Now What To Do?

I have to say this is the busiest of falls. Brain busting-can't think straight-from work to home. There'll be a meltdown of some sort.

While I'm waiting for that I have completed my last cotton sweater for the season. I shouldn't say last. That's just setting myself up for smiting when I find some yummy cotton yarn I can't live without. Here we are in the unblocked state and knit as such. That's one skinny neck. My head does fit through. I guess that's all that matters. If it grows as expected after blocking, phffph, nothing to worry about. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

I don't want to make another sweater at this time. I think I'm going back to socks for a while.

"I could use some extra mittens. Here, measure."

Not Gonna Show You

I could show you my latest w.i.p. if I had remembered to pick my camera up from the coffee table and brought it with me. You'll just have to wait. I know, the anxiety is overwhelming.

As for Other-Things-I-Did-This-Weekend-You're-Just-Dying-To-Know, I went to FiberTwist where there were gobs and gobs of roving dyed and ready to go. If I knew how to spin I'm sure I would have had a hard time deciding what I wanted. Sigh, that class is in October. Boy, will I be ready NEXT year!

There was another large showing of the rug hooking people. Fascinating to watch. Nothing like the shag rug kit I did as a kid. By the way, it's still hanging in the cellar because that's the only place brown and orange 70's owl designs should be. Just sayin'.

Twist Collective was there and put on a fashion show. You can see the items on the site but first hand was better AND you got to touchy feely.

The place was packed and they couldn't have asked for a better day.

The rest of the weekend was downhill. Fall house cleaning, rain and the Red Sox lost. Too bad about the camera, I knit really, really fast while watching National Parks and became very agitated at how stupid we humans can be. I can't wait for the next installment. Beautiful. And its OURS.

Summer Ends Today

Last summer wedding of the season for the family took place this Saturday past. A bright, cloudless day on top of a mountain. 4 eagles glided high above, it was picture perfect.

Getting to be I'm wearing the finished project as I'm creatin' the next one. Getting to be you're seeing the same pattern over and over. Time for a change. Starting out plain vanilla but hitting the pattern books for inspirational finishes. Still working in Valley Yarns Longmeadow and allow me to forward another tip for those of you who swatch but don't wash/block that swatch: this yarn grows horizontally. What was 5.25 sts per inch after blocking becomes 4 sts per inch. BIG difference. Ribbing patterns saved me from creating sweaters two people could fit into with room to spare. I have adjusted for the new project. I better be right.

The maple outside of my office is just baarrrrely showing yellow leaves. No frost yet but the rosemary and the cayenne peppers are coming in from the garden for protection. For all the rain we had earlier this summer its been a nice finish. See ya next year summer.
"Wake me up for the next wedding. And knit a sock for that foot."

Minimal Edge

Had all the threads been woven and the sweater been blocked, I might have thrown this one on this morning. A deeeelightful 58 degrees and not expected to get any warmer.

Thoughts of the next project are dancing in my head.



"I can see the dancing in your head."

Public Announcement

Alert the media! The steek is cut!
"What? I missed it!"

Five Hours of Knitting

There are so many reasons why this is my favorite time of the year. Cooler temps. Football season. U.S. Open. Soups & Stews. Cats shed less. Did I mention it's cooler? And Sunday is the best day of the week. 'Specially this past Sunday. Football AND U.S. Open. Hours and hours of knitting. The occasional feeding interrupted progress but a black cotton pullover emerged from the balls of string. I wasted a perfectly sun-shiny day engrossed in that box with moving pictures. Funny, I don't feel a smidgen guilty.

Ever try to leash train a cat? It's doable, I've seen it. You're asking yourself, "why would I want to?" You may have a point but I like a challenge. Some people get in a fast car and go round and round a track for the heck of it. What does it accomplish other than the soul's need for speed? It's the challenge.
Though it doesn't look like much success is being made in this pic, this is routine. The boys love to roll on the front sidewalk. They will continue on command (most of the time) to continue the walk. Meme was very brave to take both of them at once. (I'm hoping I don't come home to find she's broken a hip as a result. One cat is over 14lbs. He's bigger than the dog next door. He can PULL. We're working on that.)

Back to the U.S. Open. What is up with the bad behavior?! Excuse me? Joint session in Congress, U.S. Open, and the Video Music awards? Come on people. Would you like it done to you? Think before you flap your trap.
With that said, I'm going to go walk my cats. Then I'll cut a steek.

