the Akamai Knitter

The stress of the family drama has left me without the will to blog, but now I’m back. And I’m back with the sad news that my uncle passed away yesterday morning. I take some consolation in the fact that he’s no longer suffering. I want to thank everyone who has left a comment or has emailed me about this. Your support has been incredibly appreciated.

To get me back into the swing of things and because I was tagged not once, but twice by both Jeanne and Susie, I’ve decided to partake of the current meme floating in the blogosphere. The rules are simple. Each person gives 7 random facts about themselves on their blog. Then they tag 7 others and leave a note on their blogs.

1. Even though I only lived in Korea for 2.5 years, we managed to move from apartment to apartment approximately 8 times.
2. I knit right-handed, but I crochet like a leftie.
3. I’ve been near-sighted and wearing glasses since I was 7. I tried wearing contacts when I was 19, but it was a total disaster. I kept losing the damned things!
4. At one time I was a crazy ADD crafter. I learned how to tat, bobbin lace, crazy quilt, cross-stitch, needlepoint, lots of beading, and a little polymer clay. Lately though I’ve been dedicated to knitting and spinning.
5. My knitting group has managed to addict me to Beard Papa’s cream puffs. I have to have some every week now. I try to limit myself to just one a week, but sometimes I just can’t help but have 2.
6. I used to hate all shades of pink, but now I’ve suddenly acquired techno-gadgets in hot pink. My phone is hot pink and so is my iPod. I’m not really sure what this means. There’s probably some deep-seated Freudian reason that I’d be better off not knowing.
7. I love to re-read books. There are some books that I’ve read at least 5 times. This is especially true of serials like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

Tagged: Lisa, Kim, Barb, Keohinani, Joy, Jen, and JennyK

And finally, look who’s been coming by my lanai to visit?

Yes, that’s Bosco. Look how much he’s grown! He is still a sweetheart and I’m so glad that he’s still a part of my life even if I can never call him my own.

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Thoughts…

There’s still no change in my Uncle Randy’s status and I’m really worried about my Auntie Karen. I want to knit her a shawl, but I’m still deciding on what pattern to use. It’s hard being so far away from them all. All I can do is let go and let God as they say.

There seems to be a lot of sadness in the atmosphere of knitblogia. My friend Susie recently lost her dog Wolfie and my friend Jen just lost her darling bunny Clover. I really grew attached to Susie’s Wolfie through her blog and I was so upset by his sudden passing. I’ll also miss visiting Jen’s house and seeing little Clover playing with Jen’s other bunny Munchie. Our pets are so special to us. They don’t just seem to be a part of the family, they are a part of our family.

I do take comfort in the fact that knitters are such a wonderful well of support. I don’t know what I’d do without the support of all the wonderful friends that I’ve made here. Before I forget, Jen also graduated from college this past Sunday, so if you get a chance get on over there and give her a little love. On to the ripples…

Ripples…

Last week Thursday I was able to finish off the Blue Sand Ripple afghan. I just didn’t have the energy to take pictures and what not till today though. The same goes for some other projects I have going on, but I’ll catch up soon.

Pattern: Susan B’s Easy Ripple Afghan

Yarn: Various acrylics, mostly Red Heart

Hook size: I

Started: 5/5/07

Finished: 5/11/07

Dimensions: 60″ long and 45″ wide

Even though I ran out of the variegated yarn so the blanket turned out a little smaller then I had envisioned, but it turned out to be the perfect size for cuddling while watching TV. I’m really pleased with the way the colour scheme worked out. Although Red Heart is squeaky and harsh, I do like the colours they have.

One of the yarns that I was able to use was Patons Canadiana and I really liked working with it. They also have some great colours available so I’m planning on another afghan in this yarn sometime in the future. It might be awhile as I’ve already started another ripple in Caron Simply Soft and the Canadiana is a bit more expensive then the yarns of lesser quality.

With all this ripple fever going on, I’ve been mightily tempted to buy the book 200 Ripple Stitches. Unfortunately that would put too much of a crimp in my budget this month, so I’ll probably wait till next month.

Yes, the ripple has got me good, but I sure ain’t complaining.

PS That’s Onyx hanging out in her corner of the bed with her teddy bear.

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First off, I’d like to thank everyone for their well wishes in regards to my family situation. It feels wonderful to have the support of so many of my friends and knitbloggers. Knitblogia is such a wonderful land to be in! I don’t have any additional news to report and as far as I know my uncle is still on life support.

