hesira knits

Score!

2008-11-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

So I was at the department store today picking up my Lancome free gift. At the counter I met a lovely woman doing the exact same thing. After we were done, we met again in the shoe department. There was a great sale and she was finding all kinds of cool shoes. As usual, I was not. I have a 5.5 medium foot and rarely do I find a pair that fits in ANY store. I mentioned my dilemma, and she told me that the local salvage center had just gotten a shipment in from Macy's and there were a bunch of shoes in my size. I was skeptical, but I decided to drive across town and check it out. Boy, am I glad I did!

I found 4, yes FOUR pairs of great shoes:

Michael Kors Pumps:

Merrell Loafers:

Naturalizer Mary Janes:

Cute Red Style & Co.:

I can't tell you which are my favorites because I LOVE them all so much. The Merrells feel like I'm walking on clouds and the Michael Kors are easy to walk in for the height. I love the Mary Janes and the red shoes are just so cute. I'm in shoe heaven! And each pair was 60% off the original price. I know it may seem tacky to talk price, but I got all 4 pairs for $139.00 US. I saw a pair of Merrells at the department store for $100.00. I got 4 pairs of shoes for just under what 1 pair would have cost in the department store. I'm just so happy.....

Happy Hallo-Wing!

2008-10-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

(Title courtesy of #1)

I promised to make cookies for #1's school party and when my friend Freefader showed me this website, I had to give them a shot. The cookies are chocolate and it was my first time using royal icing. I used pasteurized egg whites so hopefully no 2nd graders will be getting salmonella. You have a belly ache, Little Timmy? It must be all the Halloween candy! Wasn't those cookies Ms. Zoysia gave you, was it?

These were fun to make, and the more I used the icing, the more I got the hang of it.

I'll probably edit this post later in the day when pumpkins are lit and boys are costumed, but till then, have a lovely day and a spooky evening!

Enjoy Every Sandwich

2008-10-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

In regards to my last post: Whilst looking on Youtube for a Warren Zevon version of Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, I came across his last interview with Letterman, which really worked me over good, and got me to thinking about how precious everything we experience really is. So, while I do not have a great photo of a sandwich to show off, here's Letterman and Zevon both showing what they are made of. This is the first part of 4 available on Youtube, if you care to watch the whole thing.

And here's what kind of flower I am at this point in my life:

I am a
Canna

What Flower
Are You?

So, I'm over this self pity and happy to be here. I've restarted the February Sweater and harvested my basil, zinnia, and marigold seeds. I hope everyone is having a lovely Autumn.

Smooches.

PS: It's completely ironic that cannas have always grossed me out. Their flowers turn to slime when they're done, but so be it!

Grumpification

2008-10-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling pretty shitty lately. There's been family drama, Hank stress, and general dissatisfaction. Part of it is hormonal, too. You know. But even though I know all this will fade and pass, I'm wallowing in it right now.

Even knitting is grumping me out. I had gotten past the 3rd button hole on the February sweater and decided to count my stitches to see how much farther I had to go before the next step. I was over the stitch count I needed, but not over in a way that would suggest I had done too many increase rows. I started counting sections and it turns out one of the front sections was 9 stitches over. I'm not sure what I did, but I think it had to do with the button holes. So guess what I did. I ripped that sucker to within the original first 3 rows. There was no fudge room. It was 9 stitches. How disheartening. But I'm not one to accept a crappy result, especially when the yarn is so expensive. I'll just chalk it up to experience and remember to check my stitch count more often.

I don't feel like messing with it any more today. I'll come back to it when I'm feeling less pissy.

To add to my feeling of doom and gloom, I watched The Other Boleyn Girl several nights ago. I read the book quite some time ago and enjoyed it. I have always been intrigued with the story of Anne, Henry & Elizabeth. It's so tragic. For some reason, I always get caught up in the story and am a little surprised by the ending. Not like I didn't know it was coming, but surprised that it actually happened. I don't know how to explain it, but it breaks my heart every time. Anyway, probably not the best movie for someone wallowing in pseudo-depression.

Poor, Anne, poor Marie Antoinette, poor Marilyn.

EDIT: I've added pics of garlic rosemary salmon with roasted new potatoes & chocolate star cupcakes, cuz carbs always make me feel better.

Hank Woes

2008-09-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

Can a dog attempt to off himself? Is life with us so bad? Here's how it went.

Hank stays in the kitchen or outside, because he's just too crazy to let run around the house. We've been trying to acclimate him to the rest of the house, but it's slow going. He looses all sanity and runs amok. He's never alone in the kitchen very long, because, I spend most of my time in there.

About an hour ago, I was trying to get things ready for #1's soccer practice, so I was moving around the house looking for shin guards, soccer shorts, etc. I was in and out of the kitchen, and on one pass, I heard a hissing sound. I started looking around trying to find the source, and lo and behold, one of the knobs on the range had been turned. The spark that starts the burner hadn't been ignited, so the gas was just streaming out.

I quickly turned the knob to off, got Hank out of there and started the vent fan. I found a floor fan and pointed it out the door to ventilate the kitchen. Right now, I can't smell gas any longer and I've taken the knobs off the stove. I was completely freaked out. Thank God I didn't have a candle burning in the house. Not that I usually do, but sometime I get a wild hair.

What am I going to do with this lug of a dog? He's smart and funny, but he's out of his mind. I think he really wants to be an outside dog, with kitchen sleeping privileges, but I had imagined he'd be one of the family, watching TV at night with us, sleeping by the fireplace in the winter. Oh, well. I guess he's still a puppy and eventually he'll chill out, but for now, he's driving me to drink! (Not that I need a reason...I'm going out with the girls tonight for some knitting and wine._

Wish me luck with this incorrigible pup!

Fallish

2008-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I have been a poor blogger indeed! But things have cooled off here in the muggy South, and I'm feeling like a little knitting. I started the February Lady Sweater, by Pamela Wynne using Cascade Venezia in a light blueish gray color. I completely love this yarn, and so far the pattern is going well. I haven't gotten past the yoke yet, and this is my first top down raglan, so we'll see. It's pretty easy going right now, mindless garter stitch, with increases every other row.

I did get some sewing done this summer. I made an apron, a dress, and 2 bags. Right now I only have a picture of one of the bags. It's a Simplicity pattern, and it was a lot of work for little pay off. It has a zipper and pockets around the bottom. It's kind of formless, and I think if I made it again, I'd purchase straps instead of sewing them. They are a little insubstantial.

Hank is getting big and sassy. Yesterday he graduated from his puppy training at Petsmart. He wouldn't wear the mortar board for a class picture, but he learned an awful lot. He can sit, stay, lay down, leave it, roll over, wait, shake, and he's getting better at loose leash walking. Now if he could only learn not to jump on and nip at the boys, we'd be all set. I've found if he has 2 very brisk walks a day, he's much less likely to jump all over people. Here he is right after our walk/run this morning. If we can trust the birthdate on the papers from the shelter, then yesterday he turned 5 months.

Last night around 1:30, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I started channel surfing. I came across The Spirit of the Beehive, a critically acclaimed Spanish movie from 1973. I was mesmerized by the 7 year old lead, Ana Torrent. Her performance was amazing and the movie was very good. It's subtitled, but even if you don't speak Spanish, or like to read subtitles, it's visually stunning. If any of you have seen it, I'd love to hear your response.

We're all back in school. #1 is doing great in all his subjects. He has quite the vocabulary and is a delightful conversationalist. #2 is doing great in his subjects as well, but he is rather shy and doesn't like to speak up in class. He has determined that he wants to be an artist when he grows up. He is visually talented and I try to encourage his creativity. My classes are going well. I'm enjoying teaching drawing. It's been several semesters since I've taught it, and I am trying to come up with new assignments and techniques. All in all, things are going well.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'm going to try to be more consistent with my posting and commenting. Trying to get back into the groove!

Gustav

2008-08-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

3 years ago today, Katrina barreled into the gulf coast. If you don't live near a hurricane prone area, there is just no explaining how far reaching its effects were and still are. I knew it would be bad, but I had no idea how truly awful.

Now this new storm is headed for the Gulf Coast, and while nobody knows where it will make landfall, people on the coast and in New Orleans are gun shy. My town is 60 miles inland, with 1 major highway and 1 interstate that are evacuation routes. Already, the hotels are full, the grocery stores are selling out of crucial supplies, and gas prices jumped 30 cents in 24 hours. Luckily, I filled my tank on Monday night, before the prices soared, and got my shopping done on Wednesday, before people started going crazy. We're ready for this thing where ever it lands.

Some of the models are pointing it right at us, and some of them are predicting it will head towards Texas. It doesn't really matter to those of us who experienced Katrina. We aren't taking any chances. I have plenty of water, dried goods, batteries, toilet paper, and wine. If needs be, we'll cruise north on Monday, but I'm hoping we won't have to.

Finally, A Meme After My Own Heart

2008-08-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Food Meme

Food meme from Auntie Bubbo.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

As the formatting shortcuts don't seem to work in Explorer, I'll just "yes or no" OK?

The VGT Omnivore's Vegetarian's Hundred:

1. Venison yes
2. Nettle tea no
3. Huevos rancheros no
4. Steak tartare no
5. Crocodile (does alligator count?)
6. Black pudding no
7. Cheese fondue yes
8. Carp no
9. Borscht no
10. Baba ghanoush yes
11. Calamari yes
12. Pho What?
13. PB&J sandwich yes
14. Aloo gobi no
15. Hot dog from a street cart yes
16. Epoisses cheese no
17. Black truffle chopped up in things. I wish!
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes yes
19. Steamed pork buns not to my knowledge
20. Pistachio ice cream yes
21. Heirloom tomatoes yes
22. Fresh wild berries yes
23. Foie gras maybe
24. Rice and beans yes
25. Brawn, or head cheese no
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper Probably a never
27. Dulce de leche no
28. Oysters yes
29. Baklava yes
30. Bagna cauda yes
31. Wasabi peas yes
32. Clam chowder yes
33. Salted lassi and sweet lassi no
34. Sauerkraut yes
35. Root beer float yes
36. Cognac yes
37. Clotted cream tea no
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O Probably never
39. Gumbo yes
40. Oxtail yes
41. Curried goat no
42. Whole insects Ick! I'd have to be really hungry
43. Phaal curry yes
44. Goat's milk yes
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more Probably, I don't remember
46. Fugu no
47. Chicken tikka masala no
48. Eel yes
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut yes
50. Sea urchin yes
51. Prickly pear yes
52. Umeboshi fruit no
53. Abalone yes
54. Paneer no
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal I can honestly say I don't think I've ever eaten a Big Mac sandwich
56. Spaetzle yes
57. Dirty gin martini yes
58. Beer above 8% ABV yes
59. Poutine no
60. Carob chips no
61. S'mores yes
62. Sweetbreads no
63. Kaolin the clay/mineral in Kaopectate? It's in all fast food shakes, so yes
64. Currywurst no
65. Durian fruit no
66. Frogs' legs yes
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake Beignets at the Cafe' Dumonde NOLA YES
68. Haggis no
69. Fried plantain yes
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette why are these in the same line? Andouillette Yes, Chittlins, no
71. Gazpacho yes
72. Caviar and blini Caviar, yes, blini, no
73. Louche absinthe no
74. Gjetost, or brunost cheese no
75. Roadkill no
76. Baijiu wine no
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (made with lard) yes
78. Snail yes
79. Lapsang souchong tea yes
80. Bellini yes
81. Tom yum soup no
82. Eggs Benedict yes
83. Pocky no
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant not a tasting menu, but have eaten at a 3SMR
85. Kobe beef no
86. Hare yes to rabbit
87. Goulash yes
88. Flowers nasturtium, violets, rose petals yes
89. Horse Gotta say Never
90. Criollo chocolate no
91. Spam yes
92. Soft shell crab yes
93. Rose harissa hot sauce no
94. Catfish yes
95. Mole poblano no
96. Bagel and lox yes
97. Lobster Thermidor no
98. Polenta yes
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee yes
100. Snake yes

So now you know it, I'll eat just about anything. Most of the no's are cuz I haven't had a chance yet. And I'm not proud of all the yesses either. Really, a Hostess Fruit Pie? I ought to be ashamed!

Conference Bike

2008-08-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Man, I really would love to take a spin on one of these!

Wedding Gifts

2008-07-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one summer! Whoa, somebody hold me back!

Really, the dog has taken up so much of my time and energy, I just let a bunch of stuff slide. But, I have to stay up late tonight, and thought it was a perfect time to write. No doggie whining, no kids asking for something to eat-drink-do. No Mr. Z sitting me down with a list of things he wants me to do. Just me and my keyboard.

Knitting has been slow compared to past summers. I was working on Mr. Z's 2nd sock when I realized my sister's wedding was 2 weeks away, and I had promised a hand knit gift. I had planned on making an afghan, but it's been so blasted hot here, that the thought of knitting a large wool rectangle (even in air conditioning) was not motivating. I talked to my other sister, and she thought that linen hand towels were just the thing. Sister B (the one getting married) likes to pamper her skin.

I placed an order from Elann for 3 colors of Linus, 1 ball of Coto Canapone in natural, and 1 skein of Camila in chamois. I made 3 hand towels of the Linus (100% linen), each measuring approximately 10 x 22". I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I picked 3 stitch patterns from Claire Crompton's The Knitter's Bible and added a garter border around.

This was the first time I ever worked with linen and I was surprised by the yarn. I don't know what more expensive linen is like, but this stuff shed terribly. I was working in a cloud of lint the whole time. It was really bugging me, getting in my eyes, nose and mouth and all over my clothes. But boy does it block up beautifully and quickly. I wet blocked all the hand towels and when I took them up, they were crisp and lovely. Makes me want to work with linen again, but maybe a better quality.

The first one is the Dainty Chevron Pattern in Pecan:

This one is King Charles Brocade in Bamboo

And here is Crest of the Wave in Cream. This one is my least favorite. It think it looks a little sloppy, even though I tried to knit it and block it well. I'm thinking I might just give her the 2 others. Don't know yet.

I made a spa cloth with the Coto Canapone (approximately 50/50 cotton/hemp). The pattern is Bark Sedge Stitch Wash Cloth from Lion Brand. It's free on their website, but ya gotta register. Loved the pattern, loved the yarn. It was nice to whip something out in crochet after all the knitting I've done over the years. I almost forgot that I knew how to crochet.

Now I'm working on one more cloth. Probably a wash/spa cloth, but I'll wait and see how big it gets. The yarn is Camila (50/50 cotton linen) and the pattern is Basket Rib Hand Towel by Traci Heiner. It's a simple little pattern that has 4 different rows. Not too challenging, but something good to work on while you're talking to friends or watching TV.

So basically, I've been knitting wedding gifts, training my dog, shopping for school stuff (oh, BTW, that is the suckiest thing ever, ever! 15 glue sticks for 1 child in 1st grade, FIFTEEN!!!!? Mr. Z says they're probably putting up wall paper. And there's more where that came from, but, you know, I'm not gonna drag my bitchy irritation into this post--OOPS--too late!) cooking and friending. Here's some lovely bruschetta we made for our overnight guests last weekend:

Happy End of Summer Y'all! 10 more days till the boys go back to school!

Dog Days

2008-06-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

Seems like summertime is slowing down my blogging. The boys finally finished baseball and I thought I would have a bit of a break. Catch up on my knitting, reading, writing, sleep late a few days,

But then something happened:

Hank.

Hank's 2 1/2 month old cur/retriever/lab???? mix pound puppy. He will probably get large and he's full of energy. Nippy energy that is. I have gone at this dog as I go at all my projects, full speed ahead. I've read books, watched videos, researched online and consulted various other Puppymamas. I'm trying to raise a gentle happy dog who will enjoy being part of this family. It takes up most of my free time.

After 2 weeks of home life here are Hank's accomplishments:

Mostly he poops and pees outside.
He's leash trained.
He's crate trained.
He sits to be fed, go in/out the door, and on command in general.
He waits when commanded.
He's learning stay.
He's trying really hard to curb his biting instinct, but sometimes #2 (perhaps I should rename him Puppybait) is just too much for him.
#2 is trying as well, but his instincts to move quickly, make squeaky noises and to raise his voice with Hank, are pretty deep seeded.
#1 and Hank have learned to coexist peacefully:

Hank's really growing well and is quite handsome. We get lots of questions about his breed. Usually I just say mutt or pound pup, but yesterday Mr. Z and I were talking about it, and decided we ought to make up a breed to tell people, just for fun. Like, Zoysia Hound, or something. Just a thought.

