Out of touch

Each morning this week, I have had to start the day with a search for the meaning of a word. This morning, it was an acronym in an email message proposing a small group meeting at a conference. "Typical BOF format," the message said. Wikipedia to the rescue:

A BoF session, an informal meet-up at conferences, where the attendees group together based on a shared interest and carry out discussions without any pre-planned agenda.

OK, that makes sense, and I sort of picked up on that meaning from the context. But there were no contextual clues for yesterday's vocabulary word.

This is the central panel from Sunday's Unshelved comic. I had to keep staring at it. What is the verb in that sentence? "It's not a word," an IM buddy said. "It's 'pwns.'" So I googled. OK, a gamer thing, so no wonder I didn't recognize it. It seems unlikely to me that a cataloger (a knitting cataloger) would know and use this word casually, but I suppose that's the joke. Still, I found it disconcerting how far I had to go to get a joke written by and largely for members of my profession.

I'm glad I did, though. The Wikipedia entry on pwn is extremely interesting, especially (for me) the bit about pronunciation. It dredged up old graduate school interests* about how Internet communication is in this weird space between the spoken and written word.

* It floors me that crap I wrote on Usenet 14 years ago is out there to be found so easily.

Rings

Very early one morning in November 2001, Mike and I went outside to see the Leonid meteor shower. It was cold, and I was just about to head back in when Mike told me to wait, dashed back into the house, and came out with my birthday present: a silver ring with a Tree of Life design from the Abacus galleries in Maine. I'd loved these rings since the first time saw them, and it obviously meant a lot getting one from Mike (not just buying it for myself). For Christmas, I bought him one of the My Beloved rings in Hebrew that he liked in the "Signals" catalog.

One weekend this summer, when I got home from some outing I don't even remember, I took the ring off and stepped into the shower. I never saw it again.

I don't know if it fell down the bathroom sink, or got brushed into the trash while one of us was tidying the kitchen. I don't even remember where I took it off and set it down -- only that it wasn't on the nightstand where it normally is when I'm not wearing it. I knew it was missing within a day, but it was at least week before I could tell anyone except Mike that I thought it was gone. I felt its loss every morning when it wasn't there to put on when I got dressed.

It wasn't just something I could replace. A new ring would just remind me that I'd lost the old one. And besides, the artist had stopped making them (that's why the link above is to the pendant version of the design -- I can't find a picture of the ring). I'd thought maybe I would get a ring to match Mike's, but Mike came up with a better idea. When we were in Maine last week, we found a few remaining rings in the Abacus store in Portland's Old Port. They actually fit us (better than our old rings, in fact) and Mike suggested we replace mine and get a matching one for him.

He is a wonderful, wonderful man. He turned what could have been just a sad reminder of what a careless idiot I am into a joyous new symbol of why I love him.

Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair

The OSU Theater Department was performing Hair this past week. The production was pretty good, but the show, as you might expect, hasn't aged well. Meredith Lark (Sheila -- "Easy to Be Hard") and Jessica Podewell (Jeanie -- "Let the Sunshine In") were fantastic. But overall, rather than it being this groundbreaking, almost dangerous expression of youth identity and rebellion, it was more like some fairly engaging kids dressing up in their grandparents' clothes and playing hippie.

My biggest problem were the wigs. When people are celebrating their hair, they shouldn't be so obviously worried that it will fall off if they move too wildly. Most of the guys looked really uncomfortable.

You know what would work better? Not making it a period piece. Originally, "Hair" was like being in the presence of people "freaking out in the Village -- with music" (critic Leigh Carey wrote in "Rolling Stone"). I'd like to see college students making "Hair" their own, with their own hair. The themes are still relevant: racism, crushing inhibitions, the hypocrisy of euphemism, free but nevertheless unrequited love, the search (perhaps pharmaceutically-fueled) for meaning and spirit, and the very real threat of being sent to die for the society you're trying to reject. I'd like to see the students celebrating who they think they are, rather than celebrating with ironic distance who a previous generation thought they were.

