| osha report |
wednesday 12.01.2004 |
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838 has an elevator which i almost never take. i only use it when i have heavy groceries or when i do laundry. the consumer affairs license posted inside it says that it was last inspected in 1994. it makes a horrendous screech, the kind that makes cats launch straight up into mid air, when it stops on the fourth floor. i can just see the news headline: knitter+cats tortured by neglected elevator.
oh, but i love the washing machine!
 because it says knit!
i entertain the thought of sitting next to it and knit. now you know how obsessed i am. only if the laundry room wasn't so shoddy. oh, and only if i could knit.
 sickly square two
i am a total failure when it comes to patterns and gauges. that's that. i guess i'm not participating in any charitable knitting projects this year.
speaking of selfishness, i ordered me a posthumous book by elizabeth zimmermann. opinionated knitter, a composition of her previously unpublished works and ramblings. it's a preorder, actually. i won't get it until spring 2005, which is a long time for a mad fan like me.
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| a square cured |
thursday 12.02.2004 |
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good news, everybody! i can knit!
i wanted a pattern that's reversible and requires least thinking. voila, basket weave! even at six tenths, it's already looking like a square!
i can't believe i just typed six tenths. three fifths? anyway, i only have four more repeats to go. i hope it'll get accepted into the blankethood despite missing the deadline.
for the non sequitur segment today, i give you: curious snack!
i got that at a bad for your teeth sort of shop on clement street. there was a big poster advertising it and i couldn't help but peeping in. i grilled the cashier before ordering "that thing on the poster."
thuy: does it come with a filling?
girl: no. flavors. (points at menu board.)
thuy: is it served hot?
girl: yes.
thuy: is it... sweet?
girl: (pauses) yes.
thuy: ok, i'll take a chocolate one.
girl: $3.25.
 typical egg
well, it may be hollow and it may be hot, it aint sweet. nor does it taste like chocolate. if she said i was going to get a brown tinted waffle that's shaped like little eggs, i wouldn't have ordered one.
i lied. of course i would have. because i like fun looking things, food or otherwise.
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| linkydinks |
sunday 12.05.2004 |
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i woke up this morning to the peel sessions on bbc radio. it was pj harvey screaming about being a jilted lover. she is right under bjork on my list.
today i've decided to post things you can do to distract yourself from knitting.
1. knitting zine: i've always been a fan of zines. i entertain whipping up one
with all my bird brain creative ideas. i would probably have to pay people
to look at mine though.
2. learning to love you more: my favorite assignments are number 10
and 14. try number 44.
3. 100 things about me: the original freedom of information act.
check out suko's. she's listing hers on a one per entry basis. great way
to keep your blog updated regularly.
4. how about an illustrated haiku?
5. noodlepie: the food he enjoys makes expatriates like me salivate all
over the monitor. schmeebot loves pieman!
6. turn your volume down before watching this short cartoon of mashimaro.
i bought the cute stationery before i knew what he was about.
that's all for today. i'm going to walk over to clement street to do some more exploring. i haven't yet snooped west of the fifth street intersection.
have a creative sunday, everyone!
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| linkydinks continued |
sunday 12.05.2004 |
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i love everything about that web site, from the page lay outs to the products. check out the handbags section. made me want to trade all my yarn for a sewing machine!
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| animalism |
monday 12.06.2004 |
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i have this one great friend in utah who is trying very hard to keep my mail box from being lonely. look what she generously sent me.
 talk to the hand
that's a bendable cat with magnetic paws. i love it! i'm working on giving her a name. bendbot, may be? yay! thank you very much, holly!
look what i bought yesterday.
 the farm
i got them from the 25 cent bin at a store called fabrix on clement street. the store is a bit overwhelming; bolts of fabrics are stashed ceiling high while everything else is held in bins. i enjoyed the treasure hunt though.
anyway, the cow and horse are ready for stuffing. the cat and mouse are finger puppets, i think. the dog is iron on. the flower is a clever little piece of hand crochet. aren't they fun?
if you're wondering what the background fur is all about, it's my bear skin. ikea sells sheepskins cut to look like mini bear hides. pretty convoluted, huh? it's 100% natural otherwise. i bought two, a small herd.
ok, back to work.
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| rss feed now* |
tuesday 12.07.2004 |
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* i know nothing about this.
if you have been sent to the home page everytime you try to look at this page, it's because i'm trying to phase out thuy.spookybot.com. to see knitting distractions without the hang ups, use www.schmeebot.com/knitting.
