Friday, February 09, 2007

Distracted.

Which I'm sure is a result of an impending conference and my exams the week after that. But all of a sudden, I want to knit everything in sight.


Which also means my yarn diet has gone out the window. It's usually this way with diets for me, especially shopping ones. I'll be good for a while, sometimes a month, sometimes several, and then I'll make one purchase. And then...whee! Get ready for a fast ride down a slippery slope.


I didn't blog about it, but like everyone else, I vowed this year to knit through my stash. I know what I have, and I have projects assigned to at least several batches of yarn. But then I made an innocent little trip to my LYS, because I was going to make an exception to buy yarn for Pasha.


Ever since seeing Ashley's, I've wanted a knitted penguin in my life. And the black and white yarn? Also perfect for the sushi roll toilet paper cover! Cheesey? Kitschy? Yes and yes. But recently I bought what feels like a pallet's worth of Kirkland TP at Costco, and they are all individually wrapped. I feel like this calls for a TP cozy, don't you?


I then saw some Berroco Denim Silk yarn on sale, and I had just been leafing through my copy of Knitting Nature, and knew that this was the yarn used in the Roundabout Leaf Tank. It was on sale! And it's in a color that will look good on me. Have I mentioned that it was on sale?
That was all the damage I did that day, but I ran back two days ago because I missed a friend's birthday and decided to knit the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The book claims that this is a four hour project. Like many of the other projects in this book...doubtful. It's a simple pattern, yes, but with the slipperiness of the Kidsilk Haze and the potential for dropped stitches, it's been slow going for me. And, I was screwing up the last knit together/yarnover combo, so that I was losing stitches but not knowing why. I frogged it twice before I finally figured it out.


I have also been coveting Kodachrome's beret (and a number of others), so I picked up some Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk to make the beret from Greetings from the Knit Cafe.

Do you see a pattern here? Monkey see, monkey want!


I also got suckered into digital cable the other day; I have cable internet, but originally wanted to save money when I moved into my new place, so I skipped the cable TV. Yet when the Time Warner cable salesman came and knocked on my door recently, he may as well have prefaced his pitch by announcing confidently, resistance is futile. I get digital cable for 30 days for free, and then for half off for two months after. Then I can downgrade to basic.


It's pretty ridiculous, me having digital cable, because I really only watch a few shows on network TV, and then sometimes Bravo, AMC, A&E, stuff like that. I honestly don't know what to do with all these channels. And the music? Just discovered it this morning. You know what, though? Don't care. Don't want it.


The one thing I was excited about was....Knitty Gritty! Yay! The other cable provider I had before didn't carry DIY, so I sat myself down as soon as I found the show, heart aflutter in anticipation.


Yay! Marnie MacLean, one of my favorite bloggers, was demonstrating her Hooray for Me! gloves. I love Marnie--she was one of the first bloggers I read when discovering the whole knitblogger world, and she was the first blogger I didn't know personally to respond to a comment. I was in shock when I got her email, but then was happy to tell her how much I loved her, and how generous to put all those beautiful patterns for free on her website.


Anyway, while watching the show, I had that moment where I was like, oh my God, Marnie's a real person. The universe rent in two for a brief second, and then I settled into listening to her voice and thinking that she sounded just like I expected her to.


Vickie Howell, on the other hand...hmmm. She's much more low-key than I expected. She's an Austinite, so I actually have seen her running around the LYS here, kids in tow, hair askew. Obviously, she's totally polished on the show, and so pretty to boot, but I guess I expected her to have a more energetic on-air persona.


Anyway, I've seen a couple more Knitty Gritty episodes since then, and I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed. With the exception of that first episode, where Marnie demonstrated double knitting, the other two have been about pillows. Snooze. Granted, the first one demonstrated applique, and in the second, the guest demonstrated bleaching stripes into the knitting to get a checkerboard design. But still.


One final note on the whole new cable thing--I called Time Warner because I couldn't figure out how, or I couldn't remember, how to record on my VCR from the cable box. I got a nice young man in technical support who helped me fix the way the cable box defaulted to channel one (the reason I didn't record 24 last Monday, but instead a whole hour of the Time Warner sales pitch).


Just to confirm, I asked him, so I set my VCR to channel 3, and then leave the cable box on the channel I want. Pause. Oh, no offense, he says, but I didn't realize you said VCR. I thought you said DVR.


Mmm, no. I have a VCR.


Oh, I'm sorry. I've never hooked up a VCR to to cable, myself.


You're making me feel old, I wailed.


Sorry. I'm into the technology.

So this is how it happens, folks. One day, you wake up, and when you're not even aware of it, and when you may even think you're advancing by hooking up digital cable, you instead turn into a technology dinosaur.

6 Comments:

At 12:47 PM, Blogger KODACHROME said...

No, no, not a techno dinosaur!!! Just a smart, intellectual woman who has much better and more important things to do with her time--such as knitting TP covers.(BTW: I *love* those sushi TP covers, and am so happy you linked to them.)

Would it help if I told you I don't own a cellphone? Would it help if I told you that I don't have cable, that I get six-or-seven TV channels, one of which is a shopping network, one, a Christian network who says we're all going to hell, then there is the fuzzy, black-and-white PBS station (I keep moving those bunny ears to no avail!), followed up by the predictable four major networks. Would it help if I told you that I've never seen 24 or Lost or whatever might be the other hit shows?

As for the impulsive buying up of yarn before the conference and exams, this act is *totally* reasonable and expected. Something's gotta get us ladies through such times, and if it's not the booze, then yarn's the next best thing!

PS: Thanks for the compliment on my beret. :)

 
At 2:05 PM, Blogger Ashley said...

You, in fact, saw my very FIRST Pasha--the one I gave to Alex as a god-luck defense present. Which is also when Vim and Alex outed me as a knit blogger. Ah, memories.

LMKG is a fountain of lies. And you deserve lots of yarn for both the conference and the 3-area.

 
At 2:26 PM, Blogger Nancy said...

I think I'm going into an "urge to start" period, too. I've finished a few things and now I'm itching to cast on! Pascha is so cute - yes, I think you need one. And, don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure you would hook up a VCR the same way you hook up a DVR.

 
At 6:12 AM, Blogger Karen said...

Yarn diet??? We don't need no stinking yarn diet!! LOL You sound a lot like me, I try to save money and don't shop at all - but then it's like a dam breaks and I need to buy everything in site!! That tank is going to be beautiful and I really love the color. I had A LOT of trouble tying to knit an Airy Scarf and ended up frogging the whole thing when I was three rows from finishing - but that was over a year ago. I'm hopeful it will go a bit more smoothly next time I try, but I do think it's a challenging pattern that gives the illusion of being pretty easy. :)

 
At 8:20 AM, Blogger Elizabeth said...

I know what you mean about the whole monkey see, monkey want syndrome. I fell into the trap the other day at my LYS where I went in for something specific, but then got seduced into buying yarn that was on sale. In my defense: it was a good sale, and it was periwinkle. Enough said.

I'm a little jealous of your cable - I'd love to see Knitty Gritty - and also some of those crap reality shows that are on Bravo - but it's strictly Netflix for me.

Good luck on your exams!

 
At 8:10 PM, Blogger Marisa said...

OK, did I ever tell you the story about my dad and the remote control he thought was the phone? That's a dinosaur story!

And, while I thought I'd never be caught dead with a TP cover, who can resist sushi? tan cute!

And sweetie, don't hate me but I tagged you.

 

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