Ripped and reincarnated.

A genuine boy scarf. 24 stitches in stockingette, stitches picked up all around on a 4 to 3 ratio 6 rows of seed stitch and a reverse crochet bind off. Used two balls with just a trifling left over.
The teapot is silly really, just tiny for one person. But it's a refreshing touch of dainty whimsy in an otherwise stressful and detail oriented life.
The yarn is Australian Merinos Printed colour #1006. I love this yarn. Sproingy, forgiving, soft, and a great guy colour. Deep brown with airforce blue and camel. I wish I could buy a sweaters worth for me without feeling guilt. I only bought two balls back in buffalo because the yarn store people were so snooty to me that it hurt just to buy that. But I had a vision in my mind that didn't survive the actuality. So this yarn held up to being ripped more than once, without showing wear. The hand is great. It will be almost a shame to give away the scarf. I tell ya', the things I do for love.

That wasn't a gunshot,

it was just the sound of my plan backfiring. Back in October when I packed for this trip, I carefully packed my knitting projects. Planning to shift somethings off the UFO list and finish up some larger items.
Aarghh! I outwitted myself.
I have a Lopi steeked cardigan for TAO that weighs roughly 7 lbs and requires a printed-in-colour chart. There is Lillian with the 36 row lace chart. The Vogue cardigan with multiple shifting cables, waist and bust darts. The Jellyfish (round shawl) with 197 row lace chart.
None of these are portable. None of these are work out a stress reduction row at lunch. All of these fail as a Jewish Rosary. All are going to be very nice someday, but they are not soothing my spiritual knitting needs. Curses!

I am not on a Yarn Diet but as part of Enough I am looking at what I have and how to enjoy it. Perhaps some socks for pocket knitting and a garter stitch shawl eh? I feel Startitis coming on.

I would like to say that I received outstanding customer service from Amazon this week. I ordered late Wednesday night and received on Friday with free shipping. This was after many phonecalls and gallons of gas trying to get the books from local stores. Among the items I treated myself to was Creative Spinning. It's rather like a cookbook for skeins. There are large colour closeups of the yarns with recipes for what colours in what amounts to blend and get those results. It even shows knitted swatches of the finished yarn. It assumes you are already fairly proficient at spinning, so it is more of a travel magazine for me right now. Good for the creative juices.

Election recap.

After a week filled with days of interesting behaviour models demonstrated in their natural environment, allergic reaction to the Flu Shot, and nights filled with nightmares (car crash, stalker, fire, sudden death) I decided to spend the time and money and drive home to be healed by The Adored One. Was it a prudent use of time and fundage? No. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

I got very little knitting done for many other reasons. I spend some of my home time fondling the stash, telling myself lies and, ignoring Enough. I knit 4 feet of a gift scarf, unraveled it and have most of it's new incarnation done. I started the Ribwarmer in my Blue Moon Twisted, it striped and puddled very unattractively so I reballed it. The holiday gift purchasing was wrapped up by a supplemental gift card and grafting the tips of these mittens:

They are made with Palette and are planned as dog walking mittens for my best friend whose dog is like other people's children. The band design and construction are from
Komi Mittens but I opted to change the finger patterning into something that could be crammed into a pocket, pulled out and carried on with, chartless. I used them as a tension experiment in that in one mitten the tidepool colour is carried on the bottom and on the other mitten the natural is the bottom colour. It doesn't show much in the photos but it truly makes a difference in hue dominance. I can see it, but no non knitter has seen it, even when pointed out so I don't think she'll notice. And even if she did, she'd never say anything to me.

So that leaves the insertion of the photos into the calendar and the posting of parcels left, and the holiday cr-p is done.

Y'all are very clever.

This little piece of knitting stumped no one. Scheech. So here he is completed. He's for my niece. Perhaps I should have put him on some Diet Cat food but I wanted him to be very squeezable. He took one skein of Caron Bliss. And is roughly 8 inches long and 6 inches high not including the tail. Surely there are stockings that need one of these for the holidays?



The Pattern was free. Word of Warning....there are some swear words in her post. But the kitty is really cute. Her's isn't stuffed as much as mine and is cuter. I think because she used fabric scraps and I used polyfil.

Name that Knitted Object

I don't know what the prize will be to the winner - we'll negotiate that,eh?

