Borked

My computer...it is not in the best shape...

More a.s.a.p.

'Remember to Remember'

 

'Drive-by' would be an exaggeration

But it's still November 10, and this is technically a post, so that meets my notNaBloPoMo requirements.

WIP Wednesday

And hey, it's a hat!

This is a Dean Street Hat for my niece Sarah, in Malabrigo Worsted. The colourway is called Shocking Pink. I disagree with the name -- it's far too bland to be 'shocking' -- but it's lovely nonetheless. When it's done, it will look exceptionally similar to this one, knit for Sarah's big sister Elizabeth:

 

This one's also in Mmmmmal Worsted. Colourway: Hollyhock. 

I love this pattern. Cabling without a needle for the win! The designer, Mal Gal extraordinaire Nina Machlin Dayton, gives a nice tutorial for the procedure, which makes it easy, too. I see many more of these in my future. Oh, and it's a freebie, too, and also comes in a chunky weight version -- the math's all done for you. 

What's your latest favourite pattern?

Heading towards the Holidays

Perhaps 'Hurtling towards the Holidays' would be a better title, in Piggy's case. I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news, but in the interest of lighting a fire under my posterior (and those of my fellow pre-process knitters and crocheters who may want a nudge), I feel impelled to mention Christmas is but 46 short days away. And Channukah, although a tad on the late side this year, just 41 days away.

It's about this time each year that I begin to appreciate just how ridiculously optimistic the gift-knitting plans I made early in the year truly are (seriously, I must have been smoking something particularly strong this summer...a couple of days ago I came across a handwritten -- well, scrawled, anyway -- list that suggests I was planning to knit no less than five cowls, four scarves, three lace shawlettes (LACE? WTF, Piggy?), two children's cardigans and a pair of socks...I'm astonished eight maids-a-milking or 11 pipers piping didn't make the list, frankly), and I start to scale down. Waaaaaaay down.

Problem is, I really do have several people I want to give a gift to this year. And I'm broke. And I have, well...rather a lot of yarn. Hand knits really are my best option. So...

Hats. Hats are good. Small. Quick. Portable. Plenty of options for different yarns. Yessir, hats are the ticket. And it just so happens, I have a whole bunch of new patterns to pre-process before starting this year's frenzied Giftmas knitathon:




Interweave's Weekend Hats has a surprisingly large number of patterns I really like. I generally go by the one-to-five rule: for every five dollars a magazine or book costs, I want one pattern that I really think I'm likely to knit. Realistically, I never knit any of them, but I need to really think I will...
This book has at least 10 designs I want to knit. Starting with Laura Irwin's Layered Cloche, Tanis Gray's Everdeen Beanie (pictured on the book's cover, above), and Kristen TenDyke's Shore Hat.
You can see all the patterns in the book on Ravelry here.
So...what are you knitting for the holiday season?

Exhausted

Just a drive-by post today, I'm afraid; its been a long and mostly craptastic day, and this night owl is struggling to stay awake at the ridiculously early hour of 9 pm. But it's notNaBloPoMo, so something's got to go up here.

How about a link to a recipe I'm hoping to try this winter...once "my" parsnips in beentsy's garden are harvested?

Parsnip Cake (yes -- CAKE!).

Knitting stuff tomorrow. Really.

Not at all...they could be carried.

Carried home with me from Whole Paycheque every week, methinks... The coconut yogurt -- excuse me, the 'cultured coconut milk' -- gets a thumbs-up. Not as nommy as yogurt, yogurt, but much nicer than soy yogurt.

 If the titles of this and the previous post make no sense at all to you, you might need some schooling in one of the best films ever made:

Knitting content tomorrow!

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Something wonderful happened today.

On my way home from my shift at the shelter, I made my standard visit to Whole Paycheque. And, as I've done pretty much weekly for months and months and months, I headed to the yogurt section, in the hopes of finding a certain something. Something one of the very nice Whole Paycheque staff (and kitten adopter!) told me way back in 2010 was supposed to arrive in mid-February. First week of March at the latest. You know, just as soon as all the red tape surrounding importation of this item into Canada was cut and disposed of.

May I remind you that:

• Piggy is not the most patient person on the planet; and
• it is now November.

Ahem.

So I might, I think, be forgiven for losing faith in the nice Whole Paycheque dude who loves kittens. And for issuing a rather loud, stage-whisper-like "squee" (or rather, "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" upon seeing these:

I might even be forgiven for dropping my basket on the floor in surprise, and doing a bit of a jig. You know, had I actually done that. Which I would never, ever have done. Nope.
These coconuts, against all expectations, finally arrived.
Now I'm just worried it won't live up to a year's worth of expectations. Verdict to come tomorrow. 

In which Piggy's clock goes THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!

I have never wanted children. Seriously, never. When I was about...I dunno, 10? 12? I told my dad that I might want to get married one day, but I didn't want to have babies. His response?

"Well then, why the Hell would you want to get married?"

But that's a philosophical discussion for another day. Or, well...not. I digress. Wildly.

