Math - we hateses it

So once upon a time, when this WoolMonkey was in high school, she loved math so much she wanted to teach it. Then she taught remedial algebra to a bunch of high school kids and it took all of 40 minutes for that dream to die. Yet she still loved math (albeit was confused as to why others didn't) and she went on to major in both math and something useful (not to say math isn't useful, but there aren't many options outside of teaching or research for theoretical math majors). And she did well, learned about chaos theory and fractals and used her computer science major (the useful one) to animate the fractals to make pretty pictures. She was proud.

And she happily went through life, proud that she needed a calculator to balance her checkbook (not an accountant, theoretical math, no numbers). And then she began knitting. First she knit socks and scarves and hats and the math was easy..different gauge? simple algebra. Need to reduce some stitches in a pattern or the number or the number of repeats? Simple as pi. And then she made a sweater...from the bottom up. and she happily trucked along, following the loosely written pattern until she got to the yoke, where the pattern said 'Decrease evenly over all stitches'. And she looked, and thought, and looked again, and panicked a little and then found a handy decrease calculator and finished her sweater.

Then she decided to start a cardigan. Now this cardigan (Tangled Yoke from Interweave Knits Fall 07) needed a great deal of alterations, as it called for a gauge of 6st/inch and the yarn she was using yielded 4.5st/inch. So she set out modifying the pattern for her gauge...and all was well. The body was knit, the sleeves were knit, the sleeves were attached to the body. And then the decrease round appeared. And she had calculated wrong from the pattern. So she consulted her knitting guru, the Genypher (ravelry link), and her knitting guru came up with a suitable decrease row. And so away she knit. And she discovered that she should probably not be watching the tellie and trying to count at the same time as she had decreased too much. So back she ripped. She sat, stumped, looking at graph paper, wondering how math failed her and the light bulb came on and away she knit again...and decreased too much. And again there was ripping.

The cardigan is currently sitting in a ball on the couch sulking, where I will need to move it when the couch cleaners come today. I'll be working on socks instead.

Day at the beach

Yesterday we decided that dabear needed a trip to the beach. We had actually planned on taking a day trip a few weeks ago, but the weather turned to crap and we decided we didn't want to get rained on, especially if dabear didn't like the beach. We didn't really need to worry.

The boy loved the beach. He liked the people, he met other dogs, he tried to chase a kite. We stayed for about two hours and then took off, because someone was acting like a 2 yr old who wouldn't listen (dabear, not MrMonkey). It was a fun day. We kept him on leash once the beach got more crowded, but we had it pretty much to ourselves when we first got there. Even got some good video. Watch out!

Look Ma!

SLEEVES!!!!
I really like this picture, it looks like the cardigan is just lounging on the back of the couch..."look at me, dahling, look at me". The sleeves were finished and attached last evening and about 3 rounds completed. I'm on the last stretch and I have faint hope of finishing it by Sunday (which was my half-assed ravelympics goal). I don't think I'll have a problem finishing the main part of the cardi, it's the button band and neck band and the button hole band I'm concerned about. I think those will just take more time than I'm expecting, and it's looking like it'll be a busy weekend.

Tuesday marks the day my mother squirted this monkey out into the world (an octopus falling down a ladder is how I've heard the process described). It's the first time in several years that I'm not taking it off work, so this weekend is the celebrations. MrMonkey has some sort of surprise for tonight, we're going to the beach with dabear tomorrow (see if his prissy-ness is still around), and then Sunday MamaMonkey and I are taking a soft cheese class and then doing birthday dinner (including yummy chocolate cake). Mmmm, cheese and cake, two of my favorite non-fiber things.

After the cardi is done, it'll be finishing the incredible late father's day socks (yes, they're socks) and then pondering christmas knitting, god forbid. I have this goal to get all the present knitting done by December 1, so I won't be stressed for the holidays...we'll see if that works. I've also decided not to buy any more yarn until Madrona, which is next February. Excluded from this is yarn for presents and the yarn I'm buying (hopefully with the help of gift cards) for my birthday. Have I showed you the circular cardigan yet? Made from cashmere and silk and alpaca oh my. You'll want to pet me, I promise...wait, that sounded bad.

Peck of Peppers

Apparently a peck is an actually unit of measurement for dry volume. You can find the wikipedia entry with more info than you ever thought you wanted to know about a peck. The relevance of a peck to my post today is thus. Here's what I found when looking closely at my green pepper plant this morning.A pepper plant full of little pepperlets. I should note, that I bought this plant, not because I heart green bell peppers (i don't, they're vile), but because Mr.Monkey loves stuffed peppers. I have never made a stuffed pepper, nor do I think my attempts could match those of his mother and/or grandmother (hispanic family). So the veritable plethora of peppers that my plant is producing (I'm saying this in my head as I type and even my mental tongue is tripping up a little), will likely be given away to many many people. I counted 13 pepperlets without turning the pot. Up to my eyeballs in peppers will I be. Want some?

