Modifications...Again

I thought/hoped this was going to be a straight forward knit. I haven't had one of those yet and was pretty excited about it. I am refering to pattern #34 from Vogue Knitting Fall 07.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture anywhere online to present here so lets just say it has major cabling on the front, back, and a line of cable up the sleeves which cross over at the neck. I'm knitting it with Jaeger Roma which is a bit stretchy and has an every so slightly larger guage. Its pretty beautiful so far but I'm starting to really loathe the 12 sts cable portion (two of them) right in the middle of the front/back. Its just too bulky! Why oh why couldn't this be simple. I am wondering if its because the yarn is stretchy but am more inclined to think its just too large of a cable to sit pretty. Now I have no idea what to do.... :( Any suggestions????

Crafty CheapAss

Yep that's me (no, not the anorexic model in the picture)- a crafty cheapass. I find that if you just invest a little time and energy, when it comes to knitting, you can usually just figure things out for yourself. This includes patterns. I absolutely love Phildar but well, I'm not about to break the bank and shovel out $20 when I really only want one pattern out of one of their books. I've had my eye on their traveling leaves sweater from Tendances 460 (Quietude Pivoine) for a bit. Finally, I found the pattern for the leaves here (http://www.abc-knitting-patterns.com/1006.html) and from looking at pictures of knitted sweaters on Flickr, I basically have the entire pattern. Now, to get this thing going. Pink or metallic grey Jaeger Roma????

Left Leaves Panel: on 22 st.
Row 1, 3 and 5: 10 p, 2 k, 10 p
Row 2 and all even rows knit k over k, p over p and yon (yarn over needle).
Row 7: 9 p, T2B (Twist 2 Back), 1 k, 10 p.
Row 9: 8 p, T2B (Twist 2 Back: slip a stitch on a cable needle and leave it at the back of work, knit next stitch, purl the stitch from the cable needle), 2 k, 10 p.
Row 11: 7 p, T2B, 1 p, 2 k, 10 p. Row 13: 6 p, T2B, 2 p, 2 k, 10 p.
Row 15: 6 p, yon (yarn over needle), 1 k, yon, 3 p, 2 k, 10 p.
Row 17: 6 p, yon, 1 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 1 k, 3 p, 2 k, 10 p.
Row 19: 6 p, 2 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 2 k, 3 p, 1 k, T2F (Twist 2 Front: slip a stitch on a cable needle and leave it at the front of work, purl next stitch, knit the stitch from the cable needle), 9 p.
Row 21: 6 p, 3 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 3 k, 3 p, 2 k, T2F, 8 p.
Row 23: 6 p, k2tog tbk (knit 2 together through back of loops), 5 k, k2tog, 3p, 2 k, 1 p, T2F, 7 p.
Row 25: 6 p, k2tog tbk, 3 k, k2tog, 3 p, 2 k, 2 p, T2F, 6 p.
Row 27: 6 p, k2tog tbk, 1 k, k2tog, 3 p, 2 k, 3 p, yon, 1 k, yon, 6 p.
Row 29: 6 p, k3tog, 3 p, 2 k, 3 p, 1 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 1 k, 6 p.
Row 31: 9 p, T2B, 1 k, 3 p, 2 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 2 k, 6 p.
Row 33: 8 p, T2b, 2 k, 3 p, 3 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 3 k, 6 p.
Row 35: 7 p, T2b, 1 p, 2 k, k2tog tbk, 5 k, k2tog, 6 p.
Row 37: 6 p, T2B, 2 p, 2 k, k2tog tbk, 3 k, k2tog, 6 p.
Row 39: 6 p, yon, 1 k, yon, 3 p, 2 k, 3 p, k2tog tbk, 1 k, k2tog, 6 p.
Row 41: 6 p, 1 k, yon, 1 k, yon, 1 k, 3 p, 2 k, 3 p, k3tog, 6 p.
Row 43: Repeat rows 19 - 42.

Right Leaves Panel: on 22 st. Mirror Left Leaves Panel.

Plants! Plants! La La Plants!

Someday I will have a yard. And believe me, I will be taking FULL advantage of every square inch! Oh the plans I have for the PLANTS I will have!


The Lovely White Egret Flower. This is actually a type of bog orchid. I'm not a huge fan of orchids - they remind me of high maintenance snooty women for some reason, but these are really interesting.


