Last Post of the Summer

Tomorrow is my first official day back to work. Forget all the hours I've already spent cleaning out the last guy's crap from my new classroom and all the hours I accumulated throughout the summer taking classes to prepare me for a new grade. Like Food Chemistry. That was a fun one! I'm a bit sad that the summer is ending, but I'm also excited to meet my new students.

I fully intended to have a finished project to share by now, and it's coming soon, very very soon. While I'm finishing it, I'm also swatching for a couple of new projects and getting very excited about them. Union Square Market Pullover from IK, Short Sleeved Wrap Top from Summer VK, and Hopeful by Jenna Adorno are all on my list for next projects. I love starting something new!

I've been contemplating switching away from Blogger and trying something new. Pretty Posies? Typepad? Any feedback from any of you? I like that Blogger is so stinking easy to use, but I also like that other options have, well, other options. So if you love your blog and its hosting, etc., please leave me a comment.

Inquiring minds want to know.

P.S. Check out the galleries at My Cat Hates You. Snort!

My Husband Will Not Be Surprised

By way of ChicKnits...

Sweetness

Dear Erika Knight,

Are you insane? Or are you a genius?

The first "Dainty Baby Bootee" I made, of the pair, propelled me to use not so dainty language. Cut yarn here, pick up stitches there. Create a free-form sculpture that somewhat resembles an octopus. WTF??



But the second one went along much, much more smoothly. I started seeing the logic behind the insanity, and the final result made me think that perhaps you knew what you were talking about after all.



Fortunately, the "Lacy Bonnet", which I made before the "loony bootees", made complete sense from stitch one and was a joy to knit. The rosette shape at the crown is absolutely gorgeous. The lacy pattern that makes up the rest of the bonnet has a wonderful repetitive flow; I started wondering if the lace were something like Orangina's. The only problem was the ribbon. The example in the book has one attach a head-sized ribbon rosette on each side, which is very beautiful to photograph, but very unrealistic for most of the babies I know. Also, it was tough to find a ribbon color that I liked with this dusty pink yarn, so I went with the antique white to pick up the pearly buttons (stitched on so firmly that no baby will ever be able to pull off) on the bootees.



Thank you for your designs, Ms. Knight. I'm sorry I thought you were crazy.

Sincerely,
Karma

P.S. The gifties were a big hit at the baby shower today. Everyone thought I was a genius.

P.P.S. Lacy Bonnet and Dainty Bootees,
Knitting For Two by Erika Knight
Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, pink, 1 skein for all
#4 bamboo straights (that's another agonizing story in itself, what the heck am I doing with bamboo straights anymore for goodness sake, pass the addis!!!)

Ask Me, I Know

In the last few days, new people found this blog by searching for:

1. How to pack a suitcase

2. How to have good karma

3. How do I know if I have good karma or not?

I think the "how to pack a suitcase" one is pretty funny. Mr. Goodkarma is packing for a business trip as I type and he's clueless. So maybe I *am* the right person to google about suitcase packing.

Does anyone recognize this? It's my lovely Aprikot Jacke from Rebecca, and it's blocking right now! It's about time I finished something, eh? Well, don't speak too soon; it's not finished until I can wear it. It looks quite red in these pictures, but it's more of a raspberry color called "Kiss". From now on, I call this sweater Raspberry Jacke.

And while I'm waiting for that lovely Rowan All Seasons Cotton to dry, I'm whipping up a little something for a baby shower I'm going to on Saturday. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll have a finished picture of this very soon. Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, baby. So pretty!

Stranded the drive-in...

Branded a fool.
Wonder what they'll say
Monday at school?

Oh, Sandy, baybee.

Okay, pardon the Grease flashback, but I took my fella to the drive-in last night and I feel a bit nostalgic. My parents used to take my brother and I when we were kids and I have all these good memories. We'd wear our pjs and bring a pillow and blanket, 'cause we'd inevitably fall asleep in the backseat. Mom would make a big grocery bag full of popcorn and sometimes we'd stop off at the A&W for burgers beforehand. Good times.

Mr. Karma has never been to the drive-in! Impostor! How un-American!

We saw Wedding Crashers, which was goofy and fun, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped it was but it sure showcased Angelina Jolie's assets well. I like men, a lot, and I should've been drooling over Brad, but my eyes were glued on Angelina the whole time. She has the whole package. Dang.

