You were perfectly fine . . .

zónder knoopsgaten!

You know how some phrases just catch in your psyche, and you wish you could use them for every purpose? This is mine today: zónder knoopsgaten.

Picture this:

<breathlessly> "Sorry, can't go out with the girls tonight--I have a date with Zónder Knoopsgaten!"

or this:

<self-satisfied> "I was going to knit this stole in a cashmere blend, but I'm SO glad I went with the zónder knoopsgaten. It's FABulous."

Ok, maybe I'm going a little overboard. :) I've been translating some Phildar patterns from Dutch, and am feeling a little verknipt. [Is it just me, or does that sound loads more fun than its English counterparts "kooky" and "nutty"?]

Translating from Dutch has been a fun adventure--it's a little easier than it might otherwise be because I'm already familiar with the style and layout of the Phildar patterns, which helps. [It's a completely different kettle of fish from having the patterns in French, because I can knit from those without translating them for the most part, after 4 years of high school and college French.] Deciphering these patterns is probably as close as I'll ever get to my dream job at Bletchley Park, so I'll take it.

Pictures later, I promise. Really.

*zónder knoopsgaten means (are you ready?) "without buttonholes." Sounds like it should be something more exciting, doesn't it?

Some new projects at last!

Have I mentioned how much I love Phildar lately? I'm hoping to win the lottery so I can plan quarterly visits to France to shop for the latest Phildar mags and yarns. Is that too extravagant? :)

Right now I'm working on a Phildar hoodie for my nephew--I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the pattern. I don't have enough progress yet to warrant a photo, but look here to see the one Alison knit last summer. Mine will (hopefully) be similar.

I wish Phildar would re-issue this pattern so that it was more widely available; it comes from the mag that I had to order from the Netherlands with a little (actually a LOT of) help from a very kind online knitting friend there. And it's in Dutch, which is a little challenging. But sometimes you take what you can get and enjoy the hell out of it. This is one of those times.

I'm planning to make the matching blanket too--it's fuzzy/fluffy on one side, and has a giraffe and an elephant on the other. I'll scan it and show you when I'm in a scanning mood. You know.

I'm still researching how to get knitted/crocheted comfort items to wounded troops, so I'll let you know when I have more information about that. There are also houses called "Fisher Houses" that have been built near several of the major military hospitals, including Bethesda and Walter Reed in the DC area, and Landstuhl in Germany. These homes allow families of the wounded to stay nearby comfortably and for a nominal cost. Isn't that a great idea? Kind of like Ronald McDonald Houses for the military. To find out more about these homes, look here.

I called my dad the other night to get some ideas and names of people to contact (he was a career Marine, so I figured he'd know where would be a good place to start my research). We didn't get to talk about that much, though, because about 15 minutes before I called my parents, my mom's doctor had called to tell her that her biopsy results were back and she has breast cancer. Dammit. To be precise, "infiltrating ductal carcinoma, high combined histologic grade, lobular, irregular, marginated, 1.7 cm x 1.0 cm x 1.0 cm." She has lots of appointments with various kinds of oncologists (who knew there was more than one kind?) and surgeons, and will be having surgery within the next couple of weeks. She's in good spirits, though, and has lots of support. Any prayers or good thoughts you want to send her way would be much appreciated by yours truly . . .

Have you had your mammogram yet this year? I guess I'd better go get mine! Is it small of me that I still don't want to go do it, even given recent events? No, I'll go.  Really, I will. But I don't have to like it. :)

Just when I thought I was tired of knitting for other people . . .

I've been busily knitting multidirectional scarves for my family for Christmas, I'm nearly finished with Cavendish for my sister, and I have a Phildar hoodie for my nephew in queue. I was thinking that maybe I was ready to take a little break after that.

Then this morning I was looking at the coverage of the attack in Mosul, and saw this photo of a wounded soldier covered with what looks to me like a hand-knitted garter-stitch throw. So maybe I have one more K4OP project in me. I'm thinking I'll find out how to send stuff like this to the hospitals in Germany and Washington that care for the critically wounded.

It still pisses me off royally that the current Administration (largely made up of men who avoided military service themselves) is so willing to treat our honorable young men and women as grist for their hawkish mill, in a war we should never have begun in Iraq. How the families of those killed and wounded must hate looking at dubya's face as he spews platitudes about how important their sacrifices are--knowing all the time that these are sacrifices he is not and was not willing to make himself. Jackass.

One more thing--the multidirectional scarf pattern is fantastic! It was simple enough that I didn't have to pay attention too much, but interesting enough to beat the heck out of stockinette or regular garter stitch. I did one in Noro Kureyon, and one in Colinette mohair (which turned out GREAT, and I had yarn to spare!). Definitely do the alternate ending for the last triangle, though, to make it come out evenly. At least that's what worked for me.

Hope you are all well. Happy Holidays.