Jon's Knit Blog

Meowblog

You must read the Cat article. And I will blog about the past couple of days soon. After I get some sleep.

Give Me Somebody to Knit For...

Rosetta's soon-to-be-owner was born on Sunday at 10pm UK time. Looks like she needs some hand-knit goodness to me!

A Means to Some Ends

Lots of squares means lots of cutting and trimming. Which means scary big scissors next to merino goodness.

Which also meant I got to feel creative around photographing the ends of the knitting.

Anyhow, I have 39 full rows of blocks and have started the 40th. That means there are, so far, 1,400 pieces of yarn in this insane blanket. It also means that there are currently 41,055 stitches. It also means, since I decided based on how the measurements look and the fact that the numbers sound good, that there will be a total of 45 rows of blocks and that I have 5 more color change rows and a mere 28 rows of knitting left before I have to deal with Rosetta's border.

In other news, I'm planning to be at Knit Happens on Wednesday. Apparently they're having a sale, and it's just a happy place filled with wonderful people and great yarn, too. So how could I resist? Maybe I'll see you there. If you come, you can have your picture taken with Rosetta!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Does anyone know what this message board is about? I got a couple referrals from there but it's a members' only-looking thing called "Ladies Aux."

Anyone wanna tell me more? Just 'cause I am a curious one...

7 x 35 = 245 blocks left

Seven "rows" of blocks to go. Then a border and a backing and we'll have a Rosetta Blankie. And just in time: the mom is due any minute now. And I'm heading to see them in 18 days. Barely enough time to get that finished, not to mention a small secret-y project I have to do plus the seaming of the sweater for her brother.

So can you tell that I'm a busy guy these days?

Anyhow, I hope you can tell how fun the blanket is from the photos. There's part of me that feels bad about posting "progress" photos of squares, squares and more squares, but then again, this is my knit blog and I figure I should show my knitting from time to time, even if it is the same **** thing I've been working on for months. Remind you of any blue sweaters?

I have decided, as well, that when I get back from the trip, after gifting the Rosetta Blankie, I'll finish my AbFab which was supposed to be done a year ago, ship that off to J. and B., and then... then? It's going to be Fair Isle for Fall. Stranded Autumn. Get thee ready, for a-knitting-in-the-round-with-two-colors we shall go. What? If Wendy can have her Summer of Lace, then I can have my Fair Isle Fall, n'est-ce pas?

Avada Kedavra!

OK, I'm a Harry Potter fan. And I finished Book 6. And I'll talk about it after the jump.

But first, I'm just going to say that, for all you New Yorkers who've read about it, or you tourists who've heard about it, that yes, indeed, Union Square Cafe is a great restaurant.

After the jump? My slightly inebriated comments (SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT JUMP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT WHO DIES).

Oh my! I can't believe it was Dumbledore. And I think I was even more surprised that it was Snape who worked the murderous dark magic. But I think it will leave a serious void in Book 7. Dumbledore is a major supporting character, and even though he was not in all the scenes and was not always a "major" player in the action, he was still incredibly important. Most importantly, perhaps, because he has always been Harry's main ally. I mean, at the beginning of the book, when the new Minister of Magic discovers that Harry "is Dumbledore's man," well, that's a touching moment.

The growth of the idea of love - Ron and Hermione, and especially the kiss between Ginny and Harry - is pretty amazing and special.

But I guess my real question is: how is this violent and upsetting a book for children? I never got that in the first few books, but even more so in Book 6. The dead body parts in the lake, with the Imperius curse? Dumbledore's horrifying death? Goodness!

Anyhow, I'm kinda tipsy and this may not be making sense, but I haven't been knitting and I thought I ought to blog about something. And since most everyone I know is either not a HP fan or hasn't finished HPB yet, well... there you are.

Outing Myself

Alison took what is, possibly, the best photo that has been taken of me in years.

So, I've decided to post it here! I'm doing it as a pop-up because, well, I'm still self-concious about having my picture out on the internet for all to see, but there you have it.

Not so much knitting done tonight - just a couple rows, but a milestone of sorts was passed: I knit and IM'ed at the same time! Egads!

Anyhow, I was browsing through the hard drive. Can you believe that Rosetta used to look like this:

I'm just happy that I can actually forsee it really being done!

The Weekend's Dilemma

So far, I'm only up to Chapter 13. Best part so far?

"'...I was merely reading the Muggle magazines,' said Dumbledore. 'I do love knitting patterns.'" [Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. (New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2005) 73]

Amazingly, I had Sunday off from work, so I spent it at KNY. Lo and behold, a blue blogger showed up, twins in tow. Luckily, she had her camera (I'd left mine at the house), so photos should be forthcoming. Her boys are even cuter in person than they are in all the photos on the blog.

