lifelong knitter

Father's Day

Look what bloomed for me today! Thanks for the flowers, Dad!

Happy Father's Day Weekend

Yesterday, Science Friday was LIVE from Seattle, at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. I wish I'd been there. It was almost a hundred degrees here, with the *usual* humidity. I was wilting. I was not cheered by the reminders everywhere that my Daddy is not here for Father's Day. I'm WAY better than I was LAST year, mind you, but still. I miss him.
Science Friday ALWAYS cheers me up.
I ripped and frogged and cleaned up and am making a decent dent in the choas that is my Knitting. I made a list of the wooly projects as I packed them away, partially completed, until Fall.
1)Rogue (50% completed, it still makes me smile. This is a fabulous pattern and I know I will get lots of wear out of it when it is COLD again.)
2)Salt Peanuts (30% completed. I love the way this sweater looks in the picture, and I've enjoyed knitting with the Merino tape in that luscious raspberry color, but this pattern seems inordinately complicated for a cardigan with a shawl color. Is it just me? This shouldn't be so HARD. It is a solid color, mostly stockinette stitch with just a little bit of LOVELY edging. Again, I know I'll wear it, so it stays in the lineup.)
3)Sideways Cardigan(20% completed. The perfect BLUE, handspun from Maryland Sheep and Wool. This will be one of those sweaters I reach for every day.)
4)Future Fairisle (yarn bought at MSWF, wound into balls, waiting for a roaring fireplace.)
Okay, that doesn't include the wooly YARN I packed away. More on that, later.
What got ripped?
1) The linen drape. AGAIN. 10% into the project I was bored, bored, bored. I swatched and ripped and swatched and ripped, and finally decided to just do the Broadripple again. Oh, wow. That's Lovely. Into the on-deck circle she goes. Current knitting once again.
2) Several (okay, FIVE)pairs of socks. I cannot convince myself to knit on size 1 dpns, but unless I do, these socks will not fit, and I won't wear them, and the yarn is so lovely it deserves to be Knit Right.
3) Koigu mitered squares. At the current rate, I'll have enough for a scarf the year I turn 80. I'm in love with my Koigu and it deserves better. A Charlotte, or two. A ribbed top.
4) The wool shawl.(Only 10% into the pattern, but I dropped a stitch somewhere and tried to fix it and just need to start OVER. Again, this is Autumnal knitting.)
What didn't get ripped, but isn't wool and needs to be finished?
1) The sweat pants. (40% completed. I have a Wonderful Wallaby in the same colorway, so this will be an ensemble. Mindless, quick knitting, but not summer wear, so down to the minors it goes. I'll call it up for October.)
2) The Broadripple Tank (I am loving this. The Mission Falls Cotton is wonderful, and I finally found enough of the same dyelot to Actually Finish it. Everyday rotation for this baby.)
3)The Daughter designer tank.
4) Thomas the Tank. (Chugging along on this one, I just couldn't help myself. We love Thomas the Tank around here, dontcha know.)
5) RS(really secret, but OH.....)
I could go on and on, really I could, but I've just *figured out* why I feel so Overwhelmed. I need to get Something (anything, really) into the Late Innings and get a move on. It's a wonderful feeling to know that there are So Many Things I want to knit....but I'm over my limit and need to get focused.
On something other than Missing My Daddy.

Friday Frog Festival

I posted the beach retreat pictures in an album over there on the sidebar. For some reason, the pictures are in ascending order....so you have to start in the lower right hand corner if you want to go *in chronological order*. sigh. I'm still learning.
This evening I shall be having a frogfest...ripping out all of the things I've started and am not enjoying the process of knitting, packing up the Rogue and the Salt Peanuts for the summer...it is Just Too Hot to knit with wool right now. I know I'll enjoy taking them out and finishing them in the Fall....but right now I've got to clear my mind and swab the decks....hope your Friday is Fabulous.
Update: Cathy is home after surgery and doing WELL.

