Thrums

Recently, I got an e-mail from KnittingDaily that talked about thrums. I had never even HEARD of thrums.

Thrums are little tufts of wool knitted into each stitch - it makes a fuzzy lining to whatever you're knitting. Like mittens, especially. Apparently, they started out as little bits of left-over yarn - the last 3 yards from the skein you used for your sweater that you just can't bring yourself to throw away... But it was found that they tended to unravel too badly or split or whatever, so they started using unspun wool.

They recommend you use roving (I'm still not clear on what that is) and caution the reader that thrums are a gateway drug - just a short hop from a little wool in every stitch to spinning that wool into yarn.

I had always said that when I got old enough to retire, I would have a spinning wheel and a giant craft-room, filled with dyed yarns waiting to be wound into balls and half-finished projects and more yarn than any one person could ever hope to use... Maybe I don't have to wait that long...

Anyway, for now, I just need to figure out what roving is and get my hands on some. If there's anyone out there - you know who you are - that can offer hints and advice on buying roving (you can buy it, right? This isn't something I'd have to make, is it?), I'm all grateful ears.

I happen to know some one who is allergic to cold (no kidding, she gets hives if she's in less than 60 degree weather for any length of time) and is moving to Nebraska (!!!!). I'm thinking she needs thrums.

Better Knitting through Bavarische Motor Werks

Part I is for Irony.
So, on Tuesday I complained (loudly) that I've been far too well this season and that I really needed a sick day and my boss asked how my new car was and if I still loved it and mentioned that the dealership I had bought it from (owned by those jackals at Toyota of Augusta) had closed down. Wednesday, I woke up with a sore throat and my first thought was that there was no way any one would believe me if I called in sick... but the thought was still tempting. Today is Thursday. It was 26 degrees outside, according to my car. I started the car and drove the half a block to daughter's school to drop her off late (as usual). Then I pulled onto the street and up the hill. Slowly. Very, very slowly. So, I drove around the long way to my house, hoping that as the engine heated up, it'd move faster. Usually works for me, why not my car?

Things seemed to be moving in the right direction after a little bit, so I took the boy to school. I seemed to have a little more power, but it wasn't liking to shift until about 5,500 rpms and when I floored it, my sweet little 6-cylinder engine roared to a whopping 35 mph. Apparently, the fates agreed that it was time for a day off, so I called the office from the parking lot at the boy's school, and raced (ha!) to the GoodYear (lovely people there).

Part II - Enter Yarn
I sat and knitted for about 45 minutes and then they told me that they could change my oil, but that my transmission was sealed, so they couldn't even check that. I'd have to take it to a transmission shop. They recommended the one about a quarter mile closer to my house than they were. I went.

Part Ay yi yi - Diagnosis
I sat and knitted for another hour and a half while the Aamco people test-drove it and tested the computer and the battery and ran diagnostics. The transmission leaks. Not a lot, but some. It was two quarts low. They topped it off. And the rear end is shot. That's the whine I had been hearing and thought it was just my ears being too sensitive (after all, a car I've made all of three payments on should definitely NOT be making funny noises. So I hadn't been listening for any.). They said it needed to be replaced ASAP (appx $500+, emphasis on the plus). The reason I had no power was that my EML light is on, but burned out, so I couldn't see that it was on. Since the EML light is on, the computer is cutting the power to the engine down to about 30%. Maybe the computer's busted; maybe the sensor for the EML light is busted; maybe there's a blown fuse somewhere in there; or maybe my engine is hosed. They couldn't do more without the special BMW software. They recommended the privately owned shop about two miles down Wheeler Rd from Giuseppe's.

Part I.V. - A shot in the arm
The cool part is that we were supposed to get together for lunch at noon at Giuseppe's, which happened to be between me and the next repair shop on the list). I got done at Aamco at 1130 and made it at the same time as my coworkers. I had a ginormous calzone straight from heaven followed by Tiramisu to die for. It really is the best in town, so far.

Part V - Vaiting und vaiting
I got lost, got found (I am the person for whom GPS was invented), grabbed knitting and headed for the assistance desk at the privately owned shop on Wheeler. They only take appointments. I have one for Monday morning. I'll drop the car off Sunday night. *sigh* But my scarf is about 12" long now (9" longer than it was) and I'm really sure not to be late tomorrow... Because I'll be carpooling.

New Year's Justifications and Some Geekery

Yup - hasn't even been a whole month and already I'm... well... it's not broken per se. More like bent. There I was, trying (for the umteenth time) to help my daughter learn how to crochet (see the Emergency Knitting post a few posts back on why I knit). There I was with some cheap acrylic in a shimmery cream (I'm thinking this was something slightly nicer than the [Color] [Organ] brand) and a pretty purple crochet hook. And a generous friend's borrowed ginormous book of crochet stitches that has really good pictures in the front showing you the basics (ooh! I need that book!).

So, I showed her how to make a chain and we worked together for a little bit - she on her shimmery purple acrylic and turquoise hook and me in the cream acrylic and purple hook. Long enough that I ended up with a 9" chain - perfect for a Warm Up America square (9" x 7"). And there was this perfect little stitch that used nothing I wasn't at least a little familiar with in crochet. So far, it's 9" x 3.5" and lovely.

... No, I did not first finish two of the many projects I already had on the needles... It's crochet!! It's not on the needles! It doesn't count! Mostly. Besides, it's for a Good Cause. And it's not like I ran out and bought more yarn for this one. In fact, I'm doing even more good by using up some of that Gawdawful acrylic that's taking up room in my stash (did I mention my resolution to not buy any more cheap acrylic? At least not for many, many years. Maybe someday when I need to crank out an afghan or something.).

