For the love of cables.

Hello, my name is Miss E. I am very two years old.

I am making this face because, unlike every other time Mommy gets the camera out, I have decided, just for this one minute span of time, not to like to have my picture taken, not to ask to see it on the little screen right away after Mommy takes it, and DEFINITELY NOT to say, like I usually do, "One more, Mommy?" You can't see it in the picture but I am making a weird noise like an Eeeeeee sound. It sounds icky like the dentist noises (even though I love the dentist, she's very nice and I get a new toothbrush when I go there with Tigger and Pooh on it.)

This is my back yard. It's February here, which Mommy says is Pacific-Northwest-ese for Depression. Mommy doesn't go running as much during February month, and she's pretty grumpy. On this day when I'm in the picture it is not raining but it is cold. On Wednesday it snowed and Mommy at first thought that was cool and sent Brother and me outside, but then we looked sad and we came back in. Because snow is colder than rain and you get wet when you come inside which is weird!

When it snowed, I wore my white hat and I looked happier than I do in this picture. Mom said the pattern is called Gretel by Ysolda Teague and she was very happy when she was knitting it; in fact, she let me watch an extra "Tigger and Pooh" on the On Demand. Tigger is funny and Pooh is nice, but neither of them have a hat like mine. Mommy has a red one that is floppier and it looks like this:

Mommy really likes hers. She wore it to school on the snowy day because her classroom is very cold and several of the big girls she teaches said they liked it so she came home and said it was a winner! (Big girls do not usually give compliments to their teachers' clothing choices.)

Next mommy is finally going to make me my pink sweater once she finishes brother's blue sweater which looks like this:

Only in real life it is not blurry and it has more arms and a bottom.

Yay! I hope I will feel happy for the pictures of my pink sweater.

Love,
Miss E.

Spring preview

The IK Spring preview is up...

I like the Parker Cardigan--what jumps out at you?

Grey Gables

OK, these photos turned out really teeny. Don't know what I did wrong. Alas.
But look ! Look at the pretty cabley goodness! Look at the superfast sweater (that now feels so 2008, probably because I finished it before Thanksgiving and just now got around to photos)! Look at the way I am concealing the screwups I made on the (non) waist-shaping, and how, by standing sideways, I am concealing the fact that this is a sweatshirty shape on me when i really wanted something a bit more fitted. Knitters errors aside, for what it IS it is great--warm, practical, cheap (Wool-Ease chunky on size 10.5 needles), minimal finishing, and a very cool cable that was easy to memorize.
The cable runs all the way up each sleeve and the back as well. It is dramatic and large scale. I used my favorite KA needles to cable w/o a cable needle and it went just dandy.The hood, I have to say, was a bit odd. When I put it on, it looks like I am a medieval monk with a duck's bill. But mostly I leave it down, which unfortunately covers up a lot of the pretty cabling (if I were to knit this again, I'd do the cable up the front, too, and make the v-neck less deep) but is more comfortable. In fact, I think I'll wear this tomorrow.

Scum Update

So Project Bathtub is going OK so far. Daily sprayings and more conscientious attention to its needs are keeping it sparkly. We just used up the first batch of my home-made shower spray and it seems to have been effective, except in one major department: the smell.

After spraying, it makes the bathroom smell like a vodka and pickle factory. The essential oils in the Bi-O-Kleen were in no way powerful enough to overcome the alcohol & vinegar odors.

So when I mixed up this batch I added about 4 drops of a "Fizzy Lemon" home fragrance oil from the Body Shop that I had hanging around. I would have preferred to use a 100% oil but that's all I could scrounge up.

Just used the spray and the pickle/vodka scent is much lessened...now at least it smells like Absolut Citron.