for the fun and wonderful tradition that is so uniquely Philadelphian. Yeah, the crowd can be drunk and rowdy. But I really admire the dedication of those that strut up Broad Street and the hoards of helpers who push props and scenery behind them. And I really admire all the talented sewers who stitch the costumes, sewing all those sequins and feathers.

The one sad part of the day is that my bestfriend, Suzanne's father is quickly fading away. He was diagnosed not long ago with ALS and the disease is progressing much more rapidly than was expected. I am experiencing a mix of emotions...incredible sadness for Suzanne and her family on the loss of a wonderful father and relief that his suffering will not be long and his end peaceful and dignified, surrounded by people who love him dearly. If you are a person of faith, please say a prayer for this wonderful family.

Yowza!

This amazing Christmas Swap package came for me in today's mail from the awesome Krista in Atlanta, GA. Artemis, as is the norm, was the first to dive in and investigate. There was a mouse stuffed with catnip in the package, so everything smelled good to her. She started rolling in the presents until distracted by her ultimate draw, curling ribbon.

The package was incredibly generous. Everything was beautifully wrapped with ribbons and adorable tags. She really put together a package that was so thoughtful and showed that she read my blog and got who I am.

Inside was a bundle of cool fat quarters, a mushy cushy sparkly ball of fiber bits and pieces, beautiful bags of beads ( I see some stitch markers in my future), a silver frame ornament for a picture of Tosca for the Christmas tree, lots of cool flower appliques and stickers, an assortment of decorative papers, Dale Chihuly notecards, a stash of fun postcards...

a gorgeous mother of pearl pendant and the cutest "Clara Bow"ish button.

And there were a couple of Linder chocolate truffles that I immediately scarfed down, YUM. Thank you, Krista...the smile is ear to ear!

Recycling

Squirreled away in hidden piles are clothes that I just cannot bear to part with...sweaters savaged by hungry little bastards, pants worn through in the butt, shirts with a big ink stain. They are too ruined for Goodwill, but for some reason I cannot just pop them in the trash. The dream of doing something cool with them has always lurked.

Swap-Bot provided me with the perfect opportunity to wade into my stashed rags and start whacking away. A recycled stuffy swap was hosted on the site.

I went to Plush-O-Rama by Linda Kopp for inspiration and modeled my first ever stuffy after Carly Schwerdt's Moopy Bunny. If you haven't seen this book yet, it is lots of fun.

I dug out one of my former favorite sweaters that had moth holes in places that could not be decently covered by brooches or embroidery. Into the washer and dryer it went for felting. It produced some yummy felt! I also yanked out of my summer clothes a skirt that I loved on the hanger, but looked like shite on me. Snip snip and no more temptation to wear it and look dumpy. It made a pretty dress for the Bun-Bun with a built-in ruffle at the bottom. Her eyes are a bit crazy, but she is a sweetie. Bun-Bun is now happy and living in Seattle...spreading sunshine around.

This little sweetie was sent to me by Tove, all the way from Finland. Tove also included a mouse which has been claimed by Tosca.

I had so much fun with Bun-Bun that I decided to make another for a Christmas swap partner in Australia. Kitka was made from some of the leftover felt, an old pair of jeans, upholstery samples and a vintage green heart button that has tried to be part of so many other projects and failed. It is a long trip to Australia, so I packed her some chocolate and kitty treats to munch on the flight.

I forsee more of these stuffies in my future and hopefully a reduced pile of Goodwill rejects.

Red Scarf Project 2007

Have you started your red scarf yet? What? Don't know about red scarves? The Orphan Foundation of America is a nonprofit that provides scholarship and support for teenage orphans who have aged out of the foster care system. They are asking for knitters and crocheters to participate in their Red Scarf Project 2007. The red scarves will be in Valentines Day care packages sent to the teens. Help spread a little love to these kids and let them know there are people out there that care. If you really want to get involved they have a virtual mentoring program, please check it out.

All You Need is Love

...and may be some good drugs! This is a late Thanksgiving posting, but I had to comment on my first trip to Las Vegas.

