Just one reason I will never live in LA

This picture was taken on I-5, right around the southern end of the LA city limits, at about 11am on a Thursday. Okay, it was the Thursday between Christmas and New Years, but still.

Note that traffic is backed up in both directions. It was backed up basically from Irvine to Valencia. Ick.

I'd like to also comment that this is not the most scenic stretch of freeway in the world, especially at 2 MPH.

New Yarn Store Record

We are currently wrapping up our visit with the in-laws in San Diego. Happily for me, hubby's Aunt T knits, and also happily, hubby and Grandma were content to hang with the kids while Aunt T and I yarn shopped. We visited five stores yesterday, a personal record. I bought stuff at four out of the five. Hey, the kids got Legoland and the zoo, hubby got hours of football on tv, I get yarn. Fair enough.

And I like the zoo, too.

Hmmm.....

Today I found myself wondering what sorts of visitors they normally get in Encinitas.

Sweet

This afternoon I was waiting to pick up Thing 1 at school. The first graders spend part of the day on "rotation," which means they go to another teacher's class. Because all the classrooms open directly to the outside, the kids have to walk outside to return to their regular classroom. So as I was waiting, a bunch of kids came out of Thing 1's room. A couple of boys started running, and suddenly one of them lost his shoe. He fell, and dozens of papers scattered from the notebook he was holding. Without missing a beat, the girl behind him picked up his shoe and brought it to him. Then while he stood there looking helpless, she carefully gathered up his papers and handed them back to him.

Knit this!

You wouldn't think anything could top the knitted womb from Knitty, but here ya go: an entire knitted digestive system, all the way from tongue to anus! I doubt I'll be knitting this one myself anytime soon, but you gotta admire the effort. At this rate, eventually one could knit an entire anatomically correct human being. Elsewhere on Matie Trewe's web pages, she has a knitted donut and a shrug with lacey skulls.

Moebius Basket

Felted Moebius Basket from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. It took me several tries to get the moebius cast-on correct, during which I did not lose my patience, because casting on incorrectly multiple times is still more fun than grading papers. I like this cute little guy because:

1. Once I figured out the cast-on, it was a very quick project
2. It used a single skein of variegated Manos that I couldn't not buy (oh, I do love Manos), but which I had no use for
3. It's felted. I love felting--it's like magic
4. It's a moebius, which is just kinda cool
5. I can put stuff in it
   

Knitting Needle Cases

I sewed these using the pattern in Stitch 'n Bitch. They're easy to make; well within the reach of my extremely limited sewing talents. The one on the right is my own, which I've been using for over a year. I just finished the one on the left as a Christmas gift for a pink-loving family member. I really like using these--they've saved me much time searching for needles, and everything stays nice and neat, no matter how chaotic the rest of my life becomes.

Winter Is Here

This morning the grass was frosty. Allison and I agreed that when Ruthie was outside for her morning potty, her breath vapor made her look like a furry dragon. And all my students are bundled up this morning in parkas and scarves. This is as close as it gets to winter here.

And the Winter Knitty is up, and it's a particularly big edition. I am positive that some Pocket Creatures are in my near knitting future; probably Marley as well. But first I need to figure out how to do Cat Bordhi's Mobius cast-on. It's not that I can't figure it out; it's just that every time I try, I end up with a different number of stitches, none of which resemble the actual number of stitches I'm supposed to have.

Vegan Fox

Allison is modeling the Vegan Fox, from Knitty. Unfortunately, between the black yarn I chose and my crappy photography skills, it's impossible in these pictures to see the detail on its face. You'll just have to believe me that it's cute. At least Allison and I think so. Dennis said, "What the hell is THAT?"

There's a special irony for me with this piece, because one of my grandfathers was a furrier (and I'm not vegan, but I don't eat mammals).

Al's shirt, BTW, is from Baby Wit, which is also where we got Quinn's "I already know more than the President" shirt.