When Hank is outside sniffing around the yard, I sit in the shade and knit. I've been working on a pair of socks for Mr. Z for SOOO LONGGG! They should be finished by now, but they're not. I finally finished sock 1 and am on sock 2 now. The main yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot, a lovely superwash/mohair/nylon blend. It comes in 350 yd hanks and it's been so long since I've made Mr. Z socks, I couldn't remember if that would be enough, so I made the heels and toes out of the Froehlich Wolle Camel I bought in Boston. It's a pretty close match for the golds in the Bearfoot, and there's plenty to spare for my own pair of socks.

So that's how my summer is going: boys, a puppy and socks to be made. My house smells like dog, and I feel like I have another toddler around. He's pretty cute, though.

Surprises, Ravelry Meet Up, and Ongoing Projects

2008-06-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly catching up with all that I need to do. My internets were on the blink over the weekend, so I fell a little behind, but I'm going to get it all done eventually.

First thing I'd like to show you is something I've been hiding for several months. It has to do with babies.

NO! Not any of mine. I'm done with that, thank you. But Sharon isn't. She's just a couple of months away from welcoming her new little baby girl into the world. Del and several other lovely ladies came up with the idea of an online baby shower, and I helped. I made the Rowan Elly jacket for the new baby using the Manos Silk Blend Sharon helped me pick out at Purl Soho.

For Monkey, I made Kimberly Chapman's Knitted Banana. Get it? Monkey/Banana? I used assorted acrylic worsted for this. It's really cute, and I have a couple of my own monkeys who want one.

Sharon was really surprised. It was hard to keep the secret, but so very worth it in the end. If you'd like to check out the Fiber Baby Blog, just click here.

Last weekend, a bunch of Mississippi Knitters, many of whom met through Ravelry, came down to my neck of the woods to visit a LYS, The Yarn Basket. I met them at the shop and led them to a nice restaurant for a late lunch. It was fun to meet everyone and to put faces to the Ravatars.

First we have Teresa in orange, the owner of The Yarn Basket, Petal, MS, and Chanda in green.

Next we have some Mississippi knitters doing what we do when we get to a yarn store:

And finally, we all went to a downtown restaurant, Brownstone's and had lovely Cajun food.

Yay! It was a blast! Now when I go to Jackson, I'll know some knitters. It's like being in a club or something. Ravelry is so great.

I guess many of you know I teach college art classes, and last semester I taught 2 sections of Design 2. It's basically color theory and application. The application part involved cutting colored paper and pasting it into designs that fit a certain set of requirements. I have also mentioned somewhere in this blog that I got facinated with felting sweaters I purchased from the Salvation Army. I kinda went crazy with it for several weeks, buying the sweaters, felting them, then cutting them up. I didn't have any project in mind, but I knew I had something I could work with.

Then it occurred to me, that I could blend several interests together using this one medium. I love teaching, am fiber obsessed, am interested in traditionally female art forms, and love the idea of collaboration. I devised a group project that involved all these interests as well as recycling of material.

First I cut as many 9 inch squares as I could get out of the various sweaters. I saved all the scraps. Late in the semester, I assigned my students a project where they had to make a 9 inch square design based on the colors of felt I had available. They cut and pinned their designs onto the 9 inch squares and put them in baggies. Now all I have to do is hand applique' all the designs, then sew them together somehow, and put a backing on. A breeze, I tell you...yeah, right! I know it's a lot of work, but I have been thinking about this and I simply have to do it. It's gonna take a while, as there are around 40 squares and even though I told the students to keep them simple, some of them have a different idea of what simple means.

But there were some lovely designs. Here are 2 that I particularly like. Please excuse the fact that they are still in the baggies.

I'll keep you all posted on the progress the felt quilt as it moves along.

Boston

2008-05-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned a trip and now I'm gonna tell you all about it. Boston was great. Mr. Z had a business trip he had to make, and it just so happens his grandmother and several aunts and uncles live in the area. So we decided it would be a good thing to take the kids out of school the week before the LAST week of school to visit their GG, Great Aunts and Great Uncles, and various cousins however many times removed.

First we stayed in Boston for a few days and saw some sights. There were swan boats, Paul Revere's house, the Science Museum and some really awesome cemetaries.

Here are they boys on a Swan Boat

And here they are messing with electricity at the Science Museum

#'s 1 & 2 were all business. If they were walking on the Freedom Trail, they were really ON the Trail, mowing down any stationery tourists in their way.

I really liked this tombstone. While the motif is similar to most of the others, it was more intense.

After Boston business was completed, we went to Nahant, where the paternal relatives live. We stayed with them and went to the supercool pebbly beach nearby. There were great skipping rocks, and sea glass and all kinds of other beach debris.

Nahant Rocks

Beach Pebbles

We made a day trip to visit the maternal relatives in Plympton. The boys loved Great Aunt H and Great Uncle D. Aunt H had chickens for them to feed and frogs and tadpoles.

Feeding the Chickens

Both boys ended up waist deep in frog swamps with nets. All frogs captured were released no worse for the wear.

Aunt H is holding the creature, cuz I really had no such inclination.

We also visited the Frank Gehry Building on MIT Campus. It's totally nuts:

When faced with so much reflective surface, the only thing to do is take a picture of yourself

And of course I must speak of food and yarn. We ate very well in Boston, and photographed several meals, but my favorite was the Eggs Benedict a Charley's on Newberry Street. If you're ever in Boston and looking for a reasonably priced, kid friendly restaurant, with a great wine list, this place has it all.

While on Newberry Street, I found Newberry Yarn, a little LYS. The boys were patient enough for me to choose this yarn (did I mention that while Mr. Z was in meetings, it was just me & the boys in Beantown?) Froehlich Wolle Camel. 70% merino, 30% Camel. I got 2 skeins at 200 meters per. I am going to make myself a special pair of socks. I've never seen this stuff before, so I don't know anything about it. It's Swiss, and was pretty cheap, around $7.00 per. I'm just excited I finally get to try out some camel.

That's enough for now. I'm just trying to catch up and lay it out there for you.

Kool Aid Dyeing

2008-05-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

This spring was busier than I can remember. I travelled a lot and the boys' sports seemed to take up much more time than before. School is finally out for me and I have a week before the boys are set free. Perfect time to try something I've been wanting to do for a while. So I jumped on the Kool Aid Wagon.

The yarn is Knit Picks Bare Superwash Merino DK. The flavors are grape, black cherry, fruit punch and orange. I basically followed the Knitty instructions for Kool Aid dyeing. First a soaking bath for the yarn, then highly concentrated drink mix/water mixture applied to the hank using cheapo mustard and ketchup dispensers.

I'm pretty pleased with the results, but they aren't perfect. The grape wasn't as strong as the other colors and kinda looks washed out. Also, there are places in all the colors that didn't get saturated with dye. You can see the whitish spots here and there.

This picture shows how I wanted the whole hank to look:

And here's another close up of the colors. It's a little blurry, but the colors seem the truest in this one:

I think I'm going to reapply the dye tomorrow to saturate the weak spots. I am trying to decide whether I want to reapply each color as before, or over-dye the whole thing with pink lemonade. It's light enough that it wouldn't cover the other colors, and it's a hue that would blend will them all. I'll sleep on that one.

This was a great learning experience for me. I was surprised that the excess water that flowed from the hank was CLEAR. Then it occurred to me that the yarn absorbs the dye like a magnet. I know that sounds obvious, but my water was crystal clear.

There are lots of better blogs out there about this process. Sorry I'm giving such an abbreviated account, but I've got all kinds of things going on right now, and I'm trying to catch up. I just wanted to show you what I've done. I've got other posts for the near future. A recent trip to Boston, a meeting of a bunch of MS Ravelers, several FO's and WIP's. I hope you'll come back and check things out soon. I will try not to let so much time pass before I write again.

Something New

2008-04-15T13:53:00.001-07:00

Guess what I got?

One of these:

I've never been very good at sewing. Every time I tried it, I felt like I was being tied up and put in a cage. It just drove me crazy. Actually, my lack of sewing ability is what led to crocheting/knitting. My gramma tried to teach me to sew, but my ineptitude drove even that patient saint to swear, so she introduced me to yarn and hook.

Well, I was cruising blogs and saw this on cosmicpluto. I was smitten, and decided to try something besides straight seams. I made a couple of versions of the shirt, this being the more successful of the two:

Simplicity 3835, shirt

And I tried a dress version as well. I opted to use the shirt top (elastic) instead of the dress top. It turned out OK, but looks a little like a mui-mui. I think if I shorten it a little (or a lot) it will look less frumpy.

Simplicity 3835 dress with shirt top

Here's what the fabric looks like close up:

I also made a skirt. The pattern is Simplicity 7655. It turned out pretty cute, and was easy as pie. I've got a few other sewing projects going as well. Maybe this will be the thing for summer. Give knitting a much needed break.

21 Years Ago Today

2008-04-12T21:14:00.001-07:00

All day I've been thinking it was 20 years ago today, but I just figured out it was 21. I was riding my bike to work, and it was raining slightly. I had to be there at 1:00 and I had slept late and not eaten. I picked up a doughnut at the the shop on the way and put it in my backpack. I was hurrying and not paying attention, and I almost missed my turn at the bottom of the hill. I turned too quickly and the bike slid out from underneath me, causing me to pivot down on my hip. The result was instant shock and intense pain. I had to lay in the rain for about 1/2 an hour before an ambulance got there, and several more hours of emergency room/pain medications/X-ray/Orthopedic surgeon consultation before it was determined that my femur was splintered in 4 places near the hip. I had to have emergency surgery involving a pin, some kind of fake metal joint, 4 screws and 37 (if I remember correctly) staples to close the whole mess.

Result: 2 surgeries, 1 nasty-thigh-long scar, and an uncanny ability to predict impending changes in the weather. I hardly ever think about it until April 13th rolls around. I always wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't screwed up my leg. How I wouldn't limp when I get tired, or how people wouldn't stare at the swimming pool or beach. The weird thing is, I'm pretty proud of my scar, and I feel bad for the people who see it for the first time. I can see the shock on their faces and how they try to pretend they didn't notice. I want to make them feel more comfortable by acknowledging it and telling them what happened.

I'm not sad, I just can't believe how much time has passed since the accident. In a couple of years I will have lived with the scar longer than I lived without it. That's just so weird.

DOINK!

2008-04-09T17:38:00.001-07:00

OK. Has this ever happened to you? You're working out at the Y, zoning out to make the time go faster. Only 55 more minutes of step class left, what can my brain do to make the time pass more quickly? Your mind wanders around and goes AHAAA!

Camper Van Beethoven is a play on words! It's camper van+ludwig van.

I've know of this band for, let's see, 20 years or so.

I'm so dumb.

I've Got to Get My Act Together

2008-04-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so far behind in so many things, I'm not even going to list them. I haven't been lazy, just crazy busy, and um, a little too preoccupied with Ravelry. It's killing me folks.

I'm going to take care of some loose ends here. Lovely Del, at Cozy's Place honored me with a you made my day award, some time back. I think I thanked her, and I'm supposed to list 10 bloggy friends who've made my day, so here I go (in no particular order)
Betty: Words can't express how great she is
Sharon: we were separated at birth or something
Elabeth: she's living my dream
Susan: she made such a sweet little girl
Sandra: not only can she craft like hell, she'll tell us about her sex life, too
Sam: she's the cutest ever and just started her own blog
Del: Ping Pong, she's just so lovely and multitalented
Bubbo: she pantzed me
Squidwidget: she's just so damn funny, and can pour bronze
Vintage Purls: I love her cool vintage patterns

Done.

Next, Sharon (see above link, I'm getting lazy) tagged me for this meme

The Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (I'm cheating a little here, cuz the nearest book was a cookbook, and this is what I've actualy been slogging through. The British spellings of ploughed and colour are in the book. They are NOT my affectation)

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.

If you ask me: "By what practical experience can you show me these points?" I reply-so far as concerns the point of diminution which moves with you-when you walk by a ploughed field look at the straight furrows which come down with their ends to the path where you are walking, and you will see that each pair of furrows will look as though they tried to get nearer and meet at the [farther] end..... (Apparently Leo loved the run-on sentence)

3. Post the next 3 sentences.

In so far as the Art of Painting is concerned with the representation of the surfaces of objects it is allied to spatial geometry. The surfaces are conceived as without substance like geometric planes; and the axioms of Euclid's Elements defining the point, the line, the plane apply to them.

Moreover, the places and colours of objects are revealed by rays of light which radiate from their source in pyramidal formation.

4. Tag 5 people - Yeah, I'm pulling a Del on this one.

Gratuitous kumquat
.

NYC: There and Back Again

2008-03-14T18:12:00.001-07:00

I LOVE NEW YORK!!!

Our trip was to celebrate our upcoming 10th anniversary as well as the last time we were actually in NYC. It couldn't have been more fabulous.

We stayed at The Surrey Hotel on the Upper East Side, kind of an old elegant place but not over the top. Mr. Zoysia (who will from now on be referred to as Mr. Z) was fascinated with our Rear Window view. Maybe a little too fascinated.

The weather was brisk, but not too bad. Before we left, I gave him his gift, a We Call Them Pirates Hat, made of Blue Sky Alpaca Sport Weight. It really came in handy.

We had so much fun. We went to the Met, and MoMa. We saw Spamalot which was a riot. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was more Monty Python than the actual movies. I didn't think Clay Aiken was Python material, but, I have a newfound respect for the guy. He was able to poke fun at himself and all the rumors surrounding him.

One of my favorite highlights was meeting Sharon. She's such a great person, and the two of us were like the proverbial peas-in-a-pod. We had the same taste in yarn, fabric, food, and so much more. I also had the privilege of meeting Monkey and A. They were both extremely charming. Here we are at Purl, wallowing in yarny fun:

We took a walk on Park Avenue, and the store fronts were fantastic. I was particularly taken with this paper bouquet:

We met up with a couple of old friends. Mr. Z's from college, Kimberly, took us to this great little Italian place, Supper, in the East Village. The food was great, and Kimberly is just one of my most favorite people. After we were done, we stepped outside, under the gas heat lamps, and took this pic. We're red cuz of the lamps:

Our last night in town we went to the New York Philharmonic. Did I mention I'm a sucker for strings? I can die happy now. Afterwards we ate at the Cafe Des Artistes. The food and wine were excellent, but the murals were spectacular:

Oh, it's hard to turn into a pumpkin after that whirlwind of friends-food-wine-art-music-fun, but the time has come. At least they make it worth coming home:

Antsy

2008-03-06T06:00:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I've let so much time pass since my last post. I have been busy with school, soccer and baseball (both boys in both sports), knitting and crocheting like crazy. I've got stuff to show you, both good and bad, I just can't seem to pull out the camera and make it happen.

Part of what's holding me back, is it's midterm week, and that means lots of work for me and my students. Another thing is, I'm taking a trip with Mr. Zoysia this weekend to NYC. I'm so excited about that. We've got lots of things planned. I've been to NYC lots of times before, but I was always in starving artist mode. I'm finally going on a bit more than a shoestring budget and will be able to do a few things I never did before. Like see a Broadway show and go to the Symphony. I'm really psyched about the Symphony. There's something about live strings that just goes to the core of me.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is meeting Sharon, from Gimmesanity. I know, isn't it cool? I may even get to meet the Monkey! I'm just beside myself.

I'm not really prepared for the trip. I've got prescriptions to fill, clothes to wash, bags to pack, plans to make. I thought I'd make myself a hat and some mittens cuz I know it's cold as hell up there. I did get one mitten made, but didn't like the final product, so I never made its mate. I used the White Witch Mitts from Knitting Daily IWP, which called for Blue Sky Alpaca Sport Weight, but I used Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, also sport weight. My mitten turned out too small, and the colors didn't contrast as much as I thought they would:

Blah!

I did get a hat made for Mr. Z, but I he wore it last night, and I can't find it to take a picture of. It's We Call Them Pirates in Blue Sky Alpaca Sports Weight (love, love, love that stuff) in light green and cream. It turned out great, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Maybe while we're in NYC, he'll wear it & I'll take a pic.

Maybe I'll knit myself a hat on the plane.

A Very Pink Post.

2008-02-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

I hope you are all having a lovely day. It's been busy, but nice for me. I made cupcakes for #1's class party. I used a yellow cake recipe and a vanilla frosting dyed pink, but the chocolate lace hearts are what make the cakes. I melted chocolate chips and put the liquid chocolate in a pastry bag with a small round tip and piped hearts onto wax paper. When the chocolate set, I peeled them from the paper and stuck them in the icing. Most of the cupcakes have one big heart and one small heart.

Don't adjust your dial. I made 2 batches of icing and the second turned out lighter than the first.

Every year we make home made valentines for the kids' parties. This year we used commercial craft felt and card stock. There were 7 this size and 50 half this size. I've got to get these in the mail to the grand parents. I'm a little late.

For the teachers I made these sachet bags. I used recycled felt from sweaters and made a little liner bag out of cotton. They are filled with organic lavender and flax seed. They smell divine, and I'm glad a made a few extra.

