Yarn:O Wool Classic, a 100 percent certified-organic merino wool in “Evergreen,” which knit beautifully and bloomed gloriously after blocking. Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood, from the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits; you can also purchase the PDF from Knitting Daily Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars
I actually knit this last winter—it’s just taken me this long to block it and get it on my husband. I’m a lousy excuse for a knitter/wife that way. Plus, I really hate blocking, especially when it’s a huge one-piece like this because it takes FOREVER to dry in a tiny apartment, even with the windows open, and you’re constantly shooing away wool-loving cats…you get the picture.
» I forgot to mention that on the night of the election, during McCain’s concession speech, I rubbed my belly and told the baby inside that it was “safe to come out now.” Two more weeks to my due date! (0)#
» Pledge to eat one meatless meal a week and get a free Tofurky Tuesdays Care Package of Tofurky coupons and vegetarian magazines (1)#
Happy Halloween, the most frightful night of the year! (Of course, with the state the world is in, who needs extra chills and thrills? I’m already petrified with fear.) Coincidentally, it’s also the third anniversary of the day I first registered The Worsted Witch; I didn’t pick Halloween intentionally but perhaps my subconscious latched onto the significance before I did.
Fall days just cry out for pumpkin pie or soup, and I have two organic sugar pumpkins ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause. The challenge now is finding a good-size pot, since we donated the last of our Teflon-coated nastiness to Goodwill last week—I couldn’t cope with nightmares about PFOA and “Teflon toxicosis” anymore—and we haven’t had time to stock up on stainless steel just yet, so I’m down to one cast-iron pan and a ceramic-coated skillet.
» From Slate: Sarah Palin’s War on Science: The GOP ticket’s appalling contempt for knowledge and learning.” Writes Christopher Hitchens: “This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just ‘people of faith’ but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.” Can I get an amen? (2)#
October 25, 2008 at 9:29 am · Filed under Knitting
Yarn:Fuzzy Bunny Fibers handspun and hand-dyed 100 percent merino wool (obtained ethically from local Vermont farms). I adored working with this yarn—it was soft and luscious—and I’d buy yarn from the owner again before you can say “tallyho.” Pattern:Mikado Fingerless Gloves Needles: Size 5 and 7 Addi Turbo circulars
» Filatura di Crosa is closing its doors, and Yarndex for Yarn is having an “extreme sale” on the remaining inventory. Update: I just got an e-mail from Tahki Stacy Charles saying that Filatura di Crosa is not shuttering, after all. (My original info came from Wool Needle Work, which owns Yarndex for Yarn.) (0)#
You wouldn’t think it, but Victoria’s Secret has some amazing sweaters, many with cablework that’s simply transfixing. Of course, I’m resisting plunking down any kind of change for them because:
1. They’re probably made in a sweatshop in some third-world country.
2. Many of them contain acrylic, which is a genteel way of saying “petroleum.”
3. Several comprise wool, which would basically make me want to rip my skin out, since I’m allergic.
4. There’s really no point in my buying clothing now, since my body is going to change drastically again over the next few months when this baby busts out of my uterus.
Here are some of my favorites, though, which I’m posting for inspiration in case one day I ram my head into a lamppost and wake up some kind of knitwear-design genius. You never know.
My ever-helpful cat Chekhov decides the blocking process will be hastened with a little bit of feline assist. I’ll take a clearer photo of the arm warmers when I’m done; I’m almost loathe to part with them because they’re so pretty, but they’re for a friend who has been so wonderfully helpful throughout my rollercoaster ride of a pregnancy.
I bought the handspun and hand-dyed 100 percent merino wool from a lovely lady in Vermont when the hub and I were there last fall, despite the fact that I’m allergic to animal fibers—or more accurately, “pokey” fibers, since I can wear extremely fine-gauge merino sock yarn without itching like a flea-bitten monkey. (My worst nightmare? Death by mohair.) It’s sad but true: I can’t resist the pretty, to my everlasting detriment.
I really have to learn how to crochet. How alluring is this Hairpin Lace Crochet Mask by Jennifer Hansen? (It reminds me of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, a film so delectable I was sorely tempted to lick the screen.) Get the free pattern—well, more of a “recipe” than a by-the-numbers tutorial—from Stitch Diva.
More political crafting over at Slate. My favorite? This Department of Homeland Security Blanket stitched up from scrap fabric—because there are days you just want to dive under your covers and pretend the world doesn’t exist. Hell, I feel that way every single day. Note the caveat though: In case of a terrorist attack, the DHS Blanket will not protect you. Bummer.
» From Real Simple: “6 No-Fuss Slow Cooker Meals.” Slow cookers are wonderfully energy efficient. I wish I had a slow cooker—or, you know, room for a slow cooker. When we move, it’s going to be one of the first things I’m buying, but not one of the new digital plastic doohickies available on the market today. I think my mom has had the same ceramic crock pot for the past 30 years. eBay, here I come. (0)#
» From The New York Times: Are you a carborexic? Extreme carbon-footprint-reducing zealots—extreme even for me, which is saying a lot. (0)#
» Every year, I get that ambivalent feeling in the pit of my stomach over Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I won’t rehash the reasons why (although seeing pink goodies packaged in PVC drives me up the wall): You can read a 2007 TreeHugger post I wrote about why you should think before you fall for cause-related marketing. Want more? Here’s another “think before you pink” screed from 2006. I’m nothing if not consistent.
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Pledge to eat one meatless meal a week and get a free 
Filatura di Crosa is closing its doors, and 
