Kung Fu Knitting

Censored by email Not even a phonecall not one word spoken yet those words still hang in the air. .....the girl you will always physically adore. (not more) It was everything else that mattered.

After a very long break, I have some knitting to share with the world. I made this scarf for my father. He lost the cashmere one I made for him a Christmas ago and wanted a replacement. I kept the same color scheme. Brown goes with both black and navy blue and this is important as my father is a very "Brooks Brothers" sort of fellow. Orginally I wanted to make the phyllotaxis scarf from Knitting Nature, but it just didn't knit up quite right. I figured you really can't go wrong with basket weave for a guy, so I settled on that. My dad is a big guy and likes a long scarf so even though I bought 600 yards of natural, unbranded, alpaca yarn I still needed more hence the different colored ends. I was so lucky to find a great match in merino. The next picture is a close up. Life is so much different than in May, the date of my last posting. I'm in grad school for a masters in teaching. I enjoy my program for the most part and am learning a lot, but I am tres busy. I a...

"Momo looks like she's picking her nose" A new meme! And pretty cute. Consider yourself tagged. Go to Google and write "yourname looks like" and pick the best result from the first page to post. Miriam worked out a little nicer: "Miriam looks like she's channeling Snow White"

So let me just start out by saying that I didn't win my match at the Syracuse Golden Gloves, but I did have a good time, a good fight and learned a great deal. We left Ithaca before noon on friday. There were 11 fighters plus coaches riding up together in a van from GIAC. It was crowded, but fun. The guys and gals from my gym are good natured and easy going so sitting hip to hip was not uncomfortable at all. When we arrived at the fairgrounds in Syracuse, we were able to weigh in right away. After the numbers were recorded the organizers looked to find matches in your weight and experience class (coaches kind of RSVP their fighters). It turned out that I didn't have one which really bummed me out, but with the weigh ins over there was something really important to catch up on: Eating. We all went out to lunch and then came back to the fairgrounds. If you were matched up, you had to see the doctor. It turned out that while I was gone someone my weight had registered. So I was se...

Welcome to "I Spy Handknits" on Kung Fu Knitting. I love seeing people walking around in their hand knits and thought this would be a good space to document it. My real intention is to get pictures and stories from random people in my community, but let me tell you, sometimes I feel a little bit freaky walking up to complete strangers and asking them about their sweaters and such. So my first featured hand knit comes from someone that I know. Meet the talented husband of one of my lovely coworkers. Not only was this garter stitch scarf handknit, but it's also handspun! How cool is that? And check out the great jacket! You should also check out his site, King Turtle . Oliver is a talented Ukulele artiste who was recently featured on NPR's Whad'ya Know show. He is also one of four finalists in their Whad'ya Idol contest! Good luck!

For a long time now I have been wanting for make something to match the fingerless mitts I made with Cayli's gorgeous home-grown, hand-dyed, handspun that she gifted me with the holiday season before last . I had some left over still but wasn't sure about the yardage. However, I had a vision of making a head band, as I find them cute and convenient for a gal that wears her hair up in the winter. And they hardly take any yarn. Originally I wanted to make a headband like the cabled panta I made before, but the gauge was all wrong. So I improvised something late the Saturday night. And here it is: I love the subtle blue striping and the feel is OMG soft. Cayli's yarn is truly amazing and was such a pleasure to knit up. Ice Princess Panta Yarn: Heavy worsted Handspun Needles: US 8 and a cable needle or DPN Gauge: not critical, but a row gauge of 5 rows/inch with make a nice fitting panta 18 inches in circumfrence. Special Stitches: FC (front cross) = Slip 2 stitches from ...

I found my old knitting notebook! Hurray! I thought I had lost it, lost it and not just misplaced it, lost it. This is the first hat I ever knit. Can you believe that although I was queen of socks, I was very intimidated by hat-land. I knew I had to get it over quickly so I found a hat pattern with a bulky gauge. I knit it partway up and I couldn't finish because it was so unspeakably ugly. So I was stuck with these ginormously, large DPN's. what's a gal to do? I decided to knit my own hat based upon my sock experience and this is what I came up with. It's simple, right? Rolled brim, stockinette, standard crown shaping. But it's economical, ever so warm, and stays on super well. And it knits up in a flash! Your Everyday Winter Hat by Miriam Mack Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky Needles: Size 11 and 13 DPNs Gauge: 2.5 st/inch Cast on 51 Stitches on size 13 DPNs. Join in the round without twisting and knit first 4 rounds with size 11 DPNS (stay with 13's if your head...