Road Trip

I always thought SOMEDAY I'd rent an RV and take a road trip around the country, either following the CART races or seeing ALL the Baseball stadiums, knitting all the way, of course, but now I'm thinking it would be pretty amazing to do a Nationwide LYS/ Fiber Festival tour. The trip by train with daughter bird certainly makes me consider Amtrak a viable mode of transportation (lots more knitting and sleeping to be had on the train where Somebody Else is doing the Driving!) but just THINK of the stash you could accumulate in one of those RV's. Now, of course, my brain is sounding the *GAS GUZZLER* alarms, as it always does when I even SEE anything larger than my CR-V with only one person in it....but just THINK of the possibilities.
Sandy and I had a lovely lunch yesterday with Cathy. Her surgery is this afternoon, so extra prayers are in order. I thought the Poodle Princess was Very Well Behaved, but I'm a little biased. She sat with us at the outside table at the sandwich place and didn't beg too much for our food. The nice man at the counter brought her a bowl of water and fussed over her fluffiness. Then we went for a little walk and she plopped herself down on the nice cool tile floor of the knitting store and SNOOZED while we knit and *helped* unpack the new yarn that had just arrived.
This afternoon we are going to visit the Boy bird after work, which probably means a trip to the bagel store. I worry that this low carb craze is going to put *our* bagel store out of business. God Forbid.
Oh, and one more thing, while I'm tripping...I'm looking for a good, lightweight (1/2oz.) beautifully made handspindle. I got a Rainbow in the Mail and in addition to making me SMILE....it made me want to start spinning again. I promised myself a Really Wonderful spinning wheel when the Nest is completely empty, but I've always enjoyed spindling, and the recent issues of Spin-off magazine have lots of sticky-note flags on the pages....

The Broadripple Effect

I loved knitting the Broadripple socks so much that I just couldn't stop! There is a Broadripple tank in the works (inspired by Rachael's creation, where the directions are *knit in your favorite lace pattern for awhile until you get bored, or up to the armholes* or something along those lines....) with the 1824 Mission Falls cotton, and of course you've seen the cape. Just for Jocelyn, since she asked so nicely, here's how I came up with the cape:
I measured my doggie's neck and discovered that she could wear one of my socks. Giggled about that. For an excellent dog measuring tutorial, check out Dogs In Knits by Judith L. Swartz. It is available on Overstock.com.....as is every knitting book the day AFTER I pay full price for it at the bookstore. sigh. Put Patience on my list of things to pray for.
Go to knitty.com and search the pattern archives for the Broadripple sock pattern. It's brilliant. Knit a pair, you won't be sorry. Go visit the pattern's designer and drool over the koigu. Order some Cascade Fixation to make the cape. My version took half a ball or so. Plenty left over for a java jacket. CAST ON number of stitches stated, or however many will fit YOUR dog, cat or Resident Super Hero. I thought if I were making this for a toddler, I would cast it on FLAT and make icord ties for quick release. This might be preferable for your pooch or feline, as well.
Knit as per the directions for the cuff. This becomes the Neck of the cape.
Cast off HALF the stitches.
Continue in the Broadripple pattern, except on every work even row, increase 1 st at each end,
Until you are once more at the original number of stitches.
I worked these increase triangles in stockinette stitch to give the *shoulders* some sturdiness, but you could continue the pattern on these stitches as well. Totally up to you, as Knitting always IS.
Knit until the cape is long enough to flap convincingly in the breeze while running. Cast Off. Take pictures. Post them on your blog. Giggle.
Go have lunch with a fellow knitter. That's what I'm doing today....Cathy is having surgery on her knee on Thursday, say some extra prayers, okay?
Peace out, dog!

Caped Cruise Aider

Remember the ball of Red Cascade Fixation I won a while back? Of course you don't. You have a life, and you are BUSY, for crying out loud. WELL, my intention was to knit one of those uberkewl java jackets. I'm still going to do that (it is in progress, on the needles as we speak) but a certain Poodle Princess inspired me to knit a Broadripple CAPE. The photos do not do it justice because I was laughing way too hard to take a decent picture. She does NOT like to be laughed at. I have the teeth marks on my ankles to prove it. When she went trotting down the beach with this on, it was hysterical. Practically speaking, it is cotton, and washable, and stretchy, and protects your delicate skin from the hot rays of the afternoon sun, so she NEEDED it, right?
I needed the laughing, that's for sure. There is nothing quite like a weekend AWAY at the beach to make me feel like MYSELF again. It was really gorgeous. I will put up a photo album after I get the laundry done and the Daughter bird picked up from the airport. By all reports the Boy bird had a Fabulous time at the prom, and all went well while I was AWAY.
The weirdest thing about this trip was being able to just stroll down the beach. I wasn't craning my neck to see who was Out TOO Far, causing the Lifeguard to blow his/her whistle (Again). I wasn't worrying about whether I packed the Only Snacks they'll eat, or whose sandals those are washing away with the tide. I wasn't lugging the beach chairs/towels/umbrellas/sandpailsandshovels/etc. I just walked, and looked, and took deep breaths. I flopped, and read Middlemarch. I'm LOVING it. I picked up shells and fossilized shark's teeth and generally behaved like a Total Tourist.
I wore a hat and sunglasses and sunscreen. I got burned in the places I couldn't see or reach...and dang if the middle of your back, right between the shoulder blades doesn't occur to you MUCH, until you get sunburned there. sigh.
That's the news from here. I'm rested and relaxed, and well on the road to Healing. Hope y'all are well and happy and liking that Dodo as much as I am. I want to turn over the edges of so many pages to write down the fabulous quotes I don't ever want to forget...but it IS a Library book after all. We treat Library books with Great Reverence around here. I may have to go out and get my own copy of Middlemarch.
Is there a particular edition I should look for?