I Have Super Powers

Note to self:
Never, ever, ever let Mr. Goodkarma take away the computer to "upgrade" it until you've done the following:

1. Uploaded the vacation pictures

Here are a couple of shots from the big island on the day we explored the volcano park. We looked all around at the vista points in the daylight and, as the sun was coming down, walked further down past this threatening sign to where the lava flowed over the road (and a town) a couple of years ago. You can hike down over the "old lava" down to see the molten lava flowing. The actual flowing lava was still a couple of miles away but we could see it spewing into the ocean, and the park ranger let us look through her telescope for a better view. It was really cool. There are daredevils who hike much much farther down there at night, which I think is crazy, because the terrain is difficult... lumpy, cracked black lava, with deep ankle sized niches and nearly 50% silica content (read: glass, so don't fall down and catch yourself with your hands unless you want grated skin). In fact, a few days later we heard about a guy (tourist, prolly) who got lost by himself and was rescued after a few days out there. He flashed a mirror at a little airplane and a kid on the plane saw the light.


Say hello to my little friend. Sea turtles are so big! And cool! And they love to bask in the sun.



On our anniversary, we went on a sunset sailboat dinner cruise. It was gorgeous and fun and romantic. There were only about 6 couples on the boat and we chased the sunset together.

Here's a shot of the Mokulua Islands just off Oahu near Kailua. This was one of the views from our apartment! No kidding.



Okay, just one more: this one's for Cara. This little sweetie lives in the Orchid Garden at a botanical garden near Hilo:

2. Blogged about The Yarn Harlot's visit

As you've all read on other blogs, many, many times, Stephanie Pearl McPhee is hilarious. I'll give a quick synopsis of my surreal evening at Weaving Works. The strangest thing was walking into that classroom chock full of knitters... I've never been in the presence of so many people knitting at once! There was a buzz in the room, the energy of people who were excited to see/hear The Yarn Harlot that they'd all come to virtually know and love.


She spoke about knitting and about how her "book tour" was really an excuse for a North American yarn crawl. She told the funniest stories and we all nodded along when she said things like, when someone says that knitting is boring or not fun, they're just not doing it right!

After the chat, everyone filed downstairs for a gorgeous cake and lemonade while they stood in line and waited to get their bookbookbooks signed. While in line, I finally spotted and spoke with Carry, met Jessica and her friends Debbie and Pat, and sighted Diana, but didn't get a chance to say hello. When it was my turn to meet The Celebrity, she saw my name but didn't ask what everyone else asks*. Instead, she said, "Karma, that's your name? Wow, then you have Super Powers." Then I had a photo taken and that's about it. It was so much fun. Oh, yeah, and Jessica and I dropped my camera into the garbage. No biggie, it was "lovely, soft garbage," according to the Harlot. ;)




While I was there, I bought this Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn (color: Winter Sky) for the Knitting on the Road knitalong... right now everyone's working on the Friday Harbor pattern. At the rate I'm collecting new projects, I'll have these finished for my future grandchild's college graduation.

Later, I realized that not only did Stephanie remember who I was and include me in her blog entry (see the picture of the group? Above the picture of Cassie? Look at the sock, then look straight up and there I am, smiling like a big dork), so did Jessica. So I wish I had not given the computer to my husband, because all those nice people who clicked on the links didn't have much new to read! ha!

3. Shared other goodies:

I bought this Madil Silky (it's made out of Lenpur! That's plant material! See, Atouria, I bought vegan yarn!) at Little Knits to make the Wrap Front Short Sleeve top from this summer's Vogue Knitting. You like?



Well, that's about all she wrote. I'm *this* close to being done with Aprikot Cardi. Working on the last sleeve. Yippee! I'll share pictures soon.

*whenever someone learns that my name is Karma, they ask one of two things: 1) Were your parents hippies? or 2) Are you Buddhist? Otherwise, they make comments like: Are you *good* karma? Don't worry, I'm used to it. I've heard 'em all. :)

The Yarn Harlot

Anyone going to meet The Yarn Harlot at Weaving Works Thursday night? I'll be there! Introduce yourself to me... I don't bite! :)