crochet 2 knit

so i ran across these adorable crochet lovebirds, amigurumi:


here's my problem: i don't really like to crochet (flinch) (embarrassed, chagrined flush to the cheek), but those birds are cute. but i found this set of instructions on eHow where they tell you how to convert a crochet pattern to a knit one!! woo - hoo! don't know whether i'll do it (you have to do two, really, if you do one, and just like with socks and sleeves, the charm may be long gone after the first), but i feel i'm sneaking around in the crochet world with secret powers or something.

恭喜发财

chinese new year celebrations at our little elementary school were marvelous. it is SO much fun to be exposed to the traditions of another culture, and have them incorporated into our own tasty cultural amalgam here in smalltown southern california.

the celebration included a trip to the new huntington library chinese garden for the 4th graders -- absolutely gorgeous, with incredible motifs even in the walkways. the docent did a wonderful job of explaining the symbolism, multi-layered, to the kids. circles mean the moon, the white moon, hinting at white jade, the most treasured color of jade. keeping 2 rambunctious boys separated and listening prevented my learning too much -- guess i'll have to go back! we are members, so in theory can go any time. i used to take thing 1 and thing 2 when they were tiny, to feed the ducks and watch the koi, the turtles, the frogs, and marvel at the tiny bonsai trees in the japanese garden. this field trip motivated me to pop in after school some day soon.


look at what you walk on!


for the last week, chinese new year has involved decorating the school with lanterns, masks and dragons in anticipation of the chinese lunch and festival today. what an event, featuring a dancing lion, parasol dancers and lots of ladies dressed up in their chinese silk jackets (i must have missed the appropriate dress portion of my invitation). and i was interviewed for the local chinese language newspaper. hope they quote me correctly! i'll have no way of knowing ;-).

this dragon greets you at the drop-off circle:

beautiful lanterns hang in all the breezeway arches:

the emperor and empress (principal and pta pres.) were the honored guests:

parasol dancers:


the lion dance was entrancing:


thing 1 wore red today -- it's good luck


a sample of the beautiful chinese jackets:
so what did the reporter ask me? how i felt about celebrating chinese new year at school! how i felt about the incorporation of chinese culture into the curriculum! i mentioned that, having grown up in maryland, where we just had white people and black people, with the rare exception, i had no exposure to the wonders of the far east, and just love it. i told him that thing 2, being adopted and looking what i call "generically ethnic", and having lots of little chinese friends, wants to be chinese and has told me that his friends believe he has chinese in him. the reporter was highly amused, and identified with socal's wealth of multicultural stimulation, as he grew up in IOWA, of all places, where everyone was white (except for him, obviously!) i gave him my name, and hope someone gives me a copy of the paper where i am quoted. wouldn't that be great!

Happy New Year! Gung Hay Fat Choy! or Gong Xi Fa Cai! (mandarin vs. cantonese)

now on to valentine's day...

my constant companion / mindless wip scarf

though it does not get as much attention as it deserves, it remains constant and faithful, sitting in the passenger seat of my momcar. it's covered often by my french market bag filled with newer, more stimulating projects, projects i've started in order to test a notion, or, in the case of elefante, couldn't stand to not start and finish tout de suite.

but i work a couple of rows a week, and i'm telling you this multi-directional scarf is starting to look great! i decided to use noro sock yarn, but after a couple of garter rows, i frogged it and worked in seed stitch instead of garter. the seed stitch illustrates the wonderful nubbly, yarny nature of the noro, i think, and i've been tickled with how it's coming out. it's so fun to watch the colors juxtapose unexpectedly.

i just don't know what i'll do with it when it's done; maybe this one's for me!

