Jon's Knit Blog

GGAAA

Yes, Witty was right, it's the Great American Aran Afghan! (She should know, she won a prize for hers at the Ohio State Fair!). Mine's Green, obviously, so it's the GGAAA. At least for now.

I finished the first square, and started the next one. Then I frogged it. Then I started it again. Then I ****ed up again, then I started it again. Third time seems to be a charm so far, and I'm up to row 17 of the pattern.

I had the distinct honor of starting the next square (albeit not knitting a single stitch of what will be the finished one) in the presence of a wonderful blogger at a fairly claustrophobic knit shop. I am told it's not usually so crowded, but they had an extraordinarily large knitting group there - which included at least one Tony award winning actress.

At some point, though, it simply got too crowded, so Em and I decided to leave and part ways for the evening. But it seems that we owe each other a martini, which I won't complain about!

As for the mystery bird, it probably is some sort of heron, but I've been too lazy to pull out my "Birds of Southern Africa" book. I will at some point soon, I'm sure...

I really don't feel like messing around with the camera to photograph the green squares, either. Maybe I'm not photo-ing it because I want you (except Em!) to try and guess which square it is. Yeah, someone will get it right... I will also share the good news that The Point had more of the same dye lot (the 13 balls I got at KNY aren't going to be enough to get the whole thing done, which made me happy. And I will share more Africa photos.

I'm pretty sure that guy is a Dickinson's Kestrel.

And her? Why, she's not a bird at all. She's an impala doe, posing prettily for my telephoto lens!

PS: If you can, go to The Red Cross to make a donation to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I did. Just think, if everyone gave up just one yarn purchase, we'd give a **** of a lot of money to help out, and I think they need it more than we do right now.

The Variety of Birds

I wish I remembered what kind of bird this is. I'm still in shock that I got a photo this amazing.

There is a small colony of penguins that live in False Bay, which is just east of the Cape of Good Hope.

This beautiful little guy is called a Lilac Breasted Roller. They've got so many colors because they attract their prey (insects) by imitating flowers.

And yes, I took all of these photos.

Me and Her

What Mother Nature knit:

(It's actually spun by a spider in Africa. But that dew? And the right angle for the sunlight? No spider could plan that!)

What I knit this weekend:

(Anyone care to figure out what that is?)

Guess What!

Can you guess what I found out today?

Yup. Someone else is pregnant... so I started yet another baby blankie tonight. I'll get a bit of a ways further into the pattern (ie, further than where I am right now) and post a photo soon. I promise, no intarsia in this one. (But just a clue: there will be some wicked cables.)

Is it me, or are baby blankies the only thing I make now?

See? She needed something hand made

Her mom was all about setting up the photo shoot once I explained the magic of the knitting blog! That means, my friends, that you get to finally see this long awaited photo!

Oh, and you probably want some proof that I was really in Africa? Here you go:

Now I'm going to try and sleep a bit more so that I'm not too jet lagged tomorrow. Hope I succeed!

Thousands and Thousands

So my iPod says "Do Not Disconnect" which I hope means that it's uploading the thousands of photos I took on the trip, from which I have just returned home.

Some of these photos include lovely shots of the baby with her Rosetta blankie. Some are of wild animals doing various lovely things in the midst of the savannah. Some are merely of lovely scenery.

After the photos are uploaded, I'll get to work and start to post some of them here.

Oh, and yes, I'm happy to say, I even bought some yarn!

The Nick of Time

So my flight to London, where I will see the lovely babe for whom Rosetta is intended, departs in 19 hours or so. And I'll be at work for 9 of them, and sleeping for a few. So isn't it lucky that I just finished Rosetta!!!!!

The backing went on very nicely, and it looks GREAT. And although there had been moments where I didn't love the way the border was starting, I am happy with it now. It doesn't totally lay flat, but I hope that with use and maybe a little love from an iron, that it will.

Here's a detail shot of the border, the backing, and my terrible stitching. I have no clue what the name of the style of stitching is (I'm guessing whipstitch but I'm probably wrong).

So that's the good news! The bad news (well, not for me, but it's a bit on the sad side for all of you who like to read my blog on a regular basis: I'm leaving town! I am going on safari in South Africa and Botswana (in addition to a quick visit to London) and I won't be back for a couple weeks. I know, I know. You'll miss me, and I'll miss you all, too.

