Knitters are the Nicest

When your *(insert favorite body part here)* is stuck in a wringer because you can't figure out how to shape a V-neck or sleeve, there is hope!

A wonderful man by the name of Jim Simmons has a program to compute the angled decreases you need. He is a retired Air Force guy, who is a computer programmer and also knits on a Bond machine and is active in Ham Radio.

I first *met* him on a Bond listserv and his program has bailed me out countless times including today! I'm working on the Left Front of my "Sweet" Rowan Soft DK cardie and their instructions do not jibe with the row amount I need to match the already knitted back.

JIM SIMMONS to the RESCUE! I used his Knitting Companion program to figure out my decreases without blood, sweat, or tears...

**********************

Jim Simmon's
the Knitting Companion

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Monday Morning Mirth

Since I don't have a kitty of my own, I borrowed Miss Wendy Johnson's very own Izzy to cheer you up.

I have this picture on my desktop and it just popped into the blog this morning...

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This tiny peanut belongs to Corinne Niessner. Corinne and I met at a Kool-Aid dyeing workshop last winter. You wouldn't think it would be tropically bright in a church basement on the Northside, but ten of us were screaming schoolgirls (my new theme) over the miracle of Kool-Aid *Science*.

Corinne ran with it (I've got one hat)and started her own business, inspired by her love of fibers and her love of animals.

VOILA! Luck Penny Hand Made

This has blossomed into a very cool cottage industry online and at shows around Chicago...

I even got to flex me designer genes and put together a site for the goods!

Check out this budding creative genius
(and I do mean Corinne!!!) at:

Lucky Penny Hand Made

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Fear of Trying

I love *Novelty* Yarns! I just can't knit with them for some reason. After mutilating two balls of Charm and one of another kind of thready/flaggy stuff, I just set the leftovers in a bowl and looked at them...

Yes, in the world of ChicKnits, yarn can be a holiday centerpiece!

Even with all this wiggly karma preceding the fact, I still bought more! This time it was a SINGLE BALL of something called "Night" by Filatura di Crosa in a wonderful coppery color. It's almost like the icicles you buy to put on your Christmas Tree but it's actually on a thread-base, with nothing sticking out. Glitterati-indeeedy...

Why would I try again? On the MTV Movie Awards show, none other than that self-proclaimed rock-diva Jennifer Love Hewitt was wearing a skinny little metallic scarf as her only piece of jewelry. The Little Bad Muse was wracked with envy and immediately made me search for a sure thing to wear for the holidays.

This picture is not good - I think I'll try again in daylight, (if that ever happens here in Chicago again). This scarf is two inches wide and about six feet long. (It looks all scrunched up in the picture.)

Whoa, this little number is the perfect party ice-breaker. Although people won't want to pet you like they would if you were wearing an eyelash scarf, they will ask you about it. Is it a scarf or a necklace...

Kind of like that age-old question about that Disney character Goofy: hmmm, Goofy, man or dog???

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What I'm
Thankful for...

Air
Buses
Cats
Dogs
Engineers
France
Gold
Heliotropes
Ice
Juice
Kleenex
Love
Money
Nice People
Otters
Petroleum
Questions
Raisins
Starlight
Trees
Unity
Vans
Washing Machines
Xylophones
Young People
Zoos

and much, much more...

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Turkey Tales

I never get Thanksgiving off from work.

Yesterday was no exception, but instead of hanging around in the mini-cam garage with my truck, I went inside to the newsroom to get clear directions for my assignment.

A little potluck party of sorts was going on and since

the 2ND Commandment of Mini-Cam
(which is what my newsroom refers to
shooting video which is ironic since
the camera weighs 25lbs.) is:

2. Where's the free food?

the 1st Commandment being:

1. Where's the bathroom?

I t was like I was caught in a tractor-beam when I saw the whole Eli's cheesecake sitting unprotected on the managing editor's desk...