The sachets are sitting on the Valentine's Day sweater I'm making. It's my own pattern and I'd hoped to have it finished in time to wear tonight. We have reservations and a babysitter, but my Sweetie has got the flu, so I cancelled both. Maybe I'll finish the sweater in time for a belated Valentine's Dinner next week.

Since Mr. Valentine isn't able to do all the sweet things he usually does, I've stepped up to the plate. I bought some filet mignon, and potatoes to bake (they are really more of a treat than the steak, as we pretty much don't eat white starch around here). I'll make a nice dinner and drink a glass of wine and relax.

And I bought HIM flowers this year!

Basic Blue

2008-01-31T11:03:00.001-08:00

Here's my lastest FO. The pattern is Basic Black by Glenna C. I used Jo Sharp Classic DK Merino and size 4 & 6 US needles. The pattern calls for 3/4 length sleeves, but I preferred full length, so I started with a 46 stitch cast on and increased every 6 rows until I reached 76 stitches then followed the pattern. I made a couple of other modifications as well. I lengthened the torso slightly by adding 6 rows of stockinette after the 4 inches of 2x2 ribbing and I knitted 7 rows of 2x2 for the button band rather than the 5 called for in the pattern.

I blocked each piece before sewing together. It's just easier for me that way:

Here's how it looks on:

I wanted to show you the buttons, too, because I think they're so cute:

I have to say I truly enjoyed everything about this pattern. It is extremely well written and clear. The shaping in the waist is subtle but makes this sweater so much nicer than a baggy granny cardi. The yarn is slightly itchy next to bare skin, but I'm hoping it will soften up with one more blocking.

Snowy Day and New Fair Isle

2008-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

Something highly unusual happened this morning in south Mississippi: it snowed! Rarely do we get such a treat. The last time I can remember it snowing here was when #1 was a year and a half, so that was around 6 and a half years ago. The boys were so excited this morning. I warned them it wouldn't last long, so they suited up and ran around in the slush for a while.

I decided it was the perfect photo op to show #1's new fair isle:

Here he is wearing my boots. His are worn out. I wanted you to see how the sweater fits overall. The sleeves aren't uneven. #1 could only find 1 glove, so he's tucking his hand up inside the sweater. All in all it turned out pretty well.

We had very little accumulation, but here's what my street looked like at the height of the "snowstorm".

My camelia japonicas weren't too bothered by the weather, but they're just now starting to bloom, so time will tell:

I've been working on my Basic Blue and sorting through all that felt I made last fall. I'll post about both of those next time.

Happy New Year

2008-01-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone made it through the holidays well and happy. I certainly did. This was the first time in a long time that I didn't exhaust myself, feel grinchy or have some sort of anxiety fit. I owe it all to my lack of a thyroid, really. Those things screw with you when they don't work properly.

I baked, bought, wrapped, decorated, ate, drank and generally had a good time, with no real ill effects. We had our annual New Year's Day Lucky Lunch with black eyed peas, rice, cornbread, greens and of course dessert

Orange Almond Cake with Chocolate Glaze:

The kids had to go back to school on the 2nd, so I've had a little vacation here for a week or so, without them. I've been knitting and planning projects and thinking about going back to work. That starts up next Monday, and I'm prepared so, not much to worry about there.

As for knitting, I've made 3 hats out of some red and blue Lorna's Laces worsted or heavier. I lost the band, so I'm not sure of the weight. It's heavier than worsted, but not seriously bulky or chunky. It's my first time using this weight of LL and I love the yarn. Hate the color, but love the yarn. The boys picked out the color, and the hats are for them, so who am I to complain? (Sandra, #2 is not yet betrothed, so I say we get to planning a wedding).

I finished another fair isle using the Cascade Ecological. This time for #1. This is terrific yarn. I've got enough to make one more kiddie sweater and maybe a couple of hats. Here's a pic of the yoke. It's still blocking and I won't make #1 wear it till it's dry.

I picked up my Basic Blue again. I finished the back and the left front well before Christmas, and got sidetracked with the fair isle sweaters, so it's been sitting around waiting. It's weird to knit with finer yarn when you've been working with bulky for a while. I'm in no hurry with this sweater, so it's kind of relaxing to be able to pick it up whenever I feel like it.

I'm still in stash busting mode. I've got some ideas for using single skeins and scraps. I bought enough laceweight from Knit PIcks last fall to get me through the summer at least, but I doubt I'll resist buying more yarn, here and there.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

2007-12-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

With Warmest Wishes From Our Family to Yours

New Sweater

2007-12-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

I have been so super busy lately, that my poor blog has been neglected. I have been knitting though, and here's my latest FO. It's a fair isle for #2, AND it was completely designed by ME!

I took his measurements and using my gauge I figured out how much to cast on for the body and sleeves. I knit the body in the round up to the arm holes, and the same with the sleeves, then attached the sleeves and began the yoke. I used 2 different motifs from Sheila McGregor's Traditional Fair Isle Knitting and figured out the centering and the height of the yoke.

The whole thing turned out pretty well. The sweater is a little too large for #2, but he'll grow into it. I used Cascade Ecological Wool in natural brown, black, and gray. My needles were US 10 & 9 circulars and DPN's.

Sorry the post is hasty. I'm running around like crazy trying to make Christmas happen. If I don't see you before then, Happy Holidays!

Warning: Slightly Nasty Video Ahead

2007-12-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Would you believe I was reminded of this song by a biography of Queen Elizabeth I?

Be Thankful

2007-11-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

The best song of thanks ever recorded:

I'm thankful for:

My family

My life

The health of my kids and husband

My health

My ability to see color

My friends

My home

All of you

So many other things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Finished Pomatomus and Scarves

2007-11-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, they're done. I'm not too happy with them, but they're off the needles and I don't have to think about them after this post.

For anyone who wants to make this pattern, I say go for it. Despite all my whining and moaning, it's not a difficult pattern and the end result is a pretty pair of socks.....BUT:

You really need to pay attention to the pattern because there are all kinds of little details, that if you miss them, you'll get screwed up like I did. For instance, when you start on Chart B, you don't begin with row 1, because that would mess up your stitch count. The pattern TELLS you to start with row 2, but if you're not paying attention, you might just plow through row 1 and wonder what happened.

Another thing that made me scratch my head one or twice, was most of this pattern is a variation on a 1x1 rib with the knit stitches all being made through the back loop. A couple of times the pattern indicates to K2TOG. I didn't know if it was a misprint or if in those places you didn't KTBL. I just knitted it as written and I guess it turned out OK.

There are other little things throughout the pattern like that, but all in all it's well written and turns out fine. Why then, do you ask, am I not thrilled with my new socks? They're too dang stretchy, that's why. The whole pattern is ribbed and they bag around my ankles, arches and toes. I can't stand baggy socks. I'd give them to someone with thicker legs and feet, but I've got short feet. I'd have to find someone with thick calves and 5.5 sized feet. Oh, well. Live and learn. I'd probably go down a needle size or two next time (if there ever was a next time, which there will NOT be). Here's some pics:

Can you see the bagginess? Bleh!

On to happier knits. I needed something easier and relatively mindless after Pomatomus. And bigger yarn, PUL-EEZ! So I looked on Ravelry and found this Drop Stitch Scarf pattern.

The designer is Christine Vogel and the pattern is simple and sweet. I used my Handmaiden Cashmere Silk I've been hoarding for a year or so. I knit the entire ball of yarn and the scarf is not quite as long as I am tall, so I'm trying to decide whether to end it short or break into the one hank of the stuff I have left. I won't use the entire hank, so I want to make sure I have enough left over to make another project, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it, so the drop stitch scarf is waiting for me to make up my mind.

In the mean time I've started the Montego Bay Scarf by Amy Singer from Interweave Knits Summer '07. I recently fell off my yarn diet and gave in to the Knit Picks Sale. I have never purchased laceweight yarn before, nor have I had any inclination to knit shawls or laceweight scarves, but MAN that sale was irresistible. So I bought way too much yarn with no projects in mind. I decided to give this scarf a whirl.

First I tried size 8 US, but the whole thing felt too insubstantial. I went down to 7's and still too flimsy. I went down to 6's and they are doing nicely. This is a great knit. Relatively mindless, but not boring. I'm using Knit Picks Shimmer, an alpaca and silk blend and it's really lovely to work with. I'm not crazy about the color, but maybe I'll find a recipient who likes it.

That's about it for now. I'm neglecting other things just to write this for you. I had better get back to the real world.

Total Frustration

2007-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on this cursed Pomatomus. I've gotten through the 1st set of Chart B. I've got peace, quiet, and a fresh brain, not to mention a row counter. I knitted row 22, the last of the chart, and started on row 1. Hmmm. Something's wrong. Row 1 doesn't want to play nice. It's acting like it should be row 22. So, maybe I accidentally clicked the row counter one too many times. I knit a little bit of row 22 and it's acting as it should. I must have double clicked the row counter. I knit through row 22 and go to work on row 1 again. AAAUGHHHH!!!! It's not working. Row 1 really wants to be row 22. What am I doing wrong? There seems to be trick to getting from row 22 to row 1 and I can't figure it out.

I hate this damn sock.

EDIT: I figured it out! I printed the chart and the k3tbl didn't clearly show up on my copy. If I do that, then it'll all work out. I apologize Pomatomus. I lost my cool. Now, can we be friends again?

Pomatomus

2007-10-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've been working on Cookie A.'s Pomatomus socks from Knitty.com.

AND IT'S KILLING ME!!!!

It's not really a complicated pattern, but the chart has you frequently yarn overing at the beginning or end of the needles, leading to dropped YO's. I would do fine up to row 13 where everything changes, and I'd drop those damn stitches every time. I knit and tinked this sock so many times, I should have a couple of pairs by now. I finally got things sorted out and put in a lifelilne and things are going much more smoothly.
Here's some pictures. First the cuff:

Here's one full set of Chart A. There are 3 repeats of 22 rows and I screwed up row 13 on each of them.

I finally got through the leg and heel and have begun on the gussets:

I'm using Artyarns Ultramerino 4, and even though the yardage is comparable to the suggested yarn, I'm fearful I won't have enough to finish this sock. So help me, if that happens, I'm frogging it and never knitting a Pomatomus again. I mean, I'm not a quitter, but this is more abuse than one knitter should take.

Wow. I feel better getting that off my chest.

Liesel Completed

2007-10-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

This was a sweet little knit. It was much easier than Branching Out. I don't know if that's because I'm better at lace or because the pattern is simpler, but it was. Here's how it looked before I blocked it:

And here it is on the blocking board. I was a little scared of blocking silk. I pinned it down every 1 inch around the edges, and about every 2 inches in the middle to straighten out the central line. Then I sprayed it with water liberally and let it dry. A few hours later, I sprayed it again and let it dry overnight.

Here's a comparison between the same end pre-blocking and post-blocking. It squared out nicely. I'm kind of interested in ironing it flat and creating a burnished effect, but maybe later.

In this picture you can see the front of the pattern on the left and the back of the pattern on the right. Both sides are pretty, so it really doesn't matter

Here's the final product showing a little of the drape. I simply love silk, but I don't know how well it'll hold its shape. This scarf is probably better suited for wool, but I'll take my silk version. The silk is a little demanding. It has no spring at all, and I had to check myself from knitting too tightly. I think a flowy sweater or shawl is probably a better project for this yarn, but it cost so much, I could only get one hank.

Well that's it for now. I hope everyone is doing well and getting some nice fall weather.

Liesel

2007-09-30T13:59:00.001-07:00

I've stopped with my felting projects long enough to begin a new knitting project. I'm still in stash busting mode, and I've had this one hank of Fiesta La Luz for at least a year. It's in a beautiful champagne colorway, with very subtle variations in the shades. I decided to try it with the Liesel pattern by Mary Joy Gumayagay. The original pattern calls for a thicker yarn, but similar yardage. I'm hoping I'll have enough of the La Luz for the pattern.

This is my first time working with 100% silk, and it takes some getting used to. It has no spring all all. I'm having to check myself from knitting too tightly, usually not a problem for me. The silk isn't really hard to work with, it just has it's own language. I've completed 4 repeats of the 10 row lace pattern:

Here's a closeup to show you how glossy and sweet this yarn is:

If anyone else has made this scarf (hint, hint Sandra), would you mind telling me how many repeats your finished scarf had? Thanks!

More Felting

2007-09-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.

I have been really enjoying working with felt. I made another eyeglass case, and I think it turned out better than the first. The stitching is more even, and I think the buttons give it a kind of folk art feel. The green felt is thinner than the blue felt, so the leaves seem a little out of proportion to the whole thing. Next time, I'll take that into consideration:

I've begun another felted project. This time I'm making a small clutch decorated with shell buttons and embroidery. The example in the book is dark blue with bright orange buttons, but I had this light blue sweater and shell buttons, so I decided to make the whole thing kind of pearly. The colors of the embroidery threads echo the pearlized colors in the shell buttons. Here is the whole thing laid out. I still need to finish the embroidery, sew on the silk lining (still to be salvaged.), make a button hole and sew on the closing button:

When I finish the sewing and the embellishment, the clutch will look something like this:

Here's a close up so you can see the colors of the threads:

I'm having a blast with this!

Fake Isle & Felting

2007-09-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Ya'll!

Life has been hectic lately. Between teaching, momming, (soccer practice, chess club, play dates, etc.), and taking care of the homefront, I haven't had much time to knit or blog. I have been trying to bust my stash. I made all those little baby socks and hats, then moved on to a simple 2x2 ribbed scarf using Knit Picks Wakashan Alpaca (left over from Cardi #19 VK). I keep having urges to order more yarn, but after listing it on Ravelry, I realized I have enough yarn for several projects and I need to use it up. My stash is by no means large. I just can't stand having stuff build up. I am NOT a hoarder.

One of the more enjoyable stash busting projects has been Fake Isle from Magknits November 2006 by Amy King. Elabeth had a couple of pictures on her blog of the same hat, and I fell in love. It's a great little knit, if anyone is considering making one. I used Elann Peruvian Highland Silk, a wool/silk blend that is great to work with. I bought 3 balls of the stuff on impulse and it sat in my basket for about a year before I knew what it should be. Here are the 2 results:

I must admit I've fallen in love with a new craft. It's knitting related, though. A couple of weeks ago the family went to Books A Million after dinner. The boys played with the Thomas set and read books. I sat in one of the parents' chairs watching, with a stack of books to entertain me. One of the books I picked up was this:

I enjoyed looking through it, but figured I'd come back and buy it later if it stuck with me. Well, it did. I couldn't stop thinking about the pictures and the projects. I went to the Salvation Army and found a few wool sweaters, and through my own wardrobe and found old sweaters with moth holds and other problems. I started trying to full them in my uber-gentle front loading washer. (Dang modern technology). MIxed results. I tried lots of things, but 2 pairs of Levi's + a tennis ball did the trick. Anyway, I ended up with a pile of fulled sweaters, and no book.

I went back to BAM looking for the book, but I couldn't remember the title or the author. I looked through their sadly disorganized needlecraft section, book by book, but couldn't find it. I was discouraged, so the sweaters had to wait. Yesterday I went back and lo and behold there it was just waiting for me. This time I bought that sucker.

Today after my classes were over, I went back to the Salvation Army and found a few more sweaters and put them through the wringer. I sat down with my book and chose a pattern. I figured since I have limited sewing skills, and even more limited embroidery skills, I'd start off small and simple. I chose the eyeglass case because it fit the bill, and my sunglasses are perpetually scarred from rattling around in my purse.

The pattern in the book has a big heart motif, but I decided to go a little more subdued and just put some leaves on it. Here's the project in progress:

And here is the finished product. It looks amateurish, but it'll protect my sunglasses. I think if I make a couple more, I'll get better at my stitching.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the other projects in the book. The photographs are truly inspirational, and the patterns have a lot of pictorial potential.

Ravelry

2007-09-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Is anyone in Ravelry? I got my invite this morning, and I've been trying to set up a little. I've looked, but can't find ya'll. If you're there, find me. I'm easy-the only Hesira in town. I'll be your friend, if you'll be mine!

Ravelry is fun, but a little overwhelming. I'm slowly adding things, and learning my way around. It looks like it will be a great resource.

Gimme a Hollar!

Goodbye

2007-09-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

Where Did August Go?

2007-09-01T07:44:00.001-07:00

Did you think I fell off the face of the Earth? Does anyone even bother to peek here anymore? I was so busy that I didn't make a single post for August. Let's call it my hiatus. What did I do in August? Not much knitting really. I made some baby hats and baby socks, in an effort to use some of my bits and pieces up. Here's the hats.