ETA: if you click on the pic below, a giant version will come up and you can see the seed stitch nubbliness.

an historic knit

• my camera is not working properly (wrote broken at first but don't want that to be true, so...);
• i can't document my current projects well with my cellphone (see overly bright elefante below);
• i was looking at my iphoto collection
• ergo, historic knit!

my first felted box (last spring), featuring

• manos del uruguay wool, two skeins, 1 green and 1 green blend variegated, held together throughout
  
• my mother-in-law's handmade porcelain button
• modified version of the mason-dixon one (ravelry link)
  

i love it, but i gave it to my mother-in-law. it's just the right size for incoming mail. i forgot to put the usual kleenex box next to it for purposes of scale.

i hated to felt that yummy yarn, but it demanded to be cast on immediately, and i wanted to make a felted box. i really liked how it turned out so went back and got a rust blend variegated and a solid brick color to make a companion box pour moi. so far it has not been done. maybe i'll make a bag.

something different ;0)

witnessing history

the big day

i'm all in! keeping thing 1 and thing 2 home from school tomorrow to watch the oath of office, and i hope i can impress upon them the history they are watching. tv is not as important as it used to be, i think. but they'll remember if i have anything to say about it.

triumph of the cute

well, this is the fellow who derailed my good intentions in the overstocked KnitInSage UFO Department. he looks a little disconcerted here:

and no one likes people looking directly at them from this angle, and i myself would delete (and HAVE deleted) from existence any photo depicting this view of moi:

and a tad sad to be pulled away from his triumph for a photo shoot:

but here he is, the conquering hero, the project that made me drop everything:

now, there's that smile... he really liked the fact that the fls has been on the kneedles since august, that it has been a secret goal for january, and that he stands complete while the fls languishes:

he insisted that the black and white tote and alpaca leaf lace scarf be shown:

he ponders the wonder of his existence, and considers his future -- why is he here? where is he going? what will be his fate? does he have a purpose beyond the obvious: the cure for the pain of knitter's startitis?
when he figures something out, i'll let you know Ü.

startitis

i have on the kneedles:

a february lady sweater (i believe it will be spectacular when the last sleeve is done)
an alpaca lovely leaf lace scarf (already softly beautiful)
a christmas stocking for baby reukema -- baby born yesterday! healthy, thank god.
a design for a grocery bag that will use some fun new techniques maybe i can teach at abuelita's
a black and white tote bag almost ready to be decorated and felted
a calorimetry headband pattern printed out and ready to cast on

so why did i need to start this? probably because i saw this on one of the blogs i follow, and both were SO STINKIN' CUTE that i'm thinking baby reukema needs one in addition to the stocking and the fbs i'll probably knit. (and modify cuz he's a big boy ;-)

and it looks so easy, and i already have the legs done, so how much harder can it be??? i ask you.

pictures will follow.

why do i feel like a loser -- i am not finishing anything, but am constantly inspired by new stuff. i think i have kadd -- knitter's att'n deficit disorder -- truly. don't be offended -- i think i may have an actual problem.

i think some resolutions are in order.

more photos from new year's day

first, we got up to watch the rose parade. this float was the most interesting to us, as our friends were sitting in that car -- his dad was president of the tournament of roses this year.

(since we live just south of pasadena, ca, new year's day is a big deal for our community)

so i took a picture of our friends on tv. Ü

stuart and i always go to the rose bowl, no matter who is playing. i love college football, and it's often a good game. here are our friends being introduced before the game. the little girl in the green coat is in thing 1's 4th grade class. i'm sure you can see how cute she is...

what a beautiful day -- warm, clear -- chamber of commerce weather. here's the b2 bomber -- very exciting to have that plane fly over so low!

here's another picture (you can see it really big in sports illust. this week) of the same thing -- see me in the upper right corner there?

here's a hairy usc fan sitting right behind a hairy penn state fan. the sc fan had the more powerful fuzzy wig, i guess, because usc won.

re: knitting -- no, i didn't bring any, but i wore a scarf i knitted many years ago.

a new year's resolution -- document more knitting. my alpaca scarf is nearly done, and it is SO soft. i'll update with pictures soon.

2009? already?

what a fun new year's celebration we had!

(especially compared to last year...)