After that, a lovely Italian dinner with a friend who's in town from Seattle. And we only sat one table away from Jimmy Fallon, so that was fun (and he's cute in person, too!). Then I came home and knit some more. 10 rows today, which is 1750 stitches, and it's also lots and lots of twisting yarns around each other. I also knit this swatch:

to start trying to figure out how the edging will work. I decided (drumroll please) on the yellow edging. (Thanks to all who voted.) The votes were tight between the salmon and the yellow (though Mom voted for the bubble-gum pink). But it's my blog and it's my knitting and I want the yellow. So la di da.

Anyhow, it's not just going to be yellow but it's going to be 2x2 rib. I don't love how it is along the top edge but it looks perfect along the side (pick up 5, skip 1, etc...). I'll do another test where I bind off the top edge, too, and then pick up there. That'll hopefully work better and it will give me a nice, easy ridge on the wrong side to which I can easily attach the lining. Yay!

Oh, and I only have 8 more rows of blocks to go! Go me!

Busy Busy Busy, with Lots of Roses

Busy is the upcoming weekend. The Half Blood Prince, and the Chocolate Factory, which I may actually even go see. Not to mention dinner with my sister tonight after work, which is not just work, but a three-ish hour long computer training session (We're getting a new program to keep track of our hotel rooms. Joy.). Oh, and just a regular weekend full of work. (If you're keeping track, I work Friday through Tuesday, though this week I also had to work (well, a training session) on Wednesday, too...)

And tonight, I saw a heck of a lot of roses being flung at a rather remarkable woman. Amanda McKerrow is was a wonderful dancer with American Ballet Theatre, but tonight was her final performance. She danced Giselle beautifully, but the curtain call was an incredibly special moment. McKerrow was a dearly beloved figure in the ballet community, and the ovation she received was just... well... does it sound cliche to say "You had to be there"? She got so many roses, both from everyone onstage and from half the audience, who flung bouquets over the orchestra pit. Perhaps the most lovely part of it was when the chorus of dancers, in their Wili costumes, processed around Ms. McKerrow and each one presented her with a single white rose. Of course, the drop-dead gorgeous Ethan Stiefel brought her a huge bouquet as well. She heaped the roses on the stage; if they hadn't taken half of them into the wings when they (briefly) closed the curtains, the stack of flowers probably would have been as tall as she was. It goes down in the list of memories I'll never forget.

After the ballet, I got to speak with a 911 operator, though I don't think she was nearly as nice as Rachael would have been if I'd been on her line.

Why did I call 911, you ask? Well, I didn't, really. I called 311, which is NYC's number to call for "non-emergency" city issues. See, there was a mega-pothole (maybe even a sinkhole? I'm not sure what the difference is) on the 65th Street transverse across Central Park, and it was causing major traffic problems. I called the City to report it, and the 311 operator felt (and I didn't disagree) that the police should be informed to help avoid an accident. The 911 operator basically said that directing traffic isn't the police's job (really?) and that they didn't need to be bothered by this. The 311 operator, the taxi driver and I all disagreed with her, but what the heck, I don't want to be on a 911 operator's **** list, and she did have my cellphone number given to her. Anyhow, that's what you get for trying to be a good samaritan these days. Hope that the 911 operator was a bit more courteous to the people behind us who undoubtedly got into an accident due to this pothole.

Anyhow, with all this crap going on, and the fact that today was a day off devoted to sleeping late and then being not much more than a cyber-surfing vegetable, aside from a few short moments of productivity when I got my laundry together and sent it to wash and fold, and when I set up my new iPod which did come, yay!, not much knitting has been going on. Hopefully I'll be able to get a little bit of knitting done tomorrow night, but it depends on how tired I am after working eleven hours and then having dinner with the sister. Not to mention the fact that I'm only going to get about six hours of sleep and I'm not a very nice person when I don't get a full eight...

PS: Can you believe that I've had hits from people at navy.mil and parliament.uk? Wowsers!

Truth In Advertising

Over the past week, I've seen the following "slogans" on people's garments, walking around Manhattan.

"Yes, They're Real" or something to that effect. On a t-shirt worn over saggy, bra-less bosoms, which clearly had not undergone any surgical enhancement. Nobody would pay extra to look like, um, that. No offense.

"It's This Big" with two hands about so-far apart, worn by a pretty hunky looking guy. I wanted to ask him to prove it.

"So Low" on the backside of a pair of extra-ordinarily low-slung sweatpants. Worn by a girl who looked like she couldn't have been more than 14. I really thought she looked like a walking advertisement for underage people in porn, and I wanted to give her a coat. Or a shawl. Or something.