All of a sudden I am knitting! Knitting like I used to knit. And I am not sure why. There are several things going on in my life right now that might be facilitating more knitting getting done. One is that I have been quite sick lately and have set aside some time to myself, to use all to myself; no training, no school work, no dieting. And second, one of my lovely friends brought over a bunch of television for me to watch: Lost, Reno 911, Weeds. So for the last couple of days, I have had time to knit and television to watch. That's a fabulous combination for me knitting-wise. But there is another idea that I have. It's a bit more psychological. I haven't written much personal stuff on my blog lately, but there has been a lot of destruction in my life lately. There have also been some (hopefully!) final endings, and some space given to people who need to give more rather than take more in a friendship with me. So, amidst all this tearing down, perhaps I have a need to buil...

After I sewed up my Droplet hat from Knitting Nature (Why didn't I knit it in the round?), I decided that what it needed were some earflaps. You see, to make a hat truly functionable for our lovely winter weather here in Ithaca, the ears must be protected. And eventhough I have a pea-sized head, my row gauge was a little smaller than the pattern called for and I felt that the hat was just too short. So this is how it turned out: Overall, I have to say that knitting this hat was pretty fun once I got past that first bobble row that seemed to go on forever. The no-turn bobble technique that Nora Gaughan introduced in this pattern is quite handy, if you don't mind slipping stitches. I especially liked the way she did the decreases on the crown as they are invisible and preserve the overall pattern so nicely. Earflap Modifications : The earflaps are centered below the 6th bobble on the bottom bobble row from either side of the back seam. (If this placement seems odd for you I woul...

The gal I was going to box has pulled out.

This weekend I was in Buffalo watching some of the guys from my gym fight. I was also there just in case. Yes, to see if someone would show up for me. I had to weigh in, get checked out by a doctor and get my boxing passbook. It's a Nifty little guy don'tcha think? I unfortunately weighed in over what I should have been and this has been really distressing me for the last week. Because, believe me, when I say I should've been losing weight, I should've been losing weight. Crazy diet + two daily workouts = weightloss right? Not necessarily if you're a gal! Doh, water weight from hell... Finally I think it's gone, because on my scale I was weighing in 4lbs lighter today!!!!! Yes, indeed, I might make weight!

We watched My Neighbor Totoro this week at my SAP. (Guess whose idea?) And along with this glorious movie was an art project. The kids are usually nuts over making puffball animals: Chicks, jubjubs, alien space monkeys. This time we made various creatures and totoros! O Totoro, Chu Totoro and Chibi Totoro. You might also notice a soot sprite or two and a few Pokemons. And let's not forget the lone tamagotchi (If you can find all of these I will be highly impressed!)

Isn't that just gorgeous? This was my art project today in my school age program. We ordered some Bare WOTA from Knit Picks , picked up some bargain koolaid from Aldis and let them at it, all smocked up of course. Unfortunately I forgot my real camera, otherwise I would have taken some rockin' photos of the process. One of the things that I enjoyed most about this project was watching the different learning paths that students embarked on for their dying. You see I didn't really tell them how to do it. I showed them an example and let them work independently, helping when needed and explanations of different techniques at the appropriate times. It was pretty neat to watch the iterative process that some of the older students went through in their dying. One experimented with mixing right there in her saran wrap and came up with a skein that she called messy wheat. Then she just dropped the dyes in discrete areas, carefully mixing certain spaces. Another young gal experime...

So the date of my upcoming fight has been fluid, to say the least. A number of things have to come together in order for the evening to take place. You have to schedule the venue, the doctors, and the officials. All of which have been mismatched at some point during the last month. But you know it's got to be official when flyers are being posted: I only have to weigh in 10 pounds lighter. (5 by my scale at home. I wish this were the accurate one). Arrggh!!! But there is another official event - FO: Droplet Hat The Droplet Hat from Knitting Nature is complete!!! This one is made from leftover Aracunia Nature Wool. My gauge was dead on - for stitches per inch. Unfortunately, My row gauge was a little off. So the hat is shorter than I would like to wear. So it's not quite complete. See those pink strands of yarn? Those are going to be the center of the earflaps that I am going to knit. I'm just trying to decide if I should knit those flaps in seed stitch or with a line of bo...

