Friday, October 20, 2006

Mundane Knitting

First up, here's the close-up of one of the buttons I was forced to go out and buy.

Owen helped me pick them out. He has a lot of opinions, not all of them ones I agree on, but that's okay. I should be grateful to have a son who loves browsing in the fabric store as much as I do. Not only are these buttons kind of interesting looking, but they were reasonably priced, too.

On to the mundane knitting:

Yesterday I put the first sleeve on the sweater for The Little Emperor, which has been brought out of dormant status. This morning I got the neckline done, too. One more sleeve, then darning ends and a good wash. It's getting very wintery here, so just in time on this project.

Another "just in time" for the blue watch cap. This is the third plain blue hat I've knit for Owen in his life. Plus, a blue polar fleece hat I sewed when he was a baby that L.E. still wears. The other two blue knit caps both vanished last winter. It was no great loss in the grand scheme of things: they were both from Red Heart acrylic (Hey, he chose it!). Still, I'm worried about what this signifies for the future of this hat. This new hat I made from some Emu Superwash DK I bought right before we moved to Madison in 1996. It's wonderful for hats, even for super-feelers like Owen. I used #3 needles and cast on 120 stitches. The whole thing is just 1 X 1 ribbing. If he loses this one, I'm going to start buying hats at St. Vincent's and let him deal with that for a while.

The other big thing I did yesterday and this morning was start gathering all the yarns to audition for the next Kelebek swatch.

I think I might need to throw in something a little vivid, just to spark things up a bit. But, don't they look pretty sitting there all together waiting to become something?

Rant du Jour
I've been thinking about how little public ranting I do. It seems like the bloggers who rant more get a lot of comments, so I'm wondering if I should try it. Of course, some of those comments would be hate-mail. And a lot would be "me toos." I actually have a steady stream of rants going in my head all day. It's just that my computer keyboard is not quite at the right height and it aggravates my wrist if I type too much. So, I tend not to take the time to put them out there. But here's a short little one that's on my mind as the new school year moves along.

Parents at my younger son's school park like F***ing Suburbanites! Ok, they are suburbanites, so that explains it. Between 3:00 and 3:20 on school days, the on-street parking in the blocks near school gets pretty crazy. But it drives me absolutely bonkers when car after car has left a gap about three-fourths the length of another car between themselves and the next car. If you pulled that crap in NYC or Chicago, it would be trouble. Even though it's a nice suburban sub-division, we still need to park efficiently at school pick up! Don't park like a knucklehead! End rant.

Next week, I'll have a rant about plastic trick or treat Jack O'lanterns.

Until then, I'll be my nice, calm, unruffled self. All those blue and green yarns will help.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing like a rant to draw out a lurker! I hate when people do that at intersections and blog the left turn lane. HATE THAT. Except here for some reason it seems acceptable to leave an entire 1.5 car lengths between you and everybody else and the pedestrian crosswalk lines. Grrr.

Have been ogling your progress on Kelebek. Love the buttons! They are nice and earthy.

Anonymous said...

Did I type blog? I mean block. Hrm...

Jerry & Maxy said...

I took a friend's child to school today and a guy cut me off in teh circle - you know, where all the kiddos are getting out. Was cutting me off going to get hom on his way faster?! Geez. The parking thing is nuts.

Good rant, E!

Zonda said...

Ok so like I'm commenting cause you ranted! LOL!

Um..so not true but I wanted you to think it!

Lovely colors for the next swatch! Oh, and that's why I'm so glad my DD goes to aftercare...I so avoid that!

Ruinwen Dagorielle said...

Love the button; it really is different looking.

The sweater and hat are nice too.

Love the new swatch colors and I can't wait to see what you come up with next. You are always creating such lovely things.

If you need to rant IMHO I say go for it. After all it is your blog and all. :)

Ruinwen
:)

Donna said...

I love the sweater and the button!

I hear your rant and agree!! My daughter's school has a large, drive through campus. You enter at the front gate, drive up through the elementary school area to the middle school/high school area. We pull around a circle to get the MS kids. Well, let me tell you, some of those moms just do not know how to do carpool! You can always spot the first year MS moms, too! Geez! Get a clue already. Keep the traffic moving and we'll all get our kids and get home.

Carol said...

A good rant is good for you! I have same. Line of cars at school-we're SUPPOSED to drop kid off and leave, nooooo maam, we have jokers who have kid standing at car having lengthy conversations or they just park there. Clogs the whole line. I could go on...Love the sweater! It doesn't LOOK mundane :) 1,2 3 hats you're out? I can not wait to see what you come up with for the new yarns laid out there! I love a wood button! I for one, look forward to more knitting and ranting ;)

MiniLaura said...

Suburbanites don't know how to parallel park and they drive big honkin' SUVs and minivans so they need lots of room to pull in and out.

I can't wait to see your new swatches!

Erica said...

Rant away, rant away! Isn't that part of why we have blogs?

Can't wait to see the new iteration (or at least swatches) of Kelebek.

Terby said...

I like the buttons a lot, and I think it's a good choice for Kelebek.

Your mundane knitting looks good too. I'm jealous of the cooling weather. As much as I want to work on a large garment, it's hard when it doesn't seem to drop below 70 degrees.

I also enjoyed your rant. Don't come down here - nobody can drive here under any circumstances. Merging seems to be particularly problematic.

Helen said...

those colours look lovely. but yes, one to pop!