This just ticks me off...

Doing my loop around blogs...came across this on the Isis Rising blog. Interesting article...interesting, but sad...read it to see why. Great commentary too...

One of my weird little things...

We were talking about blogs at the last Knitters' Guild meeting that I go to...(that's why I'm frantically knitting away at Orangy...need something new to wear). This was before I had the brainy idea to have my own blog, so I could only talk about the ones that I read, and I asked the question, "When you start reading a blog, do you just start with the most recent posts, or do you have to read everything?" I was surprised that some people could just jump in and be fine with that. Nope, not me....I have to go back to Post One...I like to get a feel for the writing style, the history...I mean really...do you start reading a book half way through? Ok, maybe some people, but not me. Nope. Never. Couldn't do it.

New pics of orange sweater...

So, as I wrote earlier, I'm knitting away madly at the orange sweater. I've done the waist decreases, and now I'm not sure if I like it...I followed the pattern...which is written for COTTON, not wool. You know...cotton that stretches and bags...wool, that doesn't. So, after trying it on the dressform, and then me...I'm undecided if I'm going to rip it back again and do only half the amount of decreases.

I would have written this earlier, but D and I watched "House of Wax" after The Mighty O went to bed. Wow, that's two hours we'll never have back...

I'm busily knitting away at my orange sweater...will post pics later tonight.

But I wanted to say that my one mother-in-law (I have two) Cari raised $1500 for the Canadian Cancer Society, and kept up her bargain to shave her head...I think she looks AWESOME.



Boy...no turning back once they start...that big swipe down the centre of the head...unless, of course, you like the Bozo the Clown look....

When in doubt...read the directions

I was happily knitting away on the sweater that I'm currently working on, and then thought to check the fit on my dress form.

The sweater is loosely based on Grumperina's Picovili, but I wanted sleeves. So I checked around online and found the basic instructions to do a top-down raglan sweater. Basically, increase before and after your stitch markers for the sleeves every other row until you can join it under your arms. Then I added some short row shaping for the bust area. Ok...easy...then I went back to the pattern. I just skimmed it, and thought I was doing ok. I knit for four inches, and then started my waist shaping....WRONG, WRONG, WRONG....If I had read the instructions closer, I would have realized that I had already knit the four inches...


This really hurt...


Good thing I had Spencer to help me.

The yarn is KnitPicks Merino Style in Butternut. I'm also going to make this in Hollyberry. Love this yarn...so soft, so CHEAP!!

Ooooh...cashmere....

I love online quizzes. And funny name generators....

Here's the latest...


You are Cashmere.
You are sophisticated and luxe. You can often be
found in high-end boutiques and hobnobbing with
the upper crust. You are one of the beautiful
people and you don't let anyone forget it!


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I was so excited to get writing that I kinda forgot something. Like introducing myself properly. Oops...

So, I'm Kim. My husband D and I are ex-patriate Canadians living here in the U.S. since November 2000. Because D's the one with the work visa, I haven't had a job since we moved here. Ok, I haven't had a job since 9 January, 2003, when we were blessed with our beautiful daughter, The Mighty O.
She is a real character...very independent and strong-willed. I wonder where she gets that?

We live here in the Seattle area with our two cats, Spencer and Dexter, and our ever-changing number of fish. We had five, then six, and now, sadly, four. The current fish are Curly, Cat, Hyde, and Papa. We had Larry, Larry II, and Moe, but they've moved on to that big fish tank in the sky.

That's Spencer on the left, Dexter on the right. They're brothers; the only two in the litter. Their mother gave birth to them on my brother-in-law's bed, and then left, never to return. D raised them from that time on, so they think of him as their mother. They like to help me with my projects. Dexter likes to unthread my serger, and Spencer likes to sit on the exact pattern piece I am about to use (when he's not eating them). They both really enjoy my knitting.

I went to University for about seven years. I have a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, and an Honours degree in Art History. While I was in University, I met my husband. He was visiting the city, and we hit it off. That was in 1998. We married 6 November, 1999, and lived all over Western Canada.

Well, that's enough about me. Oh...if you want to read more about D...he's such a copycat and has a blog too...and will probably turn it into a competition between us. We can turn anything into a competition...gardening...jack o'lanterns....you name it...anyways...he's at www.daemondc.blogspot.com.

Slowly, slowly...

