how does this ALWAYS happen?

voila the top of bella. i swatched a 6" square. i tried it on as i went along. first the top, then the sleeves, then the top with the sleeves. suddenly with the addition of the lace, it's GIGANTONORMOUS. i still like it and will probably do the waist shaping without doing the increases again so that it will sorta maybe fit.

but now i have to go to get some coffee and some mike doughty before the roads freeze again and before i throw the damn sweater in the furnace. (no, i wouldn't do that.)

doh: okay, so i overlapped the lace wrong, creating a top that was 15 stitches (or almost 4 inches; gauge: 16 st = 4") too big. so i redid it, and am 10 rows into the body of the sweater. 78 more rows, and bella is finito!

and the only way to beat it is to bat it down

i should check the weather more frequently. because then i wouldn't be taken aback by sights like this when i let the dog out:

see, snow is just getting in my way today. i wanted to buy the new mike doughty album, haughty melodic... instead i've just gone to his site where i can at least hear "looking at the world from the bottom of a well" until the snow melts enough to be conducive to driving so i can buy batteries for the camera and also get a caffeine fix... because i also gots the migraine going on, yo.

worried about your unborn children learning english? blogging baby tells us there's a way around that.

and i also started the cable hat again last night when i was watching magnolia. i finally decided to use the DNA double helix pattern that i adopted from the DNA scarf by june o. with true cable twists because i am ubernerd (excuse poor photoshopping, which is really "microsoft picture editing" because i don't have photoshop. however christmas is coming... ahem, but anyway, i wanted the pattern to show and the color to sorta be simulated - at least the pattern's visible...one of two is only 50% but i'm aiming low):

in other yarn news, the bella lace is done blocking (both sides, no more raisins) so i'll attach that and see about starting the torso section...

knitting/fashion question (really interesting for those of you who could care less):

since my waist is approximately 12523 inches above where waists normally lie, and i am hippy (look at these my childbearing hips...) should i do the waist shaping as is? should i omit the shaping all together? should i shift the shaping to directly under the bustline?

i'm sorta leaning toward the latter, but i'm feeling lazy about the chart situation... granted, i could write it out, but that's not the lazy way out.

surprise! a finished object

so, today i knitted a whole entire project!

okay, so it was a hat. but it was a valuable hat for the following reason:

IT MADE ME NOT SCARED OF SHORT ROWS.

it's tychus from summer '05 knitty:

(as usual, click for big)

the details:
lambs pride worsted in turkish olive
knitted on #9 susan bates acrylic blue pointy needle things
started 12/2/05, finished 12/2/05 (about 2.5 hours including seaming and weaving ends)

you may notice that it's solid because by and large, i don't love excessive stripeys or variegation (the cigar gloves were somewhat unexpected)

however, i got a little bored of it being so solid and so garter stitchy and saw that no one would be able to tell that i rule at short rows, so decided to do the last wedge all stripey (in lamb's pride silver sliver). see?

want even more closeup?

i LOVE lamb's pride - i want to use it on something other than hats in the future... it's relatively affordable, to boot!

it's a gifty for the sort-of-boy (all boy, sort of mine). he wanted a green hat. i asked him if i could make it a little funktified, and he agreed (without asking me to elaborate, mind you), so crazy wedge there is. it can be worn in the front, back, side, etc. see, we've got the Free Will and it's round, so really, there's no stopping where the funkwedge will sit. i just like it in back.

and by the way, sort-of-boy, if you're reading this, now you know what your hat looks like. i'll send it next week with your christmas present. which you have full blessing to open early, should you so desire. Free Will and whatnot.

update: dude, i just noticed how klassy and purty my hair is looking, especially in the shots of the back of the hat. i just wanted to say, it had been up in a clip (not crazybunhair, though) since the second i leapt out of the shower (okay, like a minute after i leapt) and took it down just to try on the chapeau. but my hair's looking iiiiiiicky.

rehydration (or, why we block)

lace on bella is finito! now, it's just blocking.

and since i don't have a ginormous blocking surface, i'm blocking 1/2 of it at a time on my ironing board (which is orange, natch)

and this is why we block, especially lace:

it's like a grape next to a raisin, except raisin is its natural state, not grape.

anyhow, while this is drying, and then drying again on the other side, i'm going to start a hat as a giftie (since my yarn for my other gifties -- 2 shawls, a pair of socks, and a jumper -- hasn't arrived yet from knitpicks)

me? not so much a "joiner"

but i joined the angelica knitalong. pattern here. this is a glampyre pattern that has had me drooooooling for weeks.

i'm not going to start it until after the holidays are over (my calendar's BOOKED) but here's the button mcbutton, which will be my first in the sidebar!

i'm not buying the yarn she made it with, but am waiting to hear a gauge report, so i can find something comparable - if i make a $70 sweater, i don't want to pay international shipping charges on the yarn, too.

love it. love, love, love it.

the default hair style

when in doubt, post pictures.

i present, Crazy Bun Hair:

closer?

and no, i didn't unhook my overall straps so that no one would know i was wearing them on laundry day.

and for those people who have said, "i didn't know you dyed your hair," please compare the color of the top two with the bottom one. the bottom one is what grows out of my head (minus the grey hair).

maryam saves the day

ah.... weebl...

the weebl advent calendar is up. no cheating and looking ahead.

(it's a german!)

thanks to semaphoria for posting the link that mariama saw before i did!

since we're talking about weebl's stuff and semaphoria, and just because it's funny, see where semaphoria and forkbeard have arranged for their infant son to live.

what to do when your brain resembles radioactive oatmeal

i haven't been able to come up with an interesting blog post lately.

but does that stop me from posting? no, sir/ma'am. you all must suffer with me.

i have however had 3 ideas for someone else's blog. but all three were nonsensical, so what's the point really.

and i sort of like the idea of chris endeavo(u)ring to be meat-flavored cereal.