The Stole Winner

I have indeed found the right amount of in-between laciness for my stole. The stitch pattern is from Barbara G. Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It had plenty of good options to choose from, and one called Traveling Vines seems just perfect. I’ve finished one full repeat and a few rows of the second, and I can say with relative confidence that I want to stick with this pattern.

I think I might succumb to Sheila’s super sale today. I’ve held off of her enticing deals until now. But there’s only so much a girl can take.

What’s a Girl to Do?

I miss school. I say this realizing the inherent geekiness of this admission. Just after I finished college I missed school in the sense of missing my friends and the atmosphere and the schedule of college days. I don’t miss those things as much anymore. I guess I’ve gotten used to what most of the working world calls a normal schedule. But I do miss the learning parts. Silly, I know. But I always liked the challenge of struggling to learn something new. Now, I’m not going so far as to say that I want to go back to school full-time and get another degree. But maybe I could find an inexpensive class where I can learn something totally foreign to me right now. Anybody got any ideas? Have any of you in the Nashville area taken a class somewhere that you would recommend?

Goldilocks and the Three Stoles

I’ve started and restarted knitting a stole a few times now. I have this lovely Araucania Nature Wool in slightly variegated teals. It’s a beautiful yarn, and while the label says worsted weight it looks much lighter than any worsted I’ve ever used (and upon a quick Internet search, it seems I’m not the only one with that opinion). Regardless, it looks like it will lend itself well to an openwork pattern, and so I’ve got it in my head that it needs to be a big openwork stole. First, I knitted a stockinette swatch of the yarn in a few needle sizes just to get a feel of the fabric it made. Then I cast on a bunch of stitches and started working on the Snakes and Ladders pattern. But it was not quite lacy enough. So I ripped the yarn back and started again using a diamond lace pattern in a book I have. But it was a little too lacy.

So I’ve ripped the yarn back again. After all, I do want something that’s just right. (Of course, if I’d been a good little knitter and done a small swatch in each of these stitch patterns, that elimination process might have gone a little quicker, but whatever!) So I’ve put in a request at the library for a Barbara Walker book of knitting stitches to peruse. If it’s as great as I’ve heard then I may decide to buy the book, but for now I’ll borrow it and see if I can’t find the perfect “lacy but not too lacy” stitch pattern.

Oh, and here’s a pic of the sock I’m working on:

Saints, Titans, and Frank Caliendo

Friday Chris and I went to Zanies for Frank Caliendo’s comedy show. He was HI-larious, as expected. The food, of which there is a two-item minimum (what a crock!), was not very good at all and left me sick for most of the night, as expected. If you haven’t heard Frank Caliendo’s stuff, he does voices and impressions. I was rolling all over the floor at his Bush impressions, though I think he’s mostly known for his impression of John Madden, which was pretty funny as well.

Saturday my friend Kristen had an extra ticket to sit in her company’s skybox for the Titans v. Saints preseason game. I could get pretty spoiled sitting in seats like those, though in some ways it didn’t really feel like being at a game. We were sitting in nice cushy seats, and people just kept bringing us all kinds of free food and drinks, and we didn’t have to fight crowds to get up and go to the bathrooms. Tough life :) Of course, it was also almost more about socializing than watching the game. But anyway, it was very fun, and the Saints even won! After the game we ran across some people who had come in from Louisiana to see the game, and when Louisiana folks run across other Louisiana folks when they’re outside of Louisiana, there is almost always a conversation about where you’re from and if you know anyone in common. This conversation often ends with an invitation to “look us up if you’re ever in Thibodaux and we’ll have some crawfish ready for you.” Then there are hugs all around and maybe a picture or two, even though you have only just met. That was the case on Saturday, anyway. I know not all states have this same sense of connection. For instance, when Chris runs into other Connecticut natives, they typically give him a blank “who cares” look and move on. I guess it’s just a Southern Thang.

Knitters, Knitters Everywhere

As a Coca-Cola connoiseur, I’ve done some research. And my extensive studies have led me to believe that Sonic has the best cokes. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the ice. So, this weekend I treated myself to a GOOD coke. I pulled into a space, pushed the red button, gave my order, and then pulled out the sock I’m working on and proceeded to knit a bit. After a minute or two I saw the Sonic employee walking my way, so I put the sock down in the passenger’s seat and got my money in hand. When the girl got to my window, instead of telling me my total she asked, “Whatcha workin’ on?”

“A sock!” Me, surprised. Is she a knitter, too!?!

“Oh, nice. I knit, too. I’m working on a purse right now.”

Cool! So we talk about knitting, and she admires the sock, and I tell her if she can knit a purse she can knit a sock, because now that I’ve knit one or two I know it isn’t very hard. So she inspects my yarn and we chat for a while. Then, she gives me my order, and I pay. And before I pull out of the parking spot, I take a long sip of a good coke and think about how knitters are everywhere these days—and how that’s a very good thing.

Finito

Angelina, pattern by White Lies Designs
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style, Vanilla

I'm happy with the finished product. One of the seams is a little messier than I'd like it to be. I might try to even it up later, but I may just let it be. Regardless, I'm very happy with it.

So Close I Can Taste It

I only have to finish an inch of lace on the final sleeve! Then the knitting will be completed. I've already woven in all the ends that I have so far (my least favorite part of the knitting process). I'll need to block the lace parts, then I can sew the two quick seams and wait for cool weather to come. I really thought this would take me much longer. Of course, I'm not finished yet and I should know better than to jinx myself like this. Okay, shutting up now. . . .

Sales Tax Holiday

This weekend is Tennessee’s first Sales Tax Holiday weekend. Most clothes, shoes, school supplies, and computers are tax-exempt for the weekend. When I worked at Foley’s (aka Hecht’s here in Tennessee) in Houston one summer of my college days, I worked during their sales tax holiday. It was not the first year they’d had that weekend, so they were prepared. The store had very few items on sale. I found this odd, but saw that most other stores in that mall were also having few sales. I soon found out why. People were there to SHOP, and they didn’t seem to care whether the price they were paying was a good one or not. They were all simply interested in “screwin’ the government, stickin’ it to the man!”

The weekend before the sales tax holiday, the department store (along with many of the other stores in the mall) had a huge sale with almost everything in the store on good discounts. A few people shopped that weekend. The sales tax weekend, people flooded the store in droves. As I was checking out customers’ purchases, almost all of them talked about how “that government ain’t gettin’ any of my money this time.” And while I smiled and nodded, I thought, “But Foley’s sure is getting a lot more of it.”

Now this is Tennessee’s first time around on the sales tax holiday, and it seems like a lot of the stores are having some good sales to go along with the holiday. So I’m sure there will be some good deals to be had (it would certainly be a good idea if you were in the market for something like a computer), and I may even brave the crowds to take advantage of one or two of the smaller sale items. But I guarantee I’ll be making sure I’m actually getting a good deal--as well as screwing over my government, of course.