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| xmas is coming |
thursday 12.09.2004 |
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i was at boardsports in berkeley a few days ago. everytime i go to one of those stores, i spend all my time at the beanie rack.
 find waldo
 my favorite: 100% wool, $24.99
at first i thought: what the heck is that mess? that's a lousy logo if i ever saw one. then i flipped it inside out.
 ah, hand embroidery!
the label says burton, the supergiant of snowboard outfitters. as much as i am against brand names, i have to admit this one has pretty unconventional design ideas.
 also available in lime
i forgot to check where it's made. probably in a country where no one cares for the english alphabet. i mean, what the heck is that character after the letter n?
this was made at 838 rainstorms-blowin-like-a-mutha street:
 a rabbit, i think
yarn is hand spun by yours truly, knitted using us11 double pointed needles. arms and legs are nothing more than icords. screwy ears are moss stitch. body stuffed with wool roving. all ready for felting.
except i don't have enough dirty laundry to wash with it. the experiment will have to wait a few more days. i expect it to shrink to half its size. what do you think?
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| uninterrupted, for your pleasure |
thursday 12.09.2004 |
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da man just helped me put all the dimwitted patterns i have ever had on one page. the link is currently in orange on the side bar.
speaking of which, has anyone made a zeebee successfully? i'm hoping for feedback, negative and otherwise. i'm also hoping to set up a picture album of folk in zeebees, a gallery of stars if you like, right here on schmeebot!
here's mine:
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| brown goes with everything |
friday 12.10.2004 |
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except mint green!
i once suffered temporary blindness and bought five hanks of yarn in that awful color. i wanted to knit a brown+mint striped sweater, aka bad idea!
well, if you don't like it, dye it!
 spicy vs original
it takes four packs of lemon lime and one pack of orange kool aid for that lovely lime color. i like it!
other than playing chemist, i've been looking at a lot of artsy web sites like pluckyfluff and microrevolt. pure inspiration. this list should give you a few ideas for your next knitting or crocheting project.
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| the bunny gets it |
saturday 12.11.2004 |
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 after two washes
it didn't shrink much. nothing changed except the gut got all lumpy. i suspected the wool filler would felt unevenly. polyfill next time. i was hoping to felt it more but that's all the laundry i have this week. i'll keep washing it until the stitches become invisible. we'll see.
now i need to knit a fine little scarf to dress it up. in the meantime, please help me find a name for it. should it be a boy or a girl?
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| knitting up a herd |
friday 12.17.2004 |
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happy birthday, chauntel! please send her a birthday wish. i think she's turning 21 today.
wednesday i got to see great faces at the knitting meetup. rachel looked fabulous; i hadn't seen her since june. i'm hoping to see everyone again for dinner this evening at the natural cafe in goleta. 5:30. joins us!
look what i did to the rabbit.
 give me a name please
i'm a bunny factory these days because every kid in my family wants one. g wants one, too, except she calls them monkeys. i just finished making five last night. seventeen more to go.
maura suggested that i put up a pattern for it. i think i will but a quick sketch, the way i used to make patterns. watch for it next week.
have a great weekend knitting, everyone!
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| how the rabbit was made |
saturday 12.18.2004 |
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is it next week already?
this pattern was fun to sketch up. super easy bunny. i'm leaving a lot of room for interpretation but the basics are all there. the top sketch shows the numbers while the bottom suggests how to knit it. please don't hesitate to send me your questions and comments.
hands and feet are stockinette to encourage rolling. the ears are moss or any stitch that will allow the fabric to remain flat. the lengths are all up to you. my replicates all have different measurements. no two are alike.
here's how i knit this rabbit:
1. cast on and knit up.
2. knit the ears.
3. graft the stitches at the top of the head together.
4. go back to the cast on edge and knit down.
5. knit the legs.
6. stuff the head and body.
7. graft the crotch stitches to close the body cavity.
8. pick up stitches at shoulders and knit arms.
9. wash to felt. gives fuzzy effect and conceals stuffing.
starting at the belly seems counter intuitive but for some reason, it works for me. i encourage you to modify the pattern as you see fit. in fact, i know you could do better. why not come up with your very own signature critter? how about a horse? a seahorse?
you know you can do better than a silly rabbit.
...
addendum: the following pictures recap the making of the rabbit. original written
article elaborating on each stage is linked in the caption.
please note that i highly recommend air drying it after you're
done with felting. do not use the dryer.