(I should mention the lighting design. It was Jason "Scotty" Banks' MFA project, and it was stunning.)

Chain Reaction

There are times that I think the only reason we have cable is for GSN. We watched nearly every episode of What's My Line and got hooked on Lingo (we still miss Stacey and haven't accepted Shandi into our hearts). Now our DVR is set to record every episode of Chain Reaction.

The "Battle of the Sexes" format is odd, and occasionally the players have too much personality, but the game is fun to watch and play. And host Dylan Lane is a cutie pie.

You can play along with GSN shows while they're on the air, but I am perfectly content never watching TV shows at the time they're broadcast. WordLab (download or play online) is similar to Lingo, and I just discovered that GSN has a Shockwave version of Chain Reaction.

The Problem with Sock Wars

I got the Socks-of-Doom-in-Progress for my next victim, and have discovered yet another troubling fact of Sock Wars -- it's hard to knit like another person.

I received in the mail one completed sock, and a few inches of its mate. Tension was really loose on the completed sock (looser than the pattern calls for), and I had to go up three needle sizes to try to match. Nevertheless, when I was complete, this was the result:

My sock, the one on the left, is clearly smaller than the original sock.

I'm not sure what to do. This is a sloppy kill, and I think it would be bad form to just send these on and call myself the victor. I think I should try to knit a third sock, maybe unraveling the first sock to create a better fit? [Update from later in the evening: that's what I've done, begun working on a third sock out of this yarn so that my victim will get two socks of the same size.]

The yarn, by the way, is Lion Brand Magic Stripes, superwash wool and nylon, doubled. It horrified me when I first saw it, but it ultimately wasn't too bad. I had to do some fiddling, however, to try and make the self-striping do its work. In this picture you can see several places where I had to adjust one strand to get the color to match up on the other strand.

Morning Project

Woke up early this morning, the night's post-nasal drip threatening to make me cough and wake up Mike, so I decided to walk to Starbucks and get some coffee. And because I need to get exercise, I took the long way around, getting in a short 1.33 mile hike.

Nifty little map, huh? I made it at CommunityWalk. I've linked the picture to the map, where I might experiment with adding notes you don't care about, like exactly where the Starbucks is, where I cut through a Self-Storage parking lot because the road doesn't really go where the map indicates, and where the AOL people won't let me walk through their parking lot around the picturesque lake, making me have to walk in the wet grass in front of their building or try to dash across Henderson Road to stay on the sidewalk.

Cool Kids

One day last year, I got an instant message from one of the young luminaries of the library world. I felt very much as if the leader of the cool kids had just smiled and said "Hi" to me in the hall. I've just had that feeling again: Franklin liked my socks.

I like being liked. I may say that popularity doesn't matter much to me, but that's self-delusion. I crave being part of a group, and I thrive on the approval of others. Like Eve says, "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights and wrapping you up. To know, every night, that different hundreds of people love you. They smile, and their eyes shine. You've pleased them. They want you. You belong. Just that alone is worth anything."

Belong. What a powerful word. Belong not to a person ("Belong to you? That sounds medieval, something out of an old melodrama."), but to a group ("She has had one wish, one prayer, one dream -- to belong to us.")

That's me: Yves Harrington.

Hiking

My doctor has told me something I already know: I should exercise more. This is what I prefer to do, but it's tough to squeeze this in 4 times a week.

What is it? The output from S.'s GPS on the 4.5 mile hike we took today in John Bryan State Park near Yellow Springs.

I will always choose to live in a city or suburbs, but I really do miss having woods to walk through in my backyard.

Toe-up Sock Patterns

Bibliography of Toe-Up Sock Patterns

Wendy Johnson's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern

Uses short-row heels and toes, like my pattern. A similar, but more detailed pattern, the Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula, was created by Amy Swenson for Knitty.com.

Kim Salazar's Sock Patterns

Salazar's method creates a toe that is more like the one you see in top-down socks. Many people prefer it, because there are no loops on the inside.

