Housecleaning

Hahaha! You guys, don’t let the title fool you. I definitely don’t mean housecleaning in the literal sense of the word. I mean, I got my vacuum out of its dark secret closet and put it in the den to “remind me”… and there it has sat sadly for at least a week waiting for me to stop playing Super Mario 3 on my Wii and actually clean up for Easter. “Housecleaning.” Please.

No really, what I mean by it is that I occasionally get a bug to struggle with my website and clean things up and recode or re-upload or revive myself with smelling salts because it generally makes me want to lie prostrate on the floor for periods of deep contemplation.

The thing lately that has caused me massive annoyance over the last several days is the comment system that I currently run on WordPress 2.9.2. Comments are posted and I get them, but the posters do not get my replies. And frankly, that sure is annoying! I certainly don’t expect anyone to keep coming back to my site to check and see if they got a reply – I don’t check other people’s sites to see if I got a reply.  If I don’t get an email, it’s like it never happened.

So, still knowing nothing about PHP except that which I can sort of interpret and copy and paste, I went on a mission not to, you know, learn anything, but to see if I could find a widget that I could install that would force an email to any commenters that I have replied, or someone else has replied.

It took awhile before I realized that I should really be looking for a plug-in instead of a widget, but the lightbulb did eventually flash and I installed Subscribe To Comments.

I think it works.

I tried it out with an alternate email address and it worked for me. You need to check the box underneath the reply field in order to receive the replies. It doesn’t automatically send an email unless you do that.

So to help me out, I would appreciate it if you could post a test post (and check the box!) and report back.

Thanks!

Sharks, Target, Knitting

This weekend was spent in abject lazypants-ness which has been fairly nice. Yesterday was “Big Animals Like Sharks And Crocodiles Killing People And Causing Mayhem” day on the SyFy channel, which I full up appreciated. There ain’t nothin’ like a little bit of shark/crocodile chomping action to help your coffee go down smooth.

Oh, one thing that cracked me up was on Dinoshark, where the main lady person was looking up ancient sharks on the internet and found the one that had been terrorizing the Mexican resort town in which the movie takes place.  She calls the main dude to tell him this, then gets off the phone, backs away from the laptop and takes off her shirt. Aaaand: scene change! She apparently just felt like ripping her shirt off for no particular reason beyond the obvious.

Whut.

Oh B movies, you are terrible!

Despite all that, it actually was one of the better SyFy made-for-TV movies, but that is not saying much.

Today I went to Target to buy lightbulbs because my porch light is always going out (I always leave it on) and it takes a specialized type of curvy bulb that I accidentally broke the last two of a few weeks ago, while rifling around in the light bulb cupboard (I forget what I was doing). While I was at Target I noticed that today was the day that the Liberty of London stuff arrived.

I like the bold patterns. They had a lot of stuff at this Target which is just a regular Target. But they didn’t have any bed linens that I could find. I would have impulsively and stupidly bought bed linens, so they were totally off the mark as far as targeting my consumption.  They did have a duvet set, but honey, I’ve got duvets.

I did like some of their kitchen stuff and I would love to have the big peacock feather patterned pillow to brighten up my futon couch, but I’m not paying $20 for a pillow.  So I opted for the $5 peacock feather mug:

DSC03326

I liked the other patterns on the mugs as well, but I totally already have mugs and try to limit my mug acquisitions to ones that I think are really really awesome like my knitted texture mug from sbux.

The rest of the Liberty of London stuff was pretty nice. The clothes were cute but I was disappointed that they were for the most part made out of horrible chiffon/rayon blends which make my skin feel like it is burning off when it touches me. Nice! There were a couple of cotton things but not in the – you guessed it – peacock feather pattern.

ANYWAY besides watching sharks eat people and buying light bulbs and unnecessary mugs, I did work on a couple things this weekend:

DSC03338

This is the French Quarter Sock from Knitspot. Oh how I adore Anne Hanson’s patterns! I am knitting this out of Knitpicks Gloss in the Kenai colorway and I like it a lot. However it might be too soft for cable work. I’m not totally sold on its stitch definition. Other than that, though, it’s a win as fair as sock yarn is concerned. OH BTW do you see the tiny tiny circular needle up in there? It’s a 9″ Hiya Hiya that I got last weekend at the Yarn Boutique. I think I really like the tiny tiny circular, but not for cable work, so I might switch back to DPNs. However, I think for whipping out a plain sock they will be awesome. You do have to rearrange the way you knit because you’re really knitting with the tips of your fingers.

And then the other thing I am working on is a plain jane sock out of some old Trekking XXL in #167 that I’ve had laying around for years.

DSC03331

I am going to try to finish these, I really am. Really. They are kind of boring, obviously, but won’t they be nice when they’re done? Argh. I think keeping the leg shortish (about 5 inches) will help.

I am also working on a cardigan but it is also boring and stockinetty. More on that later.

VAILA

I used to hate to purl. It just isn’t my favorite thing ever.  Especially great swaths of purling like that which is practically the entire body of Vaila.

Vaila

Vaila is knit from the bottom up, both the sleeves and body. I, of course, couldn’t be hacked to actually follow the directions. So, I knit it top down.

My aunt has accused me of not being very specific when it comes to talking about the mods I make on my knits, which are plentiful and varied. So here are the mods that I made, just for you, AUNTIE M.

  1. Knit from the top down. I use the 35/15 method: that is, the front and back use 35% of the stitches each and the sleeves use 15% of the stitches each. This means that if you cast on 100 stitches the front will have 35 stitches, the back 35 stitches, the right sleeve 15 stitches, the left sleeve 15 stitches.  Place markers at each of these stitches. I can’t quite explain the math because math (especially percentages) breaks my brain, but I can assure you that using this method works. At least for me. I also used the number of stitches at the CAST OFF part of the pattern as a starting point, then knit K2P3 ribbing for an inch. (Should have gone a little longer – and I may carefully rip out the neck ribbing and redo.)
  2. The top-down knit raglans: To get the same look as the raglans in the pattern, the increases you  will need to use are:  knit to 3 stitches before the marker, “purl front and back in the stitch” (similar to kfb), knit 1, kfb.  With these increases you will get the same look as the pattern, which is knit stitches on a sea of purl.
  3. I didn’t convert the lace insert at all.  I knit it as is, and it looks pretty much the same no matter which direction it’s pointed.
  4. I knit the sleeves inside out.  I couldn’t stomach the thought of all the purl in the round, even though I don’t hate purling anymore.  So  I knit the sleeves in the round and then turned it right side out and knit the cuffs. If you do this, you should be careful that you make sure to  pick up the underarm stitches in the right way so the seem is on the inside of the sweater.

I think that is it in terms of modifications.

Vaila

Anyway, here are the stats:

Pattern: Vaila from Twist Collective
Yarn: Berroco Vintage (An acrylic/wool blend.  I like it.)
Gauge: I dunno
Needles: US 9 29″ circular

 Happy Monday (and MARCH, wow), dudes. 

So, now I am totally working on another sweater. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I haven’t knit on a sock in three months!