#1 did some knitting too

I went on a canoe trip. Here's me paddling with my nefew:

Here's me & my boys:

My school started a week and a half ago. Classes are going well. I haven't worn my studio class down yet, and my lecture class hasn't had time to form an opinion. I'm trying to keep it fresh and change things up this semester. More work for me, but keeps me and hopefully my students interested.

I love the fall Vogue Knitting! I plan to make the Debbie Bliss Silver Bell cardi as soon as the VK website comes back online. It's a beautiful sweater. Anybody else into it? Wanna compare notes once we get the pattern? Let me know.

I'm joining a local crafters group next Tuesday. There's this really cool woman who just opened a sewing store in town and she's all about getting crafty folks together. She's also the mom of one of #1's friends. I'm looking forward to hanging out with folks in their real bodies. Not that I don't love you guys, I'd hang out with you if you lived closer.

How I Grilled a Pizza.

2007-07-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

I wish you could have been here Sunday night. I decided to try grilling pizza. I've been thinking about it for a while, but honestly, I was a little daunted by the idea of throwing uncooked dough onto the grill. I was scared the dang thing would ooze through the grate and onto the coals. So I finally got up my nerve and whipped up some whole wheat crust using a combination of several recipes. I added more olive oil to the dough, because somewhere I read that an oil rich dough does better on the coals.

Well, it seemed obvious to me that grilled veggies were the appropriate toppings, so I sliced up an eggplant and sweated it with salt for 1/2 hour, halved a red pepper and a Vidalia onion. I also had some portabello mushrooms.. I diced up some Roma tomatoes and garlic and let those sit at room temperature for about an hour. I infused about 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil with chopped garlic, dried oregano, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper. All the veggies except the tomatoes went on the grill. #2 had to get in on the action:

Here's a closeup of the veggies:

It's important when grilling pizza to have everything ready on hand. After I grilled the veggies I cut them up and put them into small bowls. I had 4 pizza doughs separated by plastic wrap. There's the olive oil on the right and fresh grated mozzarella on the left. A word of advice, don't let your cheese and dough get too warm. They become hard to handle. The first dough, the coolest, held its shape the best. The other 3 got progressively more difficult to pick up and stretched out a little. The cheese, well, it was clumping together and hard to sprinkle over the pizza.

You get the grill pretty hot and spread the olive oil on one side of the dough, put that side of the dough onto the grill and watch it bubble up. This takes about 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the dough. Isn't that gorgeous? I was so excited when the dough puffed up instead of oozing down.

Then you flip the dough, spread that side with oil and put on your toppings. I started with the cheese then the tomatoes, then a little of everything else. I think the main thing is not to put on too much stuff. The pizzas weren't too difficult to get off the grill because I kept them pretty small. I had a couple of small pizza pans that I turned upside down and slid the pizzas onto them as they were done. This was hands down the BEST pizza I've ever eaten. Here's the finished product.

And that is how I grilled a pizza.

PS: I AM knitting, but the pizza pictures were more interesting than my knitted stuff. I'll get back on topic soon, I promise.

New Vintage Baby Jacket and More

2007-07-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

I finished the second Vintage Baby Jacket (well except for the buttons. Seems like I have an aversion to buttons lately). Here's the final product:

I used Blue Sky Alpaca in sportsweight and Addi Turbos #4 circulars. I changed the pattern to accomodate the yarn and made some other changes. First I wanted to reduce the number of seams, so I knitted in the 1/2 round up to the sleeve openings, then I just added a ball of yarn at the beginning of each section, 1 for the back and one for the other front, so I was working with 3 balls of yarn at once. I like this technique and will probably adapt it to other cardigans.

I also felt like the original pattern had too much skirt, so I narrowed the circumference at the bottom, but maintained the original at the chest. I think if I made it again, I would keep the dimensions I have now, but would change the lacework. It seems a little heavy in this particular yarn. But that's my critical eye, and I think this will make a good baby present for a little girl who is making her appearance some time this fall.

It's been mighty quiet around here. I took the boys up to Grama & Papa's house last Saturday. I stopped by the LYS there, the one that's supposed to be going out of business. DH isn't convinced. He thinks they're trying to move stock, but I really don't care because I got 4 hanks of buffalo fingering at 40% off:

The boys were with me at the store, and to keep them happy I bought them some yarn and some needles. They picked this Lornas Laces specially dyed for the shop. I'm not a fan of the colorway, but the boys like it. The yarn and the needles were 40% off, too, or I wouldn't have bought them. The knitting in this picture is mostly mine, but the boys did some of it. Even my 7 year old nefew, who got up on my lap and asked me to teach him how to knit. In 2 minutes he had the hang of it, and knitted about 3 rows:

Finally, I promised myself I was going to use up my stash. Here is a sock I've been working on. The yarn is some Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock I've had since last summer. I'm about done with this one and will finish it up and start the other one soon. It's just plain stockinette, but the color is so pretty, I think it will be fine.

Happy Dog Days!

Vintage Baby Jacket

2007-07-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

I'm just shy of having this thing finished. I have had all the pieces finished for several weeks, but felt discouraged by the discrepancy in the dye lots. I finally set out to block them for piecing together, with the idea that once I had it sewn up I could decide whether or not to over-dye it if the difference was too noticeable. Here are the sleeves and fronts blocking:

Here are the pieces just set together, no sewing.

Here is the jacket sewn up, no buttons, and with a few loose ends in need of weaving in. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The difference between the sleeves and body isn't too noticeable, don't you think? I don't think I'm going to mess with it. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, and I forget what size needles I used. I think they were US #3's, probably my Addi Turbos. I look back at previous posts and figure that out later. The color in the picture below is more true than the ones above. Can I just say how much I love the Cherry Hill Tree yarn? It's so soft and slightly fuzzy once it's been blocked. I'll use it again for baby clothes.

The garden is growing. Here are some zinnias:

My lemon basil is out of control. I can't keep the buds pinched back, so the bees are in heaven!

New Socks

2007-07-03T01:11:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been on a mission to use up my stash. I periodically remind myself I HAD to have that yarn or this, and it's been sitting in my basket for months, or even years. So, it's time my yarn gets the attention it deserves. The first yarn wasn't an impulse buy at all. No I started with some very special sock yarn, Regia Silk Sock. It's smooth, soft and easy to work with. The fabric it yields is wonderful, but what makes these particular skeins special to me is how I got them.

Last summer I was sick from Grave's Disease, and a good friend who lives far away sent me this yarn out of the blue. She said in a note to make myself a pair of socks. I had been knitting socks for everyone else all summer, you see. So after knitting a bunch of socks for Christmas gifts, I was too burned out to think of knitting socks for myself. But that was a year ago, and I'm ready to roll again:

My first pair of socks for myself. I used a vintage cable pattern, but left the cables out, to create a rib stitch that is P1K1P1, K3. I thought anything more complex than a rib would compete with the stripes, but I can see how a ripple or chevron would look nice. The stripes met up pretty well, but that was unplanned. The needles are some plain aluminum #2 dpns (4).

While the stripe matching was unintentional in the previous pair, I decided to make it happen in this pair of baby socks. Remember when I was talking about making baby gifts in advance? It occurred to me that all the small leftover balls of sock yarn from last summer would yield some quick knit baby socks. Since I just finished with the Regia, I used it for the first pair of baby socks. This is some basic baby sock pattern I found on line, nothing fancy. The pattern had a few dents and dings that I fixed to make it fit my style of sock knitting. So here's the matching stripes Regia Silk baby socks:

I've started another pair of baby socks, and have the vintage baby jacket blocking. I seem to be over my knitting blahs and I'll try to post more regularly again. I hope everyone is doing great and summer is treating you right.

Home Again!

2007-06-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

At last! The travelling seems to over for now. We took a road trip to DC with the boys and had a blast. They didn't get too antsy in the car and once we arrived, they had a great time. We took them to the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshorn Sculpture Museum. We walked on the Mall some, but it was really hot and we tried to stay out of the sun.

A few days after we got home, I took the boys to my folks and saw my sister who was visiting from California. I dropped the kids off, and headed home. DH & I then travelled to Biloxi, Mississippi for a professional conference for him, and just lounging for me. We stayed at the Beau Rivage Casino Hotel, and other than gambling and overpriced shopping there wasn't much to do. I did catch up on my sleep a little, and had a couple of really good meals. I drove to Grama's yesterday and picked the boys up after a week of not seeing them. While I was there, I dropped by the LYS and discovered it was closing. Even though it's 100 miles away, it's the closest yarn store to me. I'm so bummed. I did buy 2 hanks of Art Yarns Merino in this blue green color and 4 balls of Blue Sky Alpaca Sport at 30% off. Next week the sale is going to be better, but I'm not driving up for that.

Me, Sis & a cut-off #2:

My new yarn and cable needles:

On the knitting front, I'm almost finished with a sock out of Regia Silk Sock I received from a friend about a year ago. She sent me the yarn to cheer me up when I was sick and couldn't do much more than knit socks. I did get all my Christmas presents done early last year, but was too burned out to knit any more socks for a while. I'm making these for me. My first pair I knitted for myself. This picture was taken about a week ago, so I'm much further along. Since starting these, I've read the Regia Silk isn't very elastic, and I probably should have used fewer stitches, but I'll go with slouchy if that's what happens.

So my friends, it's tomatoes and basil, knitting socks, watching the kids in the pool and reruns of I Love Lucy. I really DO love Lucy you know.

Just not that into it.

2007-06-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hi All.

I haven't been knitting at all. I made the bonnet to go with the vintage baby jacket and was not pleased. It appears too large. I know my kids had melon heads as babies, but really! I need a large headed 9 month old to try it on and see if it' just me or the bonnet.

Anyway.

I'm not frustrated or upset about knitting, just a little too busy to be fussing with iffy patterns, you know? Summer has begun and I'm home with the kids. We have been trading visits with friends, trying to teach the kids the art of sociability, a skill DH & I sorely lack. Their kids over here, our kids over there, repeat, repeat, repeat...

Baseball season is finally over, thank the stars. Oh, what a shitty season #1's team had. It was painful to watch. Especially painful on Sunday afternoon from 1-4 with the sun in full force. I have decided I don't like baseball for kiddies. It's too competitive, too stressful, and the parents are just awful. Something about it makes even mild mannered parents turn into raving fanatics. Well, we have a year to decide if we're going to do it again. Bleah!

June is completely scheduled out. This Wednesday we're taking the boys on a road trip to DC. We'll be driving for 2 & 1/2 days, just 5 or 6 hours daily, so they don't get too burned out in the car. We have a DVD player in the vehicle, which they are hardly ever allowed to use, so we plan to stock up on new movies and let them wallow in their new toy to their little hearts' delight. Add some new coloring books, and a couple of hand held electronic toys (use of these is restricted as well, so the boys will think they're getting away with something) and we're set.

Have I ever mentioned I went to grad school in DC? I haven't been back since I graduated, so it'll be weird to be there as a tourist. I didn't have much time for anything but going to art museums and painting while I was there, so it'll be fun to explore a little. The boys are really excited about seeing the Capitol and the Air and Space Museum. I'm looking forward to the National Zoo and the National Cathedral. I plan on bringing some yarn and needles and knitting in the car.

As soon as we return we are visiting my family for a few days, then we are taking a quick trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a Business/Semi-fun trip. Then June will be over, and I'm hoping for lazy days with a cool drink beside the pop up pool watching the boys flail in the water.

Who Woulda Thunk It?

2007-05-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

I got this from Beth at 3 Sheeps to the Wind:

hesira zoysia --

[noun]:

A hard-core grave robber

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Dye Lot Problems

2007-05-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

The vintage baby jacket has problems. Dye lot problems.

Here's how it goes: The pattern called for 3 oz of yarn to make the jacket. I had 4 oz of Cherry Tree Hill Sock yarn that fit the gauge, so I thought, plenty-o-yarn. After finishing the back, and the 2 front pieces, I could tell I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the project, SO,

I ordered another hank of the CHT yarn. I knew the dye lots wouldn't match. I figured, the color repeats would be different lengths, or there would be some difference in the darkness or lightness of the yarns, but what I didn't expect was this:

The left side is the original yarn, the right is the new hank. I ordered this yarn about a year ago to make socks. When I got it, it was so cotton candy, baby colored that, I didn't want to make socks out of it for me. I was expecting something subtler, grayer, something like, well the stuff on the right. The yarn sat in my basket all these months, just waiting for the right pattern.

Recently I decided to bust some stash. I also had these vintage pattern books that weren't getting much action. I figured I'd make some baby clothes, and have ready made baby gifts when I needed them. I found this pattern, and it seemed to be the right one for the yarn.

(Don't cha just love fat babies. I wonder where she is today. The copyright on this is from 1942. The book is Woolies for Babies, Book 178, Chadwick's Red Heart.)

Now we're back to, I didn't have enough of the original yarn. I wondered if the original hank was short some yardage, so I did some knitting math. I counted up the stitches in one of the pieces and divided the weight of that piece by the number of stitches. Then I figured out how many stitches the entire jacket contained, and figured out how much yarn the entire project SHOULD take. 4.3 ounces. That's 1.3 MORE ounces of sock yarn than suggested. That's a lot of sock yarn. That's 2 sleeves worth.

What to do, what to do. Well, I wasn't going to frog it. There's a hellova lot of stitches involved. The colors were too different to leave, and I didn't want to do the gradual incorporation of the second color, so I got some advice from a friend at an online knitting group about dyeing. I thought, maybe if I soaked the 2 yarns together, they'd bleed and transfer dye, creating some kind of equilibrium. My friend suggested reeling off 3 yards of each yarn, making tiny sample hanks and first soaking in hot water, to create a bleed, then boiling with vinegar together to set the transfer.

Here are the little hanks waiting to be abused:

Here they are soaking in a white bowl, so I can judge the amount of bleed. Not much, huh?

I boiled them for 20 minutes , with fears that they would felt. They looked pretty awful when I pulled them out, but I hung them to dry overnight. This morning I was pretty pleased with the results. No felting, but quite a bit of fading, and some transfer. Again, left side original, right side new yarn:

Now the plan is to sew the jacket together, and make a bonnet with the remaining yarn. The bonnet and 2 sleeves use the new yarn, and the rest of the jacket is from the original. That will be approximately half & half old to new yarn. Once the bonnet is finished, I'll put the jacket & bonnet through the same treatment as the sample hanks, and see what happens. If the sleeves still look too different, I'll over dye the whole project with Koolaid.

Whew. Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

Mine started with breakfast in bed. There were a couple of gifts and flowers, too. Check out the swank salt & pepper grinders DH got, along with the bamboo tray.

We had a great day. Went out for lunch and took a drive. Got home and chilled out for a while, then DH made me dinner:

All in all a great day.

A few days ago I received this in the mail. It's Hand Maiden Sik & Cashmere. I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it, but I like to pet it every now and then.

I've been knitting on the baby jacket, but there are some dye lot issues I'll have to figure out. I'm going to do some swatching and maybe some over-dyeing this week. More later.

I hope all of you had a great day yesterday!

Saturday Morning

2007-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

I'm sitting on my porch having my decaf and listening to the birds sing. Sometimes a distant dog barks or a car passes, but mostly it's quiet with birds and crickets. The sky is hazy and there is dew on the porch screens.

I've been working on the little baby jacket. I'm almost to the second lace insertion panel on the right front. It's supposed to be the left front, but I put the garter stitch button band border on the wrong side accidentally. No harm no foul. And I can't find either of my measuring tapes. I'm the kind of person who loses small objects ALL the time. I lost my measuring tape, so I bought another one. I lost the new one, found the old one, lost it, found them both, lost them both...I think I've knitted about a half an inch too much. I have to measure this thing before I can go any farther.

Next comes some decreasing and then the lace, then the neck line shaping. It will all go pretty fast once the decreasing begins, so I'm ready to get at it. WHERE'S MY MEASURING TAPE, DAMMIT? Wait, knitting supposed to be relaxing, right?

OK. It's 2 days later, and somehow I found both of my measuring tapes. It's a sickness really. I tinked the overshot knit rows and worked out that problem, and now am into the neck decreases. I should be able to finish this side of the front tonight. Then I get to weigh my remaining yarn and see if I can start the left front side, or wait until my second skein of yarn comes in.

Saturday we had 3 birthday parties and 1 cookout. At the first birthday party, I met this absolutely gorgeous woman. Here is another image of what I think is beautiful:

Finally, food. Has anyone tried the South Beach Diet? We did a couple of summers ago. It really worked, but the veggie chopping and carb deprivation were just too much for me, The recipes however, were surprisingly good. I bought the South Beach Diet Cookbook, and here's the Portabello Mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and pine nuts. This was so delicious!

Where has the time gone?

2007-04-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

All I can say is I've been sick and busy at the same time. I've got a bad case of bronchitis and between that, baseball and the end of the semester, I haven't had the time or gumption to sit down and write.