One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was sitting at Edie's desk (she's a writer), and since she was knitting a Xmas scarf I joined her, knitting on my Bonker's cardie and enjoying some treats. (I am now making the back of the sweater, the two fronts and two sleeves are fini!!!)

Two of our co-workers were sitting behind us at their desks (this is one one of those huge partitoned workspaces so popular in corporate America - grey as the day is long); the one who is a director was playing a guitar, and the other who is an anchor was keeping time on his knee, singing with him.

Others where gathered around the food, having a nice, laughy chat and all in all it was the warmest moment I've seen in some time. Just fuzzy and as bright as could be under the glow of about forty flourescant light fixtures...

Of course, the spell was quickly broken, because in the news biz, we are always on a deadline. The happy eating moment was just that: a moment (or two) at the most, and then you're on to the next attention grabbing headline!

The easiest target was Edie and I who were still unfortunately being the fuzziest folks in plain view. It all started when one person, and really, I expected more out of professional writers and producers, went "Hmm, knit one, purl two!"

Then it was a woman who walked by, "Oh ladies, you're just setting us back 3000 years over there..."

And then the guitar player came by and commented by loudly humming a few bars of none other than the Banjo Theme from Deliverance...

I was going to set out a piece of paper and pen with the instructions: "Captions HERE" which never fails to get fabulous sarcastic, cynical responses by the dozen.

But before I could, one by one several people drifted up to us and wanted to really know what it was we were doing. I was wearing my Colinette Pt. 5 mini-scarf in the Autumnal colourway and people were nodding and saying, "She MADE that!"

AHHH, here's my chance, will curiousity kill the cat? Will I flatten the unbelievers with a single caustic smackdown?

NAH! I just offered to teach 'em all to knit and several took me up on it. Who knows, if you see this on an episode of that goofy show "Good Morning Miami", please let me know so I can get my share of the blingBling for the idea.

This is a TRUE STORY...

---

new improved pic of my Glitter Scarf -
details found in November 27th entry

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the Sweetest Saturday

I thought this Saturday would never get here. Although this week was indeed seven days long, it seemed more like a lifetime of slowly passing moments - most of these stuck in traffic, mind wandering, drifting headfirst into the oncoming cars, until something pops you in the frontal lobe and you veer off just in the nick of time...

Why the time warp continuum? I'm off of work for two weeks!!! The last week before a vacation is sheer torture for the working class - you count the minutes, make deals with yourself to get through the as usual odius tasks at hand, and then collapse at the end.

Since this is one of the re-occurring themes of my life, I washed my sheets and made up a wonderful fresh nest to collect my bones. I slept like the dead, like a baby, like the dog in front of the furnace grate...

And now, while I wait for the stores to open, (oops, missed Black Friday), I am doing the last two rows of the first ruffle around the neckline of my Rowan "Sweet" (Magazine 26 Design 2)

I didn't bother counting how many stitches are on these needles! You can barely see it but there are two 32" circs in action. I'll have to use a 3rd needle to finish it off...

I can't stop Ruffling!

I decided at the last minute that I just had to have two rows of ruffles around the V-neck of this sweater. I almost edged it in the leftover Techno Fur from my felted purse but decided the fur wouldn't wear as well as the wool and at some point would bring Sweet down...

This means I picked up Hundreds of Stitches around the Fronts and Back of this girly thing - and now will probably end up with a thousand stitches at the end to bind off. On Number 3 Needles!!!

I saved my pennies and bought some Addi Turbos in sizes 3, 5, 6, 7, & 8 because in my humble opinion they let you knit fast like a bastard (sorry, I work with 15 men and drive a truck...)! Imagine my chagrin to find my number 3s had a hooked end! Never have seen that before and was quite POd because parking around the shop on Oak St. where I bought 'em is non-existant.

But they've turned out to be the Silver Lining in the Cloud of Pick-Up-and-Knit in the ChicKnits Universe! You use the hooked side to pick up your stitches and the pointed side to knit back and forth with. Since I don't knit in the round, sweet as honey!

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