Haul in a Linus...repeat

Last night I thought drinking a latte at 7pm was a good idea. Well you know, the Samurai goes out for drinks after work and then the Samurai falls asleep. I didn’t want that to happen hence the caffeine. I successfully stayed up until 11:30 and did lots of knitting. I was helped by the fact that I started watching The Lion in Winter without realizing it’s a 3 hour movie. I’d give it a B+. Excellent acting and dialogue. It could due to be an hour shorter though.

I Finished a Christmas gift, yeah that leaves one to go. And while motivation was with me, I cast on for a new sock. One can never have too many socks on the needles. The yarn is knitting Fever Indulgence With Aloe and I’m doing a simple rib pattern. So far I’m about 3” into it and it’s random stripes are really working for me. I have to say, now that I work full time and the majority of my knitting is done in public where I find the simpler the sock pattern the better. I’m not going to win any design contests but I will be able to talk and knit and not think about what my hands are doing.

SO yeah, latte. I don’t know if this is an age thing or what but lately if I have evening caffeine, not only does it keep me up, but it also wakes me up early. Well before the sun came up I was awake. I tried to sleep, I played with Isitt and Mac, I tossed and turned, and then I gave up. 5:15 on a Saturday morning and I’m up. I pulled on my toasty sweats and headed down to the garage. If I’m up I might as well be productive. Thinking I’d have a good 3 hours to myself, without prying eyes or judgment it seemed the perfect time to pull out the stash and at least get all the various sock yarns together. It’s not that The Boyfriend ever says anything about the stash, it’s our silent third partner but I feel his eyes on it and it makes me cringe. Best to deal with it when he’s not around.

Haul a bag or a box or a bin into the house. Haul in a Linus. Haul in a different bin. Haul in a Mac. Haul in a bag overloaded with yarn and haul in the same Linus. Can you see how this morning started?

Endeavors such as these never go the way one expects. I thought I could quickly sort through the sock stuff. Put away some recent sport and alpaca purchases (my yarn is sorted by weight except alpaca which is kept in a special separate bin in the house, almost like I expect the wool and alpaca to start fighting if left too close together). I sorted the sock yarn. Found the missing yarn, that had prompted me to reorganize, I couldn’t find a skein of sock yarn yesterday morning before work and it had been weighing on me. If you can’t find the yarn when you want it, then what’s the point of a stash? I also found 6 projects, ok more than 6 projects, but I found 6 hibernating projects that could be frogged. 4 of them were from 2008. One and a half socks, a design I had no desire to finish. A sweater I’d never photographed as it was a design in progress that fell short of the mark. The colorwork Devon Rex bag and mittens have been sitting for too long. The vest out of alpaca from a pattern written for a size 34 that I was adapting to a size 44 but hadn’t thought through enough before I began. The fuzzy angora cowl with hidden cables and lace. All of them were missteps in judgment that weren’t worth finishing. It makes me happy to frog and realize the errors of my ways, knowing that I’m a better knitter now than I was just a year ago when I cast on that angora cowl.

And the fruits of my labors? This massive pile of needles and stitch markers suddenly appeared from the flying yarn. I’m resolved to knit the 4 thumbs that are needed to finish the 2 pairs of fingerless mitts that were also hibernating. And it’s only 9 O’Clock!

True Samurai Knitting History

OK so your saying to yourself, Samurai what have you been doing? Any knitting?

Why yes indeed. Oh and did you notice it’s only 50 days until Christmas? I’ve been working on two Christmas gifts. Sorry no more commentary than that. I’m about three quarters of the way through one gift and a third of the way through the other. I should finish them both on time.

After the excitement of Rhinebeck and promise of a new sweater, I quickly cast on the Princess Lace Panel Cardi thinking I’d make it three quarter length sleeves. The charcoal-black color is beautiful although the lace pattern barely shows. I think I will do the contrasting button band to add some excitement to the front since the lace blends in. Don’t get me wrong. I love the lace, but anyone who isn’t a knitter sitting within 12 inches of the front of the cardigan isn’t going to be able to tell there is a pattern there. Thankfully it’s simple lace and I really enjoy this yarn. I’ve already finished the back and am about half way through the front left side. Can you see the same thing I can see? A third Crème Brulee sweater in my future?