I get irritated when things are sitting around and not being used, so I've been thinking about stash busting. I don't have any real projects in mind. There is one pair of socks I need to make for myself, but other than that, I'm relatively free. I decided to make some baby stuff out of what ever is in my basket. Now, whenever I need a baby present, I can have a few things around in case I'm not in a knitterly mood, you know?

First I decided to use up some of my leftover Devon from the Enid cardi, and Addi Turbos #3 US. I have several vintage pattern books from the 30's through the 60's. I chose a raglan cardi pattern and reworked it on so many levels, it might actually be my own pattern now. Here's the finished product, sans the buttons. I've GOT the buttons, but I have yet to sew them on.

I'm not too crazy about the way the purple and green stripes separate from the rose color, but that's what I get for not swatching the pattern. I will say that stripes, as annoying as they are for weaving in, make seaming a breeze.

Now I'm working on a little jacket from the early 40's and following the pattern as closely as possible. I'm using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Handpainted in Spring Frost and US #2 straights. The pattern called for 3 ounces to make the jacket, and the yarn comes in 4 ounce hanks, but after weighing the back, I discovered it has almost used 2 ounces. I will probably have to buy another hank of the yarn, which sucks because the dye lots are bound to be completely different. There's an awful lot of small stitches in this little jacket, so I'm not really willing to frog it.

I'm much further along than this picture shows, but you can get the gist of the color and the pattern.

Finally, here's a little gift from my garden:

I hope everyone is doing well.

Easter, Bloggiversary, Cabled Cardigan

2007-04-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great Easter. Ours was mellow and chilly. Some kind of crazy Artic Blast has blown through here, and the weather has been less like April and more like January. The boys had lots of candy and little surprizes from the Easter Bunny, and we had a very nice meal of roast leg of lamb and mixed fingering potatoes with asparagus and red wine. We went for a little drive in the afternoon then sort of crashed out in the evening. Here's some food pictures:

Roast Lamb & Mixed Potatoes:

Asparagus and Parmesan:

This is my favorite egg from the lot:

My bloggiversary was yesterday. I was too busy and involved in family stuff to sit down and write. Seems like that's been going around lately. Anyway, as I look back over the past year and think about knitting, blogging and all of you, I realize that so many things have changed as a result of this wonderful medium.

I got involved in the online knitting world early last spring when I needed to find an answer to a particular question. I joined a couple of newsgroups and started noticing that when some people signed their names, a link would appear under it. I think the first link I followed was Elabeth's, and that's when I learned about blogs. I read hers and followed some other links and finally got the nerve to start my own blog. Before I joined newsgroups and the blogworld, I felt isolated as a knitter. When I had a knitting problem or a knitting triumph, I kept them to myself, because there was no one around here to share them with.

Over the past year, I have met wonderful knitters from all over the country and world. You guys have supported me through a frustrating illness and some frustrating knitting. The support and humor I've encountered has meant the world to me.

To honor this special occasion, I want to show you the best thing I've knitted so far. The Margaret O'Leary Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Fall 2006 (#19). This is the best fitting, most comfortable, most successful piece of knitting I've done.

The Stats:

Yarn: Knit Picks: Wakashan 100% Baby Alpaca (in black). I did end up with 3 spare hanks of yarn, but that's OK with me.
Needles: Addi Turbo Circular: #8 47", Some kind of straight #10, and #8
Size : 38 bust.

There are a few problems with the pattern: The cable chart for the right front has a mistake on row 13. It should be 6-st LC instead of 6-st RC. The collar shaping has a problem on the right half. The instructions have you making the collar shaping over the buttonband. If I remember correctly, all you have to do is end with a RS instead of a WS and then do the shaping. These corrections are not listed on the VK website, but others are. If you want to make this sweater, print out the corrections first then go for it.

I would absolutely recommend this sweater pattern. It wasn't difficult and the results are wonderful. I did change the length of the ribbing on the sleeves from 7 inches to 3.5 inches. They were too long and I didn't want to fold them over. Knitting the shawl collar takes forever and can be a drag. The collar which is double the thickness of the rest of the sweater, tends to unfold itself (you can see that in the picture below). A minor disappointment, I can live with it.

Thank you all for being such lovely knitters and bloggers!

Smooches!

Spring

2007-03-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,

I'm still working on the button band on the Cabled Cardigan, and have gotten the buttonholes made. It's my first time making buttonholes big enough to need binding off and casting on. Not much to show yet, so I decided I'd entertain you with views from my embarrassingly Spring-like yard:

Azaleas in full force:

More Azaleas:

Wisteria:

Maybe next time I'll have something knitted to show you.

Me Skull Cap

2007-03-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Howdy, Howdy. I hope you all had a wonderful St. Paddie's Day. Mine was completely uneventful. No green, no cabbage, no beer. How boring am I?

Well Spring Break is just about over and what did I accomplish? I knitted a whole lot. I graded some. I got absolutely no Spring cleaning done. Just to let you know, Springtime in south Mississippi means pollen. We are in the middle of a pine forest, and pine pollen along with a good dose of oak pollen is everywhere. All things are covered with a light green dust. I really need to sweep my porch and my dining room, as the stuff is getting tracked into the house.

So I was talking about knitting. I've got all the parts for the Cabled Cardigan made and blocked. They've been that way for several days. I bought this quilting grid at Hancock's for about 10 dollars and it really made blocking much easier, but it's constructed of corrugated cardboard, and probably won't hold up for many projects. It's doing the job right now, and that's all that matters. I'll start putting these pieces together, and knitting the front bands and collar this week.

What drew me away from my cardi was this project. I had all that Elann Devon left over from Enid and thought the skull cap would be a great way to use it up. I finished the first We Call Them Pirates cap this morning. It is intended for DH, but he had to go into the office this morning, so #1 with his massive cranial capacity volunteered to model it. Here he is looking mighty snarly:

Side view:

Top view:

This is such a fun little project. I intend to make one for each of us, and then I may make one for every baby I know. Don't you think it would be cute on a little matey? When I make the next one, I'll pass on the interior lining and just make a ribbed cuff or a moss stitch edge. I really don't like the tacking the hem process, but I did do better on the provisional cast-on this time.

I hardly ever talk about what I'm reading, but I finished Gulliver's Travels last night. I never read it in high school when we were supposed to. It's a little crude at times, and I'm surprized they want high schoolers to read it.

We went to the library yesterday and I checked out Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting. I'm curious to learn about the development of this craft. I'm a little obsessed with sticks and thread these days.

Spring Break

2007-03-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

The first day of break. I went to the office and found a parking spot nearby. Graded 19 portfolios and fewer sketch diaries. (Those kids are in trouble). Caught up on a little gossip, then went to the grocery store. Had lunch with DH. Went home and started a crock pot dinner. Bratwurst, slaw mix and chicken broth. The house smells yummy.

Sat down and got a little knitting done on the cabled cardigan before time to pick up the kids, and here's how it stands. I frogged the right panel and reknitted it over the weekend. Then I made a sleeve. After the sleeve was done, I was pretty sure it was WAY to long, so I pinned the sweater together, and tried it on. Yes, the sleeve looked as if it had been made with an orangutan in mind. I mean, on the model, it just brushes her knuckles. On me, it hangs beyond the tips of my fingers. I folded it up and it was the right length, but the sleeve is pretty close fitting, and the bulkiness of the folded cuff didn't do it for me. I measured how much shorter it should be in order to do what it's doing on the model, and it needs to be exactly 1/2 the length it is, which would 3.5 inches, also how long the ribbing is on the bottom of the sweater. Does that model have abnormally long arms, or am I the freak?

So I'm reknitting that sleeve to have a 3.5 inch cuff instead of a 7 inch one. When it's done, I'll pin it to the sweater body just to make sure it's the right length, and if so, I'll make another. I'm determined to get this sweater just right. (You know, after ENID). I googled the pattern and found a few bloggers who also made it, and they all seem to have the too-long-sleeve problem.

I'm not frustrated though. I'm looking at this as an exercise in patience and reward. I am thinking in advance of how nicely I'm going to sew the seams, and how I'll finally overcome my "picking-up" clumsiness. The button band/collar/button hole band is one long k2 p2 rib that is picked up from the bottom of one panel, around the neck to the bottom off the other panel. That should give me plenty of practice on picking up and knitting. I think I'll block the pieces before sewing together, instead of after, just to see what happens. Hopefully, the reward will be a sweater that I love and will wear often.

A New Cardi

2007-03-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

I bet you guys think I really love cardigans, don't you? I've started my 3rd adult cardi. It's Project 19 from Vogue Knits Fall 06, aptly named Cable Cardigan. The original pattern calls for Trendsetter Kashmir yarn, and at $25 a ball, that just wasn't going to happen. (The pattern calls for something like 10 ballls). Anyway, I'm substituting Knitpicks Wakashan 100% Baby Alpaca. Much more affordable. We'll see how the thing drapes.

I've finished the back and the front left panel, and am almost to the armhole shaping of the front right panel. At this point, I have discovered some shaping mistakes I made on the left front, not to mention the big boo-boo in the first row of cables. Did you notice it? Well, I can't live with the errors, so when I finish the front right, I'm going to frog the front left, and fix those problems.

I'll wait until the whole thing is done before I decide on whether I want to make the belt or not. It's getting really Spring-ish here, so I probably won't get a chance to wear this one very much. We are going to Chicago in May. It'll probably be cool enough there to wear an alpaca sweater, don't cha think?

What is Beautiful?

2007-03-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

Recently Susan wrote a wonderful post in which she refers to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. At the end of her post she told any reader to consider themselves tagged. As soon as I read that I knew I must respond and I immediately thought of this young woman.

As a college professor, I deal with many young women. My job also requires that I consider the meaning of beauty. To me, prettiness is surface and fleeting, but beauty is ageless and truly comes from within. As soon as I met "Medusa" (her own screen name) I knew she was special. She is tall and carries herself with confidence. She defends her opinions (which are well informed) respectfully. She is curious and unsatisfied with partial understanding. She pursues knowledge and creativity with joy. And she is kind. To me she exemplifies what a young woman should be. Happy, smart and beautiful.

So, in the spirit of Susan's post, I'm passing the tag along. Think about what beauty really means and do something about it. Encourage girls and young woman to recognize their own beauty, because I believe it is there in us all.

Enid Finis

2007-02-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, here she is. I have mixed feelings about this project. I learned so much through the process and gained a lot of confidence. I am interested in knitting more sweaters in the round, and trying steeking some more. However, I have a few disappointments as well.

The only way to wear this sweater is completely buttoned up. Otherwise it opens into some kind of unrecognizable, and unattractive flag. Sometimes I like to wear a cardi with just the top button fastened, but even that is impossible with this sweater.

If the whole point of steeking is to reduce the amount of seaming, the button band and buttonhole band negated that. What a pain! You can clearly see where the bands overlaps the wrong side of the sweater. The crochet edge is pretty when you put it on, but for me it's not really functional. It's difficult to tell just where the button HOLES are.

I was hoping the puckering would lay down after blocking, but it's still there. I swear I was carrying my floats loosely, but not loosely enough, apparently. Hopefully, with time, this will ease out.

I think there are places where the pattern is a little vague. Two examples: there is no mention of how to join the sleeve seams and there is no indication of exactly how many stitches the knitter should initially crochet across the button band. Strangely enough, it all works out in the end. It's comfortable to wear and fits better than expected and is pretty.

Would I ever make it again, or recommend it to someone? No way. Am I glad I made it? Absolutely. Things I'd do differently if I made it again:

No provisional cast on. I'd either let it roll or use some non-rolling stitch border.
More stitches in the steeking area. There was too little selvage for a beginner steeker like myself.
Different button holes.
Higher neckline.

And just to toot my own horn a little, it's my birthday! I'm twice 21, and I guess that's officially middle aged, if I make it to 84. For the first time I feel like I'm actually old enough to be my students' mom. That's really weird because my own kids are so young. I'm in a good place, and frankly I'm just grateful for my family, friends and health.

I hope everyone has a great day!

International Make a Paper Airplane Day

2007-02-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

OK, I just made that up. But we could start it, couldn't we?

I love this guy. I've made lots of his airplanes for my boys, and they all fly like a dream. Some of his planes have video tutorials, and some have written instructions with diagrams. All his videos look like this one, same background, no sound, his hands.

Here's a link to his site. Make a plane today and fly it.

Enid Pre-Steeking

2007-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough week my knitterly friends. I came down with the crud last Friday and have been trying to get well ever since. I cancelled classes Tuesday, but got all cocky on Thursday, thinking I was well, and showed up only to immediately dismiss them. They were sympathetically amused. I think, THINK, I'm better today. We have out of town guests coming in tomorrow, so I'd better be well. The only good thing about being sick was I got a lot of knitting done.

I'm just about ready to steek Enid. I've knit the whole thing, run a thread down the steeking column, and double reinforced either side of the column. Now I need to steam block the steeking area and get out the magnifying glasses and the sharp little scissors.

Here she is. You can see the steeking column represented by the light blue dotted line. You can also see a little of the contrasting hem on the bottom peeking out. After steeking, I attach the button band and the button hole band (yet to be knitted), sew on the buttons (yet to be bought), block that bad girl, and it's done!

I thought I'd show you a close up of the yoke with the colorwork. I'm still hoping for some flattening out of the puckering once it's blocked. I have a good feeling about it. I was a little worried about my colors, as I didn't use the Reynolds Whiskey. I thought the fuschia might be a little much, and I was worried the purling might look amateurish. I actually think the 2 things take care of each other, or rather the purling softens up the color transitions and gives some dimension to the yoke. Once again, I think the blocking will help make it look less messy.

I hope ya'll have a great weekend. Maybe next time I see you, I'll have a finished Enid to show.

Happy Valentine's Day, Ya'll!

2007-02-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

You didn't think I could let this holiday pass without baking some cookies, did you?

To Tink or Not To Tink

2007-02-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

Just popping in with a quick Enid update and some pictures, and some, well, griping, moaning, ranting, whatever you want to call it. Here's how Enid is looking:

The colorwork is all puckered even though I thought I was carrying my floats pretty loosely. The stitches move back and forth like an abacus, so I'm pretty sure the puckers will block out. At least I'm crossing my fingers and doing magic dances, hoping they will.

Last night while watching, you guessed it, Grey's Anatomy, and having my 2 glasses of wine (only 1/2 full each, so it's really like I only had 1 glass, yeah, yeah), I was knitting along having a great time, while DH put the kids down. Bless him. Anyway, I'd gotten to a point where the colorwork was feeling pretty relaxed, and I didn't mind untwisting every ten minutes or so. I knew I was going to finish the first motif, so I was excited and knitting pretty fast. When I got to the end of this section, I set my knitting down, and surveyed my work.

OH CRAP! The light green on the top of the bubbles is supposed to be purled! The chart shows a light green square with a diamond for knit and a light green square with a diamond with a dot in the middle for purl. A tiny little dot. I wasn't wearing my rhinestone studded reading glasses. UGH! So, the question remains, to tink or not to tink? Even before I made the mistake, I thought I might not like the purled rows mixed in the colorwork, and of course, I didn't swatch to find out, I just dove in head first. I need to think about it. Two and a half rows of 302 stitches each. I've done it before. Maybe I should knit that swatch, then decide.

OK. You can laugh now.

Totally Adorable

2007-02-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law just sent me this picture of my cutie-pie niece wearing the Piggle cap I made her:

I actually followed the directions completely with this one, down to using the recommended yarn, Jaeger Matchmaker. It was a quick knit and turned out really cute. It's fun knitting for girls.

Technical Difficulties

2007-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

It's been a hellava day for knitting, photographing and posting. Where shall I begin? OK, knitting.

I've been working on the Enid Cardigan. Here's how it goes. First you make a big tube for the body, bind off 2 sets of 16 stitches for the underarm seam, then leave the stitches on the needles. Then you make 2 tubes for the sleeves, bind off 16 stitches on each to correspond to the body bind off, and leave those stitches on the needles. You knit the body and when you come to where the sleeve bind off is, you knit the stitches off the sleeve needles onto the body needles. With me so far?

All that was accomplished last night. The only hitch was the second sleeve stitches were on dpn's and the last needle slipped off the stitches while I was knitting. I replaced the stitches and continued. After the sleeves were joined I knit 3 rounds. By the end of the 3rd round, I noticed one of the sleeves had a row of 16 stitches that were creating a bumpy line on the inside of the sweater, which was not apparent on the outside. I figured it was how I replaced the fallen stitches. I set it aside and waited till the morning to decide what to do.

This morning I decided to tink those 3 rounds of 302 stitches each and fix the problem. I figured if I didn't I'd have some kind of Princess and the Pea reaction to the raised stitches. So I spent most of the day unknitting. When I got to what I thought was the problem area, I couldn't find a problem. I reknit the rounds and again, those same stitches were raised. Then I realized I was trying to fix the wrong sleeve. The problem wasn't with the second sleeve, it was with the first. Well, shit!

