Knitting

Knitting and I are not getting along lately, and so I am taking the day off. We’ll see how that goes…

First of all, there is the $%^&* skirt. It is a bit snug. It’s more than a bit snug. The swatch is lying in the bottom of my knitting basket, abandoned, lonely, and angrily shouting at me:

I told you so. I told you so. But did you listen??? No, you did not, and look where you are now.

I admit it. I did do everything involving the swatch correctly, but when it told me that I had one stitch too many over two inches, I scoffed and thought, “No big deal.” But it is a big deal over 205 stitches. Maybe I’ll try blocking it before I start the bottom ruffle, where the knitting becomes fun and interesting, using a lace pattern and hand-painted yarn.

But not today.

And the gorgeous raspberry colored yarn? That too is at the bottom of my knitting basket, shouting out, Make a decision already!

I meant to use it for the Glitzy Cat's Paw Wrap with more stitches so it would be wider. But after I made a bit of it, I just didn’t see the pattern as well as I would like because the yarn is so thin (lace weight). So I took that out and started on a Bit of Fluff wrap, using three times as many stitches so that it would be wider. But on two different sizes of needles the fabric was SO light and fluffy that I wasn’t sure it would stay on my shoulders; I’m pretty sure it would just lift up and float away.

Then I checked on Ravelry, entered the type of yarn and found over 500 projects listed. I checked through some of them, found a pattern I liked, downloaded it, studied it and decided it wasn’t something I would like to wear.

So I am stalled on that project as well, and that is it for today. No more knitting.

As a bonus to my day, I received an e-mail this morning from my nephew, who is getting married in November, and I thought the link he sent was for a wedding site. There was nothing in the message line, so I should have known better, but I opened the e-mail and the link anyway. The link took me to a pharmacy in Canada that has, so they claim, great prices on Cialis. Obviously some program has hijacked my nephew’s address book. Yay.

I’ll run the anti-virus program and the spy-bot program and then draft a letter of apology for anyone who gets an e-mail from me offering them a great deal on Cialis!

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And now for something completely different. In one of today’s NYT wedding announcements, the groom, in discussing the couple’s first meeting, said “It was not a good first impression,” adding that they were each dating other people then, and glad to be rid of each other.

All righty then.

Unfaithful Knitter

I admit it; I am fickle. I really, really intended to do no other knitting than the $%^&* skirt until I had finished the %$^&* skirt.

But at Thursday's Knit Night, another knitter was making a beautiful wrap from this Cascade 100% Baby Alpaca Lace yarn. (Made in Peru, color 1410) It is so soft, so delicate, so everything good that I was powerless to resist, and now I am starting a wider version of the Cat's Paw lace wrap that I finished just before I started the $%^&* skirt.

It will be nice to knit with something other than thick, stiff, waxed, colored dental floss for awhile.

Knitters Can Be Strange People

At least this knitter can be.

My Mohs surgery went well yesterday except that it took an hour and a half less time than it was scheduled for (3 hours). And this seriously cut into my knitting time!

Mohs surgery involves having a microscopically thin layer of tissue removed and then waiting for the biopsy results to see if the surgeon needs to remove more tissue. It's all done in one appointment and the goal is to remove as little tissue as possible. The doctor performed the surgery and then told me it would be a half an hour before she had the results.

So I settled in to knit on the Satan Sasha skirt. My phone was off; Dh had not come with me; I had nothing to do but sit and knit. Perfect....... But then there was a knock on the door and the surgeon and three other staff were there.

Me: It hasn't been a half an hour.

Surgeon: No, you're lucky. We were able to get to this right away. We got it all. We'll bandage you up and you are set to go.

Me: But it hasn't been a half an hour yet.

Surgeon: (probably thinking "Bless her heart, she must be a bit slow.") No, you are LUCKY. You are finished!

So home I went, with far less knitting accomplished than I had expected.

I can't do anything strenuous for two weeks-knitting is not strenuous, right???

And it's a good thing I can knit and knit and knit because I think I might have to rip out the fifteen inches or so I have knit on the skirt. Before I started working on it, I was a very good knitter and made a swatch. (I NEVER make swatches!) Then I washed and dried the swatch. (I NEVER wash and dry swatches because I NEVER make swatches!) My knitting was just a bit too tight. So I ignored the swatch and started knitting. (This is why I NEVER make swatches!) Somehow, the circumference of the waistband was correct, so I went ahead with the body of the underskirt, which is now FOUR inches too small. I'm calling the store I bought the yarn and pattern from later to see if by any sort of blocking miracle, this will work.

But I suspect that I should have paid attention to the swatch and changed needle size. I think I will be starting over.............................

This and That

I was out late (8:45) last night at a pre-pre-wedding dinner where I had lots of fun and possibly too much wine. So my mind is not working well today.

Topic one: The Satan Skirt

I really am knitting and knitting on this and on no other project, but I seem to be making little progress. I hope to have it ready for an evening wedding in October, but .... I just don't know. I am only into the second of TWELVE skeins.