I’ve also been catching up on True Blood. It’s an excellent show. How is it that the same cable environment that brought me Rome, one of my favorite shows, also brought us The Tudors which I couldn’t stomach and now True Blood which I find thrilling. All completely different time periods and story lines. All have a healthy dose of fornication and intrigue. Honestly, they’re just explicit soap operas when you think about it. The major difference is that I could immediately identify with the supporting characters in Rome and True Blood. Poor Tara and Octavia. Endearing Sam and Titus. Annoying but interesting Jason and Atia. Irresistible Bill and Lucius (but not right away for Bill). I was so repulsed by King Henry in the Tudors that I couldn’t watch it. I think a large part of the revulsion was brought on by the constant sneer of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Which is odd because I really enjoyed him in Match Point (excellent movie by the way). Mr. Meyers and I disagree on how King Henry would’ve behaved, not that I think he was an angel, I just don’t think he was as evil as Meyers portrays him. And while we’re turned toward history lets head away from historical fiction and to more scholarly history. Stuff you missed in History Class and Hard Core History have been filling my ears with knowledge. One podcast is more fact driven and the other takes an in depth look at the past and how it relates to the present. Both are entertaining in their own ways and I can listen to both while I work which is a major bonus.

Tonight I’ll be working on my Burlington socks in Wendy D. Johnson’s Summer 2008 Sock Pattern. These are made with Schaefer Nicole in Gertrude Ederle color which is a navy-plum-evergreen color. I’m hoping to finish these quick and add them to my sock drawer as I find that the majority of the socks I’ve knit for myself are wildly colorful which isn’t something I necessarily want peaking out from under my pants in a department meeting.

Clearly Mz Undrstod Callie

Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again

Peace Train, Falcor, and Isitt Rose…what could they possibly have in common?

It all begins at 5:30 am on Saturday morning. You see Mum and I were heading off to a cat show with Callie, Emma, Isitt, and Bernstein. It was very dark when we headed south. Mum had been on a Cat Stevens or Yusuf Islam kick. After many hours of research and listening to his music she ready to educate me for most of the ride to the show. I vaguely remember hearing the song Peace Train when I was younger but knew nothing about it or the song writer. It’s all very interesting and catchy. Since about 6am on Saturday morning I’ve been hearing the song on repeat in my head. I’m not tired of it yet, although The Boyfriend wont let me play it on repeat anymore.

This was the best Cat Show we’ve ever had. We showed everyone on Saturday. Callie made three finals and Bernstein made two. At the end of the day Curlfect had it’s first Grand Champion. To those not in the cat world, that is the lightest level of achievement. Once attained the Grand Champions compete to become regional and national winners, accumulating a point or percent of a point for each Champion they compete against along the way. While we enjoy showing cats, we will not be ‘running’ Callie to gain a regional win. We’re pleased that she has achieved this status.

By Sunday Isitt had attained her Champion status and sat out, leaving Callie and Emma to duke it out with another Devon named Disco Lemonade. Isitt is a bit spoiled, but hey I’m not the first person to ‘ruin’ my Loganderry Devon. One of friends frequently throws her hands in the air and says ‘mistakes were made’. And it’s true, I too made mistakes and now have the most perfect and affectionate cat on the planet who is uncomfortable around strangers and not the best show cat. So while the others were working, Isitt tired out the harness and relaxed. By the end of the day she was rolling around on the floor and had become friends with all our neighbors. Perhaps she could still have a show career.

Once Callie became a Grand Champion it was like they pulled out all the stops. She made four more finals. One judge made her BEST CAT, which is essentially 1^st place. The best specimen of all of the cats against each of their individual standard when compared to all the other cats. It was truly wonderful.

Nearly every judge commented on Callie’s ‘tortitude’ or her split personality or her red head expressing itself. Technically Callie is a Silver Patched Tabby and White, which is another name for Tortie or Calico. This means she carries the dominate red gene and the dominate black gene as well as the white spotting gene. This is good for Curlfect because it means she can have kittens that are every color except solid white, she doesn’t carry that color trait but if the father did she could have solid white kittens. How did I get on this genetics tangent? What I was trying to say was that it’s a common theory that red females are more feisty than any other color of cat. It was nice of the judges to see beyond her attitude since like Isitt, Callie isn’t a fan of showing and tends to get huffy but to her credit she is more easily distracted from her huff.

When I returned home I found that The Boyfriend had made apple crisp with some of the mazillion apples he picked. He’s gone three times this year. Seriously, if it weren’t the end of the season I’d be worried about him, why all the apples? Isitt was happy to be home and immediate curled up and exhibited her full fluffy coat which reminds some people of a lamb. It might have been that she was a white lump of curls sleeping on my lap as I was knitting, but I can’t say for sure. The Boyfriend recently discovered a resemblance between Isitt and Falcor from The Never Ending Story. And for those of you who don’t love show cats this may have felt like an unending story but what can I say? The coolaid has been drunk, the gauntlet has been thrown down, and the challenge accepted. I’m one of those Devon Ladies!