I got over my Princess and the Pea deal and decided to let it ride. But first I wanted to try the thing on and see if I could feel the stitches. So I had to run a thread through my stitches, cuz there was no way my ass or my chest was going to fit through the tiny little opening the circs allowed. Finally I got in the thing, and wanted to take a pic, but my camera batteries ran out. So I turned to Mr. Mac, my faithful photographer, and I had to press the button and jump back to get the shot, but with my arms tightly against my side, cuz otherwise, Enid would slip off. Here's the pic:

Enid appears too short for me. I can't tell for sure until I get the yoke finished. If it is too short, I can lengthen the bottom thanks to the provisional cast-on, but I'd rather not. Also, this pic really makes me see I need to shed some holiday cheer.

Anyway, I drafted out this post this morning, and when I came to actually enter it, the draft was nowhere to be found. So here I am re-writing it from damn scratch.

That's 2 cuss words in one post. Sorry, but this sweater, blogger, & camera, are driving me crazy!

The Best For Last

2007-01-28T07:22:00.000-08:00

Billy Preston with Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, and a bunch of other great artists at the Concert For George. It's difficult to find words to express how profound I believe this performance is.

Billy-A-Go-Go

2007-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

It was this or "Get Back" and there just wasn't enough camera time for Billy on "Get Back".

Nothing from Nothing

2007-01-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

Please indulge me in my Billy Preston tribute. Here is super-fine, super-happy Billy as the first musical guest on the first episode of SNL:

Guaranteed to Make a Scarecrow Smile

2007-01-25T05:47:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. So maybe you prefer a funky, 'frolicious Billy, no?

Going Round in Circles

2007-01-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

The late great Mr. Preston. This song has been in my head for a few days. I guess it's all that knitting in the round. I thought I'd share it with you, and maybe it'll brighten up your day.

Approved for knitters and nonknitters, alike. ;)

Enid and More

2007-01-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finished the main body of Enid, and spent most of the weekend working on the first sleeve. This is thin yarn and there are seemingly endless numbers of stitches involved. The good thing about all that mindless knit stitch in the round is I can think about other things while I'm doing it. For instance, how is the steeking going to work out? If the steeking utterly fails, will I be able to cope with all that knitting and then flushing it down the drain? I'll make the bottom hem before I steek, so what happens if I don't line my stitches up perfectly before cutting? Will I get sick of this project before I do all the ticky little things that have to be done before it is finished? You see what I mean? My mind wanders around these and other subjects.

Here's a picture of the body and one sleeve. The sleeve lacks about 2 inches of length, but all the shaping has been done:

Yesterday kinda sucked. It rained all day. The kids were crazy with cabin fever. I dropped my new camera and messed up the shooting button. I could just cry about that. It was like a cartoon. My camera was on the desk next to the computer, and I was going to take a picture of the spinach risotto I was making. As I walked past the desk, I picked up the camera, kept walking, and the camera jerked out of my hands. It was still attached to the computer cord from my last download. It landed on the shooting button (I know there is a technical term for that thing, but I'm too pissed to look it up). It'll still take pictures, but the focus doesn't work as well. I'm going to have to send it off and get it fixed.

The last download before the camera accident was of this car:

It's not my car. It's not my husband's nor any friend's or relative's. It is my driveway. We live next to a church that has a congregation that's too large for it's parking lot. 6 days of the week, it's great living next to a church. No rowdy neighbors, no barking dogs. On Sundays, there is a racket for about 10 minutes when they get out, but that's OK. But when someone blocks my driveway for 2 or more hours, I don't like it. When church got out, a young guy walked to the car. I asked him if it was his and he said yes. I then asked him if he realized he had blocked my driveway for over 2 hours. He gave me an ugly look and got in his car and drove away. No apology, no "Please excuse me, I was running late for church".

I shouldn't let stuff like this get to me, but I'm vexed.

Drawing

2007-01-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of Get-Back-To-Art Season. I spent about 3 hours in my studio. I had planned on more, but something came up (doesn't it always?) No, this was really necessary. I had to have the tail light of my brand new vehicle fixed. ( A run away buggy at Walmart, need I say more?) What that means is DH & I dropped the kids off early at school, then took said vehicle to the vehicle doctor, then I dropped DH off at work using his vehicle...BLAH, BLAH...

Anyway, I had to pick up my car around 10, so that threw an interuption in my day. Not too bad though. I drove directly back home, went right upstairs and got back to work. A short lunch break, then some more work, then I HAD to go get some #4 dpns, cuz I'm ready to make Enid's sleeves. I tried to cast one on using a short circ last night, but it wasn't going to happen. I just straightened my stash, and went to bed early.

What was I saying? Oh, Art...I'm easily distracted.

I had every intention of painting, but it's gotten so fricken cold here, that I didn't want to open the windows for ventilation, and I sure wasn't going to paint without fresh air. I need all the functional brain cells I've got left. I decided to draw instead. So, I started with charcoal in a small sketchbook, and piddled around until I felt like it needed some white. Pulled out the acrylic and put some down. Then it needed some gray wash. Pulled out the black acrylic, and there you go.

That was fun, so I decided to try it on a larger scale. I pulled out some Rives BFK (a really nice printing paper) and started up with the charcoal, followed by the acrylic. Not so much fun as before. I realized I didn't need the charcoal and started another. This time I tried to maintain the gesture and use the page a little more effectively. Much better. I checked the time it was about 2:00, so I washed my brushes and my palette, snapped a couple of photos, and off I ran. Dpns then boys.

The one on the right is the first one, the one on the left, the second.

Maybe you remember me whining about not feeling free enough, and looking through the glass wall at what I wanted to do, but somehow couldn't force my arm to obey? No? It's back in the archive somewhere. But that's how I felt. Now, I can feel that I will make better and better drawings. Just doing this today gave me ideas for Friday. That's the main thing: maintaining a flow of ideas and following through.

Trying to Catch Up

2007-01-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

Things are crazy around here. I've been reading everyone's blogs, but not commenting. I've been thinking about writing, but not actually doing it. I HAVE been knitting. I finished the body of Enid, and will start the sleeves today. I made the Piggles hat from the latest Knitty for my adorable neice, but wasn't able to get a picture of her in it. Her mom says she'll send one. I haven't worked on the VK cable cardigan in a while.

Today is the first day of school for me. I'm ready. Teaching the same stuff I did last semester, but on a different schedule. Slight adjustments to be made, but nothing too time consuming.

I have been faithful to Project 365. The pictures aren't exactly great, but they do give chronicle each day of the year so far. I keep telling myself I'll try to take better pictures, but when I remember to take them, I'm rushed by lack of light, or frantic kids, or whatever.

Tomorrow I start back in the studio. I have Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off this semester, so I really have time to focus. I have a big canvas waiting for paint, and lots of fine paper waiting for whatever I put on it.

I'm about to go try to convince 19-25 year olds that art is worth appreciating. Wish me luck!

At Last

2007-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for a day like this. Saturday, the kids are over at a friend's house, and I finally can get some stuff done. Besides the drudgery of housework, I was actually able to photograph my WIP's. I've finally got Enid casted on. The provisional cast on described in the pattern made it difficult to tell whether or not my stitches were twisted. I frogged that, and started again with a crocheted provisional cast on, and I think this will work better. I've never done this before, but I've got my fingers crossed. In this picture, you can see the contrasting red for the cast on. It's supposed to "unzip" at the end, leaving the cast on stitches live, and I'll pick those up and knit the hem facing, with contrasting color. For now, it's just simple knit stitch in the round for 11 odd inches. This is now a good project for when the kids are around, or I'm talking with friends. Not too much thinking involved, until I get to the yoke.

I don't remember if I discussed the yarn for this project (and am too lazy to look back in my blog to see), so I'll show and tell. The original yarn called for is Reynolds Whiskey. It's a little pricey, and I'm trying all kinds of new tricks, so I opted for Elann Devon, much more economical. The colors in Devon don't really match the colors in Whiskey, so I just picked out as many as were close and then tried to design around them. Here is the palette. The 3 olive green skeins are the MC. The rest of the colors make up the bubble pattern on the yoke.

And honestly, I didn't mean to hold out on you, I've just been so busy with the holidays, cookies you know. I started the cable cardigan in the Fall 2006 Vogue Knits. The pattern calls for a silk/cashmere blend, and let me tell you, there was NO WAY I was going to shell out that dough, so I opted for Knit Picks Wakashan 100% Baby Alpaca. It feels divine. This sweater was moving along pretty quickly, until I got to the front panels and there was cabling to do. I've cabled several things before, and it's really no problem, but #2 has been at home for 3 weeks, and I can't really follow a chart with him around. He starts back to preschool on Monday, so I'll be able to get some more work done on this one. Anyway, here's the back, just to show you I'm not fibbing.

I'm not usually one to juggle projects, but I will have 4 going at once. The two sweaters, and a baby gift (undecided as yet, but has to be done by March), and a cute little hat for my truly girly 3-soon-to-be-4 neice. We'll see how it all works out. I am now off to put on my face. My friend who's watching the kids, is also making Korean food for dinner, and we've got a date. Happy weekend to ya'!

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

I hope ya'll had a happy holiday season. Mine was great. No migraines or anxiety attacks, so WOOHOO! The boys had a great Christmas and we all had some delicious food on that day. Number 1 had his 7th birthday a couple days later, so we had more presents and more decadent food (homemade chocolate cake with Rockyroad Frosting).

New Year's Eve was mellow. A couple of friends came over and brought their 5 year old son, who is Number 2's best friend. We had a bonfire with toasted marshmallows, and fireworks. Nobody got too drunk. I felt pretty good this morning, and got ready for our annual New Year's Day Lunch. For those of you not familiar with the southern tradition, Hoppin John's (black eyed peas) are for good luck, the ham in the peas is for health and the collard greens are for money. The cornbread and rice just go well with the rest of it. There was plenty of sweet iced tea, beer and wine. About 12 people showed up and we watched football and ate. I made a killer cake, but was too busy to photograph it. It was an orange almond cake with chocolate glaze. Man, it was fine.

I only made 1 resolution. I will hang framed pictures on my walls. I have so many things that need to be hung. We've lived here about 8 years and it looks like we just moved in. It's time to make things a little homier. I also will participate in Project 365. I learned about this on Elabeth's blog and it seems like a great idea to me. For Christmas DH gave me a camera, so that's more incentive to take pictures, and learn how to use my new toy.

I tried to knit on Enid over the holidays, but this is a fairly complex project and I need to think about it. Having the kids around all day makes it difficult to concentrate. There is a provisional cast on for the body, and I'm not sure how it will work out. I think I'll do a practice run and see if it works on a small scale, before I commit to the larger (over 200 stitches CO) real thing. Also, it's a cardigan knit in the round, and the front and sleeves are opened using steeking. I need to do a practice swatch of this, also, to see if it works as planned. I'm substituting yarn, and I don't know how it will respond to steeking. I guess if the steeking doesn't work on the swatch, I could just make the sweater a pullover.

So, my friends, I'm ready for life to return to normal. I miss knitting, and I miss my boys being in school. I even miss my job a little. I don't start back until the 16th. That seems late, but it'll give me some time to prepare and get in the right mindset. I hope you all are having a wonderful time.

EDIT: I just had to pop back in and say, it's been a surreal day for college football halftime shows. Earlier some band was playing "Stairway to Heaven", and just now the band on TV was playing a Queen medley. Odd, but entertaining.

Peace and Joy

2006-12-25T07:08:00.000-08:00

From Our Family To Yours!

Holiday Fun

2006-12-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

First of all I have to show you the goodies Beth
sent me for trying to guess the purpose of a mystery object in her shop. 3 skeins of a beautiful red-orange Koigu KPM, and 1 of a soft yellow. There were 2 packets of gourmet hot chocolate, but one mysteriously disappeared before I could photograph it. MMM. And a seriously cute tin of apple mints. I wasn't expecting such a generous package. Thank you so much Beth!

Secondly. Have I mentioned I'm a cookie maniac? Not so much the eating of, but the making of. These are chocolate, hazelnut, ginger biscotti with white chocolate drizzle. Come over and have a cuppa with me, and I'll share.

I finally got our wreath made. I used the trimmings from our tree that have been sitting in a bucket of water for a week, and loads of nandina berries.

Finally, I've been working on another Fibonacci afghan with the acrylic. Instead of repeating the pattern, I'm doing an in and out thing. In case you aren't familiar with the sequence, it's just using numbers that are the sums of the previous 2 numbers:

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13. That's the series I used on the first one.

On this one instead of going back to 1 after 13, I just used 1-5. When I got to the color using 5 rows, instead of going back to 1, I went in reverse:

1,1,2,3,5,3,2,1,1...

Also, instead of repeating the colors regularly, I go through the sequence above, and then change the order of the colors. It's the only way I could do this and not run out of colors too quickly. I don't know if this makes sense, but I'm running after little boys and trying to clean my kitchen, etc. Believe it or not, I mixed up MORE cookie dough today. It's the ginger cookie recipe I mentioned in an earlier post. I think we'll make ginger bread men and have some friends over tomorrow to decorate them.

Cookies and Stripes

2006-12-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

I'm into cookie mode. I made about 6 dozen sugar cookies last night. This is how my kitchen looked at about 11 pm:

Here's a closer view of some of my favorites:

As for yarn related content: I've been trying to make my piles of crappy acrylic into something useful, if not beautiful. Several of the large skeins of it I had, were given to me by well meaning people. There was no real way to put these colors together harmoniously. I decided to use the Fibonacci sequence for the stripes and see if the natural order of those might bring the colors together somehow. Here's how far I've gotten:

I'll wait a moment while your eyes recover.

*

*

*

Better yet?

I would have it finished by now, except I ran out of the really radical 80's teal. Not really ran out, I guess, but I don't think there is enough left to make 8 rows. I will not compromise on this pattern, so I've gone in search of teal acrylic yarn. And you know what? I can't find the stuff anywhere. I've been to 2 stores (big box type) and NONE. This stuff used to be everywhere. Once again, I hate buying the yarn I'm actually trying to bust. Here's the innocent little ball mocking me.

Ginger Cookies & A KAL

2006-12-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Every year at about this time, I go crazy making cookies. On my list are sugar cookies, butter balls (aka cocoons), biscotti, and a ginger cookie. Usually the gingers are disappointing. Either the flavor or the texture (or both) are off. But I'm determined. I've been trying various recipes for years and I think I've finally found a ginger cookie recipe I like. I didn't ice them with the juniper glaze, but the cookies themselves are light and crisp. The dough is easy to roll out after it's been chilled, then sits for a couple of minutes on the counter. The only thing I would change is I'd add more spice next time. Also, I'm rolling them out pretty thin, so I bake them for 9 or 10 minutes.

I've joined a knitalong with Susan , Amanda, and several other knitters. It's for the Enid Cardigan in the winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'd display the really cute button, but, I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to do that. I know it's something easy, but, as you can see on my sidebar, there are NO buttons. If anyone would like to give me directions, I'm a willing pupil. Shoot, I'll display your button! Anyway, I've never done a KAL and I'm really excited. I should be starting on it around the first of the year.

(EDIT) As you can see, there are now buttons on my sidebar. Many thanks to Kate (A Strikke) who has a great tutorial for just this kind of thing on her blog, and to Beth (3 Sheeps) who guided me to her.

Other than that, I've just been wrapping up the semester and doing Christmas stuff. Tomorrow, I give my final exam for Art Appreciation, and receive my Design portfolios. Then it's grade, grade, grade, turn in grades, and I'm free! Free to wrap presents, send out Christmas cards, make cookies, decorate....Is there anything I'm leaving out? I'm sure there is.

Super Wonderful Day

2006-12-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've been having a really great day. Why? Well, yesterday was the last day of regular classes. My students and I are all grateful for that. I got an early start this morning and went into the office to grade papers and finish up some leftover business. I was ready for a break around 11:30 and DH called to ask me to lunch.

We went downtown to the healthfood store where they have just started serving lunch. All they have right now is organic salads, but it was great. Just what I needed. After we were done eating, we shopped a little and here's what I bought:

They had these sesame sticks on the salad bar and they were so yummy, I had to buy some. The candied ginger is for some Christmas biscotti I'm going to make next week for gifting. And the other 3 bags are my sachet popurri makings. One bag contains rose petals, one contains lavender, and the other is flax seed. The girl at the store suggested that for filler. What a great idea. I hadn't thought of filler. But it's smooth and small and gives the bags a little weight, not to mention, it makes the smell good stuff go farther. I'm thinking these would make good teachers' presents. Here's a picture of 2 of the filled bags. I have 3 more to fill, but the liners aren't sewn up yet.