Thank goodness for Spinning

Any new assignment is filled with a week or two of adjustments. About this workplace I will say only...I understand the turnover rate. About the housing I will say...designed for Americans to watch TV. There is more lighting provided by the parking lot lights overflow than is installed in the apartment. Hence why I travel with a floor lamp. I prescribed spinning for stress relief and received much enjoyment from just looking at this: They are rolags done from Finn Top I picked up at SOAR. I plan to attempt woolen spinning of the 4 ozs, then three ply them and knit socks from the toe up. For Me. I say attempt woolen because although Carol Rhoades was a stunning teacher of woolen spinning my control driven personality keeps trying to spin all the air out of the yarn and to smooth it with my fingers. I still really enjoy it though.

The whole rolag making experience was enhanced by these Cotton Cards which are so much better than the cards that I used in class. And the Cards are more than just dog brushes from the Inquisition because they have a little bit of love attached. When I came home the first day of classes very frustrated because the materials list did not specify that you needed a Certain Type of Hand Cards, The Adored One listened very carefully. Then listened to two more days of comments as the other gracious ladies in the class let me try their different brands. So when I made up my mind what kind I planned to buy someday he snuck into the off limits Vendor hall where the great ladies of Mielkes were setting up and negotiated to buy the only set they had. Guess I'd better get hopping on finishing his Lopi zip up cardigan, eh? I'm trapped in the black hole part of the sleeve knitting. I decided to do both at the same time so they would be identical but that is so much slower than just cruising along on DPNs. I spend a lot of time fiddle faddling around with needles and positioning. Also...2 sleeves...not portable.

If I can finagle it I may skittle off to the Weavers Guild Sale. The website talks mostly about finished items, but the lady who told me about the sale said there would be fibers and tools and yarn. Free to get in. Perhaps not free to get out though.

SOAR with only a tiny thud.

A good time was had at SOAR. I took the handcarding and woolen class with Carol Rhoades. If I ever go again I plan to take the Spinning 201. The class was not only educational, but also fun. (unlike another class present, we were alcohol free though) We learned a very cool technique that makes striped rolags that spin up into self striping yarn. And how to knit with unspun roving drafted out from rolags.

The speakers in the evening events made potentially dry topics very interesting and even made me want to learn more.

We had gone out to dinner Wednesday night at a sweet little bistro when Kaffe Fassett walked through the door, with Brandon Mably. TAO says that I squeaked and Pointed in a very obvious manner. I am not denying that. Wednesday night dinner was made a little less shiny by a photo we had taken by the manager of the restuarant. Let's just say that if I send it to the family, they'll ask about Grandchildren and due dates. I mean, I look about 7 months pregnant. See, that's the down side to traveling, no one knows you well enough to say "You are turning into a fat sow. Knock it off."

I drown my sorrow at that picture by lining up for the SOAR market so I was the fifth through the door when it opened. I was swept up in the frenzy and scored R'N'R Polworth Roving in a combed format. Gorgeous, glorious colours. I admit that if I had known what it would cost before I got through the line, I might not have picked it up. Not sorry now though. I know just how I want to Spin it and the Patternit will grow up to be.

TAO picked up a lovely swift and Louet Cotton Cards as an Anniversary Gift for me. (all together now, awwwh). I'm so easy to love and live with when I'm far far away.

I also decided to try spindle spinning again but with a Supported Spindle from Royal Hare. It sits nicely on the counter and I can keep my hands at waist level to work instead of reaching above my head or attempting Stupid Yarn Tricks.

The Vacation Curse strikes again.

So after months of dreaming about our vacation – and 9.5 hours of driving - we arrive at our RCI resort. It was supposed to be a one bedroom Jacuzzi tub room with a full kitchen. It did indeed have a full kitchen. It did not however have a BED! There was a sleeper sofa. I promptly called the reservation people and was told that someone would call us back within 2 hours to resolve this issue. So we went to dinner. During dinner – ring, ring, ring- it’s the RCI people. It’s essentially they can get us a room 42 miles away or we can sleep on the sofa. So I got a phone book and we went to bed and breakfast. Sadly, they only had a cottage available so we were forced to accept a two bedroom cottage on the river with a firepit and dock at the price of $99 a night. It was a sacrifice but we forced ourselves to settle ; ) In the meantime, RCI will be refunding our money, I plan on spending a weekend this winter when I’m bored filing complaints, and we won’t be staying at an RCI again. (Because they screwed us last vacation.) The good news is we are always happy to get home to our own bed.

There has been some fun had so far and SOAR starts tomorrow. Yay! Pictures in a week or so. TAO got a great shoe score. I didn’t get the pair I wanted because – as usual – they didn’t have my size. Sigh.

Oh, and TAO is warming up to the idea of my getting a traveling spinning bunny.

