Vacated, Vacant, Vacuous?

Best Quote I Heard All Day
Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?--Mark Twain

Because I have five days off. That's it for this summer, other than Labor Day weekend.

So I'm makin' it short and sweet. Bulletpoints. Bite me.

Da Mags

• The new VK is out and it's one of the best in a long time. Why? Because it's loaded with Canadians. Between the Canadians and the Brits, there's a shitload of talent. (That's not to say there aren't any Americans on my list--but that list seems to be dwindling.) And here's something quite excellent that's on VK's site. A video showing a number of the garments. This is a brilliant idea and something that should be de rigeur for all of the magazines.

• The new IK should be in the hands of subscribers now. Loopy got hers and said that it was OK, a few good designs (once again, Veronik Avery, naturellement). I have seen it online and honestly, I think VK wins this one.

• Knitters'? The X-Men have truly created a cyber-morass. In the impossibly fucked-up web site they call "The Knitting Universe," that Gordian knot of links, subpages, and miscellanous dead ends, the Gallery for issue 92 is broken. What else would you expect? Clearly, someone started to set it up and then, oh whoops, forgot to put the images into the right directory. Links don't work, boneheads. Pictures ain't loading. I guess they got lost in the Universe. IT Rule of Thumb: It don't go live if it's fucked up. (Unless, of course, you work with Slovenian developers.) Would you buy a magazine whose staff can't even design a decent web site, let alone a functional one? Rhetorical question, purely.

Open Mic Thursday

Well, since I'm mentally on vacation, I had to think this one over. It seems to me that with all the nightmare crap on the news, knitting has become more and more a focal point for me. Hey, nobody's stabbed anyone recently with a #1 dp, have they? Or did I miss that on CNN? Or Faux News? (You have to love Olbermann for that one, along with "Ann Coultergeist," "The Comedian Rush Limbaugh," "Billow," and "Murdoch St. Journal." Brilliant man.)

Anyway, with knitting being more important than anything (ask any KnitDweeb), recently Loopy and I had this conversation about how many methods of casting on are truly necessary. We both agreed that we use the same four: long-tail, provisional (crocheted), cable, and knitted-on aka lace cast-on. This topic was a segue from the uselessness of POK and other tomes that offer you more crap than you'll ever need to know.

So ponder this:

What technique/method have you attempted that you found to be a total waste of time?

I can name at least two that I've mucked around with and wished I hadn't, but I'll let you go for it.

If you belong to the Knit It Because You Can School of Thought, I'm sure you won't have anything to say.

Anyway, skanks, I'm off to bed. I have gotten a bit done on the Loden Mist jacket. In fact, I'm on the final piece, the second sleeve. Then it's block 'n' sew. Should be done next week. I will say this: The directions were ghastly. And there was a glaring error in them, too. Caveat Knitter's. The pattern was marked Experienced. Yes. Experienced in figuring out shit that Knitter's fucks up. Rare and handy is an accolade they'll never get from me.

P.S. The Punk Princess just got her learner's permit and had her first driving lesson today. She reassured me that "I did REAL good, Gram. No matter what ANYONE says." I'm taking her shopping tomorrow for her belated birthday present, a starter bass guitar. She wants to drive my car. I'm going to let her do it. Because I'm her Gangsta Gram. Be afraid of very tiny blonde punk chicks behind the wheel. And a slightly anxious bottle blonde grandmother sitting next to her.

Best Quote I Heard All Day
If somebody makes me laugh, I'm his slave for life.--Bette Midler

Ain't that the truth?

Give me a man who can make me laugh uncontrollably. Not that I'm generally in control, anyways.

A Slight Change in Schedule
Due to the fact that A) it's summer, B) work continues to pile up, and C) my social life seems to have suddenly lighted a fire under its sorry ass, I'm going to move Open Mic Tuesday to Thursdays, just so's the blog gets balanced out with entries. And then try to get an entry posted either Saturday or Sunday.

OK, so I spent a good part of today in the water, lake and pool. Fucking bite me. I could have started writing an entry earlier than 11 p.m. But it was hot and sunny outside here in NJ, and I was hot and sunny. So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Campanula
Sounds like an Italian dessert, doesn't it? "Oh garcon, bring me a slice of that swell Campanula, heavy on the whipped cream." Well, despite my busy schedule, I've managed to complete a big chunk of the Campanula cardi. Back, one front, one sleeve--done. Here's the back:


Not a great picture, simply because it was almost 11 when I took it, plus I was out being rowdy tonight and had a couple of drinks. My bad. But this has been a terrific knit, pretty easy but kinda like a good book--you can't wait to get to the end, you're turning the pages and reading it at 2 a.m., and then when you've reached the last page, you feel bad because it's over.

Suffice it to say that it ain't over yet but I would expect I will have it done by next weekend or so.

Having seen the preview of the new Knitter's on their gawd-awful morass of a website, I have to say that this Spring issue was definitely Dragonboy on 'ludes. Or something. Because the Summer issues sucks, big time. With three of his absolutely revolting schmattehs (one on the cover, of course), plus more from that hapless crowd of Anonny Mouses known as the Knitter's Design Team (is burning at the stake too good a punishment for lousy designs?), I'd say that the X-Men are back to their usual low standards. If there were not a roll of toilet paper left on the planet, I'd wipe my ass with leaves rather than use the Summer issue of Knitter's.

OK, I feel better now.

The Bloggyversary
July 25 marks the 5th anniversary of this blog. Hard to believe that I started writing this as grief therapy and it ended up where it has (not quite sure where that is, but what the fuck).

I've decided to do a very special project to mark that occasion. It's going to be something completely different from anything I've ever done. I'll be working on it during my vacation, which blessedly starts on June 30 and runs until July 8. So stay tuned.

And a New Project
Not that I have much else to do but one of the things that's been on my mind is the transposition of Barbara Walker's stitch patterns to charts, using Knit Foundry's Knit Visualizer. (Read my review of this outstanding charting software in the sidebar.) I will, of course, give full credit to Knit Foundry and Nancy. (Incidentally, she's working on an upgrade that will include not only color capability but other enhancements and bug fixes.)

I forget which of my readers mentioned this possibility but it's been one that I've been mulling over and have decided to do. The beauty of Knit Visualizer is that it has been programmed to accept BW's abbreviations and will parse them into symbols.

So beginning this week, I will start transposing. Now, how I'm going to archive these charts is an IT issue that I have to work out. Clearly, a database is needed and being the techie that I am, I do have some solutions. That said, I will make these charts available to you guys from this blog, probably via a link.

So, you ask, what made you decide to do this? Well, for one thing, I feel the need to contribute more to the general knowledge base. And as I stated in the last entry's comments, I have abandoned the book idea simply because I am not willing to write a book about myself. I don't have any cute anecdotes about knitting. Sorry, but there's nothing cutesy about me or my knitting, other than the fact that I did knit in Carnegie Hall last night during the intermission of a piano recital.

I will start with the first volume, probably with the lace patterns and then on to the cables. As far as other textured stitches are concerned, I will save those for the last, since they are the ones that least need charting, in my opinion. Obviously, this is going to take me a hell of a long time but I think it will be more than worthwhile, for me and for the rest of you.

After all, when I think about editing written-out lace patterns back in the '80s, charts are more than rare and handy. They are now indispensable.