Next up, I am proud to report that I have finished the excessively cheerful “LSD” socks.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

Yarn: Opal Handpaint, Color No. 20

Needles: Size 1 and 0 Knitpicks Classic Circular

Started: 4/3/07

Finished: 5/11/07

Modifications: The only modification I made to this pattern was switching to size 0 needles when I reached the ankles so that I could achieve a snugger fit.

I took such a long time to finish these socks because I got really tired of these colours in no time at all. I originally bought this colourway because I was attracted to the bright colour scheme and I thought it would be a good departure from my normal steady diet of subdued greens, blues, and earthtones.

Unfortunately this was more of an experiment gone bad, because I found that if I worked on these socks for too long I ended up with a screaming headache and bloody eyes. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration but you get the idea. I’m not saying that these colours are hideous and should never be worn by any human on this green earth. I’m just saying that they’re not for me.

And now Quincy will entertain you all with a picture of himself with his pup tent. You can’t see it, but he’s reaching for a toy.

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On Wednesday I had to fly to Hilo for the day. I managed to get a few eye candy shots from the plane. I’m not sure what islands some of these are but they are beautiful all the same. The ocean in this first shot really took my breath away, even if the wing of the plane obscured my view.

Again the wing obscures the view, but you can see how lush one of the islands looks from above.

I believe that these two mountain tops are either Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa, but don’t quote me on that!

While I was in Hilo, I managed to make it to Rainbow Falls. The scenery there was breathtaking and in true Harlot fashion I managed to take a picture of my current sock in progress as it enjoyed the falls.

Here’s an undiluted picture of the falls sans sock. It’s been a really dry winter so the falls weren’t as impressive as they usually are, but it was beautiful all the same.

The reason for my unexpected trip to Hilo was a sad one. My Uncle Randy is dying. When they took him in sometime last week to the ER for what was though to be a bad case of pneumonia, they found found out that he actually has terminal lung cancer. He’s only 51 years old.

On Monday they had to put him on life support and now we’re just waiting for his children to say goodbye to him before we turn the machines off. There is no real chance of recovery as he’s too weak for any sort of treatment and the likelihood of his survival off the machines is minimal. I’m really devastated by this news. So much so that I can’t really find the words to express what’s going on with me.

To top it all off, I had another family funeral to attend to last night. My Great-Aunt Charlotte passed away earlier this month. Even though I was never close to her or her family, I still feel sorrow at the passing of another of her generation.

There were bright moments this past week. I did get to visit with my Auntie Karen and Uncle Boyd, which doesn’t happen a lot since they do live on an outer island (in Hilo). I keep promising myself that I’ll get out there to visit them more during happier times, but it never seems to happen. Maybe I can make that promise happen this time around.

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I was up until 2am with Ripple Fever and awake again at 6:30am. This is what I have to show for it.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but I didn’t get home until around 11:30pm. So there wasn’t a lot of concentrated rippling going on. I’ve decided to name the afghan Blue Sands. I’m not sure why, it just kind of came to me.

I’m also not sure how I like the way the colour scheme is going, but I don’t have enough of the variegated yarn to work through the whole blanket so I had to improvise with a quick trip to the local Ben Franklin Crafts store.

I ended up spending about $20 for enough yarn to finish the blanket. At least I hope it’s enough to finish it! I got the tried and true squeaky Red Heart. I figure that it will not only be durable, but extremely easy to take care of. Which is not something to sneeze at when there are 3 cats in the house.

Despite my colour scheme misgivings, I’m utterly in love with the ripples. It’s just so much fun to see them take shape and I do really love the colours. I just really hope that they come together at some point.

The reason why I came home rather late (for me) last night was that I went to dinner and a movie. I saw Spider-Man 3. I’m not sure if it was because of the kids in the back of me that had to utter “loser” and “retard” every 5 minutes (what find upstanding citizens these young boys will grow up to be) or the young family in front with the toddler and baby, but I had a really hard time focusing on the movie and keeping up an interest in the characters. Did anyone else catch this flick? What’s your take on it? If you don’t want to spoil it for the rest of the folks feel free to email me at opal AT akamaiknitter DOT com.

I actually enjoyed watching the Girls Next Door with my friend Jen more then I did the movie. Now does that speak more for my taste or for the quality of said movie? Ack. Don’t answer that! I’m hoping it was just because of the distracting qualities of the theater crowd.

One last thing, say hello to someone new in blogland, Aim over at Bumpy Doink!

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