Topic two: Consequences of too much time in the sun

I have to have Mohs surgery on Monday for an "active" type of squamous cell skin cancer. I've had this surgery before, but on apparently lazier forms of squamous cell cancers. So I'm a bit put out by all of this, but today the paperwork arrived for the surgery-permission forms, etc. and along with them was a question/answer section. One question was:

Q: Can I die from this?
A: Squamous Cell Carcinomas and Melanomas can spread to other parts of the body and may lead to death under certain circumstances.

And even though I did know this, and even though my dermatologist told me that I caught mine really early (it's small), seeing this in print did not improve my mood.

Topic three: The weather

According to the hyperventilating weather forecasters on television, we are about to get clobbered by terrible storms. It's dark out, and now I hear the first of the thunder. I just hope that no Oklahoma type tornadoes go through here.

And a bonus - some advice: If you know where something is, leave it there. (I can't find my glasses.)

Persistence

is a synonym for squirrel.

Dh has wired the bird feeder closed but this squirrel is determined to get back inside. I've been watching him for awhile, and he tried to get the top off again so that he can climb inside and eat everything, but so far, no luck! He can get some of the smaller bits of nuts from outside, and that will have to keep him happy for now. I don't think he will be able to get the top off, but I've learned not to bet against a hungry squirrel.

Buyer Beware?

I bought this Pagewood Farm, Hand Dyed Yarn, Willow Creek Green at Wildfiber in Santa Monica; younger daughter picked it out for a scarf. Now I suppose that this is partly my fault, but I made the mistake of ASSUMING that there were four ounces/400 yards of yarn because someone had corrected the printed label and written in the correct yardage for 4 ounces by hand.

Apparently I should have understood that all the label really meant was that for each stated weight, there was the stated amount of yarn.


When I weighed the yarn at home, after I became suspicious that the small ball I had wound could truly be 400 yards, I discovered that the ball contains only 2.29 ounces. Nowhere on the label is there printed any other weight/yardage than what is shown in the photo above.

I have bought some mohair to use with this yarn in order to have enough for the scarf, but I'm wondering, are we supposed to carry gram/ounce scales with us to yarn shops now???

(And can I blame making this mistake on the intoxication caused by yarn fumes???)

Update: I have heard from my knitting friend, L, who also works at the LYS, and she says that the label tells me (in handwriting) that I am buying 400 yards of yarn, not four ounces, and that the 2.29 ounces I got when I weighed the yarn sounds right. So it's just confusing labelling (in my not-so-humble opinion) and I did get what I paid for.

So.......... never mind!!!

Update #2: I've just had an e-mail from Pagewood Farm, and in part it said: We believe that we should have made the label clearer and we are doing that in the future . We appreciate you taking the time to let us know this.

And they didn't even call me an idiot or anything!!!

Peonies!!!

There is no better day in the garden for this amateur gardener than the one when I can go outside and cut peonies from my very own yard. And this is the first time in three years I've had any; they just didn't do much during the three-year drought.

Peonies and a rose? Perfect!!!

What is This?

It's this bird feeder --- with a squirrel in it.

And in spite of how small the feeder is, the squirrel wasn't trapped. When he heard us open the door to go get the feeder, he scrambled out so fast he was a blur.

It's now fastened shut with wire...we hope it works.

No More Excuses

I have finished the socks that were on the needle. I have finished the Simple Yet Effective Shawl that was on the needle and I have blocked it.

So I have no more excuses to keep me from getting going on the Satan Skirt (aka Sasha Skirt) that I have been avoiding even looking at since I came back from Austin. I love the finished project; I don't love knitting with the waxed dental floss that making the skirt requires.

And I just know that SallyKnits will have made a lot of progress on hers and will have it at knit night on Thursday and I will be envious.

Must go knit......

My Haiku

Oh those fiddly bits.

How I hate those fiddly bits.

Begone! Fiddly bits!

They are Socks...

I started the second sock on the way to Austin and finished it this morning. Only the toe remained. I love the yarn---Crazy Zauberball---and there sure is a lot (definitely not alot) left.

I should learn to knit socks from the toe up in order to use more yarn, but I think I'm too lazy. At least today.

Uhmmmmmm.....

That is eighteen-month-old Elizabeth's response to every question I ask her. Sometimes she follows up with the rest of the answer in a language that is not English, and other times she just wanders off. She does have a bit of an English vocabulary: up, down, momma, daddy, the names of her two sisters, outside and inside (they sound quite a bit the same), and nine, which means mine. She is a DOLL!!!

I leave tomorrow, and boy! will I miss them all!

A Sleep-over

Older daughter told her children this morning that I was arriving tomorrow morning for a visit.

My grandson said, "She's gonna have a sleep-over?!"

Actually, I'm going to have four of them.

Can't wait!

The New York Times

does it again.

I love the Sunday wedding announcements. They are just plain fun to read. My favorite from today's paper announced the wedding of an elderly couple.

"The bride, 90, will take her husband's name."

Well, ok, but maybe not for long.


(I do wish them well. May we all live so long!)