Judy Gibson's "You're Putting Me On" Socks

This was the first toe-up sock pattern I ever encountered, and it's a good one. Its one flaw is that you pick up stitches under the heel, and you can feel that ridge when wearing them. But the gussets help improve the fit for some people.

Brook Chenoweth Creel's Widdershins Socks

Very similar to Gibson's pattern. Heel is better, but trickier. To see how much trickier, check out Creel's blog. I recommend Mel Vassey's generic version of Widdershins since it's adaptable to different sizing options

Kelly Petkun's Two at Once, Toe-Up Sock

This sock uses an "Afterthought Heel," which is extremely easy and very attractive with self-patterning sock yarns. However, I think the heel cup in these instructions is too shallow. Dawn Brocco's adaption fits much better.

Mary Lycan's Sherman Sock

Another short row heel method, using stitch "encroachment." I don’t care for the final product, but it's worth trying for yourself. As with Widdershins, I recommend Mel Vassey's Sherman Sock Pictorial.

Strong Heel Socks
Published in Knitter's (72, Fall 2003). A toe-up variation is used in these patterns:

• Lollipop Socks
  
• Amy's Socks
  

Short Rows
There are many methods for closing the gaps that form when you knit short rows. Véronik Avery wrote a great article for Interweave Knits (Winter 2004, p96) that describes them in detail. I thought the Japanese Method -- using a safety pin to mark the turning yarn -- looked the best, but all those pins hanging there make it cumbersome to do. Some online instructions:

• nonaKnits
  
• Ask Athena
  
• Purlwise

Other Toes

• Patch Toe from Duffy's blog
• Star Toe from my blog

Thanks to Gerry for suggesting that I take this section of my class handout and post it separately.

Revised May 20, 2007

Halloween Massacre

I just got back from the post office where I sent a pair of these off to Yarn Snob.


It's Bearfoot "Yellowstone," doubled to get the Sock of Doom gauge. I had to switch to black for the toe an inch sooner than I would've liked, but I think it still looks OK. When I got back from Chicago, I had a package of yarn sent by Yarn Snob's original assassin, but it was a self-patterning cotton Sockotta -- not good for the Sock of Doom pattern, so I dipped into my own stash for this, and I'll keep the Sockotta for Mom (she's told me that's her favorite).

Poor Yarn Snob. Here I am, still on vacation, with nothing but time on my hands to churn out a pair of socks. And damn...Bearfoot knits up really fast, especially doubled.

I peaked into the Sock War Spreadsheet, messaged the editor about Yarn Snob's new status, and she told me that this is one of the highest "kill" days so far.

Back into holding mode until I get the yarn for my next target.

A town so smart its spelling starts with C-H-I-C...Chic!

Back from the activity portion of my vacation. Mike and I went to Chicago for the long weekend. Here's the rundown:

• Terrific room at the Palmer House with a wonderful surprise gift basket from my sister and her husband
  
• Nice dinner (terrible table) at Italian Village. Great breakfast at Lou Mitchell's (the donut holes were everything I'd hoped for, and I need to recreate the cheddar and apple omelet at home some time). So-so pizza at Giordano's. Best pomegranate martini I've ever had at Miller's Pub.
• Taping of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me at the Chase Auditorium. This was our favorite ticketed event of the weekend, even above the two musicals we saw. Two lovely handknit sweaters in the row in front of us. I tried to take pics with my camera, but they didn't turn out. We bought mugs, because like they told us at the show, "If you don't buy any overpriced trinkets, it's like you weren't even here."
  
• Miles and magnificent miles of Urban Hiking (or "Shopping"). Here's Mike with his celebrity boyfriend at the Gap.

Altar Boyz was good, poking fun at boy bands and the clumsy bad art of Christian rock. The stereotypes were played a little too broadly, but maybe that's the point. (I think it still could've worked with a lighter touch). 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was better, although I kept getting distracted by the brat precious little girl sitting front and center, who kept standing up and talking to her parents every time a performer was spotlighted downstage. Both shows had a mix of humor and sentimentality that make them enjoyable if not particularly moving or challenging (although the song Olive sings in response to "chimerical" really does earn the tears, I think).