My holiday was split in two, part one in Vegas with my father and Uncle David and part two in Carson City with them and my uncle's crazy (and not in a good way) girlfriend. Vegas was more fun than I imagined and not nearly as tacky.

We started off on a high note with the Cirque du Soleil's show "Love" at the Mirage. I am a huge Cirque fan and have seen a bunch of their shows in Philadelphia. This was different- Beatles music, costumes that weren't as wild as their norm, and more dancing than usual. It was wonderful and I boohooed through at least the first 20 minutes because I was sooooo overcome with emotion and memory. I wasn't the only one who was swept away, there were tears all around me.

We sat in the first row, not the best place to see the whole show, but we were inches from the performers and they made regular eye contact with us! The funniest for me was during Blackbird when a very cute cheeky baby blackbird crashed back to the stage in front of me and pulled himself right over the edge of the stage. He looked me in the eye and said "Mama?" I replied, "Baby?" before he was whisked away on his bungee. It reminded me of my favorite childhood book, Are You My Mother?


The Octopus' Garden was the most beautiful portion of the show. The aerial artists costumed as jellyfish were breathtaking. If you are ever in Vegas, go see this show...hell, go to Vegas just to see it! That is an order!

Other amazing sights in Sin City where the Venetian, Paris, Mandalay Bay, oh and the Bellagio. The gardens and pool are so gorgeous, I would love to hang out there for days. The glass flower ceiling in the lobby by Dale Chihuly is beyond cool. I want one of these for the next time I have bronchitis and am sucking down the codeine. Talk about a psychadelic experience!

Then we headed off to Carson City...and the turf war began. My uncle's girlfriend only envisions his family as being her, her daughter, and my uncle. She doesn't want one that includes my father and myself. We are a really small family, only the three of us, we are not asking her to share him with the masses. Being around her is incredibly stressful. I cannot imagine how my uncle deals with this 24/7. He has told me that he is going to ask her to move out before Christmas. But then my uncle has talked about this before, and nothing has happened. The sad part really is that the family...my uncle, my dad and I...all really love the crazy's daughter. We would adopt her into the family in a heartbeat. She is a great kid- smart, fun, polite, and she loathes Bush...what more can I say? Can we push her mother over a cliff somewhere? Arrrrrgh!

But now I am home with the kitties and detoxing from too much rich food and stress. Oh, and hoping that my uncle's christmas card is from him only!

Again with the Swapping...

One of my favorite things from my time employed at Penn was the Robert Indiana "LOVE" statue right on the Locust Walk. I was so shocked to find one there, at first I thought it had been moved from Love Park. How could I have missed that in the news? But no, the City of Brotherly Love has two of these statues. The image was one that struck me back when I was a kid in Pittsburgh and it was on the stamps I licked for all my mom's Christmas cards.

I signed up for a fabric postcard swap on my new favorite site, Swap-Bot. My swap partner is in Germany, so I thought I would use one of Philly's iconic images as my inspiration for my postcard. (Sorry, Mr. Indiana, but you really should have copyrighted the image.) And also love, or rather the lack-there-of, in my life has been much on my mind lately. Pretty damn cute isn't it for someone not so hopeful about the subject. I hope that it arrives in one piece.

Did I mention, that the Ken-Doll (former boyfriend) showed up drunk on my doorstep yet again? A classic, this time he was there to apologize for being a dick and showing up on my doorstep drunk a year ago (strangely almost to the day). Oye! What is it with me and seriously damaged men? Please any one who would like to introduce me to a nice sane non-alcoholic man, please do so...pretty please. I even promise that I won't whine if he leaves the seat up.


This is the postcard I received yesterday from my swap partner. The underlying material is really cute with its "Mischievous Monsters." She has machine appliqued flowers on top, some of them with beading. Unfortunately the beading had some damage, I think it got caught in a machine as it was a bit dirty there too. I love that she gave the tiny blue monster in the upper right corner a bouquet of flowers.

In the last few weeks I have also participated in a few CD swaps. Those swaps were ones with multiple swap partners. In both I had one partner who was a dud. It was quite disappointing. In the second swap one of the people I sent a CD to sent me back a copy of his mix that he sent out to his partners. I love generous cool people, and his mix kicks ass!