Where's the STORY?

One of the reasons I LOVE to tell stories is that I could never get enough of them. I always wanted to know the story behind something....and very rarely got it. I'd ask a question about a Relative and get something completely Unrelated in return. "Why don't we visit with Aunt Sophie more OFTEN?" was answered with "That's a LOVELY sweater,dear. Did you make it?" Yes, but what I want to KNOW is.... "your Mother tells me you are taking tap dancing lessons, how exciting for you, oh dear, just LOOK at the time...we simply Must be going!" I'd fume, and then, in the car on the way home, I'd make up my OWN stories about Aunt Sophie and why we didn't ever go to visit.
So, when I went to California on the glorious train trip, my Mother was in the middle of a sentence about the weather, or the batteries going dead in her thermostat or something, and she stopped and said "OH, there's something I've been meaning to show you.." and disappeared into her bedroom closet. A few minutes later, she came out holding those beads. "What do you think these are?" (I worked in a jewelry store for YEARS after school, so this is a frequent Distract Greta from Answering QUESTIONS trick...gemology quiz.) I looked at them carefully and sighed. "Gosh, Mom, these are beautiful, really OLD, too. I think they might be Carnelian." I looked up at her and she had the strangest look on her face. "They were your great grandmothers. I thought you might like to have them. I never knew her. She died when my Mother was four." I opened my mouth to ask the QUESTIONS....and she said "Well, gosh, just LOOK at the time...we'd better hurry if we are going to be on time for lunch!"
Gah. Don't you just HATE that?

Tetraploid

Here, for all of you fans of ORANGE, is true tetraploid daylily. I'll bet there is a koigu colorway for a Charlotte out there somewhere with these oranges and rusts and yellows, some shrek green for contrast....

Adjustment

Before Daughter bird left for her Grandparents house...we had a series of chiropractic appointments. She had been having headaches and muscle spasms and I wanted her to have a comfortable trip. Our first visit was for x-rays, which had us all in the Giggle Zone, because she is SO literal. The technician told her to remain Perfectly still while she took the pictures. "That's impossible", she replied, matter of factly. Okay, then, as still as you can possibly be...click. Okay, we're done. We came back for the evaluation appointment and the tech greeted her with the Stillest patient EVER award. We went into my dear friend's office and she put Daughter's Pictures up on the screen. "I always knew you were extra special" she said "but just look at this...only one percent of the population has this...an extra vertebrae in the lumbar spine!" Daughter was nonplussed "I guess that's why I'm long-waisted." We chit chatted some more about why she was having headaches and made some appointments for the required adjustments. After these appointments had been completed, we were heading home to Pack for the big trip. It had been Awfully Quiet in the back seat. "Mom?" Yes? "Am I well adjusted, now?"
SNORT.
Good Lord, YES, child.

Where am I?

Not where I am SUPPOSED to be, that's for sure! Daughter bird left for her Grandparents house, and I was frantically trying to get ready for a business meeting that I did not want to attend. I just didn't feel ready to be around PEOPLE, yet. Not the cocktail party dress up chit chat kinda people, anyway. I'm great about giving other people really good advice about the stages of grieving and the benefit of taking one's time experiencing that process, but I'm also fairly famous for Not Taking My Own Advice. This time I got some help. A number of emails appeared in my in box...encouraging me to take some time for MYSELF and allow the process some breathing room. "There will ALWAYS be another business meeting" really struck a nerve. I called and cancelled. Felt a momentary twinge of guilt, and cried until it passed. Hugged the Puppy Princess TIGHT and packed a little bag. Art supplies, knitting, pens and paper, a few clothes. No computer or pda or other technology. We're on a little sabbatical, Filling the Well. Celebrating Life.
Typepad will post the entires I wrote before I left on Thursday, and I will be back LIVE on Tuesday. Rested, refreshed, and full of stories to tell and pictues to share....
Thank you for your kind support. It means the world to me!