The one big dud of the trip was Adler Planetarium, which we went to because there was, even late in the afternoon, a long line to get into the Shedd Aquarium. Some of the astrolabe stuff was mildly interesting. But in general the Adler is so lame that I think it actually does damage to the cause of making kids interested in science. (For a good planetarium experience, go to the Hayden in New York).

I need to sing the praises of my amazing L. L. Bean Weather Challenger Jacket -- waterproof shell, removable fleece liner. The weather was fickle, but this jacket adapts to everything.

Kids Stuff

The Wild Things crown has been sitting on the desk, where I have to look at it and be unhappy. And then one morning it occurred to me -- what if I just trimmed off what I didn't like about it?

Voilà. A Wild Things crown I'm happy with. Plus a matching felted ear-warmer for the Queen Mum of the Wild Things.

I thought about starting another while I'm on vacation this week, but my mom has been gently nagging me to make new slippers for Logan. My Lamb's Pride stash is low, but I have some Lite Lopi around, so I thought I'd see how this would work.


Maybe a little too "My Uncle Is Gay?"

I'm pretty sure this won't work, that the Lamb's Pride sole and Lite Lopi upper will felt at radically different rates. But it was a fun thing to work on while plopped on the couch watching too much TV.

Tofu Clapotis

I am having a lot of fun with this.

I wanted something silky for a clapotis, and found this Karaoke yarn from South West Trading Company. It's 50% soy silk, so I've been telling people that I'm knitting with tofu. The colorway is "Mermaid Mix." I wanted something variegated, and was surprised that the color runs are so long. Like Noro, only no knots or weeds.

I'm following Amy's recommendation to purl the stitches that get dropped rather than using markers. (Amy has other good recommendations too, about mirrored twists and twisting on the purl side. I'm not doing any of that, but I can see her point).

Even though I know it's pronounced "clap-oh-TEE," I still have this song in my head: Miss Clapotis regrets she's unable to lunch today.

Times OpEd Today

Good stuff in the NY Times OpEd section today. First, a spooky bowel-chillingly terrifying editorial about how, as Secretary of State, gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell could declare opponent Ted Strickland as ineligible (Strickland has a two digit lead in the polls). He won't do this, of course, but the fact that it's even a possibility is staggering.

But what really scares me is Jeff Stein's piece, "Can You Tell a Sunni from a Shiite?" Stein has been asking counterterrorism officials to explain the difference, and few of them can. He's not even asking for the complicated theological differences -- just "Who’s on what side today, and what does each want?" And the officials are guessing at the answer, getting it wrong, and covering their ignorance with stupid talking points, like "Al Qaeda’s whole reason for being is based on their beliefs." Yes, and those are...?

Is it too much to ask for leaders who are up to the intellectual challenge of leadership? You know, people who actually want to know things and have the capacity to find out about them?

Adventures in Purple

This week, I seem to have been knitting purple things.

I had a pair of socks that I called "Sock Wars Surplus." I started these thinking it might be a good idea to have some Sock Wars weapons handy, in case I ended up with a target but no yarn passed up to me. But when plans gelled for visiting my friend Heidi this weekend, I decided I wanted to bring her some knitted love, and these socks were handy. So they became hers. (The color isn't coming through on this -- it's the same purple yarn as Mike's sweater).

Had a great time with Heidi and her family. Here's Heidi, modeling her chocolate pumpkin cheesecake (Sock Wars Surplus on the counter in the background), and her son Bradley, trapping my feet.

Heidi's other son Connor scored his first goal of the season that morning in soccer.

Also this week, I made some experimental dishcloths out of purple cotton: a small hexagon and a larger octagon. (My camera is turning these blue; they're really purple). Listsib Gary got me thinking about these, with his instructions to start a dishcloth by casting on 15, increasing each row until the sides are about as long as the cast-on edge, knitting plain until the sides are the same length, then decreasing back down to 15 stitches before binding off.

