web-goddess

Okay, I’ve officially been working on this project for six months now. First I had to contend with the problem of multiple errors in the pattern. (Suck it, Debbie Bliss.) Then the cat decided she liked the taste of Noro. At the end of July I realized I was running short on wool and decided to frog the whole body back and reknit it a smaller size. (Major kudos to Calico & Ivy for having more of my dyelot, and to Don at Prestige for helping me track it down.) In August I declared that this jacket was “my Everest,” and that I’d “finish it or perish in the attempt.” I hadn’t even gotten to the frackin’ sleeves yet. The steeking was relatively pain-free, thank God, and I started the collar without too much trouble. In September I started the sleeves and decided to turn the collar into a hood. I was just a few steps away from finishing it… and as Indiana Jones says, “That’s usually when the ground falls out from underneath your feet.” Unthinkingly, I knit my sleeves according to the pattern, and when I went to sew them in they wouldn’t fit. (It’s all because stupid Debbie Bliss assumes you get her row gauge, and I so didn’t.) So the jacket went on a shelf for three months while I brooded over this final obstacle. On Friday night, I pulled it down and started frogging back the sleeves. People, I knit those sleeve tops FIVE TIMES over the past three days. Not only was I working without a pattern, but I was also contending with my own freakishly broad shoulders. But last night – FINALLY – I got it. I GOT IT. I needed to keep the momentum going. Back to the collar-turned-hood. Yeah, I had to frog that back once to re-work the shaping. Again, I was basically inventing here, though I did get ideas from both Rogue and Janda. I used a three-needle cast-off to join the hood seam this afternoon. Check it out. I’m still not happy with the excess material at the back of the neck (which I think is a remnant from the original standup collar design) but I’m not going to redo it. How often do people wear their hoods up anyway? It looks great down, so it’s staying. Now I just need to steek the front, sew in a zipper, and maybe do an I-cord border around the whole front edge.

But the important thing is – I WIN! This jacket threw everything it had at me, and I defeated the sucker! This sweet sense of victory almost makes up for the fact that I spent the entire Christmas holiday sitting on my couch, giving myself premature arthritis.

We’re three days into our four day holiday, and I’ve been outside the house for a grand total of about ten minutes. It’s been great. And you know what else is great? My new friggin’ T-shirt. Check out DeskCam. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever? Super special thanks to Bex, who got it for me as a gift. That was literally one of the best surprise Christmas presents I’ve ever had in my life, Bex!

I’ll check in tomorrow with a big post about the Epic Battle I’ve been locked in with the Cabled Jacket of Doom. Suffice it to say, I haven’t actually played any Wii thus far. But I think I’ve broken the back of this sucker. I shall be victorious! (In my new T-shirt.)

How to make a sock frog. Awesome!

I remember laughing when I discovered that Ma Snook has a CD called Pachelbel’s Greatest Hit… but not as hard as I laughed at this comedian’s rant about the ubiquitous piece. HILARIOUS. (Link courtesy of John.)

Dude, I’m posting from my Wii!! This is decidely cumbersome.

Real Men Wii Standing Up. HA! Only 2.5 hours more until the Christmas holiday officially starts, and I will have four days of uninterrupated Wii and knitting time…

Funny Cat Pictures, again courtesy of the Snook. He says, “These made me laugh til I cried.” (A lot of the captions are extremely geeky and Internet meme-related, so they might not be as amusing to those of you who don’t spend all your time on Fark, World of Warcraft, MetaFilter, and Slashdot.)

JK Rowling has announced the title for the final Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What does that even mean, really?

I’ve had a hankering for macaroni-and-cheese for a couple weeks now, so last night the Snook and I decided to try out Delia’s recipe for Souffleed Macaroni Cheese. She describes it as the “best ever,” which sounded pretty good to us. It’s a rather involved process though, and sometimes Delia’s instructions can sound a bit condescending. (For example, she specifies how much water to boil your noodles in.) Our only real problem was that the baking dish we’d heated up was much too small for the volume of pasta we’d prepared. So 2/3 of it went into a nice heated Pyrex baking dish, and the rest went into a cold casserole. If any of you are thinking of trying it out, I’d suggest you go for the biggest, flattest dish you have. You want as much surface area as possible, because the crust is the absolute best part of this dish. The macaroni itself was okay; I’m not a huge fan of Gruyère. But the puffy, crispy, salty (thanks to the Parmigiano) crust is really what makes this special. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture – we dug into it as soon as it came out of the oven! (Another tip: When Delia says “generous” portions, she means it. I doubled the recipe thinking I’d freeze the extra two servings, but really it made like six. And those are six Kristy servings, which really are generous.) So overall I’d probably give this recipe a 7 out of 10. Next time I might try a different cheese and see if that makes a difference…

Knit From Your Stash 2007. I find this idea both intriguing and SCARY-ASS. Only knitting from my stash? For nine months? But… but… what if we get some beautiful new wool in the shop? What if Knitty has a pattern that I simply must make? Truth be told, I do have a massive yarn collection. (I’m onto my fourth large storage box.) And I’ve actually got the yarn for lots of projects I’ve been meaning to do. Can I do it? Do any of you DARE to take the challenge with me?