Thursday, September 30, 2010

Yesterday's Mail


 I got home last night, sat down and began the mail opening ritual. I was stoked to get this....



 ....and burst out laughing to find this!


Welcome to my 50th year!

AARP should be arriving any day now.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Could Someone Slam On The Brakes?

Everyone knows my favorite month is October and my favorite season is fall. Isn't it amazing they occur at the same time? I'm sure it was part of the Master Plan.
We have a slight problem this season. Fall is occurring NOW. Four weeks ahead of time. Folks plan their vacations around leaf season in New England and this year it's all messed up. By the time the normal peak week gets here we'll have bare trees. Mother Nature is going to cause an economical glitch. Halloween is going to be pumpkin-less. They were ready two weeks ago. Seriously, Someone needs to hit the brakes.

Projects

I have a number of projects going which is quite unusual. There's the Simple Shawl. (I'm on the border, six chart rows to go!), the striped cotton sweater from all the leftovers, and the alpaca fingering weight (feels more like lace weight, but whatever) that I'm picturing with pleats somewhere down the road. The bulky Eco wool is on standby because I need the needles from the shawl project. Six more chart rows! I toyed with the idea of putting the shawl on standby but with so little left to do.....
Oh well, it is what it is. The leaves will color and fall when they want. The projects will get done. We will all carry on.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Harumph!

Clog update.

My disposal does not care for the following: peelings of squash, potatoes,  and carrots.  Onions, cabbage, bananas are not on its diet either.
So why do I have this machine?

"It wasn't me, I'm not allowed on the shelf. Not that it stops me."

Monday, September 20, 2010

Well That Was Short

I ran out of weekend.
I ordered the lenses. I attended the soapbox derby. Fell a little short on the rest of the list. Oh well, the forsythia's not going anywhere and neither are the stairs.
I did have an unscheduled plumbing problem that has not been resolved. My kitchen sink is clogged. I'm doing dishes in the tub. It's just not right. I'm hoping Mr. Plumber will stop by today to make things right.
I knitted and watched a painful Patriot's game.





Does this look dark olive green to you? No. You'll have to use your imagination.


The no-hole double increase. Nice to know after knitting all these years I can still learn new tricks.





Sunday, before the pitiful football game, I spent the afternoon attending our very first annual Soapbox Derby. Very successful!




Piggy was one of two crashes. Took a bale of hay to the snout and broke the back wheel. Better luck next year! There were good eats and a great turn out. Many of the "kids" participating were well over 30.  Looking forward to the 2nd annual event.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Moving On

It's finally the end of the week! Seemed long didn't it? Time to put together the weekend list. A trip to the ophthalmologist to have a new set of lenses installed; attend soapbox derby conveniently taking place in my neighborhood; introduce my new reciprocating saw to the unwieldy forsythia;scrape, sand and paint the front steps and work in a couple Colin Firth movies for knitting time. Sounds like a plan.
Now, moving on, we have finished projects and unexpected stash finds....
Buttah, the Knits Like A Dream sweater. I've worn this a few times already. The temps have been in the 70's and damp-ish, perfect. Easily went from the office to a pair of jeans.
Purple People Eater. Okay, not as wide a  boat but off the mannequin or human life form it still looks ginormous. Optical illusion.
Detail
I know I said I was going to the stash to find a worsted wool to cable and twist but, I became distracted and giddy all at once when I found this bag of Eco wool. I forgot about it. It's next on the radar.
In another stash drawer was a bag of Valley Yarns Goshen in Dark Olive. Quelle surprise! Feels a little different than the other two. I don't know why it feels different but it looks quite nice so far. I've learned my lesson. Raglan. More on this later.
Andrew says, "When are you going back to spinning? I haven't had anything decent to play with for months!"

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

70 Degrees

Me weather.

Leaves are turning. (a little early)

Pumpkins are ready. (very early)

Days are shorter.

Nights are cooler.

*sigh*

The cotton "monster" project is ready for the soaking tub. I still love the yarn though it would be hard to tell after all that fussing yesterday. I may have exaggerated just a bit on the perceived width change but the measuring tape does confirm a gauge "swatch vs. actual object" difference. Well, as I said yesterday, if a raglan style works and drop shoulder doesn't, stop creating drop shoulder designs. We all could use a little less whining in the world. And I must edit something I wrote earlier. I called the color mulberry. Actually, it's Purple Haze. What they call mulberry I call fuchsia. Potayyto, potauuuto.