I would not, of course, have given her Rosetta, which is slowly but surely driving me out of my mind growing.

Uh Oh

So I bought an iPod.

And I got an email from Apple showing that it shipped via FedEx. And the email has a tracking number which, if I track via FedEx's site, shows that it's going to Indianapolis. Which would be fine, if I lived there. But I live in New York City.

Luckily, when I go through Apple's site and click on the shipping detail link it gives there, that shows a FedEx delivery expected on Wednesday in New York City.

So let's keep our fingers (or knitting needles) crossed.

In other, more chocolatey news, here is a really nice feature article on Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie in the 1971 movie which I could have sworn was called "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" but is apparantly called "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Was I the only one who didn't know this? (The new one is called "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" though I'm kind of iffy on if it even should exist. I loved the original so much!)

Thought for the Day

Some people are like slinkies:
Not really good for anything,
But they still bring a smile to your face...

...when you think about pushing them down a flight of stairs!

Anyhow, I knit a full set of blocks tonight. Rosetta's 25" long. I think I need to do about 12 to 14 more rows of blocks and then deal with the border. Which, given that I go to London to see the baby in four weeks, should work out just about perfectly!

Speaking of progress, anyone want to do a knitting night somewhere on Wednesday?

And a PS: Did you all see this article about the mathematics professor/crochet artist? Fascinating!

That's A Lot of Yarn

Mass Sheep Suicide. What a tragedy. (I mean it! That's a lot of sheep that should have been a lot of yarn, if not a lot of mutton.)

In other news, I got called by a computer today. From ABCNews, taking a poll about NYC's upcoming mayoral primaries. I still have no clue who I'm voting for (or if I'll even vote at all in this primary).

In other, other news, there's a Free Judith Miller petition online. Do you all know about Judith Miller? She's the New York Times writer who is in jail for refusing to name a confidential source. The Times wrote an incredible editorial that ran on Thursday. So Bush, Inc. isn't just upset by gays or environmentalists or terrorists or pro-choice people (well, I'm upset by terrorists, too), but also by journalists who believe in the freedom of the press. This, perhaps, is a bigger problem than the others. I hope you'll consider signing it.

In further news, I didn't get any knitting done last night, as I was too tired. I came home from work with the start of a headache and, after I took a few Advil, I decided to go to bed. Whereupon I slept for 11 hours. Decadent and fabulous but, apparently, needed.

In yet more news, here's the annoying experience I had at Borders Books today when I went in to enquire about a certain Half Blood Prince.

I asked if they had special hours next weekend for the release, and was told that the store will be open 10a to 8p as usual. I asked if I "needed" to pre-buy, and I was told by the nice woman (who seemed a little clueless) that if I did, I'd get 40% off. So I waited in line at the register. (They only had one person working the register!). When I told her I wanted to pre-buy for my 40% discount, she told me that I couldn't! They had cut off pre-buying on the 1st. Why the **** the other woman told me that I could, is beyond me.

So I came home and ordered the book online from their competitor (where I got 40% off but had to pay for shipping). Can you tell that stupid **** like that really gets to me?

Shopping with Mom!

Yay! I got a lot of stuff while Mom was here, so that was fun.

What did I get, you ask? Well, I guess I will just have to tell you.

Shoes. On sale, even!

A new iPod

A giraffe

A Steiff Mobile (Photo here)

Chocolate. (If you're in NYC, check out their shop. Delicious, and they have both hot and iced drinking chocolate, European style, to die for.)

A new lens to take on my trip. (Film and lens filters, too)

And some other stuff, too, I'm sure. Oh, including this silly thing that I love. And not nearly enough time spent knitting. Although please don't think that I usually spend money like it's going out of style this way. This week very much qualifies as "exception to the rule." Unless I find a good yarn shop.

Way to Go, Steve-o

This story really impresed me. It's so rare these days that you see something nice in the news, and even though the article is about something that happened in the aftermath of a homicide, I'm so impressed that Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) took the time to call the father of a young man who was recently murdered by thieves who wanted his iPod. Wow. I mean, of course, it's awful that the guy was murdered, but what Jobs did is not something I normally associate with "regular" CEO behavior.

Anyhow, knitting content. Very little. I knit a bit on the Koigu scarf today in my mom's hotel room but now I have a headache and I'm going to just go to bed rather than try and knit any of Rosetta.

