i keep trying to forget that the man who continually lies to the people that vote for him; who pledges more money for AIDS prevention in public and then decreases the amount of money for AIDS prevention in memos; who can’t get enough armored vehicles for the troops, but can order more armored vehicles for his celebration; who says he is a war-time president, but still holds inaugural balls and events, was elected this fall. but it is true. he is a man of the people: the people whose pockets he rides in.

and then i will go out and play. - my niece

and monday was a great play day for me and SOP! we went up into the Uintas to go cross country skiing along the beaver creek. it was clear and beautiful above the haze of the salt lake valley and i have not had this good of a day in ages! we went to the bagel shop (the only one in town that still boils their bagels, which means the only real bagel shop in town) and then hit REI to rent xc gear for me. Then it was out of the smog and into the mountains!

we took dogie, not knowing how well he would do on a long hike: he’s still getting his leg strength back since his surgery, but he did quite well! that was good news. i’d tell you more, but words cannot describe how fun and beautiful the day was, so here are the pics of some very happy beings:


nice profiles, don’t you think?

inspired by my niece’s gift to me of nicky epstein’s knitting on the edge, i made myself a pair of wristlets using the petite bell ruffle for the edge. this used up some blue sky alpaca i had (ooh… soft…) although i made them using some 4.5mm metal needles as my wood ones were in use. yuck. never again. alpaca yarn + metal needles = trip to hell and back.

what do i love most about these items? well, i love being able to knit while wearing them on the cold walks in to work. the fingers on my ‘fingerless’ gloves are a tad (just a tad, mind you, but still a tad) too long to allow the yarn to thread over my finger while wearing them, these wristlets do not pose that problem.

now, you can wear these as the knitting gods intended them:

but you might want to turn the cuffs down:

and if you are all about the frill, and don’t want to hide that frilly goodness while wearing a swetaer, then… ooh, yeah, i am all about the frill (free belly shot included)
these beauties are sure to bring out your inner goth (trust me, i have the black eyeliner to prove it)

so, in reply to a comment i posted on jessica’s blog about the garter ridge cuffed gloves from melanie falick’s weekend knitting, i realized i had never posted a finished picture of these gloves, nor had i posted my comments on the pattern. so, here we are.

first the comments:
1. i made these with a yarn not suited to the gauge of the pattern and, rather than resizing the pattern, forced the yarn to do my bidding. as a result, these gloves are pretty stiff.
2. i goofed on the cuffs and made then too short
3. however, the hand increases occur right after the cuff which, due to the length of the palm, makes the wrist above the cuff too large. if i were to do this again, i would shorten the palm so that the cuff ends where the palm starts.
4. i added extra rows around after creating the pinky finger, which means i created the fingers in a different order than the pattern. why anyone would create a glove with all the fingers starting at the same point is beyond me. have they never looked at their own hands? do they wish they were actually amphibious?

so, the pictures. crappy and small, i am afraid the second one is a blow-up of part of the first and therefore quite pixelated, sigh. might i be falling out of love with these mitts? one thing i know is that they keep my hands warm! love that angora (used elsebeth lavold’s angora yarn in bronzed green).

i spy with my little eye…

i am home sick today. bleagh. left work early yesterday, too. and instead of teaching someone to knit tonight as i was planning, i will be heading back to bed, because, you know, 36 hours of sleep over two days is not nearly enough!

thank goodness for hump-day, the hallucination may be the only thing that keeps me going. BUT i DO have knitting pictures that i hope to get up tomorrow!!! (don’t you hate it when people tease….)