Magnificent Passion Flower.


Himalayan Blue Poppy.


Pink Lilly of the Valley.

Tangled Mess

So my Tangled Yoke Cardigan isn't going very well. I'm bummed and annoyed and just...argrrah!!! I couldn't even talk about it at the last Knit Night. Sure I brought it, but I barely worked on it. What a mess. I would exalborate (I mean elaborate but that sounds like it has more Oomph!) but I don't feel like talking about it right now.

Instead, I've been playing around with the St. Brigid pattern. I have a bunch of acrylic yarn sitting around and don't really know what to do with it. Yes, acrylic isn't really on the A list of yarns but it was cheap. Supercheap. And I don't really know what I'm doing yet...so, eh. Yarn is yarn right now.
So yes...St. Brigid. I might make a shrug with it. An entire sweater would be too exhausing right now (plus all the alterations to make it fitted).

Boom Chikka Wah Wah

My hunny is stringing up his guitar! Finally! Ooooh la la sexy. And is this because I told him I would drool over him constantly? That serenading me would be the sexiest thing ever? No! Cuz you better believe I told him that like a YEAR ago. His new found interest to play his not one but two! lovely guitars is because of Alzheimer's. Yes....Alzheimer's. Apparently playing a musical instrument is one way to keep your neurons happy and in sync - thus warding off Alzheimer's. Fantastic! Being proactive is important and admirable. I want my sweetie around for as long as possible - all of him. It all started when we took a little trip to the library today. I simply HAD TO HAVE the knitting pattern for St. Brigid! The actual book "Aran Knitting" by Alice Starmore is out of print and something like $150-$230 to acquire. Hooray for libraries!!! For about $0.40 I now have the complete pattern, instructions and general design information for aran sweaters. Ha! But while I was running around like a kid in a candy store, my guy was reading the current Men's health mag. It would have been nice to be his muse but the end result is the same...I guess...

P.S. I know copywriting is an important topic in the knitting community. However, this book is out of print. $ spent buying it will just go to the book owner, not the artist. I will probably blog more about this later when I've had more time to read and mull things over.

Determination

Exactly! Thank you NU-POC for understanding.

So yes, I would like to use my ENTIRE brain - at ALL times. That is why I have set my sights on Prosthetics/Orthotics. Artistic technologically amazing devices that actually improve the world and people's lives. SATISFACTION at last! I'm in a bit of a rut at present. Apparently I need to be certified via an Associates Degree to do ANYTHING!!! Yes, I have a Biomedical degree but somehow a 2 year degree would be more useful for the positions I'm looking at. Its frustrating but I shall not be deterred. Heck no! I have too many goals! Too many aspirations! Muhuhahahahahahahaha! And these would be the following (in this order via necessity).

1. Become a Prosthetist's/Orthotist's Technician and assist in the fabrication of current prosthetics and orthotics.

2. Get my Prosthetist Certification and/or my Biomedical Master's degree. Preferably at Northwester University because they are da bomb-diggity (i.e. the best).

3. Get my foot in the door at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Research/Prosthetist/Orthotist - anything! I want to be involved.

4. Become a prosthetic designer and come up with ingenious, creative, simple, functional, affordable and amazing prosthetics.

5. Do pro-bono work, design affordable medical devices and prosthetics for low-income individuals and countries. Use my spare time traveling the world with do-gooder companies to make change for the better using my skills.

6. Start my own little business on the side to design prosthetics/orthotics for animals. Again-emphasis on the affordable aspect.

So whats stopping me? To get into a Prosthetist certificate program I need 2 letters of recomendation from health professionals (physical therapist, prosthetist, orthotist, etc.).

I don't know any.

To work for a health professional and gain valuable experience and hopefully (if they like my awesome work) get recomendation letters, I first need to be a certified physical therapy assistant or prosthetic technician.

To become certified it will take $ and at least 12 months of basic training.

With all my skills, knowledge, good intentions and education...this setback feels debilitating.

And thats my rant. Chin up....Chin up!

Lovely Lichen

I was browsing some knitting blogs and randomly found someone who makes terrariums. I've always been fond of a nicely arranged terrarium but hers had some unique items. By far the best addition was some trumpet lichen. I never heard of such a thing. They are so cute!