Oy Gevalt!

So I know my lifestyle is well, not weird, but not Go-d Houseke-ping either. But even for me yesterday was a topper.

Let's go back a pace, I got up 130am EST Saturday, loaded my vehicle and took off around 3am. Since it was a 16 hour trip, I figured the 40 minutes of detour it would take to get to The Fold was a mere drop in the bucket. I am blaming my purchase on lack of bloodflow to my hiney. (It was one skein of Twisted in Metamorphic. I'm thinking a Ribwarmer. I really love my other one.)
So I pulled in late Saturday. Got up Sunday and unloaded the car. 10 months worth of living piled on the Living Room Floor. Said pile is complicated by the fact that some is staying, some is going to the next place (St. Louis!), and some needs to be steamed and packed for my Much Needed Vacation. Sigh.
Monday was an admin day. The stylist, oil change, rotation, interviews for jobs, bank, yadda yadda.
So Tueday was for Packing Rotation. Got up at 530. Roofers came at 8. (traumatic for the dogs) Fireplace man came at 10:30. 10:47 Phone rings....it's The Adored One. He and a News Camera Crew are meeting in the house at 1:00 to film a piece on air hazards in home. In The Living Room. The fireplace man may have thought it was funny because I hung up, muttered "I look terrible in black, so widowhood is out." and started schlepping, dusting, vaccuuming with a feverish intensity.

TAO called about 12:20, I told him I wasn't speaking to him, and he said "I'm just on my way home." Great. He gets here, and instead of vaccuuming, he climbs up on the roof with the roofers. Not wishing to go outside and exercise my Eastern European roots by shrieking like a fish wife, I calmly call his cell phone, tell him he "will come back in the house, eat his lunch because I've burned it twice, and change for his interview....Now!"

The interview went okay, I think. The dogs and I hid in the basement. (Unfortunately one expressed his displeasure over this on the carpet.) I had just cleaned that up when here comes the camera crew to film the furnace room. Now remember, the whole time...bang bang bang...the sounds of 11K on the roof. Quite overwhelming.

We did not get to see the broadcast because the roofers took off the cable to roof, and didn't put it back on. Hee Hee Hee. I'm kinda of glad for that, I didn't want to listen to TAO dissect it all night. Shush, don't tell. Tonight will be soon enough.

I did manage to finish my STR Pebble Beach Socks before leaving Buffalo, and the proof is in the pictures.

Non Traditional

I don't normally post things like this but Aimee of FairieKnits asked so very nicely for posts to our blogs, that I decided to break with tradition.

Aimee is doing the Lupus Walk and is looking for supporters. To encourage Donations she is sponsoring a drawing with lovely prizes donated from different Fiber Enablers.

Please meander by her blog and participate if you're so inclined.

In the meantime, I have to go pack. ;)

Boldly going Nowhere

So it’s time to close the book on the next year.

Forgive us the breach of positive commands and negative commands, whether or not they involve an act, whether or not they are known to us.

Referring back to my concept of Enough. It’s time to pack up from Buffalo and meander down the road. In this case, Home. I’m taking two weeks off. First week to put on a new roof and clean house, and second week to vacation with TAO at SOAR with a Jacuzzi tub for two.

Unfortunately, this means I don’t know where I’m headed next. I generally find out the next assignment a week before it starts. Hopefully I’ll find out where I’m going before We leave for Michigan so the packing can be done before the vacation. I am trying to do pre-packing. And as part of that I am attempting to winnow down.

What’s to winnow? After all my car only has 85.2 cubic feet of cargo space. Well, I have some odd habits. I hoard. Not yarn (well maybe a little, but I’m surprisingly realistic about yarn.) but Food. Perhaps it springs from a hungry childhood, but I am sadly out of grip with reality when it comes to grocery shopping.

So this time I am trying to say “Enough”, there’s so much richness in my life that I don’t partake and enjoy fully because there is so much competing for my attention. This trip I’m aiming for Focus, not more, more, More. So I plan on spending Yom in reflection of how I’ll spend my time for the next quarter, and how to make it, well I don’t want to say Simple because Life isn’t Simple…Life is rich and complex and flavourful. Rather, I want to savour 5768. This will include some theoretically simple changes…Shopping for the week, not the month, pre-planning the reading and knitting projects, cutting back on the variety of exercising, practicing the small steps of form and basics that build a marvelous foundation. Don’t interpret this as eschewing rich dark chocolate, or Designer Handpainted Yarn, or my favourite Republic of Tea , rather, consider it as chewing slowly.