Maggie and Hamilton Knit a Thingamajig

The Power of Knitting

I sat down to watch Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, a cartoon for pre-school aged kids, with my son this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find Maggie and Hamilton (her pig friend) knitting a "Thingamajig." The Ferocious Beast seemed to feeling left out (I tuned in late so I can only assume it was because he didn't know how to knit...) and decides to go to Turkey Town since he was not able to join in the knitting fun! When he gets there the turkeys start following him around - and when he tries to leave, they continue to follow him, refusing to stay in Turkey Town where they belong.

In the meantime, Hamilton expresses to Maggie his wish that they could knit something useful instead of just a super long thingamajig - of course, Maggie, being wise beyond her years, knits merely for the pleasure of knitting. In fact, they both find knitting so much fun that they forget to eat lunch! (They finally do stop for a bit to have grilled swiss cheese sandwiches and peaches, though.)

As they finish up with lunch and are ready to get back to the fun, Beast comes along with the turkeys on his tail and doesn't know what to do! But, Maggie does! She travels with Beast, Hamilton, the turkeys and the thingamajig back to Turkey Town and uses the useless thingamajig to put up a barrier to keep the turkeys in town! Hurray, Knitting saves the day!

Some Ridiculum!

Lesser known facts about my family and me!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Kath!

1. There is no lead in a lead pencil - it is simply a stick of graphite mixed with Kath and water!
2. Scientists believe that Kath began billions of years ago as an enormous ball of dust and gas.
3. India tested its first nuclear Kath in 1974.
4. The pigment Indian Yellow was manufactured from the urine of cows fed only on Kath!
5. Edinburgh imports three thousand kilograms of Kath every year.
6. Kath can run sixty-five kilometres an hour - that's really fast.
7. The Kath-fighting market in the Philippines is huge - several thousand Kath-fights take place there every day.
8. Kath is 984 feet tall!
9. The international dialling code for Kath is 672.
10. Kath is the largest of Saturn's moons.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Tyson!

1. Peanuts and Tyson are beans!
2. Tyson can pollinate up to six times more efficiently than the honeybee.
3. In Chinese, the sound 'Tyson' means 'bite the wax tadpole'.
4. There are 336 dimples on Tyson.
5. Tyson cannot jump!
6. Ancient Greeks believed earthquakes were caused by Tyson fighting underground.
7. Americans discard enough Tyson to rebuild their entire commercial air fleet every 3 months.
8. If you drop Tyson from the top of the Empire State Building, he will be falling fast enough to kill before reaching the ground.
9. Ideally, Tyson should be stored on his side at a temperature of 55 degrees.
10. You can tell if Tyson has been hard-boiled by spinning him. If he stands up, he is hard-boiled.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Tyson II!

1. Tyson II can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
2. 68 percent of all UFO sightings are by Tyson II.
3. Tyson II will become gaseous if his temperature rises above -42°C.
4. The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armour raised their visors to reveal Tyson II!
5. The smelly fluid secreted by skunks is colloquially known as Tyson II.
6. Dolphins sleep at night just below the surface of Tyson II, and frequently rise to the surface for air.
7. If you lick Tyson II ten times, you will consume one calorie!
8. Scientists have discovered that Tyson II can smell the presence of autism in children.
9. Originally, Tyson II could not fly!
10. Oranges, lemons, watermelons, pineapples and Tyson II are all berries!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Finishing...

I'm having a difficult time finishing any project lately. I've been knitting for just over a year and up til a month ago I couldn't start anything until I finished what I was working on at the time. After the difficulty I had seaming up the shoulders of my first sweater I decided to put it down and start something else. I started a pair of knitted pants for my little one (a project that has no seams). I also couldn't stop myself from starting on the tank top I planned to make with the sweater I unravelled. On top of that, I just got a spindle and am attempting to spin up a bit of yarn and who knows if I'll be able to let that sit around... Here are some pics of what's going on!

1st Sleeve for Sweater

Tank Top Pics - Bottom one is detail of beading and eyelets on lower part of the Tank Top. This is of my own design.

New Spindle and My First Hand-Spun Yarn.

Bottoms of the legs of the little pants for Tyson! I'm knitting the legs both at the same time - one using double pointed needles and one using the Magic Loop method. (These little pants are based on Knitty's Cargo Pattern)

I'm sure many knitters do not think this is a lot to have going on at once - from looking at other blogs I've seen lots of projects "on the needles." I am just not the kind of person who feels comfortable having so many projects going on at once. I feel overwhelmed and like I'll never finish anything!

I've been working on my sweater again - starting one of the sleeves. I think I need to focus on finishing my sweater and face the fear I have that it's gonna turn out ugly and that I'll never wear it and that all the work I've put into it will be a waste. I never had to deal with this when I was just doing little scarves and hats - if I didn't like them it was no big deal because they only took me a few hours to finish...

Ah Grasshopper...
"It is good to have an end to journey toward;
but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Little Zen Companion

Unravellavellavel

First Attempt at Unravelling a Sweater... The unravelling mentioned previously was moderately successful. Dissembling the sweater was MUCH more difficult than I expected and I ended up cutting some of the main yarn while trying to snip the stitches holding the pieces together. After a while I got a lot better at distinguishing which stich was which and I think it was worth the effort... I think.

A Jarful of Yarn!

After all is said and done, I've ended up with enough for a tank and look forward to getting started on it once I've washed the yarn. Unfortunately it smells musty at this point - an odor which seemed to intensify as I pulled the sweater apart. I have a semi-phobia about smells like that and feel all oogly just thinking about it. I'm sure I'm imagining it right now as being much grosser than it really is, but I'll still hold my breath when I next open the jar!

AND

First Attempt at Knitting a Sweater... I'm also currently working on my first sweater based on Alison Hansel's "Nothin' But a T Shirt" pattern. I say "based on" because I feel like I'm really butchering it and don't want anyone to think it's a bad pattern because of what they see here!



I finished the front and back pieces and decided to attempt seaming up the shoulders. In my excitement I decided to forgo blocking. I'm not sure if it's partly to blame, but the seams came out horribly! Lumpy, bulky, with holes. So disappointing after all the knitting. I ripped out the seams and my plan at this point is to:

1. re-bind-off the shoulder tops in a smoother fashion
2. block the pieces
3. read up on seaming techniques
4. try again!

Destroy to Create

My husband and I had a talk yesterday about money. It seems we don't have as much as I spend we do. Actually, we have the money, we just need to be spending it on things other than yarn, gadgets, eating out, etc. Having been bitten hard by the knitting bug, I am determined to find good yarn on the cheap. I've found a coop where there seem to be semi-regular bargains that will suit my needs, I keep my eyes on ebay - but so does everyone else, I watch for closeouts/clearances at the local yarn and craft stores, but I want a cheaper, high-quality yarn stream, soooo I'm attempting my first unraveling...

I purchased a sweater at a thrift store today. It's a nice tan-beige colored pull-over made from a cotton/linen blend. It looks as though it will unravel easily, but I won't know for sure til tonight when I cut it apart and give it a try! If all goes well, I intend to make a tank top for my sister-in-law from it for her birthday. If all does not go well... it's only $3 blown and SIL will get something made of a similarly colored wool yarn from my stash - a bit too scratchy for a tank. I'm excited to try unravelling a sweater although I'm sure it will be a bit of a pain. Fact is I've got more time than money so off I go. Pics to follow.