Made It To The Weekend

Folks, it's been a looong four day week. Monday was a holiday and very hot. Tuesday, it was back to work to an office with no air conditioning and a day that hit 90. Tuesday is also a 12 hour day that turned into a 14 hour day due to a meeting that would not end. During this meeting we had the most wonderful thunderstorm but it could not shut the power down to end my suffering. On Wednesday, the a/c was installed but halfway through the day I noticed I was wearing one brown sandal and one black sandal. There was much drama in the office none of which concerned me but you know how innocent bystanders get sucked into the fray. When I got home I had a mechanical failure of the trash compactor. I was collecting for rubbish day and the darn thing stopped in the middle and held the trash hostage. Thursday, well, I can't even remember what Thursday was like. It's gone from my memory so it must have been alright. And Friday, Friday is my short day. Out at noon and believe you me they ate my dust at the stroke of noon. The world became brighter, even though I had to, not needed to, HAD to grocery shop or starve. My jaw relaxed and the back spasms stopped. I love a long weekend but the week that follows is always a killer.
Knitting hasn't helped. Now that is a serious problem. When your go-to stress reliever fails what do you do?
Go talk to the cat. It works. Trust me.
P.S. The trash compactor fairy must have come and gave it good kick. It is once again working.

By Request

Mom's aran is finished. Too bad the temps are going into the eighties this weekend. Even so, another may be started to get a jump on the season. I'm sure there is a color missing in my collection.

Along with the aran request, Mom asked for a batch of my apple/plum jelly. I made my first batch twenty years ago. I made my second batch yesterday. Ahem, no, I did not go into mass jelly manufacture back in 1992 though I did enjoy the process. 

I learned from my mistake last time which was: DON'T SQUEEZE THE CHEESECLOTH 

CONTAINING THE COOKED FRUIT. Thus, clear jewel colored jelly. I just wish I was more of a jelly eater. I have plans to slather roasted pork ribs with the booty for a yummy glaze. 

My grandmother Hazard used to make huge batches of apple jelly. Plain apple is fine and was my plan in 1992 but found I was short apples and the plums just happened to be on the shelf so in they went. It was such a hit I tried it again. Yup, worked again. AND EVERY JAR TOP SET. I had a fear they wouldn't the first time and again this time. My fears were unfounded both times. Now I'll get cocky and they won't set next time. Let's see, that will be 2032. 

I hate the thought that I haven't finished a project before starting a new project. But I had to. Now that the project interruptus is almost done I can go back to the project I decided to ignore and move on.

 This was my first try at Mosaic knitting. The process went fine, it was the gauge and math and the inability for the two to sync that caused me to toss it over my shoulder and start the aran.

As the weather gets warmer I'm betting the sleeves, which are all I have left to do, will go no farther than 3/4 to match the season. This cardigan will be fine for cool mornings and evenings. The finish will have a Chanel-ish look with a grey I-cord the same color as the design.
Then what? I need some inspiration!

Who Is The Patron Saint of Lost Things?

Arrrggghhh! You know when you buy something that you can't use right away  so you put it away for future use and the future arrives...only you can't remember where you put the bloody thing???!!! I'm having this problem with a part to the Bose system. The piece for the internet access is hiding, safe in it's box, mocking me. I can see it my mind; I just can't get my mind to tell me where it is safely staying. Frustrating. I'm wasting knitting time looking for it and writing about it.
I'll just leave it up to the patron St. of Lost items. If I could remember who they were....

PS. It worked. Thank you whoever you are. No knitting done but I have MUSIC!

This, That and The Knitting Thing

 Getting ready to roll another aran off the needles. Mom said she needed a blue one so a blue one it is. If you've been paying attention the pattern is the same I developed, er, ah, quite awhile ago and I still enjoy every row of it. I think this is the longest my attention span has been on a par-tic-u-lar thang.

As I mentioned in the last old moldy post we have a baby arriving any day. The parents are rabid Bruins fans  so in six months or around September when temps drop to sweater weather our babe will be ready to wear the black and yellow in full support of the Beloved B's.

