Kung Fu Knitting

I haven't been updating this here ol'blog lately because I have been pretty ill the last week or so. Eating became a hideous chore because after having the Hurly Whirlies (great name for it April), I am now all of a sudden lactose intolerant. Yesterday was the first day since last Friday where I could eat without consequences. I've enjoyed my first soymilk latte and feel so much better. Yay! I promise never to take good digestion for granted again. So all that time not a lot of knitting got done, but I am 13 straight repeats into my clapotis. I am thinking that I will do about 16 or 17 and then finish it up. I've got 7 skeins of Silk Garden and I am into my 5th now. I haven't been writing much about Kung Fu lately because I have been slightly disallusioned with it lately. Not kung fu itself. Tai Chi has become ultra boring. I haven't learned anything in that class since Septemeber and the people that are in it haven't caught up despite the fact that new ma...

Are you part of the k2tog crowd? When you happen to randomly find one too many stitches on your needle, does it pain you to know that your knit fabric may have one tiny flaw? Will that extra stitch just needle and bug you till you can stand it no more and you rip back 30 rows to sort it out. Will the knowledge that there is a mistake in your project ruin the finished glory of your piece? Or do you just knit two together? Ahem, I bet you can guess which group I belong to. In fact, I vividly remember on my first knitting project I kept getting too many stiches in my ribbing, so I did what any kung fu knitter would do and unvented the k2tog to take care of that little problem. On another note, I've been sick with a stomach virus this weekend. Thank goodness for saltines and bubble water.

I have been in love with this scarf for a while and wanted to get the pattern for it. The problem is that it's a Japanese knitting book. I knew I would have a lot better chance of finding it in Seattle than in Ithaca. So when I was in Seattle I went to the Big Uwajimaya market south of downtown. Inside is a book store, Kinokuniya . It is loaded with knitting and crochet books. Unfortunately, they didn't stock the book I wanted but I picked up a couple of others. I didn't have a lot of time as I was with my siblings who were a little impatient. But my brother did actually help me find some cute little pattern books. The great thing about Japanese knitting books is that all the patterns are charted. So I haven't had any problems trying out one of the crochet stitches I was interested in. Just follow the diagram. Now as for my original quest, I ended up ordering it from Yesasia.com . I'll let you know if it was worth the $30.

As I was driving back from the grocery store yestermorn, the sky was clear, blue and bright with sunshine. As I sat on my porch enjoying the morning, I felt the sunlight on my face and I closed my eyes. The wooden planks of my porch felt warm to my fingers. With such exceptional weather in the middle of January, I felt it would be almost criminal to stay indoors. I could practice my kung fu in the sun. I could hike to a peaceful spot and meditate or knit. I made the short drive to Taughannock Falls . I brought my clapotis with me as I planned to find some sunny rock along the creek to knit and enjoy the weather. Many times I have been there and this hasn't been a problem, but I forgot that the melting snow would raise the level of the river and cover many of the choicer spots. In fact, it was wet everywhere. The water must have just receeded. But it was still lovely. The only trail open was the gorge trail. It's not difficult or long, but it's beautiful. The river drains i...

Let's see...all the vacuuming and sweeping is done, the sun came out and I have some time before work ='s time to play around on my blog! I admit that I am hooked on crocheting curly whirly scarves . I feel very satisfied when I am making one. Very at peace and calm. The horrible thing is after completing each CW I feel the urge to start another only a few days later. I've got to get these crocheting urges under control. I don't have the yarn budget to support it. Desire is the root of suffering. Well, I finished this Curly Whirly about a week ago so as you can imagine, I am jonesing right now. It's for a special friend who was supposed to visit me last week on a whirlwind visit through the US. We've been neighbors, roommates and friends but now she lives abroad. She's a fabulous gal who has always has kept our friendship close to her heart. In fact, she thinks about me when she travels to places like llama farms where they are selling oh-so-soft handspun y...

I think that 2006 will be the year of the sweater. I have plans to resuscitate Eris who has been on hold for the holidays. I also will have the yarn to knit Aran Wiggles soon. I should be getting Knit Picks Merino Style in hollyberry as a late xmas gift. I also would like to knit a Fairisle sweater. I'm thinking about using a Philosopher's Wool pattern as I already have their Fairisle Made Simple book and don't want to knit at the traditional gauge the first time around. (If you visit their site make sure and checkout their two-handed fairisle video. I learned how to knit continental from this great video.) But everyone says their yarn is scratchy, so I was thinking of trying some Beaverslide yarn which I have heard such great things about. Three sweaters sounds like a doable goal, doesn't it? In the mean time I have started a project that I have wanting to make for forever. It's a clapotis , of course. My father bought me some gorgeous Noro Silk Garden for Ch...

I spent Christmas in Seattle and had a lovely time there with my brother and sister, father and his partner and especially my niece. In a stroke of luck my mom, who resides in Arizona, showed up the day before I left. So with the exception of my brother who is too-busy-for-anything-because-I-am-in-law-school-so-there, I got to see all of my family. My knitted gifts were well received. I made a panta and mitt set for my sister that she said she really liked. My dad got his cashmere scarf that I have been working on. And my neice really took to the curly whirly scarf I crocheted for her. Unfortunately, I had some card issues in my digital camera and lost some photos of the recipients wearing my gifts. :sigh: But I have a nice one of my dad wearing the scarf to the right. One of my goals was to eat as much Pho as possible while in Seattle. ( pho is vietnamese noodle soup ) It's just about my most favoritest food in the world. I love the broth, the rare beef and beef brisket, the cilan...