I couldn't show you the bar of organic dark chocolate with candied ginger in it, cuz DH & I ate it while we browsed the used book store across the street. There's nothing like a good salad and a bar of chocolate to make your afternoon a breeze.

When I got home, one of my colleagues sent me this in an email. It's an animated drawing of a female figure. It's really cool. Check it out.

Another good thing. I won some fantastic Koigu from Beth during her celebration of the opening of her spinning store. She sent me a message today that she's ready to ship. I'm super excited about it and very grateful.

Yes, yes, I know. I'm very lucky and quite spoiled.

Venting

2006-12-01T09:09:00.000-08:00

2 hour drive in the dark in the pouring rain.

Medical emergency in my class. Had to cancel test.

End of the semester madness (both mine and my students).

Plagiarizer denying the obvious. (And I mean OBVIOUS).

Can I cuss yet?

It Seemed Like a Good Idea...

2006-11-28T12:27:00.000-08:00

I had all this acrylic yarn sitting around not getting any action. I was in a mood to purge and it's about to get chilly in this drafty old house. Besides, I'm between projects and I want to destash. I decided to use up all my leftover yarn and make afghans. Mindless repetitive crochet.

My idea was to put all my scrap yarn in a bag and randomly use whatever I pulled out, regardless of color, weight or texture. Do you know how hard it is to completely random? It's virtually impossible. First, I realized there wasn't enough textured yarn to balance out the smooth yarn. I'd have a few textured patches and the rest would be smooth. Then, after going through everything, I realized I had enough yarn for 3, maybe 4 afghans. So I decided to start with what I had the most of: varigated purple (don't ask) and tan worsted weight held together. I used a size N or Q. I don't know. It's a huge, plastic hook with no markings on it.

I got about 2/3 the way done with it when I saw that there wasn't enough yarn to finish it, so I had to buy 1 more skein of tan and 2 more skeins of purple. Don't you hate it when you go to destash, and you actually have to buy more yarn? Anyway, it's almost finished. I should use up my yarn tonight and then it's done. Maybe I'll put a fringe on it. Whatever.

Then I put all my scrap Lion's Brand together, and boy, what a mishmash. There was everything from Microspun (I hate that stuff) to Chunky Chenille. This was my chance to make a true scrap afghan, in the vein of the wonderful crazy quilts of the 19th century. Each of these yarns was used to make something for either my kids or someonelse's. OK, there are a couple of Christmas scarves in there, too.

What a wonderful reminder of my kids' baby days, and old friends. And what a great chance to practice randomness. Well, not exactly random. After all, I did group them together as being the odd yarns. Then I thought, There is too much difference in the weights of some of these yarns, so I'll group them by weight and double strand the thinner yarns. I was going to try to be random with the colors, but the first time something really awful happened colorwise, I couldn't take it. Yes, I chickened out on total chance of colors. I ripped back and put something less offensive together. You can't really tell though, huh? I mean it looks pretty random, doesn't it? I call it my Crappy Scrappy Afghan. The kids love it, and argue about who gets to snuggle up in it. I'm just glad all that yarn is now in neat little rows that I can fold up and put away. I don't know why I care, that yarn wasn't hurting anyone, sitting in its basket, but I had to control it and make it into something, anything, even this:

I wish I had a better picture, but the camera battery gave out just as I was snapping the photo, and I don't have the recharger. But, you can see it, right? Something only a 4 or 6 year old could love? Actually, my husband likes it, too.

Now, all I have to do is use up my garish colors: oranges, blues, yellows, reds, greens, black and white. That one will definitedly be for the boys. And then my more subdued colors. I really want to use up all this stuff before 2007. Why am I so compelled to do this? Probably thinking about the new year, and a fresh start. Making room for the new stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

Dinner's over, the dishes are washed and the carcass is boiling. What a day. Actually I've been at it for the past 2 days and I'm beat. I thought I'd sit down with a cup of tea and unwind with a post. The turkey went in at 7:30 this morning and I was pretty busy from there on getting things ready. Every thing turned out great. My mom and dad got here around 12:00 and we ate around 2:00. The turkey turned out beautifully, but the pictures of it aren't so great, so I thought I'd show you some nice close ups of the other things on the menu.

My Poppyseed Rolls. They are 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white. I tried to make things as healthy as possible without sacrificing decadence. There's an awful lot of butter involved:

Here are the Brussels Sprouts before I cooked them. I've got an after pic, but the colors weren't as vibrant:

Mom's Cranberry Salad. Kinda looks like Borscht, doesn't it? Nice color here too:

Also, I thought I'd show a couple of pics of the lace bags I've been making in progress. Here are two different patterns blocking:

They are both make out of the same color Sinfonia, but the top one is dry and the bottom one is still wet. I learned 2 things doing this. One: Use quilt needles rather than short sewing needles. Really helps. Two: I need a blocking board. Can you see how crooked my edges are? Santa, can you hear me?

Shopping Frenzy

2006-11-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

From here on out, it's nothing but the holidays, my friends. This morning DH & I attended a Thanksgiving program at #1's school. He had 2 speaking parts, and used a microphone. No faltering, clear, strong voice, he delivered his lines like a pro. They all did really. The program went longer than I expected and then DH wanted to have an early lunch and I caved. I didn't get back home till 1 in the afternoon.

I rechecked my final Thanksgiving grocery list, and went shopping. First I tried Walmart, but it was too crazy. In this small town there aren't many options for grocery shopping, so the Walmart gets insane on big shopping days. Besides, they didn't have any Brussels sprouts. I went elsewhere. My other 2 options were a shop and bag-it-yourself place, a rather long drive, and the pricey boutique grocery store. Being the frugal gal that I am, I opted for the longer drive and found everything but whole allspice. Hmm. The pricey boutique store it was. They had the allspice and I was just ready to pick up the boys, when I realized, you can't have Thanksgiving without some kickass wine. So I pulled into the wine store and got some Charles Krug Merlot, and some Erath Pinot Gris. The Erath has a screw top, but is really good. I have a wine friend who told me that natural cork isn't as plentiful as it used to be so they are turning to fake corks and screw tops.

ANYWAY. Then I ran to get the boys and now I'm home. Shortly I will begin to prepare the ultimate feast. It is really an orchestration, but when it all comes together, how satisfying. On the menu:

Cider Brined Turkey (20 pounds for 4 adults. I just really wanted to make sure there were leftovers this year) with Gravy
Southern Cornbread Dressing
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Bacon
Not So Sweet Potato Casserole (no marshmallows here)
Home Made Poppyseed Rolls
I hesitate to say that there will be canned cranberry sauce on my table. What can I say, DH must have his jellified-crimson-can-shaped-log every year.
My mom is bringing her famous Cranberry Salad, so that is a little redeeming.
For dessert, there will be home made Apple and Pumpkin Pies.
To drink: wine, iced tea (sweet, we're in the South you know), sparkling cider, and coffee.

Sound like enough for 4 adults (one of whom weighs less than 95 pounds and eats like a little bird, hint, not me) and 2 boys under the age of 7? I tend to overdo it when it comes to cooking. Just wait until you see what I do for Christmas cookies.

Now, as for yarn related things, I've made 4 sachet bags out of my Sinfonia and still have 1 skein of it left. I'll probably just use it up on some more little bags. They'll make nice gifts for teachers and other deserving people. Last night I started a ripple afghan using 2 strands of worsted acrylic held together. Nothing fancy, but I'm just in the mood to get rid of the stuff that has been laying around for a while. I'm using an "N" crochet hook, and it's going pretty fast.

Sorry, no pictures of ANYTHING. I don't have the camera and have been running around like the proverbial chicken. I intend to show some pics a little later in the week. If I don't see you before the day, then have a great Thanksgiving. Remember to be thankful for everything you have.

They're done!

2006-11-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

The last pair of Christmas socks has been finished. I can't believe it. WHOOHOO! That's one less thing to worry about. They are from top left: Snowflake Socks in Opal Uni, Cornflower; Manly Socks in Lorna's Laces Cedar; Manly Socks in Cherry Tree Hill Java. Bottom Row: Girl's Cable Socks from Bear Brand Socks in Opal Uni (I forgot the color), and another pair of the same, in the same yarn, color forgotten. There's one more pair I didn't show, the Manly's for DH, using Fleece Artist Merino. They're finished, but not blocked. DH couldn't wait for that. You can double click the picture to see the details better if you'd like.

Now what? I bought the Knitter's Bible, by Claire Crompton, and it has lots of little projects in it. I started a lace sachet bag last night using some sage colored Sinfonia I had in my stash. I figure I'll bust a little stash for a while and learn some new stitches and techniques.

I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a weird week and I'm ready for a break. We're having Thanksgiving here and I have no idea who's coming. If it's just us, so much the better. More dressing for me.

Ya'll have a great weekend!

Rainy Tuesday Doings

2006-11-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

I woke up feeling completely awful this morning. I didn't sleep well, and woke up nauseated and with an achy head. Felt a lot like a hangover, but without the alcohol. I think it is a mild migraine. Anyway, I decided not to paint. Instead #2 & I went by McD's and got sausage biscuits before I dropped him off at preschool. After that I ran errands and bought a new container for my stash. I put the natural stuff in the new container and the synthetics are safely hidden away.

I still have a lot of acrylic yarn. I hate to waste anything, so I'd like to use it up. I could make a crazy afghan or make blocks to practice stitches. I could make granny squares till the cows come home. Maybe I could make a crazy ripple afghan and just randomly put the colors together. I've already got a sampler afghan in the works, but the pattern has so many mistakes in it, and I keep loosing my corrections page...something tells me to let that one go.

Another thing sorting through my stash made me realize is how far I've come as a knitter in the past year. I taught myself to knit about 8 years ago and I worked in isolation until last year when I ventured into cyberspace. I joined a couple of online groups and started to learn about blogs. Through these media I learned so much about knitting, crochet, materials and other resources. I guess the acrylic represents the before internet knitting and the alpaca, merino, silk, etc represent the after internet knitting. I'm grateful to the friends who've helped me on the net. One of these days I hope to get some folks around here brave enough to try some yarnwork (I crochet and knit, I could teach them either). I've offered to teach several people, and they express interest, but nothing has come of it yet.

Anyway, my friends, thank you all for being such great blog pals and for coming around here every now and then. I don't have any knitting or painting pictures for you, but I hate to leave a post without a pic, so I'll show you the results of my creative endeavors from yesterday afternoon. Here's a preview of our holiday card. #1 is Mr. Blue-eyes, and #2 is Mr. Brown-eyes:

Mespeak

2006-11-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

I stole this from Beth.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The West
The Inland North
The Northeast
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Maybe my Southern drawl isn't as bad as I thought...

This one's all about painting.

2006-11-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I'm writing for you, but sometimes, like today, I just need to kick myself in the pants and tell myself off. So, pardon me, but here goes.

I know what I want to paint. I have an idea about how I want it to look. But it's like there's a glass wall between me and what I want to do. It seems easy to smash it, just throw a brick, but then you have all the broken pieces to pick up, and they're sharp! I guess we're all a little nervous about breaking glass.

My problem is I can make things look pretty much how I perceive them. I can paint tightly and realistically. I have been wanting to get away from that for a long time, but I hold myself back. There is a kind of abandon one must reach in order to just let it all come out. I'm reluctant to let go like that. Why is the image so precious?

Why not hold on to realism? Why not do what seems to naturally come to me? Because, especially in this instance, a sharply focused realistic image doesn't say what I want to say. I want to say something about the freedom and joy of being a child in the summertime. I want to show movement and delight. And not in a saccharine way.

So here's today's work. First I started another watercolor. I intended to work wet on wet, let the colors bleed and let the forms dissolve into one another. I started off pretty well, but a little timid (a little?!!) with the color saturation.

Then lunchtime came around, and so did DH. He wanted to go scout new vehicles, and because I'm the intended recipient, it wouldn't do for me to say, "Lovely, dear. You go do that and I'll stay here and paint." So I went along. We spent an hour looking at mommy mobiles, and then I came home. I went back to the painting, and was feeling a little impatient, and once again I gravitated back to the tighter image.

Now I'm not saying I didn't achieve anything today. Nor am I saying that today's work isn't salvageable. I'm just irritated with myself. I guess that irritation can be productive if I channel it properly. Working it out in watercolor and pushing myself with a quick and relatively inexpensive medium is better than wasting a lot of time and expensive materials using oils. Also, maybe when I go to do this in oils, I will feel relieved of a heavy weight and will let my arm go. Did I mention water color is HARD?

Some Days the Bear Will Eat You...

2006-11-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

Watercolor is HARD! I mean to relax and just let the medium flow...I want to control it and tell it where to go. I worked on the first watercolor and started another. I promised myself I'd loosen up for the second one, but it still is too tight. Next time I'm going to start with wetting the entire sheet of paper, and letting the colors bleed together. I think I want to use more arbitrary color as well. One good thing I did was make the figures larger on the second one.

I know these pictures aren't very good, but you can see that the first one just got tight, and the second one is looser, but kind of crappy.

I finished the first of the Manly socks for my dad. It's a pretty simple pattern, so I just flew through it. Here's where I was with it yesterday afternoon.

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill in Java and I just love the colors. Here's a closeup:

The problem is there is supposed to be enough yarn in one hank of this stuff to make a pair of socks, but the 1st sock used up a little more than 2 oz. of the 4 oz. ball. I weighed the remaining yarn before the sock was finished, and there was just a little over 2 oz. left. Now there's just a little under 2 oz. I ordered another hank of the Cherry Tree Hill, but I know it's going to be a little different.

The same thing happened with my husband's Manly's, except, I had almost finished the second sock before I realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn. I ordered another hank of yarn for him (Fleece Artist Merino in Ebony) and it arrived a couple of days ago. The color is slightly different, but it's OK for the toe.

Should I go ahead and start the second sock for my dad, and finish up the toe when the 2nd ball of CTH Java gets here, or should I wait and knit the entire sock out of a single hank? I'll probably go ahead and start it. I think having one toe different and having to weave in a few more ends is better than having the entire sock be slightly different.

Getting it Done

2006-11-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today has been very productive. I finished the Snowflake socks for my mom. All I had to do this morning was graft the toe and weave in the loose ends. Then they were done. The pattern doesn't show up very well in the picture, nor on the sock. I'm hoping that after some blocking, the snowflake motif will be more apparent. I'm going to wash and block them and then I can put them with my other Christmas socks. Now all I have to do is get Dad's Manly socks made. I'll start them tonight while I watch Grey's Anatomy.

I spent a good part of the day in the studio. I painted on the last figure. It's staying pretty open, but looks a little muddy. I discovered my brushes were really too mucked up to function well, so I spent an hour washing them. They have to sit for a couple of days to let the water evaporate before I can use them with oil again. But they're clean. They'll work much better next time I go to paint.

Being unable to work with oil due to watery brushes, I decided to do some watercolor. I have all that great Arches paper that I've been too nervous to ruin. I got brave and started a compositional study. I have to say that paper is a dream to work with. It's heavy and has a nice tooth. It takes the paint beautifully. It's been a long time since I've really used watercolor and it took me about an hour to remember how to apply it. The study is kind of tight, and unfinished. I'll work some more on it over the weekend. When it's done, I'll probably do another one, and hopefully start it better and keep it more open. I can see the possibilities of that paper, and I want to use it to its fullest potential.

And to top it off, I mixed up my Christmas cookie dough this afternoon. I make sugar cookies for the teachers, the kids at school and friends. Making them is fun, but a little stressful because of exams and the holdiays. I promised myself this summer while I was sick I was going to avoid stress this year, so I planned to mix the dough in advance and freeze it. It'll be ready for rolling, cutting, baking and decorating whenever I feel like it.

WooHoo for getting it done. I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself just now.

Socks Saga and Fall Festival

2006-10-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

By now I expected to have a finished pair of Snowflake socks, and a pair of Manly socks on the needles. And I would have too, except for a small sock tragedy. Here's the story. About a week ago, I was down to forming the toe on the 2nd Snowflake. I decided to try them on, as Mom's feet are about the same size as mine. I know you think the next thing I'm going to say is the damn thing was too small and I had to start all over. No. It fit beautifully. I was so impressed with myself until I saw a gaping hole about 1 inch above the heel. I must have dropped a stitch. I tried to pick it up, but I just couldn't cope with the lace. I frogged it to beyond the hole, and then realized I didn't know what row it was on. Then I figured, every other row was a knit row, if I could just frog to a knit row, then I could figure out where I was. I tried that, and I couldn't figure out what stitches to pick up. In the end I frogged the entire sock. I was that close! I rolled the yarn up into a neat ball and didn't look at it for almost a week. I started back on it a couple of days ago, and I'm to the heel flap. I'm thinking I could finish it in a couple of days if I don't screw up again.