But isn't it nice to know that you get to look forward to photos, not just of glorious African wildlife, but of a beautiful baby and her Rosetta Blankie?

(Just one housekeeping detail for anyone who's keeping track: The Pinwheel Sweater, aka the "Child's Geek Sweater" from the Teva Durham Loopy book, is not done. It's all nice and knit up but I never got around to seaming up the **** thing, so I'll just have to do it when I get home, and then send it to them. I'll be sad that I won't get to see him try it on, but I guess I'll just have to look forward to another photo!)

Hot Days In The City (and Elsewhere)

Egads. It's the kind of weather where knitting is not at the top of the priority list. I was in East Hampton on Wednesday night. When I went out on Wednesday, I had a nice time knitting on the bus (not on Rosetta, just on a simple Koigu scarf) and I even got a full round or so of the border done in my hotel room on Wednesday night. But I spent yesterday walking around out there in East Hampton, before taking the bus back, reading instead of knitting, then walking a bit more in Manhattan, seeing a show, and walking home.

When I got home? All I wanted to do was sit in front of the AC and soak up some cold. And have some dinner.

The show I saw was wonderful - it's the new Terrence McNally play, "Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams" starring Nathan Lane. It's a wonderful play, about all sorts of topics ranging from theatre to adultery to euthanasia. It's beautifully written, with some lovely elegaical (is that even a word) monologues. Since it's a limited run and since Nathan Lane is starring, the tickets are pretty tough to get (I scored mine because I saw the Nathan Lane news late at night a few weeks ago, as soon as it hit the news wires) but if you can get a ticket to this show, you should go see it. It's almost a shame that Lane is already booked for the sold out "Odd Couple" he and Matthew Broderick will do this fall, because this show deserves a Broadway transfer.

Anyhow, I have to run because I have to get a few errands done before work... Talk to you soon. And hopefully with more knitting content!

Reparus!

The comments are fixed. Somehow MT Blacklist decided that a space meant the comment was spammy. Sorry 'bout that...

Rosettascape

I posted that one just because I thought it was a neat picture of Rosetta. The next photo is going to show you a little more about what happened to Rosetta today. What did happen, you may ask?

Well, Rosetta started to grow a border. A border that is over 800 stitches, and is being knit using five 32" US6 Addi Turbos. I'm using them as if they were DPN's -- knitting each side onto a new needle, with the other three sides each being scrunched onto one of the other needles. The yellow border is cute. There are some flubby moments here and there, but for the most part, it looks good.

In other news, I saw "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" tonight at the Circle in the Square Theatre. All I can say is, what a fun show. If you're in NYC, make the time to go see it. So cute and smart and fun. I laughed a lot!

(Late update: I really thought I had titled this entry when I first posted it... anyhow, now it does have its title. Yay)

Big News!

Guess what happened 12 minutes ago! Yup, I fished the bind off on Rosetta's "main body." Now, I just have to pick up stitches for the border, knit it, then sew the backing.

I can't believe that I don't have to knit intarsia again for... well, who knows how long until I have to knit intarsia again. Wow, wow, wow!

Anyhow, if you want to meet Rosetta, we'll be putting in an appearance mid-afternoon-ish at Knit NY. Not staying too late, as I have tickets to "Spelling Bee" at 7:00pm... and not getting there too early, because, well, as you can see, it's 2:45am right now...

Intarsia Has Stolen Today's Entry's Title

So I made Kristine a scarf for her fabulous shop.

It is pretty and fun, and she looks lovely wearing it. And did you know that her husband is hot? (Don't hate me because I'm jealous, Kristine!)

In other news, Rosetta went to Boyz Nite on Friday. She is now large enough to audition for the role of tablecloth:

This is not a role she will get to play, however, as she is still destined to be a baby blankie. If I finish her edging and backing in time for the trip to London. Which is in a week. And I don't have a sewing machine or a serger to do any of the nice detail work which would make the backing of this blankie a lot smarter than whatever I have the plain boring sewing needles around here to do... (Did that make sense to anyone besides me, whose brain is completely rattled by intarsia?)

In the "Good News" column, I can tell you that I cut a few more pieces of yarn tonight for Rosetta. A few well-chosen pieces. 35, to be exact. 35 pieces of yarn which will become, lo and behold, the final set of squares of the blankie!

So by this time tomorrow, the intarsia part of Rosetta should be complete! But I'll believe it when I see it...