If this lovely "me weather" holds out I think I will continue with my cable mode and hit the wool stash. I collected some great heather colors from the Cascade 220 line during WEBS anniversary sale. The tough decision will be which one for this project.
Another project in the works (it's marinating in a back section of my brain) is a mosaic knitting creation. I picked up Barbara Walker's book on mosaic knitting and though I'm very comfortable doing stranded knitting this looks like a lot of fun.
I'm going to take a walk to the library and enjoy the rest of my day. Wish you all the same.

Monday, September 13, 2010

>:-(

Knitting with cotton. It's making me cranky. I want to knit with cotton so I can throw on a sweater without having to layer it over a turtleneck. The gauge is so inconsistent I'm going to go mad. *Deep Breath*

The simple cotton raglan turtleneck came out great. Need the cooler weather to wear it. (Also need to post a picture.)

The second, more daring project is a drop shoulder tunic with cables and stuff. After finding additional matching dyelot skeins 2 weeks after purchasing the original (always a miracle), I figured this was a good sign. But here's the problem: The bloody thing appears to be growing width wise before my eyes without me adding anything to the width. One armhole is longer than the other. Now that's hard to do knitting from the top down on circulars! Fact is, it's impossible! It has cables and seed stitch so if anything it should pull in not ooze out. Scrolling back in my archives I find this has happened EVERY TIME I DESIGN AND KNIT A DROP SHOULDER STYLE in cotton. What is that saying about the definition of insanity? Repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome?  I'm sticking a large note in my design book to remind me to stop the insane behaviour.
Oh well, at least multiple family members can wear it. All at once. You'll see.

We're still starving for rain. Lovely rain clouds stroll across the sky and leave us nothing. This can't be good.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Some Hurricane, Pft!

How sick is it to hope a hurricane hits just to get some rain? Sorry, and I wish no damage to anyone but Western MA is soooo dry the impatients are always wilted. If you've grown impatients you know they're hardy little buggers. The grass can crisp up and turn brown but those tough little flowers will carry on.

Last Friday we had the customary warnings for hurricane winds and rain. The talking heads positioned themselves and talked up the importance of leaving the coast and securing lawn furniture, lalalalalalala. I left work, stopped at the library, stocked up on additional dvds and headed home. I had done my usual Friday grocery shopping on Thursday cuz I hates to shop in the rain. (It has to do with my inability to hold an umbrella and steer a grocery cart successfully.) As Friday progressed the air became heavier and heavier with humidity. I was fine with this because the prize was going to be a weekend in the 70's--cool and cloudy. A cold front from Canada was going to smack Earl creating a potential Nor'easter which in New England terms can be nastier than a hurricane. The 8pm deadline for weather came and went. It got hotter, more uncomfortable. I gave up at 10 pm, flipped on the news to find out Earl had lost all his steam and would not be sharing the rain we so desperately need. Jerk.

In response to my disappointment I went to WEBS. I heard a rumor via the email they sent me that there would be free yarn. Let me repeat, free yarn. Being a typical New Englander I was sure there were rules attached. A "with your minimum purchase, dadadadada" but lo and behold, there was the table piled with bags of 100% wool yarn. The sign read "Grandpa's Garage" the text underneath scratched out and the word "FREE"  in place. The group of us that had gathered just looked at each other. I said, "okay, what's the rules?" The clerk replied, "no rules, take as much as you want." Huh! Now, you're thinking, "ugly yarn" and I have to reply, no, not really. I mean, it wasn't Malabrigo or Noro but it wasn't bad. I picked up a bag of tweedy looking  worsted. Mom picked up a coral bulky yarn. Nobody got pushy or piggy. It was very civilized, like knitters tend to be. If a psychologist was hanging around the sight must have been at the very least interesting. As we strolled around the rest of the store,  patrons would look in each others  baskets and exclaim, "Free yarn!" It was a little weird to be honest. What will I do with this free yarn? I'm going to be brave and attempt a felted project for the first time. If it comes out crappy-who cares! The yarn was free.

I designed and started a new knitting project with Valley Yarns Goshen in a pretty mulberry color. Then, as it progressed, it changed. (the design, not the color.) This is normal. The PROBLEM is I didn't purchase nearly enough yarn in one dye lot. What? You're shrugging your shoulders and thinking there is nothing new with that, Sandra does this all the time. Yeah, and I wish I'd stop! There's no way WEBS will have more of the same dye lot because I bought this bag weeks ago. We'll have to wait and see how I handle the dilemma. I really should discuss these things with myself more.

So, to wrap up, the hurricane was a flop, the flowers are still wilted, I got free yarn that was really free and I've once again changed my design in mid-knit. Stupid hurricane.