...
added 17jan2005:
the yarn i used for the rabbit is handspun by me. it's very loosely spun in single ply. as you can see in the above pictures, it felts okay.
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| contagious, fashizzle! |
thursday 12.23.2004 |
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move over rabbit, here comes something way more clever!
 it's a virus, everybody!
i met jayme way back in may. she left a comment on schmeebot and i never let her off the hook. anyway, she had this crazy idea of knitting up viruses. i remember how she brought a photocopy full of tiny images of microbes to the java station along with a bag full of her very own colorful hand spun yarns. then she spent the entire evening trying to figue out which yarn for which virus.
shortly after that, i left town. i kept checking her blog for hints of viral knitting. nothing. i got to see jayme may be three times since june; i don't think i ever forgot to harrass her: "hey, jayme, got virus?"
seven months later, i got virus.
 orangewooliosisjaymimaximus x 3
i love everything about it, from concept to color. thank you so much, jayme! more more!
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| heminway+sons |
monday 12.27.2004 |
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look at the little treasure my new found friend in west virginia sent me.
 5.5" x 8" x 136 pages
i received this fragile book last week. i've already read through every single page. the embroidery section is awesome. and, for once, the crochet chapter is actually larger than the knitting! look at when it was published!
 a real piece of antique
here's a few shots to show you a sampler of the contents.
 color plates in the embroidery section there's a rusty old needle with a piece of floss stuck between the pages. see it?
 how to crochet
 curious looking, no? that's another picture of a purse to the left
 one of many neat stitch patterns
 tiny waistline
 early pantyhose
 silk toy
aren't they something? i just can't get enough of the writing; it truly belongs to another time. size 18 needles, narrowing instead of decreasing, and "Two finest bone or rubber needles, or coarsest steel ones." my most favorite bit reads: "...for plain knitting, the writer likes the German method better." great stuff.
 thank you very much, tracie!
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| s s w s w w |
tuesday 12.28.2004 |
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super soft winter solstice wrist warmers. say it a few times.
sunday morning jg and i went for breakfast on haight. afterward we wandered around the unusually empty street. we hit shoe stores and second hand consignment shops. then i walked passed a convenience store that had a display that seemed curiously out of place.
 no pictures, please
three full racks of wrist warmers. i've heard people refer to them as mittenettes somewhere. anyway, i approached the counter and asked to see a pair. the attendant pushed a small basket of mismatched testers in front of me.
thuy: are these hand made?
attendant: oh yeah, my wife made them. they're $25.
thuy: really!
attendant: yeah, expensive materials. (points at sheet of paper taped to
countertop that read "75% wool.")
i put one on and it felt tight. i couldn't wiggle my thumb comfortably. i was tugging on the thumb's crotch when he took a pair with the glittery eyelash edgings off the rack and advertised, "this one is $30 because this (points at the puffy part) is very expensive." yikes! who would spend thirty quids on such terrible color combinations?
i left the store wondering if his wife came up with the pattern herself and if people actually buy them. mostly i wondered how they could have been better made.
well, as of late afternoon yesterday, i stopped wondering.
 holly christmas to me!
i sat and stared at that cushy envelope for a long time. i was afraid to open it mostly because i knew she was doing all nighters right before christmas trying to finish up presents. i was dying with curiosity, but i didn't dare to find out.
 lo and behold!
as much as i don't deserve holly's efforts, i sure love wearing them. they're super soft and they couldn't fit my freakishly long fingers any better. i'm typing with them on as we speak. i inspected them in daylight this morning for some time before i realized that they're perfectly reversible. the stitch pattern works just as well inside out and the colors were carried on without breaking yarn. the best part? i can't find where she darned in the loose ends!
you're the best, holly!
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| flap on flap off, the flapper |
wednesday 12.29.2004 |
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i made an earflap hat with the green yarn jayme sent me back in september.
 hand spun wool
i had it wound into a ball for months but couldn't decide what to do with it. i tried knitting a loose skinny scarf with it once. about twelve inches in, i changed my mind. i figured it wouldn't get much use because i'm not much of a scarf person. on christmas day i decided to use it for a beanie.
i casted on 60 stitches with us13 needles and finished knitting in no time. except it turned out huge. somewhere between ripping it out and casting on again for 50 stitches, i decided to make an earflap hat instead.
the giant slubs in the yarn are really fun to knit. i love the irregular texture. it makes for a really thick fabric. my head gets instantly hot when i put it on.
 vanity shot
i'm going to miss wearing the goofy pink hat on my next snowboarding trip.
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