pumpkin

DSCN2292.JPG, originally uploaded by abmatic.

this is pumpkin the camping cat. weighing in at what i would estimate to be 15lbs (and maybe more...) he likes riding in the car and going camping. he apparently has a fascination with semi-trucks and often tries to go over in the parking lot to have a look. he also likes sleeping in the drivers seat and munching on left over fish sandwiches. the last time my cat went for a road trip he got carsick (just picture me walking briskly into my parents house holding a polluted cat carrier at arms length) and he meows a lot during the whole ordeal. i wonder why pumpkin is so down with the whole idea of a vehicle journey.

im in alaska!

DSCN2226.JPG, originally uploaded by abmatic.

here is a picture of miriam and a somewhat visible denali. we got a good glimplse of the mountian early in the morning but it only got cloudier as the day went on. in general the scenerey was pretty impressive though. today its berry picking and tomorrow canoeing!

finished things!!

I know its amazing, but I have acctually managed to complete a few projects.

A trio of knitted toys for my cousins. They are, from left to right, a kitty made as a modified Bubby from Knitty made from Cascade 220, an elephant from the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts from Blue Sky Aplaca Sport Weight and Pasha the penguin from Knitty made from Blue Sky Alpaca and Cascade 220.


a close up of the kitty


and i made cherry jam on what was probably the hottest day of the year


at long last the socks are finished! They are made from Socks That Rock in a color called moss agate. The pattern was invented (and re-invented) on the fly as a toe-up sock with an afterthought heel and 2x2 ribbing on the top and ankle. Forgive the strange angle of my legs, photographing socks is sure hard to do....

even cuter than I thought

Oh man... Baby Tillie came to visit the other day and I couldent get over how cute her little feet were so I went right home and started knitting some baby socks. Then I couldent get over how cute the baby socks were (in particular, how much cuter they are than adult sized socks ive been working on) but that was really nothing in comparison to the ultimate combination of baby socks on baby feet...

(Photo by Tillie's mom)

cozies

Those of you who may have had the pleasure (and by pleasure i mean by way of comedic value) of observing my wardrobe or visiting my apartment probably have noticed that I have an affinity for jackets and fuzzies. In fact, if you had seen me last weekend you might have witnessed a particularly unique occurrence of this region- I wore my down coat to an outdoor play in June! And not just a down coat, I had a hat and scarf on as well. While I can attribute some of this desire to dress warmly to the chill of san francisco fog, Nick was sitting next to me in flip flops with no complaints. The point of this post is not to wax on about my wardrobe choices but to discuss how I also attribute the desire to dress warmly to my inanimate objects. I have noticed that i like to make sweaters jackets and cozies for electronic devices. In their own way each of these garments has some practical purpose, to keep ipods and laptops from getting scratched or to keep my hand warm when im drinking a cold beer, but sometimes I wonder if its just me thinking that the monitor needs a jacket and patagonia doesnt make one...

Monitor sunshield / cozy


computer cover


beer cozy

ipod cozies

the sock saga

It began innocently enough, a drink or two at the Mel-o-dee, some good looking yarn, encouragement from my friends. Next think I know I'm knitting socks. It must be said here that I have a sitting attention span of about 30 min before I fall asleep in most settings and while i start many a knitting project, most of them have been living in my knitting bin for months untouched. I make a point of working only on sewing projects I can complete in one sitting. As Nick often points out, its really a wonder that ive made it this far in life (at least in the life im leading) All of these time constraint factors did not bode well for my prospects of completing a pair of socks. I decided I needed to do them both at once just so I couldent bail out with only one sock made. And yet, here they were last week nearing completion. I still had the heel left to go (toe up with an afterthought heel) but I had made up my mind that I would cast off at knitting last tuesday and thats how long they would be.


I bound off, held my breath and snipped the yarn free only to find two min later that there was no way that my foot was actually going to fit inside the sock. The foot part fit fine, and the ankle part would likely fit but there was no way my heel would pass through. What could I do? It was kind of a big bummer. I topped off the evening with flinging a melted green tea mochi through the air but thats a different story. So here is the one ive torn out.. So sad. I started knitting again adding some stitches to make the ankle section bigger but I really cant tell how big it needs to be. My solution is to knit the afterthought heel now and then I can try it on as I go up the ankle to make sure it fits ok. I havent consulted my knitting guru's but since Ive already torn out several weeks of knitting one more probably wont hurt that bad.




This is what apollo thinks about knitting--its a good place to sit.

mosaic

DSCN1970.JPG, originally uploaded by abmatic.

Last weekend I spent a day helping my parents lay their new bathroom floor. It was inspired by the kitchen counters we made two summers ago which were in turn inspired by quiting patchwork. The tiles are almost enitrely from two local handmade tile makers (Heath and McIntyre) and the depth and varitey of colors within each tile and among all the differnent glazes is amazing. This picture shows the floor without its blue-green border tiles but hopefully soon ill have a picture of the finished floor!