Lots of Stuff

First of all, it's Carol's birthday today, so go wish her a happy one (and guess her age...she likes when people do that).



I had the chance to meet up with Carol and her husband Tom yesterday for brunch. They are some of my favorite people on the planet.

Laziness
Marilyn got a bunch of folks whining with her latest blog post...they were complaining about her haughty attitude, her foul mouth and her misinterpreted distaste for on-line help with knitting.

But I think her basic premise was that folks shouldn't be so freakin' lazy and try to figure shit out themselves before asking an internet audience a question about something.

One of my favorite new sites helps get this message across.

Anyone that's ever written a blog or participated in an on-line knitting forum has experienced this...someone posts a question to the entire blog or forum audience that could have easily been answered with a quick Google search.

So let's say someone writes "Are there any podcasts for knitting?"

I can now respond back with a quick link from "Let Me Google That For You!"

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=knitting+podcasts

This clever little web site does a quick little tutorial, with the mild admonishment of "Was That So Hard?"

Very clever.

Current Knitting
I worked on two things this weekend. I have to knit a 15" x 15" square for an afghan project for the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat, so I found an interesting pattern stitch, cast on what I thought would give me 15 inches and knit for about an hour and realized I had about 17 inches of fabric. Rip, rip, rip. I chose a different stitch pattern and cast on less stitches, and after an hour of knitting, I had a scant 14 inches of knitting...grrrr. I pulled it all out, and put it away for another day.

Of course, I also did some work on my latest Niebling lace, Le Soir d'Or.



I'm up to round 82 and the stitch count is already over 700, so it's difficult to get a full spread of the lace.

Amazing Buttons
Blog reader Ann Marie put me in touch with her knitter/next-door-neighbor, Regina, who makes some of the most beautiful buttons from 100% recycled clay.



My picture sucks, but check out her website. Since Regina was going to be in New Hope on Friday, I had the chance to meet her in person and look at tons of her buttons.



All of her buttons are lightweight (so they work well on knitted fabric!) and very durable and most importantly...gorgeous. I will never have a problem finding an interesting set of inexpensive buttons for a sweater again. In fact, I may just design a sweater around some of her buttons!

Readers' Comments/Questions
ExpatOnTheGo writes, "I just ordered Ichida's 2 books on lace knitting. Are they a good buy?"

That's a difficult question. I personally think they are, but they are very expensive books. I'm already on my third design from the books with my current lace project (fourth, if you count the one I left on the plane), so I feel I've already gotten my money's worth out of them.

Maureen writes, "I have been studying the photos to see how you are knitting this - is it using two circulars? I really don't get on with circular needles, but I suppose they are necessary if you have such a huge number of stitches."

Yes, I'm knitting them on two long KnitPicks Harmony circulars. I couldn't imagine using any other way, but I definitely don't have any aversion to circulars.