Manners

What happened to being civil? I suspect it went the way of respect. A presidential address to Congress should not include an elected representative from the audience hurling derogatory names at our Commander in Chief. Freedom of speech is a grand right of our United States. I would have listened to the GOP rebuttal after the President finished his address but Mr. Wilson soured the interest with his low class name calling. Shame on him. He owes US an apology. If he feels Mr. Obama is a liar, say it to his face one on one--not for the sensationalized sound bite created for the news. Such acts of cowardice. Sad.

People

We have a water main break. Crews are working on the problem. Due to water not being available to the Town Hall, a public building, the Selectboard closed the Town Hall until the problem is resolved. Signs were put on the front and back doors. Simple wording: Town Hall is closed until further notice due to water main break. Big black letters. Right at eye level.
People have yanked on the doors so hard I expect the doors are damaged. They have gone to the store across the street and asked if there was some sort of holiday they were unaware of. The store clerk asked,"did you READ THE SIGN?" No public facilities (read: functioning bathroom)means no public access. That's the rule. Employees are not encouraged to come in. They're not told they can't either. For me, it's great. No answering the phone, no walk-ins. Just uninterrupted time to get stuff done. Full concentration on a project from beginning to end. Ahhhhh.
Advice: If the door you wish to enter doesn't budge, focus and read the sign. Continuing to pull as hard as you can isn't going to change the condition.

May We Have Some Chilly Weather Please? Thankyou

Ahh, the bestest time of the year is rolling in. Warm days, cool mornings and nights. Sweatah weathah.
Having extended the already long weekend two more days, things got done.
Side of garage needing scraping, sanding, priming & painting-done.
Filthy car washed-done.
Test paint the faux finish for the powder room-done.
Put up curtains and rods on the p0rch-done.
Trim the hedge-done.
Hit a LYS for tent sale-done.
Attain Leader status at Buffalo Wings during Buzztime trivia-oh yeah, done.
Administer dreaded flea potion on cats-done, much to their displeasure.
"I doubt she'll be forgiven anytime soon."

Why I Love Where I Live

A white heron. Wading in a puddle with ducks. Not my one of my usual sites driving to work.
We have lots of blue herons. We're stinkin' with them. They're like abandoned socks in the middle of the road--everywhere! But this is my first white heron and she very nicely let me photograph her from a distance. Thank goodness for the zoom lens. That's the bike path in the background and just beyond that is the Connecticut river. Made getting up and going to work early worth it.

End Of The Season -Almost

The Summer of Cotton Sweaters is drawing to a close. The result is a bunch of partials and one skeins that I am knitting into a throw NOW instead of putting them away for "sometime".

I'm not even trying to color coordinate--bet you couldn't tell. Each sweater I make this summer is represented. Don't believe me? Go to "Done Stuff" and see. I dare ya.

As with all my other "use up the leftover" blankets it may be a bit jarring to the eye but the first object everyone grabs cuz it's soft and comfy. I had the opportunity to Nap Test it this weekend. Here in Western Massachusetts it cooled to a lovely 70 degrees. With the rain and the funeral of Senator Kennedy--busted into tears more than once--a nap schnuck up on me and fortunately the blanket was big enough to cover the shoulders. This was during the PGA tour. Not even Tiger's zip up the leaderboard could keep the lids from slamming shut. I came back to life on the 14th hole.

I have a finished sweater on the drying rack. There are skeins of black cotton yarn marinating. I'm not quite done with cotton yet but beginning to hear the wool calling me in the storage bins.

"If I wasn't so worried about the dog coming down the street I'd be more worried about that last sentence."