The spring floral show in my back yard is coming and going so fast I have to go out daily in order to shoot it.

My white rhododendron is hidden away but I caught it this year soaking up the sun. After a number of days of rain the bees and butterflies are keeping busy doing what they do.
At the end of the day yesterday, the cloud display was a real treat. At sunset the clouds blossomed in color.

Pretty darn cool.

Spring 2012

 March, April and May. Wacky weather months in New England historically. REALLY odd this year.  Do I put away the snow blower just because I needed to mow the lawn in April? I hesitate because I am not fooled by the 90 degree weather we had on 4/16. Having lived here all my life I'm not that easy to trick.

 I contemplated installing the air conditioner for a nanosecond then shook it off. Too early. Doesn't matter that I didn't sleep well last night due to the room being hotter than oven. I have my principles.

 The knitting has been off also. My simple cardigan has had the sleeves removed twice. The gauge and my math are in sync but the physical knitting is not. The only thing left to blame is the weather.

I gave up and started another project that is too tiny to share. Speaking of tiny, another baby shower to get ready for this weekend. Throwing the finishing touches on the sweater and hat before scheduling the photo op. With the odd weather pattern we've been having I hope the little tyke will get a chance to wear it!

Using Up What's Left

The scrap bag is empty.

Cardigan

 
Blanket

" Now that you're done with that would you mind dusting? I mean, really."

"I swear she doesn't dust so she can see where we've been."

Well That's A Heck Of A Start To A New Year

 I let the whole month of January slip by without saying a word. Apparently I had nothing to say. I've knit plenty having gathered all my odds and ends of worsted weight wool into a big canvas bag.
 Blanket time. A round blanket of stripes.
A striped yoke with a slip stitch design for a yet to be finished cardigan.
 The bag of leftover balls of yarn doesn't seem to be going down. I'm beginning to suspect the cats are finding more leftovers and are stuffing them into the bag when I'm not looking. I'm not complaining but the items I've worked on are fairly good size and yet it appears I haven't made a dent in the supply.
The odd weather continues here with this being February and there being not a smidge of snow on the ground. Temperatures hit 50 late yesterday. I guess the ginormous snowstorm we had in October of 2011 was our allotment. So be it.
Now back to that bag of leftover yarn....

Christmas Knitting

I don't know how but I somehow managed to get a little knitting done during Christmas week. It's unseasonably warm for New England. We have no snow. I was fine with that. I had to drive to New Jersey. A stressful journey for me living in the land of two lane highways. Three lanes and I'm highly suspicious of others and if they are really paying attention to how close they are to me or the fact that they can't stay in their own lane. Six lanes, yeah, I'm talking about you Garden State Parkway, and I'm white knuckle driving and refusing to let anyone else talk in the car until I get the heck out of the Oranges and Newark. And don't even get me started on Rte. 9....but I digress. We all made it safe and sound and all I ended up with was a stress induced sinus/cold/I-don't-feel-like-eating illness that stayed with me for four days after I got back home. Such a wimp. An adventurous highway driver I AM NOT. You want to go exploring back country roads I am your gal. No fear there. Just not much of a distance traveler. Well, if someone else is driving, that's a whole different story. I'll be the first to call shotgun and ready to go. 

 I call this my Christmas Aran. I have taken my favorite center panels from two previously constructed arans and assigned one to the front and one to the back. Why? Because I can. Just someone try to send the Knitting Police to my door. This project needs its sleeves; then it is done.

You would think I would have aranned myself out by now but I just can't get enough. Visions of cables and twists dance in my head. Unfortunately I just learned my favorite go-to wool has jumped significantly  in price and will be questioned in the budget process. *sigh*

Now that I have depressed myself I will grab the Kindle and console myself with Mr. Darcy and Lizzie. I have found Rebecca Ann Collins series of Pemberly Chronicles and though I consider myself a Jane Austen snob I have enjoyed RAC's musing of the continuing story. Not bad. 

TA DA!

