And Baxter said "Hah!"

"You and who else, lady?" he added.

Nevermind.

Oh, what to do? What to do?

Baxter---NO!

You might not know me in person, but take my word for this: the waistband on this skirt is much too large for me. I don’t know what has happened. I did check gauge well after I was into the pattern portion of the skirt, and it seemed to be right on. But when I pulled the skirt out at knit night two weeks ago, people either gasped or laughed. The waistband did not appear to be intended for me.

So between that knit night and last week’s knit night, I put an extender cord on my knit-picks interchangeable needles so that I could spread the whole skirt out.

I took it back to knit night, and there were the same gasps and laughs that there had been the previous week.

I think there is a problem.

SallyKnit had the best solution: Eat more.

And while I like that suggestion, I think I’ll go with Lucille’s: put the elastic in the waistband, put the skirt on, and see how it looks. Maybe the waistband is supposed to be that large pre-elastic.

Once I take the skirt out of time out (out of sight, out of mind is my current working philosophy) I’ll put in the elastic and see what happens.

But the out of mind stuff isn't working. The skirt is nagging at me.

Tars Ain't Purty

Somewhere I have lived, a man who owned a tire shop wrote and performed in his own TV advertising, and that's what he said: Tars ain't purty.

No they aren't and mine is really ugly. It blew out and threw shreds of rubber across I 85 in South Carolina yesterday as I was driving back to Atlanta from Clemmons, NC, where I had just spent a lovely weekend visiting my great cook friend, Kathy. We went to art shops in Winston-Salem, Replacements, and to Prissy Polly's Bar-B-Que for lunch on Saturday. We had a great time.

And then there was the drive home. The tire blew out, and with some difficulty, I managed to get to the right-hand shoulder. I know I learned how to change tires in high school driver's ed class, but I was not about to do that on a busy (or any other) road. My insurance company sent out a man to put on the spare (thank goodness for cell phones) and off I went......at 50 miles per hour for TWO HUNDRED %^&*() miles.

You would think that when cars and trucks see a car ahead with flashers on, clearly moving more slowly than the 150 mph everyone else seems to be going, they would know BEFORE they just about hit my bumper that they need to move over. But no.

I'm sorry about all of the people I inconvenienced for a moment or so yesterday on I 85, but to those people who were scared to death as they veered off to the left to avoid hitting me-tough luck. Pay attention next time. And I thought truckers talked to each other as they drive. You'd think they might warn other truckers that there was a green Honda ahead, with an old-ish lady driving really slowly in the right hand lane.

Apparently not. Because each and every one of them scared ME to death as they approached at high speed, and then had to hit the brakes while they waited for a spot to pull into the left lane. I tried driving on the shoulder, but it was paved with those washboard ridges and I was really afraid that would shred the aging tiny, fake tire that is called a spare.

Made it home, slowly, and had a shot of tequila.

The End

Not Your Grandmother's Knitting

Unless you had a very cool, ahead-of-her-times grandmother.

Yesterday was both Worldwide Knit in Public Day AND the first ever International Yarn Bombing Day, and so of course, several of our Thursday night Knit Night crew were out and about, doing our best to celebrate both of these very important events.

Sallyknit won best yarn bombing item with this cute mouse, which we attached to the downspout of a gutter at the back corner of a canoe store. The store itself is on a corner of the main street, so the mouse is very visible

Monster paw and chain cover: Crochet square:
Pole cover:

Our "We were here" mark:
There was more, much more. Madame Rella, Lucille, Sallyknit, and I had a great time knitting, crocheting and installing yarn bombs. The odd thing was that even though we were doing this in full view of all the people window-shopping, eating and drinking at tables along the sidewalks outside of restaurants, almost NO ONE commented or asked us what we were doing. One woman was getting out of a car as we were installing the mouse on the downspout. She glanced at us and looked away quickly as if she were embarrassed that she had seen us. As if she had seen something she wasn't intended to see. We told her that she was fine, that she could watch, but she walked away.

Then we realized, maybe people were embarrassed FOR us.

What are those crazy old ladies doing???

Having fun, that's what!

And if you happen to be walking along Canton Street in Roswell, Georgia, look around. You never know what you might find.

Summer is Here

Not officially, of course, but I know it's here because of the heat and the visible air. I always breathe a sigh of relief (and then cough) when this time of year rolls around because I believe that if you can't SEE the air, how do you know it's out there???

RAIN DAMMIT!!!

If

it's a poor workman who blames his tools, then I am a great and wonderful work.....woman? person? Whatever.

I started out knitting the waistband of the Hip in Hemp skirt on size 4 Addis, then switched to size 5 Addis to knit the skirt itself. Every fourth row is a pattern row, and part of the pattern contains M1L and M1R stitches.

Well, that was no easy trick with the dull points on the Addis. (The Knit Picks needles are on the left; the Addis on the right.) So I switched to the KnitPicks interchangeables, and that made all the difference in the world. I can just knit along, no struggling with the tricky stitches, thanks to the pointier tips, and off I go. So I am giving credit where credit is due---Knit Picks needles are fantastic!!! Signature needles are pointier still, but Boy George, they are forty dollars a pair!

The patterning created by the yarn and the stitches is starting to show up, and while it's a bit more obviously stripey than I had thought it would be, I still love it. This is not the Satan Sasha Skirt's sibling skirt. It's lovely and it is easy to knit. The chart was intimidating to look at but once I figured out what it all meant, I decided it was brilliant. Whoever put together the charts for it is a genius. (See? Giving credit where credit is due again.)
I'm no genius, however. As I was taking the picture of the chart, I noticed that the magnetic count guide has a gauge guide on it and I remembered that I had not measured for gauge. Uh oh. Too late now. But I have used this yarn before, and I was pretty close to gauge then, so I am assuming I am now. (Also I did sort of check after I took the picture, and I think I'm OK. )

A Good Time Was Had By All

Well, by me. I like watching someone else work. And occasionally bossing someone else around.

We have a small pond, about 350 gallons, we think. DH put it in 15 years ago. Since that time we have gone through lots of fish, snails, and frogs. The frogs or toads, whatever they are, last the longest. But in those 15 years, we have never taken out all of the water, cleaned the pond, and put in new water. We relied on rain, chemicals (bad, bad, bad, I know) and occasional additions of fresh water to keep the whole thing going.

However, this year we couldn’t even see through the water to determine if we had any fish left after the visit from the heron. The water was pretty solidly green, and actually, pretty solid. Sort of thickish. A friend who has a pond told me that she removes the water, cleans the pond, and has new water put in, EVERY YEAR. (Really, she hires someone to do it. Cheater.) So yesterday, in frustration about the lack of clarity in the water, we went to the pond store to see what to do, assuming that they would have a chemical solution. Enzymes! Water-purifying magical elixirs!

Nope. Empty the pond. Clean it. Put new non-chlorinated water in it. Rats.

This is what followed. For about four hours:

Gross......

Kind of embarrassing, really. But in our defense, walking in the pond stirred up a lot of crud.

On the other hand, it was a gorgeous day.

Anyone know what this is?

Today, the pond is clean and beautiful. And we discovered that we have six fish.

Until the heron shows up, I suppose.