And finally, I decided to try making a clapotis. It's kind of fun, but I don't think this is the right yarn for it.

Another crown

Still trying to make a King of the Wild Things crown that will actually fit a kid. I like the idea of the pattern, but I just can't get the gauge right -- my crowns inevitably are too long and too narrow. The latest, the XL size knit in Lite-Lopi, was 22 inches before felting:


And 14.5 inches after (which is about what the pattern predicted).


Finished circumference, however, should be 24 inches, but it's 19. It will fit the intended recipient, but it might be a bit snug. In the future, I think I need to go up at least two sizes to get the circumference, but can knit the number of rows specified for my intended size.

I agree with Yarn Harlot: "I will never, ever believe that gauge is my friend." Particularly when felting.

Y'know, Nietzsche says, "Outta chaos COMES order."

After the last confusing blog post and a flurry of e-mail, sudden clarity dawns.

My victim has received her victim's work-in-progress. These are to be YarnSnob's Socks of Doom, and Yarn Fairy will put them in the mail to me. My assassin WoolieBagLady, after her Doom Socks arrive, will send my Doom-Socks-in-progress to WestOzCaat to finish.

It's all about the mail.

...

Based on recommendations from students, I've revised my toe-up sock course. I've switched it to Magic Loop instead of two circs. I've recommended yarn and needle size, specified gauge, and given explicit instructions on how many stitches to cast on. The flexible, open-ended instructions were just too confusing. I rewrote the short row instructions so that they're clustered into bulleted steps. If you'd like to comment on the new course handout, I'd love to have your feedback.

Ruined Italian Villa

You know how in The English Patient the characters are riding out the end of the war in a half-ruined Italian villa? That's kind of where I imagine I am in Sock Wars. The war is still going on, but I'm over here waiting to find out what's supposed to happen next. But I think it's about time for me to re-join the fighting.

(Maybe it's less like The English Patient and more like that period of time between Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy. I am the Jason Bourne of Sock Wars).

I've killed off Yarn Fairy. Yarn Fairy had already killed off Yarn4Kalei, and I believe had already finished socks for Kalei's victim YarnSnob before her Socks of Doom arrived -- but I don't think she's sent them. On her blog, Yarn Snob thinks she's offed her victim (Zari Zamen?) and her victim's victim (Delice?).

My assassin, WoolieBagLady, is a Dead Woman Walking, with socks from her killer WestOzCaat already on their way. WestOzCaat has noticed the holding pattern I'm in, and I think she wants to skip over it, and has begun contacting those folks downstream.

So while I wait for WoolieBagLady and WestOzCaat to decide who gets to try to kill me, I think it's time I reactivated and sought out exactly who I should be knitting for now. But is it Yarn Snob or is it someone much further down the chain? Ms Tarzan...is it you?

Sock War Stand Down

Sock Wars is on the brink of becoming un-fun. I keep trying to figure out what to do next, but I'm suffering a severe lack of information and that's generating stress I don't need. So screw it. I'm just going to wait for someone else to pick up the slack. Either I will receive my death socks in the mail, or someone will send me yarn for my next victim.

Flickr is down this morning, causing my profile photo not to load. It's a crappy picture anyways, so I'm prompted to look for a better one. My current IM buddy icon, which I created at stortroopers.com, has been growing on me. It's low-res and doesn't look good as a Blogger Profile photo, but it's cute enough to post here.

Weapons armed...acquiring target....

Sock Wars got off to a halting start because the remnants of Hurricane Gordon smacked Northern Ireland where Yarn Monkey, the organizer, lives. Because she had trouble sending dossiers out through email, she posted the pattern for the Sock of Doom on her blog. It was Friday afternoon, and I was still at work, but I took a break and cast-on.



About 49 hours later, I was finished.


I still don't have a dossier, but I've corresponded with my target (I needed to find out if "Yarn Fairy" wore a men's size 7 or a women's). I've told her (Yarn Fairy is a "she") that she's safe as long as I don't know where to send the socks. But how safe am I?