Kindle Coverage

I finally went to the dark side. I, a paper purist, purchased a Kindle. The happy recipient of a work award that came with a large Amazon gift card and with birthday money from my parents, I splurged on what used to be my arch nemesis – the e-reader. And frankly, I love it. I named it Archibald, Archie for short. And so far Archie has given me the ability to check my lexicon via Oxford (did you know that ‘nibby’ is not a word?), provided amusement at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains) and even a free word game (addicting insanity).

I am in love. I am so disappointed in myself.

To make myself feel better, I decided to make Archibald a lovely sweater. Because covering your soul-stealing techno-gadget in wool always helps sooth the spirit.

I am also trying to perfect my crochet skills so I decided to crochet a cover instead. This is a half-double crochet (crazy people come up with this stuff) with a 5.50 hook.  I decided to give mine a snazzy closure so I crocheted up to create a latch and sewed on a button from my favorite collection of found buttons. In the end, I am amazed at how fast crochet is. I completed this in two evenings, probably a total of five hours max. Maybe I will make these in a variety of colors so Archibald’s condescending stare doesn’t haunt me.

Have I told you that you can also look at magazines on the Kindle?! Wee!

hypocrite

Peace,

Pookah

Required Reading

Review for Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller

I adore this book, complete adore it. If you’ve taken classes with me, you have undoubtedly heard me rave about it and insist that you need it. If I could assign required reading this would be it! As with most knitting books, it is broken down into parts, some instructional guide for beginners, a review of knitting techniques and the lovely patterns. Here, “I Knit it May Way” includes instructions from reading patterns, gauge, yarn weight, fixing mistakes and more. This is just a great reference for any knitter. I especially love the parts on measuring for sweater knitting, as if I am ever going to have the patience and time to knit a large project (see the promise I made to myself how many months ago?!)

In the back, “The Knitty Gritty” section is a refresher course in knitting techniques. From casting on, the knit and purl stitch, and binding off and everything in between, this book was my savior when learning new techniques. For some reason, books that were focused on dummies like me, might as well been written in Mandarin Chinese to me, but once I got this book, I could clearly understand the drawings and simple instructions on how to make one increase. It also includes instruction for more advanced or fun techniques like SKP, SSK, three needle bind off, poms and icord. Lets just say that I would turn to this book so frequently that my copy is quite the mess (insert picture).

Now for the best part…the patterns of course! All Stitch n Bitch patterns are amazingly fun. For me, this book has far better patterns than the first book. There is a great mix of patterns, broken down into:

1. Scarves, Hats and Mittens
2. Sweaters and Ponchos
3. Sexy Summer Knits
4. Legs, Bags and Beyond
5. Babies, Dogs and Cats
6. Gifts and More

If you are looking for a nice gift, or a crazy project this is your book. From teapot cozies, to rock n roll dolls, you will find something you want to make here.  Here are my top five patterns from the book:

1. Newsboy cap – This pattern was the main reason I bought this book. I fell in love with this hat in an instant. I plainly remember skimming the pages and wondering if I would be able to make something like this one day. And one day a friend asked if I could make a hat for a friend of us as a gift. So I finally turned to this pattern and was just amazed at how easy it was by then! Hooray! So I made a bright red one, then a grey one promptly for myself. View it here: I Heart Cables,  Today, I and Ermmm
2. Baby’s First Tattoo- My favorite sweater pattern for all baby sweaters I make now. I found that I love raglan shaping, which is surprising because I prefer to work seamless, in the round as much as possible. I’ve made this sweater with the super awesome skull twice and then improvised my own design later for Baby Henry (who is just adorable by the way). View Punk Babies and Baby Bundles
3. One Hour Baby Booties – Any claim like this, and I want to test it out. But, it is true! These are the quickest booties to knit ever. And I love being able to pick out different buttons to use for the closures. Back in the day, this was my first attempt at turning heels and it put me so much at ease that my next task was to try out socks.
4. Casey’s Coat – I know, I know, it is a dog sweater and I do not have a dog. But, my lovely Pookah cat used to be the size of a medium-sized dog, so why not! Really fun to knit, and even more fun to watch Mickey fall over once the sweater is on! Tee hee! View it here: Olympic Project #2
5. Head Huggers – I have actually never completed the whole project, but these are my favorite flowers ever! They come in 5-petal and 6-petal designs are very fun to knit up. See it here: Gather Ye Rosebubds and Children in Bloom

And projects I’m dying to make:

1. Li’l Devil Pants –Red toddler pants with the cutest lil devil tail you’ve ever seen!
2. Clover Lace Wrap – I love lace!
3. Om Yoga Mat – Again, I love lace! And have a naked yoga mat that would love to be covered.

Feeling Froggy

I was the lucky recipient of some food poisoning fun this weekend. I fully believe that it was my husband’s unique form of revenge on me for making him eat all those vegetables. The plus side of being sick? My husband let me watch all my DVR shows (Jack Bauer is my hero) and I caught up on some knitting. The downside? Being forced to drink three mason jars of water while being watched over like a prisoner.

Between watching Food Tech in awe (I learned how pickles are made, also Peking Duck but I’d rather not talk about the latter), I decided that I hated the Morning Surf scarf I was making. I don’t hate the pattern, I just hated it with the yarn I was using. I need to start it again when I have good fingerling or lace yarn. So, I did what any good knitter would do. I ripped it to pieces and started over again. Otherwise known in knitter-land as “frogging” (R.I.P Ice Froggy Frog*). I found a great pattern for a Chevron Scarf in the Last-Minute Knitted Gifts book that I have been renewing since October from my library. I love that book.

And I love this scarf pattern. In the book, they make it with a beautiful stripey yarn, but I’m really stuck on this color of yarn for my friend so I decided to use it anyway. Boy am I glad I did. The solid color really shows the ornate design that this pattern makes. It seems as though this will take a while but it is completely worth it. I love, love, love the scarf and I’m making it for a friend that I also love, love, love. So it really made my sick day much better.

I also caught up on reading. I have reading issues because I like to read at least three books at once. I blame it on the reading contests of my youth where the more books I read, the more Pizza Hut certificates I earned.

Anyway, this creates some split-identity reading. Right now, when I am in the living room I am reading The Time Traveler’s Wife (Google really has everything), but when I am upstairs I am reading the first of those True Blood books (I cannot believe I am admitting this). Today I just picked up The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which I’m pretty excited about starting (you had me at “Cemetery of Forgotten Books,” Carlos). I spent yesterday pouring through The Time Traveler’s Wife and I have to admit that I am a really bad judge of books at first glance. I am one of those people who judge a book by its cover (then why I am reading Sookie books you ask? Leave it alone.) I must have not liked the book jacket for this time-traveling tale. I have no clue why, but I remember reading the back in B&N and grimacing. Por que? It is an absolutely lovely book and I cannot put it down. It is wonderfully written and the chronology of the plot is so wondrously consuming.

All in all, an ouchy day, but a very productive one.

Peace n ribits,

Pookah

(apparently I love parenthesis today)

*Ice Froggy Frog (aka. The LilyPad Gangsta) was the little frog I owned for about three months in 2004. He and his older brother, The Ayatollah of RocknRolla, met an untimely death (is any death timely?) which may or may not have been a result of a lack of understanding about chemicals in water. I’d rather not talk about this either.

I wish…

….I could figure out how to read and knit at the same time. I don’t mean that Kindle business, or audio books. I tend to lose track. I mean tangible, lovely books that I can dog-ear to my little hearts content.