Friday, November 24, 2006

One WIP less

But first, it appears that the movie LA Story may not have been quite the hit in the U.K. that it was here in California. Hmm, and I'm surprised? I'm really not sure if it's funny to anyone else, but it represents a strangely accurate picture of one aspect, anyway, of my home town. Yes, I was born in Los Angeles — in the Valley, yet — yep, that Valley of Frank and Moon Unit Z fame. Whether or not I'm qualified to assess the city itself is in question, however: we moved to Michigan when I was one and a half, and I more or less grew up in Ann Arbor. Still, the movie's pretty funny, and it's the source of SanDeE*. Check it out when you are looking for a very light evening spent shaking your head at those silly Angeleans.

And with that, a newly purchased Hem album on the stereo and some of the Boogie's Irish soda bread in me tum, here, at long last, is the Screamin' Leaves scarf.



This is, would you believe?, my first scarf. I learned to knit by making washcloths — more practical than scarves in the San Diego climate.

This lovely little number made me good friends with Father Frog, Lady Lifeline, Brother Tink and Sister Suck It Up and Do It Over. I started it in August, thinking it would help me learn to knit lace — got so frustrated with it that I stopped for a while, and ended up learning on the shawl I knit out of my Secret Pal's handspun. The specs: Fiber Trends Streaming Leaves pattern, Addi Turbo (I agree with Grumperina's assessment: Blunti Stumpos, indeed, they suck for lace) US #6, South West Trading Pure 100% Soy Silk (2 skeins, I have 10 gm left).

We had to take the cat in for her thyroid test today, so I as a (ha ha) reward for being so good, I let her model the scarf, too.



She was remarkably compliant, considering.


And on a foody note, we had a lovely Thanksgiving up in LA with my grandmother. As some of you know, my other grandma, with whom I was very close (the crafty one, who taught me to crochet and helped me learn to knit), passed away a couple months back. Today we found we still had some of her lovely meat pasteles in the freezer. I figured we should eat some in her honor, as we always used to have Thanksgiving at her apartment, so we did, and they were fabulous. Perhaps I'll post the recipe over the next couple of days. The other thing Grandma taught me was how to cook Sephardic food. I had a lot of cooking lessons, and hours on the phone when I was having trouble, and I am very grateful for them. Nothing like cooking your own soul food. Mmm.

By the way, I have no @#$*@#(*$ idea what I'm going to do with this light-weight, soft, useless scarf. If you want it for Christmas, let me know!

9 comments:

sheep#100 said...

The scarf is gorgeous! And in the most perfect blue! I wonder sometimes why California knitters knit scarves. Now, knitters at my latitude are a different story.

Jen said...

Beautiful scarf - I'll have to look around for that pattern. I love how it's extremely open and lacy, but not old-fashioned looking.

The color is great, too. And as for your model - mee-yow!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely scarf! And I have to agree with Jen; beautiful model!

Anonymous said...

I come from Ballykissarse where it is freezing and/or raining most of the time. What this means is that I have a large collection of scarves, that one is lovely btw, and also I still don't know what SanDeE is.

Ususally if you put in a * it means at the bottom of the post there is another * and an explanation. Hang on maybe the * is an integral part of the word, is it?

Earin Marybird said...

I can guess about the SanDeE, asumming it to be a pun about Sandra Dee but who knows. I am so often clueless I have considered listing it as a skill on my resume (no wait, I'm retired...)

For someone who only took up knitting about a year ago you are producing some amazing works of art. Wow. I'm about to frog the thumb gusset on the mitts for the third time. I've figured out the pattern but am still trying to how to M1 in a way that doesn't produce little holes. It's always interesting isn't it?

Earin Marybird said...

PS Don't comment while talking to guests. You forget to proof!

Melinda said...

You should fling the scarf nonchalantly around your neck on mild days and feel tres chic and a la mode francaise. While it is cold enough here for scarves, I have a useless one that I wear strictly for style, with a black top.

It's lovely.

April said...

Someone call the Waaaahmbulance because yer scarf looks better than mine.

Waaaah.

Did you block or what?

It's gorgeous. I hate you.

Elinoire said...

I hate Sister Suck It Up and Do It Over. She always got cupcakes and stuff in her lunchbox and I was stuck with lousy carrot sticks and peanut butter on 27-grain wheat bread.

Brother Tink's okay though. He let me copy his math homework.