I'm having a lot of fun with my little blog, or as I like to think of it, my little kingdom. I get to ramble on, uninterrupted about anything I want. Although, it seems my best ideas come to me when I'm trying to go to sleep...like I really need something else to keep me from sleeping (a few nights a week I just can't fall asleep much before one or one-thirty).

Last night, I was up until two-ish playing with my blog. I wanted a background in the title box. Something to break up the white. I thought of taking my own picture, but then decided against it. Then, I thought of morguefile. It is an amazing source for free, public images. So I just typed in "knitting" in the search box, and voila...a page of pictures came up. There was a familiar picture of green skeins of yarn, and then it struck me... dailyknitter uses it in their banner. I can have a near photographic memory for images, but meeting people...by the time I say, "Nice to meet you; I'm Kim", I've forgotten their name. But I digress. I do that a lot.

So anyways...I'm pretty proud of my coding skills....it only took me two hours...If my husband D is reading this, I know he is laughing. He is a computer genius, and I'm not just saying that because I'm married to him. He types over one hundred words a minute, and needs to do that to keep up with his thought processes. He works in the computer industry, and the stuff he can do is amazing. To compare, it would be like putting a concert pianist playing Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu up against someone pounding out Chopsticks...badly.

In knitting, I'm not insanely fast either. I am, however, in great awe of people who are. Check out the KnitAndTonic link on the right...it's one of the blogs that I read. Wendy is one amazing knitter...she cranks out sweaters faster than anything. And she designs them too... I bought the pattern for her "Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Cardigan". Have the yarn too. I just have a few projects to finish before I can get to it. Also, check out her finished object gallery...the stuff is to die for...

Eventually, I will have a finished object gallery too...unfortunately, a lot of my stuff is packed for the big move. I just have to figure out how to create it.

Sunday afternoon at Home Depot

The biggest thing that's happening right now is that we're moving in two weeks. Right now we're in a three bedroom, two-and-a-half bath townhouse where we've lived for the last four years. In that time we've completely painted our place to make it more ours. So, in two weeks, we're moving to this house: a three bedroom, two-and-a-half bath. But, it has a lot more room in the kitchen, living room, and dining room.

So, the big thing now is what to paint the inside. The new place is pretty much a blank canvas. The big thing now is the Great Colour Debate. We love the colours we picked for this place, that's the inspiration, but tweak them slightly so that they're different shades. So yesterday I went out, sans husband and child, and collected MORE paint swatches. The thing being a stay at home mom is that there's always someone here to talk to...so I have this nasty habit of talking and humming to myself...'Hmmm....what's this yellow like...no...too gold....oooh....I like this one....ok...la la la'.

Scared some small child with my mumbling.

My husband D wants the office painted black. Our office here is a very dark cocoa. It looks great, but black? Ack. But I think it'll look cool. He chose the very dark cocoa, and he was right, so this should be ok. But we're both very stubborn, and we both think we're always right:

D: I found the perfect office colour....(showing paint swatch)

Me: It's black.

D: No....it's Dark Cavern.

Me: Which means black...and besides, it's the wrong black...it's a blue-based black...the rest of our colours are all yellow- or red-based. How about this one...Bitter Chocolate...it's a red-based black.

D: No...I want black.

This ensues for about fifteen minutes....I'd hate to see if we had some sort of pressing issue in our lives.

Fits and starts

So here I am....a zillion years behing this whole blogging trend. Kind of like ponchos...haven't made one, and probably won't, because by the time I finish it, I'll be the only one wearing one.

I've always thought of witty things to write, so I thought to give this a shot. Then I come to the Name Your Blog page....hit a wall....took me the better part of the hour thinking up something appropriately witty. Changed it four times. Oh well.

So, I knit and sew; or at least try to, when I'm not sitting at the computer reading about it...Maybe this will inspire me to do more, so I can write about all the fabuloso things I've made for myself or my darling daughter The Mighty O. I don't really make things for my husband. Sweaters? He'd die of heat stroke. Socks? 'I get my socks in a bag for $5... blah, blah, blah'. I DID make him one shirt and one jacket an eon ago. The shirt was a corduroy unbalanced plaid, and my skills were, well, somewhat lacking. Only took my two months, but all the lines match. And then I bugged him every day....'So... how about wearing your stunning corduroy shirt?' He did wear it, until it shrunk the first time it was washed....because I didn't know to preshrink the fabric.