Fall Colour

Remember that land emergency I had last week? This was at that office.† So

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

from me and the people at Land Panic Inc.%

Saturday, I took a class from Annie Modesitt, who is funny and supportive and charmingly neurotic. Her cabling without cable needles is worth the price of admission just for the story about the gallant but slightly perverted prince and the wallflowers.‡

And here she is with my new best friend, Cheryl Oberle, who also took the class.§




[SUMMARY: I stalk celebrities and I have the pictures to prove it.]

And I finished the Sparkle Socks! And they're very nearly the same size!

One thing I found cool was, in knitting socks on two circular needles, I can just use one of the extra pointy ends as a cable needle.¶ It makes me feel very efficient and clever.

The Lizard Ridge, strip two, three squares down and three to go:

[SUMMARY: KNIT BLOG!]

And in keeping with the title theme, here's to prove that Colorado has trees just as pretty as Rhinebeck:




And giant sunflowers you could use to slay a dragon:




And, apparently, fall colours include green and gold.

This was taken at 3:00 the afternoon of the game. What were these people doing that early? Did they think Mile High would be general admission?

And how did the Packers end up with home field advantage in Denver?

[SUMMARY: No, let's don't talk sports. Let's focus on the pretty leaves.]

Ooooh... just wait 'til tomorrow. Boy, do I have a treat for you!

For now, I have to go watch my clients do the Thriller dance on the sixth floor.#

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): I'm sure they're wondering why they're paying someone who stands -- with reckless disregard for social normalcy -- in their lobby, taking pictures of their bird.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): I'm dressed up today. I like to get my inspiration from my surroundings and let a costume come to me organically. I'm a dust bunny.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Nope, you're going to have to take the class to get the story.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Who would be *thrilled* to know I'm crowning her "new best friend," I'm sure. Cheryl teaches knitting classes at Posh (Sylvia's House of Fuzzy Crack) and is helping head up the new North Denver Knitting Guild (first Wednesday of every month, Tenn Street Coffee at 44th and Tennyson, starting November 7, just in case you're interested). She's my celebrity knitter brush with fame. She even knows my name. You can touch me for a dollar.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): This was before I learned about the gallant but slightly perverted prince. I had to make my own cable magic.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): I'm not kidding.


ETA: I almost forgot the tiny little story I promised yesterday.

Once upon a time, I wound my yarn clockwise on my purl stitches. If you knit in the back of your knit stitches on the way back, it is stockinette stitch using the Eastern method. If you don't, you end up with what we call "twisted stitches." Frankly, it doesn't make a good goddamn's worth of difference to the aesthetic of the finished project, but you know how some people can be about some things.

I went to a knit night at an LYS (no longer with us), where a fussy and petulant little man looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh. My. God. What kind of stitch is this?"

"Stockinette...?"

"Oh, no it's not. I don't know what it is, but it isn't stockinette. Knit and let me see what you're doing."

Then he told me I was winding my purl stitches up wrong and made me knit a couple of rows the right way.

"See how much better that is?"

I was young (couldn't've been more than 35) and star-struck (he was knitting fussy little Nordic colour-work mittens on fussy little 00-sized needles that looked like fussy little fishing line) and meekly thanked him, even though I couldn't really see that much difference, only now my knitting looked kinda wonky from changing horses mid-saddle.

Annie taught me I wasn't knitting wrong, I was knitting in an exotic Eastern way the fussy little man could never dream of in all his fussy little dreams.

Can you tell I feel all vindicated and stuff?

OK, I'm really done now. Time to go trick-or-treating on the seventh floor.#