Blitherings – Page 193 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Customer Service

I died when I watched this!

From BoingBoing.net:

Belgium’s much-reviled phone company Mobistar was elaborately pranked by a program on VRT Belgium; the pranksters hid themselves in a steel container, which they had dropped directly in front of the gates of a large Mobistar office at 5AM. The container had a prominent customer service number printed on the side of it — a number which rang the pranksters inside the container — that was promptly called by a series of Mobistar employees who wanted to get the container moved off before 2,000 Mobistar employees reported for work and found the parking lot blocked off.

The pranksters proceed to put the Mobistar employees through a high-art comedic phone hell, disconnecting them, subjecting them to terrible hold music (performed live from within the container on a little synthesizer), gradually ratcheting the misery up in a Dante-worthy re-enactment of every terrible, awful mobile phone company experience.

The program was a huge hit in Belgium (be sure to watch it all the way through for the a killer punchline), and has been captioned in English for those of us in the anglosphere to enjoy.

Josh’s Cardigan, ii

I have gotten past the pocket insertion, and continue the tedious task of stockinette until I am ready to begin the armholes. Here is the pattern thus far:

Gauge: 4 sts / inch on US size 9 needles – sorta!

Cast on: Using stretchy cast on, cast on 144 stitches onto US size 7 needles. K1, p1, k1, p1, k1, pm, *p2, k2* until last 7 sts on needle, end p2, pm, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1.

Repeat these rows, knitting and purling back and forth as the stitches present themselves, until ribbing reaches 2.75 – 3 inches in length. End ready to begin right side row.

Body: Follow first five stitches. K2, M1, k6; continue to second marker. There should be an increase of 20 stitches. End with last five stitches as presented on needles.

Pockets: Continue until ____ from bottom – time to begin the pockets!

This is what has since occurred since the first entry of Josh’s Cardigan – note the changes in sts cast on:

Changes in cast-on: Using stretchy cast-on, cast on 146 sts. K1, p1, k1, p1, k1, pm, *p2, k2* until last 7 sts on needle, end p2, pm, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1.

Increase as above. Total: 166 sts.

Place markers to indicate the sides so that you have the following markers: 5 sts (button band), pm, 39 sts (front), pm, 78 sts (back), pm, 39 sts (other front), pm, 5 sts: total of 4 st markers.

Pockets: Continue until 6.5 inches from bottom of the cardigan. End ready to begin a knit row. Follow button band sts. K12, drop main color. Using contrasting yarn to mark pocket, k15. Extend a long strand of original yarn about 6 inches, k12 to marker. K along back to next marker. K12, drop main color. Using contrasting yarn to mark pocket, k15. As before, extend long strand of yarn, k12, follow button band pattern.

And now, continue to follow pattern stitches as required until you reach desired length to underarm: _____ inches.

. . . to be continued!

Laziness . . .

. . . looks attractive, but work gives satisfaction.

Remember reading this?

It really is true. Finishing something, even minute, if viewed from the perspective this is what I am doing with my life – with !?!? or @$%*(&! added to the end – makes one reconsider the smallest activities.

Monday was a holiday, Martin Luther King Day specifically, and that day I sat down with my pile of UFOs from my husband’s office. I finished off the ends of two sweaters, two pair of socks. I finished a hat. I sewed on 10 buttons.

The result was quite satisfying, although one sweater is not really to my liking as much as I hoped. The other one I am pleased with and wore it yesterday. It’s construction is simple, knit in the round, raglan sleeves. The other has set in sleeves, something I really dislike, that I sewed in rather poorly and then felted. The fabric itself is nice, but the neckline is lower than I like as well as a bit puckery, but I believe I can fix both problems with a bit of thought. Then that sweater will be more satsifying.

Laziness? On that subject, when I am feeling lazy, I am either restless or bored, and cannot focus. When I am in a leisurely frame of mind, I am far from being aimless. Leisure is a luxury, and something I savor because it is a treat of an ethereal nature, and can be filled with a conscientious choice to do nothing, or filled with pleasures, such as knitting, reading, gardening, painting, or whatever appeals to me at the moment. It can be very unproductive when it comes to completing tasks, but very productive in restoring a sense of well being on all levels of existence – mental, physical, spiritual.

UFOs are Landing!

Yarn Balls Rolling!

What was supposed to be a two-week interim stay by my brother turned into five months. We moved the guest bed in my husband’s office into my studio so that Josh, who telecommutes, would not be kicking my brother out at 5:30 a.m. All the stuff in my studio, where the bed landed, migrated to the former bed space in my husband’s office.

Last night I dove into the knitting projects which had begun piling up there. Some people live out a suitcase quite tidily – I admit, I do not – and using borrowed space is sort of the same. The result was a treasure trove of lost needles (more than few, and lots more than several), projects, yarn. In the mix I found two sweaters which need finishing up, like weaving in ends, that I had neatly folded into a bag and promptly lost. Also, a beret or two or three or four in various stages of design and failure. The list grows.

Paint Brushes Ready to Escape!

The remaining items include the tansu which stores my suzuri and varied painting supplies, rolls of paper, and a box full of ink-painting supplies (mostly sumi and hake brushes) which I have been hoping to sell here on Ink, Yarn & Beer, to see if anyone might be interested in a few specialty items. My light table is also in there and who knows what else!

Photoscaping is Happening!

And while I am at it, a wonderful, easy-to-use, free program to edit digital images just released an upgrade. Photoscape is a fantastic product. I use it for quick editing of jpg files (it does not support raw files, as far as I know), especially those with color issues, such as being too red. For those red ones, I decolor the image to -3 or -4, depending.

Now it has frames! I used one of the gradated ones for these. Check it out – there is a bit of learning curve, but I have found it quite easy.

And?

It takes time to re-organize after such a disruption. Available space is different than it used to be as the bed is staying in the studio. The best part – hooray – is I can paint with far easier access to supplies.

Ciao!

Morning Walk

Wicket (our dog) and I went for a walk this morning, just around the neighborhood, less than a mile, but in that time frame, he sniffed a lot, and I looked a lot. The cold snap we have had here is gone, for now at least – it was 78 F yesterday – and today is supposed to be the same.

Leaving the house just before 7:00 a.m., the sun was still low in the sky, which is really lovely for light. I took the little Lumix ZS5, and though I didn’t get any awe-inspiring shots, I did look at the blooms showing up in the flowering pear trees, the new buds on the wisteria, and the golden leaves still clinging to the sycamores.

It has been awhile since I took the time to be outdoors in the earlier hours of the day. I have forgotten how enjoyable the changes in the air and light are as the day begins. Growing up in rural Illinois, sunrise was exciting throughout the year. Those memories linger; living in suburbia, it is so easy to forget the joys of the early morning.