27 July 2006

Gaaaaa! (or: the Woes of Dial-Up)

The pattern's done. The shrug's done. I have pictures. If only blogger would load them. Alas, not tonight. Perhaps I'll try again tomorrow. In the meanwhile, go read a book.

13 July 2006

Revelation

Before today, I was uninformed. I read about knitters falling in love with their Addi Turbos, and I had no idea what the big deal was about. But I procured a new storage bin, which I decided to use for yarn storage, and as I was organizing my stash, I came across the packaging for my favorite set of circular needles. Now, these were the first circulars I ever purchased, way back when I didn't know enough to know the different brands available. Reading the card in the plastic bag, I see that I, in fact, do own some Addis. And I love them. I understand.


I'm almost done with my shawl (the Bobblicious pattern from Knitty), which really pleases me. Once I finish that, I'll be down to three projects. One of which is a belt made from Rexlace, which I could probably finish in about an hour if I felt like it. Come to think of it, the robot is nearing an end, too. I'll have to put up a very photograph-intensive post soon. How about in a week? Next Thursday, I will have the robot, shawl, and belt finished, photographed, and posted.


Outside of the knitting department, my life is going pretty well. I enjoy putting things in list formats.


- I've been working at a day care occasionally, sometimes hanging out in the nap room, or elsewhere. Tomorrow I get to help with an art project.
- I've been watching a sufficient amount of the X Files. I was highly amused by 'Arcadia'. It is about a homeowner's association where everyone was forced to fit in. You might be thinking, "well, yeah, that's kind of the bit with homeowner's associations," but there really is an abnormal element.
- My room is starting to look like it's not going to be clean again until I'm packing to head back to Ohio. (I'll be back in Oberlin in 43 days. I'm counting down.)
- I'm actually in the middle of more books than knitting projects. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby), Huck Finn (Mark Twain), Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott), The Magician's Nephew (C. S. Lewis), Hope Against Darkness: the Transforming Vision of St. Francis in an Age of Anxiety (Richard Rohr), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J. K. Rowling)... I have a problem!


Perhaps the most interesting area of life lately has been my faith. The church that I've been a member of for three years and have gone to my entire life is in a 'growth period'. Basically, we have some serious issues (financial and otherwise) that we need to work on if we want to continue to be a congregation. I'm not sure how close the church is to closing down, but it's clear that we need to have some serious changes. So a couple of friends and I have been planning a summer event for the youth group, which we've been very involved in, but I feel kind of detached. I have been thinking more and more about what the Christian community at Oberlin could develop, and I'm starting to feel like my home church here in Minnesota is less and less a part of my spiritual life. It's two blocks from my house, and I've been going pretty much weekly as long as I can remember. It feels weird. And on top of that, my mother (who is clergy) is changing churches this week, after being in one position for 14 years. Oddly enough, the church she's leaving is where the day care is located. And when I get back to Oberlin, I'll get to meet the new pastor at First United Methodist, too.


Wow!

07 July 2006

My First Mitten!

Soon and very soon you are going to see the robot.
But not today.

However, I happened upon the most wonderful contest the other day called Bitchin Mittens. Basically, creating art in mitten form. I've been playing around in my head with possibilities and decided to use yarns from my stash to make (to be honest my mum helped me think of this) Mondrian Mittens. Here's the first one:



I'm not sure as I want the pair to match, so I may come up with some variation of Mondrian's initials (PM) in the five or so colors he liked so much. I made this first one in under 24 hours, which makes me really happy. The world of mittens is intriguing. It almost makes me wish for winter to come sooner. Almost.

I'll post the intarsia chart whenever I get around to finishing and posting the robot.

Grace and peace.