I dare you to listen to this and

not get hell no! stuck in your head. I warn you, it might not be as funny to older readers.

Rhinebeck and Webs

Thought you kids too far to make it to Rhinebeck or Webs might like to see what I got. I didn’t get nearly as much this trip as previous times so it won’t be a display of excess but there are some pretty yarns that now live at my house.

.

.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts: Socks That Rock in medium weight in the Raven color Corbie. It’s a blue purple color over dyed with even darker blue. I can see something manly with The Boyfriend’s name on it. A hat perhaps, since even the lightweight is too heavy for socks in my opinion.
.
.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts: Socks That Rock in medium weight in the color Sugarplum. It’s a lovely purple, lavender, sea foam green mix. Definitely has my name on it. I’m seeing fingerless mitts or some such thing.
.

.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts: Socks That Rock in medium weight in the color Jingle Bells. OK, I’ll fess up to it. I already have this color…but but….but it’s in light weight. I just love the pale green and vibrant red contrast. I see baby clothes when I look at this color. I think The Communicator may have knit baby clothes in a similar color which is why it’s been labeled as such in my head.

.

.

Glamour Bunny was my cave purchase. I’ve seen this at all of the New England sheep and wool festivals. A couple of the girls are knitting the softest fingerless mitts I’ve ever felt with this stuff. Not wanting to be a follower but wanting a pair of my own, I was over come and purchased a navy blue and pastel blue blend (theirs are solid so mine are different!). I’ve knit the mitts except for the thumbs already. Sooooo soft!!!!

.
.

After flashing the Decadent Fibers women so that she could see my Hey Teach Sweater made out of their Crème Brulee yarn, I found my way back into the booth and happened upon more Crème Brulee. Can you believe it? I just love their yarn and it knits so nice oh and they dye such pretty colors. Well I was destined to buy another sweater’s worth. I went with the a light charcoal gray color knowing that I’d be more likely to wear that than a flashy purple or red, which is what my eyes are typically drawn to. I’m not sure what sweater this will be, but knit on size 9 needles, it will work up fast. I’m feeling inspired after my Diorama success and want to launch into another sweater straight away but I also sense the snow and holiday season coming. So I’ve put a Christmas countdown on the site to help remind me to work on those Christmas gifts in addition to my usual sock knitting and occasional sweater knitting. It is funny though, the time when I’m most inspired to Christmas knit is January. Definitely not October-November. I think it’s the hype around new fall yarns that pulls my brain toward thoughts of self indulgence rather than charity.

And that’s it for Rhinebeck yarn. I feel slightly embarrassed to say that is all I bought. I was trying so hard not to buy sock yarn and to find the perfect sweater yarn that I passed up on a lot of yarns that were beautiful and deserving.

Rhinebeck and Webs too

In the warehouse I found some great deals. It took all my will power not to buy a sweaters worth of ...
Misty Alpaca Hand Paint Baby Suri Silk in a gary, taupe, green variegated color. Actually there was a lot of self talk about knitting sweaters with DK weight yarns. I already have enough DK alpaca yarn from Peru (my boss used to carry it back in her suitcase when she’d visit the factories). If it had been worsted, I’d be done for. And that’s knowing that it grows and shouldn’t be used for sweaters. Really this is the most beautiful yarn I’ve seen in years.
.
.
Misti Alpaca Chunky in a rust color found it’s way into the basket as well. It spoke to me about becoming a Christmas present so it had to come. As did it’s cousin in soft baby pink. It’s the same yarn I just knit the Meathead and Si Captain hats out of. Chunky alpaca is my kryptonite. It’s true. If you were to look up Knitting Samurai on Wikipedia you’d see it listed there along with sweet elvis crepes and red devon rex cats.
.
And lastly there was a sock breakdown as well. Here is the standard series of events when a new sock yarn is encountered…

• Samurai sees yarn she’s never seen before, eye narrow and head tilts



• Samurai touches yarn to confirm skin can tolerate it’s texture



• Samurai assess yarn for nylon content



• Samurai confirms it is not Auracania Sock yarn as Samurai has a jihad* against it



• Samurai's color detector locates most pleasing color



• Samurai purchases yarn

Really it’s that simple.
In this case Wisdom Yarns in color Los Angeles was the novel sock yarn of choice.

*The use of the word Jihad is meant in jest. If any offense is taken to my irreverent use of the word I apologize.

What happens when you take 8 knitters and a cat to Rhinebeck?