In other news, I've been swamped. I've been making handmade watercolor cards for 3 packages I need to mail. Thank you's and an exchange. I'm way behind on the exchange, but it's finished and just needs a cushy package. I haven't done any real studio work. I've had soccer games, building dedications, Halloween parties and Fall Festivals (what happened to Halloween Carnivals? Are they too EVIL?) I baked a mean Lemon Ginger Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting for the Festival Cake Walk. It was gone by the time we got there, so I don't know who got it. I hope they like it. I brushed some Lemoncello over the cake before I frosted it, so I hope they don't object to a little kick.

And about that Fall Festival. We have (had) no pets. DH is completely against having another creature being solely dependent upon us for its well being. What did they have at the festival? Win a Goldfish by throwing something into something else. Both #1 & #2 won a little fishy. At first DH (let's call him Scrooge) told them to take the fish back and exchange them for candy, but I feeling all warm and motherly, said "Let's keep the fish. How hard can it be?" On they way home as the little ones clutched their little plastic baggies in ecstasy, I realized we had nothing to put them in and nothing to feed them. So I dropped off all my guys and headed to WalMart at 8:00 pm on Friday night. It was packed. I never go to WM at nighttime and was surprised at how many people do their shopping in the dark. Anyway. I bought a little bowl and some food and a cute plastic plant. We gave the fish their new home and put the boys to bed. I decided if we were going to keep these fish, I'd better find out what they need to live, so I looked them up on the internet. Turns out goldfish are very dirty fish and poop almost instantly after eating. They need at least 5-10 gallons per fish. Sheesh!

Next day, after 4 soccer games and a Mexican lunch, we headed to Petsmart. Bought a 10 gallon tank and natural pebbles (the fish dude said the colorful UNnatural ones could cut their little mouths). He also recommended live plants for oxygen and a "cleaner" fish, a dogo loach, to eat up the excess goldfish poop. We passed on the plants and the other fish because we had other errands, and apparently they would turn into fish stew if we left them in the car. So yesterday, I went back to Petsmart, bought the cleaner fish and the plants and put them in the tank. It turns out Dojos like a place to hide, so now I'm considering buying him his own sunken ship or treasure chest. You know, so he'll feel at home. So for 2 fifty cent games, we have made an approximately $100 investment. Those fish better live!

Sienna with Buttons and Other Stuff

2006-10-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

A cold front passed through last night, and it was chilly this morning. Perfect for wearing my brand new sweater. As promised, here are a couple of pictures. My faithful photographer Mac did the honors, but he doesn't really understand color, so the first one shows Sienna looking a little too orange.

Here's a closeup to show the buttons. I got them at Hancock's (no time for treasure hunting at flea markets right now). They are brass with brown glass eyes. They are kind of heavy, so on the wrong side, I sewed in thin, flat shell buttons, to reinforce them.

It's fall break at the university, so I did get some work done in the studio today. Here's the ugly thing that was driving me crazy. This is how I left it on Tuesday:

I worked on it today, and even though I'm not really satisfied, I guess you could say it's finished. The best thing about this painting is it led to the next one.

Here's the next one. Obviously not finished. Because I'm not going to paint again until next Tuesday, I wanted to use up the paint on my palette. Also, I wanted to redeem myself from the previous painting. Much looser. This is how I want to begin the final painting with all the kids in the composition. I really like the drips, but I always paint them out. I'm going to try to make myself keep them in and let this be a juicy painting.

Friends, I wish you had been here last night. Once again we watched Live Aid with some friends (this time at THEIR request, and no one really got drunk). I cooked Country Captain, a sort of southern version of chicken curry, in the crockpot, and made homemade brownies. MMM. This time I paid attention to some other bands besides Queen (the best though). The Who did a great job, especially on "Won't Get Fooled Again", and Elton John was really entertaining. Not that I'm a George Michael fan, but he covered "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me", and delivered a great performance. In case you're wondering how I can watch that concert over and over, the entire thing is 16 hours long, and I haven't seen every performance in it.

I hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Frustration and Inspiration

2006-10-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I didn't post anything yesterday. I did work in my studio, but things didn't go as I planned. Or I didn't plan as I went, or something like that. Anyway, the studio time was frustrating, and the work reflected that, so I refrained from posting. I didn't get much time in last week, so I was anxious to get started. I didn't clean my palette, and tried to use old paint that had formed a skin on it. I didn't properly clean my brushes, I closed down too quickly...I was making rookie mistakes left and right, and flailing about. I kept at it for several hours, though, and mucked something out of it. I'm going back in tomorrow, hopefully with more direction and clarity.

I have been knitting. I've finished one of the Snowflake socks, and am working on the second. I hope to have the second done by Saturday or Sunday. Then I'll make my dad's Manly socks. After that, I'm getting into the Regia Silk Color and knitting up a simple pair for myself. I can't wait to put my toes into that.

I've added a new link to my sidebar under "Some Other Links" titled VvG's letters. In case you didn't know, Van Gogh was a voracious letter writer and most of what we know about him comes from his correspondence with his brother Theo. What's really cool, is you can access all his letters, unabridged, online. I've read them all several times (hard copy), and he is incredibly inspiring. I really like that if you are wanting to find a letter about a specific subject, you can just type in a keyword and any letters with that word in it will come up. I am an advocate for humanizing Vincent, and making people realize that he was incredibly intelligent and approached his work analytically as well as emotionally. The letters illustrate this better than I ever could, so I direct people to them as often as I can. He wrote about virtually EVERYTHING, so it's fun see what he had to say about just about anything.

I'm Lucky

2006-10-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

In the words of Joan Armatrading, "I can walk under ladders..."

I'm not sure exactly what's going on with me, but I have been so happy lately. This week has been particularly wonderful. When I went out of town to get my hair done, I visited an elderly friend I haven't seen in years. She is a wonderful, vibrant person, and she has meant a lot to me. She has over-collected glassware and insisted I take a piece home with me. I agreed and picked out this fruit bowl. Seeing her after all these years was sweet made me realize how precious life and friends are.

Several weeks ago I felt the need to reconnect with a dear friend from graduate school, so I sent her an email. Today when we got home from soccer games, there was a package in the mail. I don't have a secret pal, but it was the type of package I imagine I'd receive from one if I did. Anyway, my dear, sweet friend, a much better person than I, replied through the US mail, and sent me a lovely handwritten card, with two skeins of Regia Silk Color Sock Yarn. Turns out she's been knitting too, and she sent me a happy. How sweet is that?

To top it off, after soccer today, I was spent. I think I'm becoming hypothyroid again. I told DH, I was so tired and I had to lay down. He didn't complain, and kept the kids away while I took a 2 hour nap. That's a great gift, right? Nothing more needed there. When I got up, he said he needed to run to the store to get some vitamins for the kids. I said, run, my dear. When he got home, he brought me these. For no reason. What a guy. How'd I get so lucky? I'm blessed.

Snowflake 2 and a Different Kind of Art

2006-10-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

I decided that the Cherry Tree Hill yarn and the #2 needles weren't working out for the Snowflake sock. It was knitting up way to big. I switched to Opal Uni and #1's and here's how it looks. Once again, DH has the camera so I'm relying on Mac as my photographer:

And usually on Tuesdays I post something arty for you, but yesterday I traded a day of making art for a day of receiving art. I drove 2 hours to get my hair cut by someone I consider a genius. He started doing my hair 26 years ago. I was 15 and he was 22. He made me glamorous and I let him experiment with new techniques. It was a hair match made in heaven. We have been friends through the years, and though usually someone in town does my hair, when I really need a boost, I go back to Ralph. I don't have to tell him what to do, I just tell him how I'm feeling & what I've been up to, and how I want to feel, and he does the rest. Yesterday I said I wanted something fresh & sexy that didn't deny the curliness of my hair. Here's what I ended up with:

Front view

Side view:

I took a pic of the back view, but the lighting was off. I'm really happy with the cut. It's so easy to fix and it makes me feel great. Also, Jason did the color, and it looks just like what my hair naturally should. So I'm feeling sassy and ready for anything. The anything I need to be ready for is midterm exams and portfolios. I will probably spend all day tomorrow and a good piece of the weekend grading. Back to art making next week!

My Sock History

2006-10-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Having joined Socktoberfest, I decided I must PARTICIPATE in Socktoberfest. At Lolly's suggestion, I'm going to share my brief sock history:

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I started knitting socks last spring when everyone in my household had strep throat and I couldn't do much else. I looked up several simple sock patterns on line and finally taught myself on a small "training sock."

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?

My first pair of socks were from Joan Fernbach's pattern using Paton's Classic Merino. They were intended for my husband, but they felted down to my size. I made myself a pair using the same yarn after I finished his pair. Here they are. Can you tell which pair is mine? They haven't been worn much, so other than felting, they are doing just fine

What would you have done differently?

I would have used yarn that does not shrink

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

I've used several yarns I love. Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock, Fleece Artist Merino, and Cherry Tree Hill are my favorites

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I knit my socks using DPN's. I prefer 4 DPN's, but am starting to get used to 5.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

I've only done the flap heel, so I guess that's what I prefer

How many pairs have you made?

I think it's about 8 pairs. I kind of went crazy knitting socks over the summer while I was sick. I've got 2 or 3 pairs to go before I'm satisfied I've done all my Christmas knitting.

Drudgery

2006-10-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get in any studio time today. I had a doctor appointment midmorning, and a bunch of errands to run, so I decided to devote my day to dull, but necessary stuff. I cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen, to the amazement of my husband. I've kind of let things slide around here since I've been in the studio. I worked on the Snowflake sock some, but I'm not sure about the yarn. It's Cherry Tree Hill in a color called Spring Frost. It appears to be a subtly variegated grayish color, but it knits up much brighter than I expected, and I think it's going to compete with the lace pattern too much.

I may frog it and restart with some bright blue Opal Uni I have. Can't really decide right now. The good thing is, the Snowflake pattern isn't that difficult. The pattern is rated advanced, but it doesn't seem as difficult as Branching Out. There are 12 rows with 4 sets of 13 stitch repeats. In other words, you do the same set of 13 stitches 4 times per row, with a 12 row pattern repeat. Not that hard.

Well, this has to be a short one. Have a great night everyone.

Sock, Block & Draw

2006-10-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday, Everyone. Today I decided to join Socktoberfest. I've been knitting socks anyway, and any kind of knitting event that compares itself to drinking beer, sounds like my kind of fun. I'm almost finished with my husband's pair of socks and I have 2 more pairs to go. I'm going to make my mom the snowflake socks on Magknits, and I'm going to make my dad a pair of the same pattern I've made for my father-in-law and my husband. The Bear Brand Book gives this sock the charming name No. 2222. I've decided to rename it The Manly Sock. It's plain, and comfortable, nothing fancy, just meat and potatoes. Something just about any guy would like.

Sienna is blocking. She turned out pretty well. The pieces sewed up beautifully! I don't know if the pattern is just great, or my skills have improved, but this sweater went off with out a single hitch. Here's how she looks now. I haven't found the buttons, yet, but when I do, I'll show a pic with me modeling, to show the fit.

Well, I didn't get my canvases gessoed, like I wanted, so I didn't have a surface to start a new oil on today. I put a coat of gesso on the canvases, and pulled out some beautiful Rives BFK (printing paper) I've had around for a few years, and pulled out my acrylics. I just wanted to do a value composition. Here's the result. It was fun to mess around with acrylics again. Honestly, the only thing I enjoy doing with acrylics is drawing on paper with them:

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

Some More Painting

2006-09-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

First I'd like to thank you for all the kind comments about my painting and my knitting. I love hearing what you have to say about my work. I would also like to say that as much as I enjoy positive feedback, I'm not fishing for compliments. I figured if I said I was going to work in my studio on a regular basis, and showed pictures to everyone, it would give me incentive to continue. I mean, what could be more embarrassing than proclaiming my intentions, then not following through?

I have been so motivated lately. It's been a long time since I've had a really good go at painting, and it feels great. I used to paint all day every day, for years. I went through 7 years of college and graduate school completely devoted to the pursuit of painting and drawing. As I've said before, life in the form of kids and an old house stalled me.

Anyway, this morning I stretched 2 canvases and put a coat of gesso on each. I'll give them a couple more coats over the next 2 days, and they will be ready for paint next week. After that, I mixed a bunch of color on my palette. I wanted to have the approximate colors I needed premixed, so I could just paint and not worry too much about mixing:

So I painted some and kept the little girl fairly open:

And this is what I ended up with. She's closed down some, but much more open and loose than the paintings I've been doing. As Susan said in the comments of the previous post, I DO want the gestural energy to carry through to the final painting. That's why I'm doing all these little studies. I'm trying to work the kinks out before I invest in my large canvas.

Well, I've got lots of ideas swimming around in my head. Both painting and knitting. I've finished one sleeve on the Sienna Cardi, and will start the other tonight. I'm enjoying that sweater as much as my painting. This afternoon I'm a soccer mom, so I guess I'd better go get the boys!

Sienna Cardi and Painting

2006-09-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've been working like a fiend on the Sienna Cardi. I've finished the back and the two front panels. I tacked them together last night to test the fit and the length seems fine. I can't tell yet about the circumference, but I'm sure once it's sewn together, and the button and button hole panels are knitted, it will be great. I'm thinking about going on a flea market treasure hunt for some appropriate antique buttons.

Here is a close up of the lace cable. It will look a lot better once it's blocked and the button and button hole panels are knitted. You can see the yarn is kind of fuzzy. I think that is the llama. This yarn sheds like crazy and is pretty loosely spun.

And it's Tuesday! That means studio time. I've been working on the same painting as before. It's shaping up. The colors are still pretty raw and there is not enough transition between colors and dark/lights. Also that leg on the right is super chunky. Here's a view in progress:

Here I've fixed the foot a little and cleaned up the background:

This one is tuned up a little more:

But here's what I'm really excited about. I've been unhappy with how tightly I've been painting and wanted to work from a mark oriented point of view. I've been thinking a lot about the painter Joan Mitchell (not the singer, who is a pretty good visual artist, but the Abstract Expressionist). She's never really been an artist I was interested in. I respected her, but wasn't really moved by her work. Wow! What a difference time makes! I've been looking at her paintings and am in complete awe. Anyway, after I had done all I could on the boy, I decided to use up the paint on my palette and be very direct. No outlines, no filling in. Here's the result. I know, it may look a mess, and it's obviously not finished, but it's really satisfying to me.

Painting, Knitting, & Running Around

2006-09-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

I got a lot done yesterday. I had to drop off #2 at pre-school first thing then run some errands, so I got a late start on painting. I tried really hard to keep the piece open, but I closed down a little too quickly. Also, the colors are raw, but the form seems pretty solid. Here are a few pictures to show how it went:

In the afternoon before I had to pick up the boys, I started the Sienna Sweater from the fall Interweave Knits. I'm using Elan's Peruvian Uros Aran. I made 3 swatches before settling on my Clover Bamboo #9 US. I knit last night while I was watching Grey's Anatomy, so I'm past the ribbing and into the stockingnette stitch. You can also see the 2nd in the pair of socks I'm making for the husband. Please excuse the Caron Simply Soft. I have to make a 6 x 6" square for an exchange, and I'm procrastinating due to gauge difficulties. The skein is there to shame me into working it out.

Speaking of procrastination, I'm giving a test at 10:00 a.m. this morning, and I haven't finished writing it yet, so I'd better get to that project.

Painted Study

2006-09-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hi guys. I've been working in my studio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've got an idea for a painting of my kids and their friends romping outside in the hose. I'm working from several photos. I have always been taught that is sacrilege, but hey, if it's good enough for Degas, Matisse, and Fischl, then it's good enough for me. Hell, even Vermeer probably used a camera obscura. I figure, use the tools you have to the best of your ability. I've done 2 painted studies so far. It's been a while since I painted so they are quite stiff and too literal. I'm not showing pictures of those today.

I painted on one of the stiff compositions until about 1:30, and realized I had only 1 hour before I had to start retrieving boys from schools, and I wasn't very happy with what I had done. I had several primed canvases, and I decided to start another quickly and try to be loose. I already had paint on my palette, so I picked up a canvas and did a quick gesture with just oil and mineral spirits. That felt good, so I took a picture:

Then I thought, it would be cool to take sequential pictures of the development of the canvas. Cool that is if I can get my hands on the camera regularly. So I only had about a half and hour to continue. I took a couple more shots. Here's one with some color and the composition laid out a little more:

And this one is just a little farther along than the previous one:

This study is one of at least 5 of the kids individually. I plan to make a couple of compositional studies with all the kids, and to paint at least one large scale finished painting. My goal is to move towards more abstracted imagery using the essential forms in the photograph. Want to watch?

Pirate What?

2006-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of blogs I read are saying today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I don't know anything about it, but I'm game. For a really funny pirate joke, check out Susan's blog Hyperactive Hands.

ARG! Yohoho!
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