On a brighter (read: less guilt-ridden) note, I discovered free podcasts. There are oodles of them! There are ones from NPR (Ooh! Science Friday!) and American Public Media (Ooh! The Writer's Almanac!) and even on knitting (Ooh! Pointy Sticks!)!

Not tooooo terribly long ago, I was introduced by a good friend to the TED Talks. From what I can tell, it's an annual conference in Monterey, CA (WHY?!? did I not know about this when I was there?!?) the premise of which seems to be, "Let's get some really smart people to talk about some stuff." My introduction to these was via YouTube - a talk by a chick who definitely pegs the geekometer. And guess what? There's a PodCast of that, too!! Oh, joyous day!

Emergency Knitting!

I used to think I could crochet. Back when I thought this, and I was pregnant, I did crochet. I glanced at a baby blanket pattern, which called for two strands of yarn held together, and decided to make my own version. I got some fingering-weight acrylic with a good amount of shine - two skeins in New Mint and two in White. I started out with double crochet and went to town. The only problem was, I had a bad eye for proportions, a touch of laziness in crocheting, and absolutely no ability to turn my work correctly. The result was a long skinny piece of material with wavey edges. In hopes of evening it out a bit, I picked one wavey side, and crocheted along the edge for several rows in single-crochet. It was a wreck and by the time I finished, the baby had already been born. This is why I knit.

So, naturally it was this monstrosity of a blankie that my new daughter decided was The Blankie. She named it (him) Blankily, and took him everywhere.

So, there we were waiting for The Runner to finish his Thanksgiving day marathon, on the sidewalk near the Olympic gate in Atlanta, about 150 feet up from the finish line.


I told the children that they could run alongside their father when they saw him, but we had arrived a little early. The kids sat on the curb and busied themselves cracking acorns to see the meat inside. When I spotted The Runner, I told the kids to get ready. We mostly kept up until the finish line.


The Runner passed out some JellyBelly Sports Beans he had been given, had tried, had not liked, and the kids scarfed them up. They're like really gooey blue jelly beans. The Runner grabbed some of the fruit that was provided by the Atlanta Track Club, took a little breather, collected his belongings, and we headed back to Nana's house.


That night, she asked for Blankily. We looked a bit, then I had the idea to check my camera, since I knew she had brought him to the race.


So, I was fortunate to find one skein of New Mint and most of a skein of White from seven years ago stuffed in the bottom drawer of my Stash (thank you, yarn gods!!) and am knitting like mad. The Runner thinks I can get it done by tomorrow night. I don't think there's enough yarn left. I think I will run out of yarn and have to frog it out and make it narrower and start over. I think even if I don't, there's no way I'll be able to get it done by tomorrow night.

A Failed Attempt at Outdoor Knitting, or A Few of My Favorite Things

Yes, that is a pile of cats sitting on my lap, on top of my knitting, as I'm trying to knit it. So, like any good cat owner, what I do? Knit calmly and slowly, being careful not to disturb the pile of cats. Who's evolved?

I got the coolest knitting compliment ever. Petra, a lady who works in my dentist's office, saw me knitting. She's German and I know from the last time I went in that she's probably been knitting longer than I've been putting my own pants on. She complimented my evenness of stitches and taught me the German word for cable knitting - Sopf. It means braiding. Sopf is the same word applied to braiding hair. Of course, I'm looking through online translators now and am not finding it. But whatever.

Speaking of "a few of my favorite things," I'm once again considering starting a fiber-enthusiast group at work. We have a little cafe nearby. We could sit in there and sew-knit-crochet-scrapbook for an hour on Wednesday afternoons. Right? I don't know. I'm scared. What if you threw a party and nobody came?

Waiting to Dye

Ok, I have this idea. Need is the mother of invention, and I need Daughter-sock yarn. It would be wool. Maybe with a little elastic, but probably not. Darling Daughter likes oranges, pinks, purples, and green. So, I'm envisioning self-striping yarn in tropical colors - Mango, and strawberry and a little sip of Margarita. I think one skein should be enough for DD's little feet.

I was thinking, oh, this'll be easy, right? You get some RIT and some squirt bottles and some kind of realllly long pan... like a loaf pan, on steroids... Unwind the skein, rewind it in about a 2-foot-long loop, and go to town, right? So I went to Ravelry and searched for notes on dyeing. There were a TON. Most about Kool-Aid dyeing.

Oooh! Even better! Kool-aid already comes in tropical colors and RIT might be hard to find in "Mango"! And it's non-toxic... just in case she decides to lick her socks... But what if it runs? Or bleeds? What if it just isn't dark enough? And then there were posts mentioning vinegar. Vinegar? And posts mentioning microwaving versus cooking. Cooking?!? And about a gajillion posts discussing the virtues and draw-backs of using squirt bottles. And there was the occasional mention of why you should (or shouldn't) use pre-sweetened Kool-aid (It comes pre-sweetened?).

So, I'm thinking:

• This can be put off until Spring, when I have a clearer idea of how to proceed... leaving fall and winter conveniently open to heavier-duty knitting projects. Like winter scarves and maybe - gulp! - a sweater. And the baby blanket I owe Cousin-In-Law. And the baby sweater/blanket/SOMETHING I have owed Cousin for AGES.
• A loaf pan on steroids will be hard to build, but harder to find. Maybe I should use a big bowl - ooh! or a pot! - and dye in sections.
• Kool-aid (even with the vinegar/sweetener/cooking problems) sounds like a better idea than RIT.

Conclusion:

About mid-to-late April, when I've finally finished "Christmas" knitting, I'll go get unbleached sock yarn. I'll wind it into a 2-ft-loop. I'll set three pots of Kool-aid-and-vinegar-and-sugar-and-NutraSweet-and-water to Simmer and dye it in sections. And then lay it out and bake it to get it to set. Or whatever the dispute about setting the dye entailed.