Random Nothingness

A week away from the daily stress was delightful. No phone calls, no whining. A definite improvement in the quality of life. But all good things must end and yes, it is a job. Something pretty scarce these days. 

I found it interesting during my week from daily toil to walk around the block and watch how it changed. Fungus wise. Here the before.

And the after. I never thought of them as blooms but that's really what they are. 

 I watched my lawn burn to a crisp. The up side? I haven't mowed it in a month.

The temps were roastie. Hotter than I prefer but no one has handed the controls over to me-yet.

Naps and knitting passed the time when it was too hot to be out.

And movies, lots of movies.
I miss my vacation very much.

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Never Too Old To Learn

I took a photography class with Gail Zucker this past weekend at Webs yarn store. I've been dabbling in photography all my life and this was a nice refresher course. If you have a chance to take the class with Gail I highly recommend it. Let's see if I learned anything....

Black Velvet Background

 Sucks up the light and makes your object pop!

 Side light. Textures. Depth.

 Use round shapes when looking down on your subjects because humans like it.

 Reflect light.

Play with photo enhancing software.  Picnik used here.
Now I need to gather my finished objects and start shooting!

Mellow Yellow-Ohmmmmm

Knitting with Valley Yarns "Goshen" is like knitting with buttah. It is the yoga of knitting. Once again, WEBS has found a way to part my money from me.

 

After this plain project I'm going to acquire more to put it to task.

Mom got into the act by finishing up a pair of socks. She's improving as she didn't have to stop at the heel and ask, "how do I do this?" Still has a mental block on the Turkish cast on but there are days I have the same problem even after doing the same thing a bazillion times. Too much other fluff in the brain.

Not wanting to be left out, Andrew wanted his fame for the day. Quite frankly, this was not the end I was aiming to capture. He hasn't mastered the command, "sit still".

He of course went for the pile of cotton sweater in my lap with the intent of putting a pull in it and almost succeeded.
Cats.

I Am A Patriot

I love me a long weekend. Massachusetts has a few wonky holidays and this Monday was Patriots Day. It has nothing to do with the football team. The best known event of the holiday is the Boston Marathon. This Patriots day was picture perfect weathah-wise.

I dyed. I spun. Here's the proof.

My latest hank in it's undyed state. 143 yds of "Getting There". Still have that thick 'n' thin thing going but better than the blue hanks. How do I know it's 143 yds-ish? I made me own niddy noddy out of pvc pipe and T connectors. Not as elegant looking as a whittled wood one but did the job.

The dyed hanks are very different in color even though they were both in the same pot. Amazing. A 1/4 teaspoon of food dye gave me a lovely robins egg blue yarn.

They make me chuckle...so lumpy. The challenge will be what size needle to knit with. The un-dyed hank needs to be washed but I'm going to wait until I ply off the singles on the spindles as they will have the same look in unevenness texture. I'll try dyeing it all in a solid color yet to be determined. 

The sweaters in process, one wool, one cotton, both with steeks, are in two different phases. The wool cardigan has had the steek cut, button bands done and needs only a collar, blocking, buttons and finishing of the steek in that order. The cotton is ready for the steek to be cut (it was too late last night for steek cutting, if you know what I mean.) I'm thinking the bottom, button bands and neckline will all be one with mitered corners (it's a v-neck cardigan, forgot to mention that) at the button/hem edge. So what does this mean?

TIME TO GO TO WEBS!

I need buttons, roving and since they have their anniversary sale going I'm sure to find some morsel to bring home for the stash.

I do love a long weekend.

Look At The Cat

I've been knitting my fingers to nubs. My "darted" creation came to a crashing halt due to lack of raw materials. OOps. But, oh wait, since I'm designing it, the outcome will be exactly like its supposed to be. I just have to get myself to the LYS (because of course what I want isn't in the stash) to wrap this puppy up! Meanwhile......a chunk of the next project is underway. Did you know I don't have a charcoal grey cardi to go with my charcoal grey slacks? Well, gotta fix that! Thank you, so I will. And some pictures would be nice. In the mean time, look at the cat. He's probably upset because the window insert was put in the door replacing the screen insert he trashed. You can see the wheels spinning in his head. And the nose prints on the glass...

As Ready As I'll Ever Be

A view during the storm on 12/19.

Add a foot of snow to the top of the garage (and everywhere else!) and that's where we stand today. Figure in a wind chill at -5. Funny, Beau and Andrew haven't asked to go out on the porch.
The shopping is done. The schedule is set(unless the weather in un-cooperative). Patience-gone. Knitting is steady. Did I tell about the flamingo colored cardigan? Yes, I did. Still no picture. 'Magine that. All the jewelry present ideas...psbtbt! Maybe next year. Still trying to master some techniques. It's getting there just not to my satisfaction. Okay, I'm ready.

What Season Is This?

When ya gotta bloom, ya gotta bloom, regardless if you're a Christmas Cactus and it's not Christmas. This gang lives on the front porch all summer and the shock of outside to inside causes spontaneous blooming.

So be it!

I finished Gryffindor cardi and must do button shopping. I also need a method to remove rust marks from my white (of course, couldn't happen to a dark color) vest. I didn't notice the pins had gone bad when I blocked it. If anyone lurking knows of a sure fire removal system I'd appreciate the help.

I'm at a project stand still. Maybe a romp thru my stash will bring inspiration. Better yet, a romp thru WEBS.

There's Got To Be A Morning After...

I know, the last thing you want to read about is the election. Well, I'll just update the non-political stuff for you that occurred at Town Hall on election day.

Remember the Pie people? They sold pie outside. It was a gorgeeooouus day. Great for selling pie. They sold alot of pie.

The Bake sale in the downstairs hallway? Sold out. People get hungry standing in line and at 7am cookies are GOOD.

I counted 10 phone calls from people wondering if they were registered to vote. No planning ahead for THOSE people, no-sir-ee.

Did you know if you don't answer your street census you're listed as inactive on the voting registration list? Yup, doesn't mean you can't vote but you have to fill out paperwork proving you live in the town your voting in so save yourself the grief-don't argue with the election clerk and fill out the paperwork they hand you or answer your street census. Wasn't that easy?


Oddest/dumbest (my opinion) question of the day? "Where would I get a map of Greenfield?" (the question was asked in the town hall, which is not in Greenfield.) After staring at him with one eyebrow hitched up and wanting to say, "In Greenfield." I restrained myself from stating the obvious and responded, "Try the Assessors office. They're the only room with maps." Off he went. I'm sure he was very disappointed to find out they only have maps of our town.


Cutest moment: a small child was waiting in the voting line with his parents. He said he was very excited and hoping Barack Obama would be in the voting room when he got there. We all smiled. His parents tried to explain that they didn't think Mr. Obama would be there.

Honking for support. Does it reeaallly do anything for the cause? Is there a special count for "honk if you support...?" Where do they tally those honks? I've never seen a news broadcaster report an election that included: "So & So was trailing by 57% of the votes but s/he won by a landslide with 90% of the honks." No acceptance speeches have included the phrase, "We won this election by a honk!"




















Andrew says:
"Now with voting over, will they stop canceling NCIS and House?"