There's No One Way To Do It

For the past month or so I have been teaching my mom's piano teacher how to knit socks MY WAY. She's doing quite nicely and last night she announced that she understands MY heel turning method. It's true because we prattled on about stuff we've done this summer and what we've got lined up for the fall and she rarely stopped mid-knit to ask a question. She had my written instructions (so professionally scribbled complete with cross outs)on scraps of paper. (As it goes with most, nah, all of my pattern instructions).
One section of MY sock instructions left me going "HuH?" But she was fine. I was merely there for support and chatter.
I have been very diligent to tell her EVERYONE DOES IT DIFFERENTLY. I can't stress that enough. I change my methods constantly either out of boredom or fiddliness. I avoid fiddly knitting. I personally file lace knitting under fiddly and keep it to a minimum. Before my comment section is skewered with Addi Turbo Lace needles from insulted lace knitters let me say this: I am not saying lace knitting as a category is "fiddly". It's fiddly FOR ME. It has something to do with my inability to count, concentrate for more than 5 seconds, and deal with multiple yarn overs. Bless all you lace knitting souls out there. The world is a better and more elegant place because of you.
Now that I am done sucking up to lace knitters and have alienated them from reading this titillating blog again, I'll get back to the subject at hand which, alas, I have lost track of but it had something to do with reassuring all knitters, new and experienced that everyone's methods are different and that is a GOOD THING. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to Google or YouTube methods for joining new skeins or weaving ends because I'm tired of doing it MY WAY.

Where I Have No Sweat Left

I'm done. Dare I say I miss my air conditioned office when I leave but after 8 hours of filling my day with other activities I've had enough and move on. The whining starts soon after I get out of my air conditioned car. Knitting has been sparse. Knitting with cotton fiber is not a cooler activity. Pick up your cotton sweater. Heavy isn't it? So here's my solution: I'm going to take a class this fall to learn how to use a drop spindle. I guarantee this will lead to a spinning wheel. I have had a fascination with spinning wheels ever since the elementary school field trip to Sturbridge Village more years ago than I want to get into right now. And when I was dragged to the Tunbridge Fair a few years ago, I stayed at the flax/linen demonstration so long I feared they were going to alert security (IF in fact the Tunbridge Fair has security--if you're a local you understand) to remove me because I was creeping the demonstrator out. Fascinating. Nerdy to most folks but I'm SO past the age of caring. Next summer when I'm choking on the humidity I will not sit in front of a fan with three quarters of a long sleeve sweater sitting on my lap. I do not knit hot weather wearables....or I do not wear the ones I HAVE created. Knitting = cold=long sleeves in my world and I've stopped wasting good fiber to make things I don't wear. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I will stand in front of a fan and spin fiber instead. There will still be plenty of whining."Drop spindle sounds like an excellent cat toy to me."

Another One Down An Movin' On

The Mulligan is finished and in use due to unseasonal temps. (70's on August--love it!). Continuing my cotton summer sweater extravaganza, I'm whipping up a half zip pullover in a blinding lime green--because I can. I'm rerunning a pattern favorite of mine, 6x2 rib, drop shoulder style. Do I knit in the chaise? No, it's the most uncomfortable seat in the house.
Here's the view from the chaise. Best room in the house. I'll take that back, the most unc0mfortable seat in the house is the fan-back chair to the left of this photo.
Events over the weekend of perfect weather included a stroll down to the 3rd Annual Block Party. Avenue A is blocked off for the fun. There were local food booths, live bands, a fashion show, dog parade and various business booths. I made paper at the Southworth booth. I went for a classic Chanel black and white paper. With red sparkles.

The party ran from 2p to 8p. Fun time on Avenue A.

"I had to stay home and do laundry. Who wants to go to some stupid dog parade anyway."

Sweater Mulligan

So to "get over" my ire at the -cotton yarn that grew in the process of knitting with it- I tried the same design in my go-to cotton & microfiber (microfiber, aka acryl-ick) and so far I have faith restored in my limited but functional math skills. Right on course this time. To the stitch.
With the temps in the 90's and air so thick you can throw it at your neighbor I haven't had a good chance to test drive the black wimpy version to see if all this fuss was for naught and find that it's my most favorite sweater. puph!

In Other News...

Meet T.S. Gnome


T.S. has taken residence in the backyard in the general area of the Norwegian Maple. He was a present to my mom from my niece and has the loveliest mauvey lips. He's making himself quite at home and learning the lay of the land.

T.S. claims to be quite the gardener and has set to work supervising pumpkin production and flower blooming.
He has professed a hatred for hot peppers and will NOT have anything to do with them. I'm thinking there's a story behind the volatile attitude.


He chatted it up with St. Francis, a long time resident who's a bit territorial. T.S. will need to tread lightly. No need to get on the bad side of a saint.

Toad wasn't home or not answering the door. It happens.