They get drunk on the yarn fumes for starters.
Friday morning we left bright and early. Arguably I was a bouncing ball of energy, too excited to sleep and ready to go an hour ahead of time. I know, I’m always late so your amazed. Meow Meow Head packed light and was able to fit all of her stuff in just one car which was good, it left the rest of us plenty of room in the other. Having visions of the trip back from Pennsylvania with Lulu last fall, I opted to ride in the non-cat car. When we arrived we were all pleased with the house. It was beautiful and spacious and modern enough for me to be comfortable.
Two trips to the train station later, we had all of our party and were ready for a nice dinner in Rhinecliff. Then we were off to bed and up early to head to the fair grounds. Having been last year, Meow Meow Head and I were adamant that we be out of the house by 8:30. This naturally meant that I was up at 6 “trying” not to wake people up while I got ready so we could get going. The day was a blur of smiles and yarn. I will just leave you with some of the highlight words…

• Socks That Rock yarn
  
• Artichock Freda-French-and Fried
  
• Katie’s Sylvie Jacket
  
• Dips
  
• Si Captian Baseball Hat and Meathead Hat
  
• Flashing The Decedent Fiber Lady with my Hey Teach Sweater
  
• Joan going back for Pam
  
• Cheeses
  
• Kissing Llamas
  
• Knitted Bob Costume
  
• NY Style Pizza
  

Day two was rainy but that didn’t stop us. I think we all bought some Crème Brule from Decedent Fibers. And on Day three with our Rhinebeck hangovers, we headed home via Webbs. What a crazy group of ladies!!!!

Diorama Done and Rhinebeck Tomorrow!

Haha! I've completed the Diorama before leaving for Rhinebeck! Ok so I look a little like Linus in it. He's gained a bit of weight recently and looks like a stuffed sausage in a Linus suite. Yeah so that's about how I look with this buttoned up. But it's cute and I'll wear it anyway!

Rhinebeck is coming!

Do you realize that Rhinebeck is in like 7 days!!!!????? I’ve been knitting on the Diorama, thinking I had plenty of time to finish it. I knit the back and right front and about the time I started the left front it hit me that if I’m going to finish this thing in time for next weekend I really need to be done knitting it by Sunday so that I have Monday to block it, Tuesday to dry and Wednesday to sew it up. Thursday I’ll be packing and then Friday morning we’re off. Normally I’d be fine to finish the last 10” of the front by Sunday but this is a cat show weekend. Mum and I are off to Canada with 10+ hours of driving in our future. I hope I can squeeze in some knitting during that time, but it’s all late afternoon-evening driving which is more difficult for older eyes.

Evolution of Samurai and Boyfriend

We went to a wedding this weekend of a college friend/roommate. This caused The Boyfriend and I to marvel at how much our old college buddy had changed. We’ve known him since our freshman year in college, 10 years this fall. Of course people change over a time period like that. In the few visits over the years since college I had not picked up on the cues while my other half had. He had been watching the progression from rebellious beatnik poet to someone more interested in the party and following the expectations of society. The overwhelming display of personal tastes that is the nature of a wedding drastically highlighted this change for me. It made me sad but it also made me wonder about myself.

In a few days The Boyfriend and I will have been together for 11 years. It’s hard to imagine a time when we weren’t together. Nearly half of our lifetimes have been spent in unity. 13 years ago I started sophomore year at a new High School and met a boy who would change my life. Looking back at ourselves we realized that we too must have changed over such a long period of time. We concluded that there have been three major shifts for us both;

1. We are far more liberal, I was more liberal from the start which means that I’m still more liberal but the conservative boy debating in high school civics classes about war and the economy would not recognize the man I’m married to today. And the girl who was once quoted in the local newspaper campaigning to bring home our troops would be shocked at my opinions on the current war and economy.
2. We both value the environmental and animals far more than our younger selves. I think most people would agree that they are more aware of the environment now as the entire society has shifted to concerns on global warming and reducing waste but becoming vegetarians was not something either of us planned.
3. Neither of us has much use for pop culture. The Boyfriend spends minimal time watching sports, which used to be his consuming passion. And without cable I do not find myself missing mainstream TV. I am far more content to listen to an audio book and knit, from the child who was tortured by her father’s need to sit and read every evening rather than watch TV.
   

There are other smaller things like Mac, Linus and Isitt, he would never have had a cat without me and I would never have imagined that cat showing would be something I’d enjoy. And our current choices of occupations, are definitely not what we set out to do. But in the end I think what matters most is that we have evolved together. He doesn’t mind my knitting and I love discussing philosophy with him in between books. And I write all this to you as I download N’Sync onto my Ipod because it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to them. Yeah, probably since high school. So not everything changes.