Chairman of the Board

As of today, I'm the proud owner of a brand spankin' new Sew E-Z Board, direct from the Ohio Table Pad Company. I love that name. So regional, so descriptive, so down to earth. All they do is table pads, darn it -- and they do 'em right.

I'm really looking forward to doing some blocking on this thing with my new steamer. Having the board marked out in little square inches will make blocking to the proper dimensions a breeze. Or so I expect. Now no more excuses for not getting Whitfield blocked and sewn up. Well, I'm sure I can come up with some, but I can't blame it on lack of a good blocking surface. I think my days of blocking on the guest room floor with beach towels may be numbered. Yay.

While in Tulsa at my conference, we had an event at the Philbrook Museum of Art. A highlight of my week was getting to stroll through the grounds and getting to enjoy the gorgeous gardens -- still quite colorful as the landscape slipped into fall. They even had a few cotton plants tucked into a little corner with their puffy bolls still attached. Yours truly spent a little too much time eating and dancing to enjoy any of the indoor art, but I do hope that I'll get a chance to visit again. If you ever get to Tulsa, go there -- if for no other reason than to see the building and the gardens. They are splendid.

I Got (Clang) (Clang) Sssssssteam Heat!

Come on union, get hot!

Wearying of waiting for handknits to dry from full-on Baptist total immersion blocking, and not happy with my iron's ability to spew hot water vapor, I ordered a Bissell Steam Shot steamer -- and it arrived today. I'd gotten a recommendation from my good friend over at Very Pink, but the model she recommended was harder to find and this seemed like a good alternative. It comes with more attachments than a backsliding Buddhist. Can't wait to give it a try on the Whitfield Jacket.

Oh my word. I've just turned into one of those Youtube haul video people!

Then, something clicked...

I had to get them. I knew you'd understand.

Inoxydable

Now THAT'S a knitting needle!

Not really. In actuality, it's something called a soil knife. In a conversation about weeding my new landscaping that I had with a colleague at work last week, it was suggested that I get a soil knife. It's kind of like a garden trowel, except thinner and sturdier. And it has those menacing serrated teeth on one edge. And it comes with swashbuckly scabbard-sheathy thing from which one can withdraw it as one stalks unwanted flora. Eye-patch not included.

So imagine my knitterly surprise when I looked at the writing on the blade. It reads INOX ITALY. Right there on the metal. Many knitters will be familiar with the Inox brand of enameled metal knitting needles, which I believe (but am not sure) are made in Germany. They are very smooth and make a pleasant (or annoying, depending on whether you are me or Jeff) clinking noise as you work with them, especially if you are using the double-pointed variety.

So, I thought -- how is it that a company could make knitting needles AND blades for soil knives? I dug around on the internets, finding all kinds of references to European companies that made ball bearings, fitting rings, cookware, countertop surfaces -- all referring to Inox. Then, I finally stumbled across a page that explained -- Inox is short for "inoxidable" -- or something which cannot be oxidized -- usually in the context of acier inoxydable(Fr.) or stainless steel, basically. Which makes sense. And which everyone in the knitting community probably knew, except me.

Transformers

My final birthday present arrived today -- a gift from my in-laws. They were ordered at the beginning of the month but didn't ship until Monday, for some weird reason. I was kind of waiting for these before I started Jeff's new sweater. I got me some KnitPicks Options interchangeable circular needles. Yes -- knit-nerd transformers. Thanks, Jim and Carolyn!

For my legions of muggle readers, interchangeable needle sets have been around for a while, but these are new and relatively cheap as such things go. They allow you to switch up cable lengths and needle sizes to create circular needles of various circumferences and lengths.

This set comes with 2 cable sizes, but I got two additional cables of yet lengthier lengths. With these 4 cable lengths and 9 different needles sizes (11, 10.5, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4) I have 36 different circular needles in one batch. Buying those separately would cost a small fortune. I already have quite a few, and I'm wishing I'd gotten this set sooner.

One thing that put me off about these was the weird purply-mauve color of the cables. Was that really necessary? I'm sure the natural color of the nylon or whatever they're made of would have been much more bland. Now, as a man who knits in public, the color of my circular knitting needle cables is hardly a major issue. I'm just not exactly a bright color person. I'm thinking of all the years I'm going to have to stare at this color.

I know, I know -- I need to let this go. As an antidote to all this vibrant technicolor, the KnitPicks company redeemed itself by packing the set in a cool black case. I've been practicing zipping it up like Lily Tomlin does with her zippered bible in the movie Big Business. I can't remember exactly what the scene was about, but I remember getting a kick out of the look on her face as she punctuated a statement, and ended a conversation, by vigorously zipping her bible shut.

Those socks I blogged about last time? Forget bout them. I'm going to frog them. I got to the heel flap and decided that I wasn't going to have enough yarn for a pair. So I grabbed some tan yarn and made the heel flap with that. When I asked Jeff what he thought, he said it was starting to look like one of those sock monkey puppets. Now Jeff is usually quite kind in his comments about my knitting efforts, even when such kindness isn't deserved, so I took this comment seriously. Ribbit. Now that I've got my yarn and needles for Jeff's sweater, I'm on to bigger and better things.

I still need some socks to work on for my meetup, though. I'll probably cast on for some tonight.