Last stop on his tour was Squirrel Memorial.
Andrew, I think mom's gone a little squirrelly herself.

It's Not Good Cat Weather

It's not good cat weather. That's what I tell the boys when it's raining and they want to go outside. It's what I tell them when it's extremely hot out there. Truth is, they don't care. Truth is, it's not good human weather. I miss my 70 degree July days with a lovely breeze and my 50 degree nights where a fan blowing on me is not necessary. I'd like that weather back please.
And I'd like my plain black cotton vanilla sweater to stop mocking me. I swatched for gauge. I counted, I recounted. (several times. Not easy, this yarn has a nubby quality without nubs. Figure that one out.)I wound up with a sweater 2" larger around than calculated. I love oversized sweaters but it still pisses me off. The T-neck is...is...wimpy. There is no "body" to this yarn. I didn't care for it when I started and it didn't change my mind in process. (it drags on the needles, hurts your hands, and I was using Addi Turbos...can't get a slicker needle than that.) I don't know what this yarn is better suited for...scarf? shawl? cat toy? I'll probably wear it all the time. Stupid sweater.

It's Monday and 90 degrees

With my lack of gardening skills I almost don't want to show off my jalepanos for fear the locusts will find out and wipe the smirk off my face. It's not like the rain hasn't tried to drown everything.
These were a surprise...the squirrel must have buried pumpkin seeds from last fall. BONUS!
The lilies are liking the humid weather...
And Mr. Bee kept busy.
I have been sporting a new camera now for a couple months. I have attended a few people gatherings and become discouraged with blurry outcomes of the photos. After another dismal showing from a bridal shower yesterday I found it beneficial to hunker down and read the instruction book instead of camera blazing. Hence the bee pic. If I can manage a semi non-blurry bee in action photo, a father/daughter wedding dance is possible. Good thing I have plenty of weddings to attend this year and next. My 35mm was WAY to forgiving.
Knitting? Why yes, I finished the sleeves on mystery plain vanilla. At least that will sit still while I photoshoot it.

When Will It End

It's been a long, stressful week. Not at home, just at work. Simple problems being blown to the size of zepplins because of people lacking "people" skills. At this point my "flight or fight" response is full on flight. I have very little fight in me to begin with--just not a get in your face kinda gal. In most situations where voices are raised or someone is purposely instigating negative crap I shift down, assess the lack of logic being presented and create any means to remove myself from the situation.
There's a problem with this because the end result is flight and HIDING. After a while folks regard this behavior as unsocial, being introverted with all the negative connotations that go with it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I, just like any other human, don't appreciate being attacked verbally or otherwise. I can't handle others being complete morons. This week has been a bowlful of both.
With that said, today is Friday, my short work day. I will leave this den of negativity and for the next two days living the other side of my life. I will recharge and come back Monday banging my drum. I may even have two sleeves finished. Oh yes, there's a sweater in progress. I get asked what I'm working on and quite truthfully I can't give a complete answer. Since I work everything from the top down I can make a plain vanilla project pretty gosh darn fancy when applying the finishing touches. Depends on the yarn, depends on my mood. Sometimes plain vanilla is just what I need. I bet you all know what I mean.

Look Through My Window Yeaaah, To The Street Below..

The dork in me just loves to watch construction, tree trimming, painting, etc. I could set up a lawn chair and make a day of it. Well! Today I have the best seat in the house, my office! Not only do I have sidewalk replacement....





But the church across the street is being painted!

It's not completely perfect...I have stuff to do...*sigh* the phone keeps ringing, people WANT things. I could get out my knitting, grab a cold beverage and supervise. Now I have the Mama's & Papa's "Twelve Thirty" in my head. "With a clock that always says 12:30..." (Actually it always says 1:20 but they removed the numbers and hands to paint.) So close to the perfect day...

Up Up and Away

So there I was last evening watching the telly (I borrowed Mad Men from the library, interesting show, maybe more on that later.) and I heard "Whoooshhhh, whooooossshhhh" knew exactly what it was, grabbed the camera and voila!











































Green River Festival is here!

Our stretch of wickedly awesome weather is taking a break to water the plants for the next few days. The jalepeno peppers are growing, the cayenne peppers aren't doing squat and if you've been following, you know the sunflowers never had a chance. The squirrel on the other hand is getting bulky.