Oh For Fun!

Rippler

Look at what I'm doing!  I'm crocheting my ass off is what I'm doing.  Inspired by the ripple-along,  I am now well on my way to my very first afghan.   I  think I'm about a third of the way through a full sized blanket. 

When I think "afghan" I think seventies, I think acrylic, and I think cheesy.  Rather than shy away from these quintessential afghan qualities, I have decided to fully embrace my inner Cindy Brady.  I bought the boldest, most intense colors I could find, in the cheapest yarn I could tolerate, and I sat down to create my masterpiece.  I call it, "Kate and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-ghan." 

I know, it's kind of totally hideous, but it's also kind of totally awesome.  This is how my life feels lately, hideously fantastic, and soon I will have an afghan to match. 

Crocheting is an excellent project for when the Sabres game is literally too stressful to watch.  When you feel like you might puke from excitement and anxiety, you can take your eyes off the screen and crochet for awhile without really missing too much of the action.

Robin and I are going to attempt to scalp tickets for tomorrow's game.  (Robin and I scalping tickets to a sporting event is a scenario more hilarious than I could possibly explain here, so I won't even try, but trust me, it's funny.)   It will be difficult for me to leave my afghan at home, but I am quite certain that crocheting at a hockey game is frowned upon.

Go Sabres! 

CROTCH-it

Yesterday I purchased The Happy Hooker, and now all of the residents of our Portland house have been struck with full blown Crochet Fever.  We are hooked on hooking.  In our house we do not say "crochet"  we say "CROTCH-it", because it makes us giggle. 

Here, Rowan displays my early crotch-iting efforts.

It is hot as Hades here in Portland- perfect weather for sitting still on the couch.  Except for a brief journey to see Ellie's band Cross-Eyed Rosie this afternoon (nice one Ellie), the crotch-it hook has barely left my hands.  I am obsessed with crotch......iting.   

See how that is getting funnier?  The Crotch-it thing? ....see?

Crotch-iting is very satisfiing because it is faster and more fluid than knitting.  Instant gratification is high on my Things I Enjoy List, and crotch-iting delivers in spades.   I made a little scarf today. 

On a non-crotch-iting related note, the fabulous Dr. Lee is starting a blog which I will soon be pimping here.  At her request I am giving her a few days to put some pictures on her blog before I introduce it to all six of my readers.  Dr. Lee is quite hilarious, so her log is sure to be a must read.  Get to work Livia!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Adorable

Still Alive

If I haven't returned your call in the last two days, I apologize.  I have had very important business that demanded my attention.  This business could only be conducted on my ass, on the couch while knitting and watching entire seasons of "24" in one stretch.  Immediately after I returned from Norway I had a series of concerts that prevented me from fully unwinding.   First it was a quartet concert, then a tricky week at work, and then on Friday I performed Mozart's Symphonia Concertante with a local ensemble.   None of these performances should have been all that stressful in and of themselves, but they did add up to a feeling of constant practice guilt.  For the last two months I've been feeling like I'm one step behind my workload.   Well, I limped to the finish line on Friday and celebrated by spending two straight days knitting and watching television.   aka, best weekend ever.  Sitting around doing nothing has been so soothing that I am considering granting myself a three day weekend.   

My main knitting project has been experimenting with variations to the Spherey pattern.   I've been knitting with tiny needles and skinny yarn, hoping to create the perfect mini-Spherey, to varying degrees of success. I am aware that many knitters are capable of performing fairly simple calculations that make re-sizing patterns very easy.  Unfortunately, I suspect that these calculations require access to the same part of the brain that reads maps, and knows right from left.  I was either born without this portion of my brain or I killed it in college with drugs and alcohol- either way, it is dead to me.   As a result, I knit by trial and error.   

Sometimes I line the Sphereys up, Von Trapp style. 

I realize that over the last week my posts have been ultra whimsical.  I can only ask for your patience during this time of complete mental shutdown.   

Odd Post

I have two minor things to report:

Firstly, I knit a friend for the Kitten in Britches.  His name is Odd Fellow and he is just a little guy.

Secondly, look at this poster!  My orchestra (Tha Buffalo Philharmonic) is playing the music of Led Zeppelin on March 25th.  I just thought you should know.

This poster makes me smile.

Introducing.....

A KITTEN IN BRITCHES!

For the last two days I have knitted tirelessly to finish this sexy lady.   I am not sure what her name is, but I really like her smoking hot outfit.  Striped sweater and jeans- DAMN girl, you look gooood!  She is supposed to be a cat, but I think she looks a little more like a Pokemon character.

     

I'm pretty sure that Trixie is feeling a little threatened, and rightly so.  Trixie has no britches.  I have always dreamed of obsessively knitting stuffed creatures.   I definitely could not have made this dream a reality without the help of Jess Hutch and knitty.com.  Thanks guys!

Happy Birthday Janzee!