I am so lucky to have gotten at least a little bit of Valentines Love! Look at the card that thoughtful Holly sent. It was so unexpected and sweet. Thanks, so much. And inbetween all the working out and such, a little knitting has been getting done. And I have the proof. Actually this guy is getting sewn up at the moment. Can you believe it? I am going to be posting an FO soon! Perhaps I am gaining back some knitting momentum. (To be honest, I think I am gaining back a lot of life momentum at the moment). I've also started a shawlette from the Basil Zephyr that Annie sent me for the one skein exchange. Everytime I look at this yarn I see the flower petal shawl from Elann . So that is what it will become. t won't be anywhere as big as the one pictured on the site, but I think it will be very wearable with the right dresses and such. The pattern is not complicated in the least, but it is lovely. So, all in all, this will be some mindless but relaxing knitting that I am hoping...

I've been saving this post for a while and seeing that I don't really have any knitting content to present at the moment, I decided to show something more than a little quirky from my Atlanta trip. Stone Mountain The South is such a hospitable place. I found the people in Atlanta to be quite nice for the most part, though I didn't hear many, "y'alls" about. But of course, that wouldn't do at a place like Stone Mountain. It's a veritable shrine to Southern history. Witness the flagstones of the Succession: Or better yet, the portraits of the generals. Can you name them all? (Mouseover for the answers.) You could take a cablecar to the top. It's barely visible in the picture. Now of course, a little place like this couldn't exist without a fake little shop town, replete with live blacksmith and black coffin for posing in. Not to mention cotton candy at most every corner and holiday music piped throughout (there was no escape). The streets should ...

I've been missing the blogosphere. I haven't really been able to post or read much lately, so please excuse my recent silence if you've noticed that I have been MIA in the comment zone lately. Actually, I've been training for my upcoming fight (March 3rd)and starting back with school. My days now go something like this: wake up at 5, work out at 5:30, finish at 7, get ready for work, go to Job #1, go to Job #2, work out at 5:30, come home, shower, eat, shoot it's 8:30, go to bed/go out/do homework. Pretty boring. But I have been getting in some sparring. I did 9 rounds last week and hopefully I can get in just as many more in weeks to come. It was a little embarassing because I am so rusty. On Tuesday I sparred with one of the girl fighters from my gym and I got clocked pretty nicely in the chin. My jaw was a little sore for the next few days, but on Wednesday and Thursday I got hit quite a bit more. There's a former professional boxer who is coming down to spar...

Deee-lovely Holly over at Hollyarns tagged me the other day with the 5 Little-Known Things About Me Meme. 5 Things You Probably Didn't Know about Me 1. I never dot my i's when writing in cursive. 2. I have a rock collection, mostly ones that I have collected. 3. I have a certain set of books that I reread most every year: Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Enders Game, Harry Potter 1 and 4, Far from the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure, Return of the Native, The Desert Smells Like Rain, Red Mars, Neuromancer, All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Dreams. 4. I own more than 10 coats. 5. Out of all the patterns in all the knitting books I own, I have only knit one pair of fingerless mitts. (Well, I knitted a kitty hat from the original S'N B, but my gauge was totally different and so I had to completely redo the pattern. So I don't think this counts.) Who should I tag? Well if you want to participate, then consider yourself it!

Lately there seems to be a running theme in my life: the idea of presence. It's manifest itself in a couple of ways (you know if you've read my blog entries recently), but the most recent was from the wrapper of a Dove chocolate piece that one of the barristas randomly gave me at the coffee shop during last week's Stitch'N Bitch: Your presence is often the best present. How crazy is that? But it came at a time when I was kind of wondering about something and acted as a sort of reinforcement; a little present from the universe at large (if you believe in that kind of thing). And speaking of Stitch'N Bitch, one of our lovely members has been bringing along her holiday presents for the benefit of all the group: This action shot depicts 667 yards of fingering weight merino/silk being wound for me! Yes!!!! What shall it be? I want it to be something lacey, but hadn't really given it serious thought because the thought of winding it made me shudder. I'd like to m...

Happy New Year to all y'all! I'm betting that most bloggers have already done some sort of review of the year by now. I've been hedging a little bit on this one. I didn't get a lot of knitting done in 2006. And much of the year was filled with strife, hurt and difficulty for me. So I am really not going go over it again. Except I want say that many of you in blogland and the knitworld have been great friends and sources of light for me. I can't thank you enough. And there have been some wonderful friends here in Ithaca as well. You know who you are. Thanks for the hugs and calls and all the moral support. Good bye, 2006! So the plan for this year: things are going to get better in 2007 (repeat to self 100 times daily for month of January). No, it's true: things are looking up. For one, I had a great interview for graduate school before leaving for Atlanta. Most likely you'll find me back in school come the Fall of 2007. Second, I should be having my first fi...