Point is, this evening, my ovaries started doing somersaults in a rather peculiar way. 

This happened while I was holding the absolutely, uncontestably perfect new life that is baby Ava...

...who just happens to be wearing my Friday Finished Object,a teeny-tiny ribbed hat in Piggy's favourite pink yarn (Fuchsia Malabrigo Worsted) for Miss Ava, whose lovely wee head is still a little bit small for all the hats her lovely mum megknitficent had on hand. One tweet-to-arms later, and I cast on this afternoon.

I was a lucky Piggy indeed to be able to deliver the hat this evening, and steal the babe from her mum, dad and grandma for a bit. 

There really is a biological clock...99% of me doesn't want babies, but tonight, the other 1% took over. If only for a half hour or so.

Ooooh, baby!

Make that babies.

Fortunately for Piggy, it doesn't really matter that I don't have any exciting accomplishments to write about, three of my knitting pals have each done something remarkable in the last couple of weeks. The same thing, in fact. Well, same-same, but different, as one of my favourite Indian expressions goes.

Carly, Gabrielle and Megan have all welcomed new babies recently. And I actually managed to get some baby knitting done.

First came Carly's gorgeous baby girl, Zélie. I still have to get her present packed up and sent to Newfoundland, but here it is, anyway...






That is an in threes cardigan (love this pattern!), in Spud & Chloe Sweater, along with an improvised beanie.

Next up was Gabrielle, who has a new bouncing baby boy. Who will have a new hat delivered to him on Monday.

 


I know, you've seen this picture before. :o) That's a Sweet and Simple Baby Hat, in Malabrigo Worsted. So soft and cuddly. 

And last, but not least, Meg delivered her wee baby girl (known affectionately -- really! -- as 'The Dictator'), arrived last night. It'll be a little while before she can wear my shower gift:

 


Yes, that would be another in threes. I told you I loved the pattern! This one is in Malabrigo Rios. Nom, nom, nom.

Welcome, babies! And congratulations, parents! 

And hooray for baby knits. I really love knitting for babies...like the recipients, the projects are super-cute, and I don't have to deal with them for too long. ;o)

Now with more vikings

I almost forgot I was blogging again! (Surprise, surprise, surprise.) Time is ticking down on November 2nd, so a few minutes ago I opened Flickr to dig up a few recent pictures into a quick 'wordless Wednesday' -style post. Not a terribly inspiring effort, it's true, but better than nothing, right?

Well, as I went through my photostream, it occurred to me the I should probably introduce you to some newcomers chez Piggy:











I've known these guys for as long as I can remember. They lived on the dining room bookshelf in the house I grew up in, and then on a shelf in the guest bedroom of the house my parents retired to. And then, this summer, when my mum downsized (a wee bit) from that house to a townhouse, I took the opportunity to plunder (see what I did, there?) her belongings, and they came to live with me. 
Clearly they are the Flying Pig Knits new mascots. Only problem: they don't have names. Suggestions, anyone?

This is not a NaBloPoMo post

I am planning to post every day this month, as I've attempted to do each November since starting this blog. But unlike the previous three Novembers, I will not be participating in National Blog Posting Month.

I have mixed feelings about what I'm about to write; in fact, I was about to skip Day One entirely, rather than talk about it at all. So I'm churning this out quickly. Which is probably the worst thing I could do -- publishing a rant without the benefit of a sober second thought.

But I'm doing it anyway. 

This year, NaBloPoMo moved from its original 'home' at ning.com and is now being hosted at BlogHer. BlogHer, as  you might guess (if you are not already familiar with it), is women-centric online community that "creates opportunities for more than 27 million women who blog and their readers to gain exposure, education, community, and economic empowerment."

Which is fine. Great, even. I'm all for celebrating women's blogs. I am, after all, a woman. A woman with a blog, in fact. (A sadly neglected blog, to be sure, but it's a blog, damn it!)

But for me, NaBloPoMo isn't about celebrating women and women's blogs. It's about celebrating blogs, period. And I'm not really comfortable with this event being hosted on a women-centric site. 

To be clear: BlogHer is not discriminating against NaBloPoMo blog posts written by men (or dogs, cats, balls of sock yarn, or anyone else, I presume). There appear to be plenty of blogs written by men on the November blogroll.

Yet something about BlogHer hosting NaBloPoMo just rubs me the wrong way. And this bit of encouragement from NaBloPoMo's founder, Mel, in a parting e-mail, The Old NaBloPoMo Site Closes Tonight, doesn't assuage that feeling: 

And yes, yes, 1000 times YES, guys are welcome to blog on BlogHer -- not only on NaBloPoMo, but anywhere on the site. 

Maybe I'm cynical, but methinks she doth protest too much. If you have to keep reassuring men (and let's face it, the main target of that sentence is men) they are welcome, you're doing it wrong. And it just rubs me the wrong way.

So no NaBloPoMo for me this year. I will, however, be back tomorrow, with another post (this time, with knitting content!), and with luck, another the next day, and the next day, and the next day...