Just as I promised. Well, I didn't really promise did I, you were instructed to remind me. So you're saying to yourself, "Why are the seams on the outside?" HA! I knit seamless sweaters so there ARE NO SEAMS. I crochet them on. Gobs of fun and they add pizzazz to an incredibly boring sweater. You know, for a bulky weight sweater it feels very light.

Off to shop. The days are winding down and I have 2 gifts bought-for the same person. I need stocking stuffers, oy. I gotta go!

Oh yeah, Knitting

A friend reminded me the other day that I haven't:
 1. blogged recently and
2. blogged about knitting.
Oh, there has been knitting. Let's get you up to speed.

At the time of this posting this object is finished and drying. Fashioned out of Cascade EcoWool, this puppy had that fresh off the sheep smell. Mmmmm, mmmm! With no dyes the soaking water was FILLLLTHY! I picked a few strands of hay now and then.

The Cat boys are pretty good about staying out of my projects unless I've scolded them for something or the yarn has that HOOO-WEEE stench. Andrew was never too far away from me while I was manufacturing the pullover.

This was a quick knit, boring and dull looking so I tweaked a few areas here and there apres knit. I'll have to show you. Remind me, okay? Meanwhile, I threw another aran on the old circulars and when I get it to an interesting length I'll give you a peek.


 Pastoral

Nothing like a good bovine- in- the- early- morning- light pic to bring the blood pressure down.

There Deb, happy now?

That's More Like It

 Though the seasons were a little discombobbled with the October Nor'Easter we are late but back on track colorwise. Burning bush is burning.

 The Dogwood shed her leaves...

 the lavender has dried...

 and the maple hangs on to the last leaves of her dress.

 The change in season calls for a change in appetite. Dishes that cook long and slow and fill the home with aromas that make you stop and take in a deep breathe.

Bread dough rising in a warm spot to become focaccia dressed with oregano, rosemary and shavings of parmesan.
Mmmmmmmm...sweater weather.

Stormy

Okay Mother Nature, enough showing off. We get it here in Massachusetts. You got da power. I'm tired of filling my freezer with food and having to throw it all out every 2 months.
I was one of the lucky ones. The power went out October 29 during the night. I did get up when I heard a loud snap and saw the maple branch in the yard. No damage. My favorite dogwood had branches bent to the ground. I couldn't see beyond that to the box elder if it had crushed my lawn swing and my neighbors fence.

Started coming down around 2-2:30 pm. Wet sloppy snow.

The next morning it was very pretty. I headed out back to see...

and found a large broken branch. Fortunately it did not damage the neighbor's fence.

Why the whole thing didn't come down was beyond me. Look at the bend in that sucker!

Power was returned on Monday afternoon. Now the clean up begins. The dogwood survived beautifully. There are a lot of areas without power. Winter doesn't begin until December 22?

Where Have I Been

Delay in posting? Hmmm, must be October.

There was a project in the works but since taking this shot I finished it and deemed it unworthy because the calculator gave me false information, or maybe it was operator error. Nevertheless, I was too lazy to rip it all out so I fudged it and will post the final object later.

Then birthday week came along and I indulged myself in taking in the local color of western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and New Hampshire. We were a bit lacking this year due to too much rain and wind, thank you Tropical Storm Irene, whacking out the leaves at the tops of trees before they were painted with their typical brilliant colors.

Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Barton's Cove public boat ramp, Gill, MA

Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Emu

View of Mt. Sugarloaf in So. Deerfield, MA from Whately, MA

Squash display in Old Deerfield, MA

Pheasant out for a stroll in Whately

Poets Seat Tower, Greenfield, MA

Southern view from Poets Seat Tower, Greenfield. MA

Wicked cool tree stump. 

View of Turners Falls, MA from Poets Seat Tower in Greenfield, MA

Village of Turners Falls, MA from Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Village of Turners Falls, MA from Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

Village of Turners Falls, MA from Barton's Cove, Gill, MA

View from White Dickinson Library in Whately, MA

Potatoes- when it's raining too hard to play with the camera outside

So here it is the last full week in October with a prediction of snow by the end of the week. I don't have any works in progress but plenty of stash. That calculator and I better come to an understanding to give me the numbers I need, not what I put in by mistake.