In other news, Mr.Monkey is jonesing for another dog. While it would be great to have a buddy for the mutt to play with and get all tired out and god knows puppies are cute...do we really need another one of these?
Mmmm...box...nom nom nom.

Not a knitting project...but

It's knitting related. In between coffee dates (with a cute baby who's now walking. The baby didn't drink coffee, although she did chew on the cup) and birthday dinner with the future in-laws (MrMonkey's little brother turned 24 yesterday. and MrMonkey remembered on Saturday. Man needs a calendar), I made this
The i-cord was knit over 4 stitches on US6 dpns. As I didn't have anything bigger and it didn't really dawn on me to use circs. Anyhow. It's knit out of Blue Sky Organic Cotton. The jury is out on whether I like it or not. I think I need to knit something besides i-cord. If you open the bag, and because I haven't washed them lately, you will find
a bag of socks. That's right folks, instead of tossing the lovely hand-knit socks on the floor of the closet, so they stay out of the machine washables basket, they've been getting discarded onto the floor. But no more. I'm a little proud of myself. The closet is clean(er).

Lookie

The socks it took me just a month to knit.and no, I'm not kidding. According to the Ravelry project page, I started these socks exactly a month ago. But they are done, and on my feet, and rather warm and snuggly. I like the wave pattern, but not the purling, so I think i'll try a sock that knits two together instead of purls...and see what happens. I've finally finished translating the cardigan pattern to the appropriate stitches, so that should go without a hitch now...famous last words.

Hurray for nature

I was watering my deck garden when I came across this first tomatoes of the season. I ate the second strawberry (the kid got the first, sneaky devil) awhile back and it was deliciously sweet. I'm hoping that when I get the tomato tomorrow, it'll be the same. Yay gardens.

Dog Days of Summer

Summer has finally seemed to arrive in the Pacific Northwest...at least the summers I remember. It's a toasty 81 degrees outside at the moment, although the weather guessers projected 90. Which is too hot, in my opinion. I haven't been complaining about the 70+ degree weather we've been having...it always amuses me how quickly I acclimate so that 55 degrees requires a hat and gloves. In February 55 will be shorts weather.

The mutt has been suffering in the heat a little. 4 or 5 frisbee throws is all he's good for before he looks like thisAccording to daycare (yes, we send the mutt to daycare twice a week), he's a bit out of shape. While Mr. Monkey has been unemployed, we've only been sending the kid to daycare only once a week. Apparently his girlfriends (yes, plural...we're so proud) can run circles around him.

In other news, I had the fun opportunity of rear-ending someone last evening. Am cursing myself for not getting the brakes looked at on the Pathfinder. I basically couldn't stop in enough time. The other guys car has a very faint outline of my license plate on his bumper...didn't even chip the paint. He had made a comment about not calling it in, but he did and is going to get an estimate and blah blah. His bumper had other scratches and paint issues, so I'm betting it's just to get a new bumper. I did learn something about insurance though. Apparently, if you aren't getting your car fixed, you don't have to pay a deductible. There's no deductible on liability insurance. And since I'm not planning on getting the Pathfinder fixed, it is the beater truck, I'm not out of pocket for anything. I fully expect my insurance premiums to go up, but that's the price I pay for not getting the brakes checked out...which I'm going to go get an estimate for this afternoon. Sigh.

In knitting news, I have made good forward progress on the Tangled Yoke cardigan. I'm still planning on leaving off what makes in tangled, the celtic knotting along the yoke. Wouldn't show up well in the yarn I'm using. I have the body done (picture doesn't show the ribbing detail at the bottom very well) and have started on the sleeves, which I'm doing in the round, two at a time, so hopefully they will go rather quickly. I'm excited/anxious to get this done, as it's cotton and I want to wear it whilst I can. And I'm still plugging away at the mermaiden socks. I'll need to get started on mom's b-day present (oct. 2, but we would like to be ahead of schedule) and then probably start the christmas knitting so I don't go insane waiting until the last minute.

Ooh, Stitch 'n Pitch is tomorrow night. Apparently there are booths set up and yarn for sale...I feel like trouble is a-coming. And with no yarn money in sight (i'm scared of the visa bill this next month...3 plane tickets, 2 nights hotel, and god knows what else is on it). Hopefully I won't see anything I will need. I'll go play in the stash to make sure I'm still feeling overwhelmed by it.