Eldronius commented that he can't imagine weaving in all those ends. Neither can I, which is why I figured out a way to knit the intarsia and work the ends in as I go along. I'm pretty sure you'd have to be insane to want to actually spend the hours and hours it would take to do that weaving. I actually thought the weaving would be OK when I started the blankie - and I did the first five or seven rows of blocks, then sat at a table in Knit NY to weave them in. It took three solid days of weaving, and I had to get reading glasses to be able to see what I was doing. It was NOT pleasant. So the current system is much better. It takes a bit longer to do the color change rows, as I've mentioned, but I can't fathom the alternative.

Today, I bought a couple "store-bought" presents for the soon-to-be-born babe. One of the last times her mom and I were together, we were at a toy shop which had these really cute letters, and we bought them to spell out the brother's name. So when I was in FAO today and saw the same letters, you can bet that I bought the new name! (Hooray for advance naming! Now, they just better not change it...) I also bought her a Steiff Peter Rabbit mobile - it's so cute - with a rabbit and three carrots dangling down. Just the sweetest.

Anyhow, Mom's in town, so lots of running around appears to be de rigeur. Tonight I saw "Jewtopia" which is pretty damn funny, with one of mom's friends. Mom (and friend's wife) saw "Spamalot" from the 9th row center orchestra!

Tomorrow, we're seeing the matinee of "Sweet Charity" (although I can't fathom why I have to see this show a second time), and "Swan Lake" at ABT in the evening. Thursday evening will be spent in Anatevka with Harvey Fierstein, so that ought to be fun. I'm looking foward to seeing a gay Jew in the role, as opposed to the Castro-ish Tevye that was Alfred Molina.

Though if I had my druthers, I'd be seeing "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" again...

(Sorry for all the ellipses (...) in this entry. Have you not yet figured out that the ellipsis is my favorite form of punctuation?

Building Rosetta

Some readers have asked questions about the making of Rosetta.

Beth asks how the colors stay so random. Well, I try to make sure that I don't put the same color next to each other all that often. And sometimes, if I'm stumped, I just close my eyes and grab at the yarn and use whatever color comes out (as long as it's not the exact same as a color it touches). Random enough for you? It's honestly not entirely random, because there's a certain balance of colors (ie, those more appropriate for baby-blanketdom) that I'm trying to favor, rather than those like royal blue or orange, although I am using a lot of orange because, well, I love the color.

Renada asks what the back looks like. Well, the photo above should answer your question. Intarsia. No seaming or double knitting at all. Lots of bits of yarn wrapped around lots of other bits of yarn. There's a close up of what the dangly bits look like at the end of this entry.

Many of you seem curious about the measurements. Near as I can tell, it's 35" wide, and right now, just over 22" long. There are 35 blocks going across, and I just finished the knitting the 29th row of blocks. Would that they were square! I'd almost be done...

I have the next three days off from work (but I worked over the holiday weekend, thank you). Mom is coming to town, though, so there won't be as much time for knitting as I'd like (or as Rosetta needs, given the deadline).

Anyhow, the not-so-random colorwork in this photo shows a spot where I ended up with the three primaries next to each other. Fun, huh?

Closer and Further

The blog gets boring if there aren't photos. I know that and you know that. At the same time, you know what Rosetta looks like. I mean, I've taken lots of photos. They all sort of look the same. And I hate to just be one of those "Well, it's 5 rows longer today" bloggers.

But that's what it is. 5 rows more. It's taking forever. I started it in April. It's now July. I'm leaving for London on August 8th, and the blankie is really supposed to be done by then. I am guessing that it will be. I'm just not taking any guesses as to what the finished size will be. I do know that if I knew then what I know now, the blankie would be decidedly narrower...

Anyhow, today's photos feature a section of the blankie that has two blocks next to each other which were the top vote-getters from yesterday's comment-fest. Salmon and Yellow. Me? I'm still not sure. Mom votes for a shade of pink, because she thinks that things for a girl should be pink. I'm not unhappy with either the salmon or the yellow so maybe I should just base the decision on which yarn I can more easily track down. I only have a small amount of salmon and a half-ball of yellow. Either way, most if not all of what's left will go into the blankie, is my guess, and I'll have to buy more yarn for the border. Which I may end up knitting on the plane...

In other news, I had one of the most bizarre interactions with a guest that I've ever experienced in my hotel. Would you ask someone to buy you a first class plane ticket to another side of an ocean if you knew your credit cards were all maxed out? I didn't think you would...

But I did see another Broadway show tonight. "The Constant Wife." Hysterical. Just a great fun night. Who'd have ever thought that a lighthearted look at adultery could be such fun? Go see it if you have a chance.

And I'll leave you with this thought: A lot of people, when they see the Rosetta Blankie in person, say that they didn't realize the scale of the squares based on the photos in the blog. Does this help?