As the Spirit Moves Me

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T10:49:00.002-05:00

This has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but I think it is as sweet as a Valentine. I just received this thank-you note from my granddaughter for her birthday gifts. I've never had drawings of gifts in a thank you before and it's so c.u.u.u.te!

So enjoy the cute and have a lovely day!

Too Old

2012-02-13T10:29:00.006-05:00

I LOVE Willie Nelson. Love, love, love. I was first aware of him when we moved to Florida and I remember the day I got in my MGB, top down, beautiful blue, cloudless sky, low humidity (October) and I was driving to my tennis lesson listening to Willie singing Blue Skies. Perfection. And then I realized I had forgotten my tennis racquet and had to drive back home.

Over the weekend, I saw a notice in the local paper that he was performing in Atlanta and I bought last-minute tickets over the internet for his show last night at The Tabernacle. It's a pretty place, but I had never been there before and my tickets said Row 2, seat 12 (and 13). Great seats, right up front!!!

And then I talked with my LA daughter who said that I didn't have Great seats, right up front!!!, that I had standing room only tickets. Uh, oh.

So why give seat assignments? But she was correct and it was SRO. Rats. I wore pretty boots. And as it turned out, after a couple of hours, uncomfortable boots.

First out came this entertainer. For a brief, happy moment I thought it was a surprise entertainer, a surprise named Jack White.

But it wasn't. It was Sonia Lee, a country music singer and her group. She might be good; I couldn't tell because the music was so LOUD.

What'd you say?

I said LOUD!!!

After a while, Willie Nelson and his group came out and they were great. He performed lots of everyone's favorites, and it wasn't loud, just perfect. However, there was a mysterious, hazy smoke in the air. Can't imagine what that was in a "No Smoking" building. Hmmmm........

I once saw Willie in a running shoe store in Austin, Texas but he didn't sing. He was there to promote a run he was sponsoring the next day to raise money for FarmAid, I think. But I had never seen him perform, so last night was an absolute treat, but standing? Not so much. And because people holding plastic cups of beer couldn't applaud, they waved their cups of beer high in the air as a salute. And they shoved through the people to get to the front, close to the stage, carrying full cups of sloshing beer. We didn't end up in a beer shower, but odds are, someone did. All part of the ambiance.

My LA daughter says that the next time I want to go to the Tabernacle, I should call her and let her order the tickets over the internet. She has been there and knows how to get the old people seats. Actual seats WITH seats in the balcony.

We're too old to stand.

Soft as Silk?

2012-02-12T13:35:00.007-05:00

I finished my needlepoint project and am waiting for the yarn to arrive for my oldest granddaughter's Owlet sweater. A new pattern has become popular at Knit Night and I pulled some Done Roving Grapevines Pure Silk from my stash to make the Willow Cowl (here on Ravelry), a pattern designed to require only one skein of sock yarn.

Well, I thought, why not silk? I love the colors! The finished cowl is intended for a gift, but there is one problem....this silk is not in the slightest soft. In fact, it's kind of scratchy.

So I'll finish it, but if a soak in SOAK doesn't soften it up, it will be mine instead of my friend's. A scratchy cowl would be kind of an unfriendly gift I think.

It IS February, right?

2012-02-06T13:50:00.004-05:00

Daffodils

Redbuds? (I'm not sure.)
Magnolia
More Redbuds?
I've even seen some Dogwoods blooming, but traffic didn't allow photographs. This is a confusing winter for the plants. I suppose we will get some really cold weather, an ice storm or snow, and we will lose the blooms in the actual spring.

Sidetracked

2012-02-04T19:07:00.006-05:00

I've been knitting and knitting and knitting for a few years now, and suddenly I have been sidetracked---by knitter Lucille's needlepoint projects. So I've bought myself a project, re-learned how to do it (a new stitch to me: basketweave) and it's fun! Now I have a new addiction and I will have some really pretty projects as a result.

Oldest granddaughter loves the Owlet sweater I made for my youngest granddaughter so I think I will alternate knitting another Owlet with working on needlepoint.

One thing I won't be making:

I found the instructions for this in one of my old needlepoint books and I suspect that if I told my grandchildren that I was making a typewriter cover, the response would be, "What's a typewriter?"

Success....for now.

2012-02-03T11:53:00.003-05:00

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is backing down from its decision to cut off grants to Planned Parenthood. "We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities," the charity says in a statement. "It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics - anyone's politics."

[from Politico.com]

"Well I Never" is right.

2012-02-02T09:54:00.007-05:00

This is from today's Margaret and Helen post. This particular post is written by Helen, a feisty old Texas woman; Margaret is a feisty old Mainiac. Their blog started out as just letters from one of them to the other, and took off from there.

If you aren't aware of what the Komen Foundation has done, read this:

And shame on the Susan G. Komen Foundation for letting some Republican nut case from Georgia convince them to start picking on Planned Parenthood. With men like those Virginia State Legislators in the world, we women need to stick together. The folks at Komen might want to remember that is wasn’t all that long ago that breast cancer was another one of those women’s health issues that was feared and discussed in hushed tones, as if it were shameful. Women should be allowed to make medical decisions with their doctors and not with their politicians. Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of breast cancer screenings and mammogram referrals in the nation, and that a**hat Karen Handel over at Komen is about to find out that Planned Parenthood is also one of the most trusted names in women’s healthcare. I surely would like to introduce Ms. Handel’s a** to my boot. A boot, I might add, that walked in many a Komen Race for a Cure. Now the only walking I’ll be doing is from my door to my mailbox to drop a check in the mail to Planned Parenthood. Women turning on other women when we already have the likes of Rick Perry to deal with… Well I never.

Maybe we should stop Walking for a Cure and start Walking for Respect. I mean it. Really.

(Edited 'cause I don't swear, really)

[Helen mentions the Virginia legislators who are trying to pass a law similar to the one in Texas that requires a woman who wants an abortion to have an ultrasound first and listen to a lecture from the doctor that explains what the politicians want explained. In response, a woman legislator in Virginia added an amendment that would require a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test for any man who wants to get a prescription for Viagra and the like.]

So that's enough of a political rant for today (unless you want more); you wouldn't think that politics would be involved in medical decisions. Hah....I heard last night that the loss of funds from Komen will mean that between 600,000 and 700,000 women will not get mammograms from Planned Parenthood this year. Seems a strange thing for Komen to have done.

Owlet

2012-01-31T16:07:00.003-05:00

I've just finished sewing the button eyes on Elizabeth's Kid's Owlet sweater, here on Ravelry, and designed by Kate Davies. It is made from Ella Rae Classic Superwash Chunky heathers yarn and because the yarn is thicker than worsted and the pattern calls for large needles (10, 10 1/2), this sweater took me all of four days to make. I did have problems with gauge though, so I am hoping that it will fit Elizabeth. And I hope that Austin, Texas gets temperatures below 70 degrees so that she has occasion to wear it! Hoping that it gets legitimately cold is too much to ask for this year.

We are having a Florida winter in Atlanta this year---high 30s first thing in the morning, and then highs in the 60s and 70s by mid-morning. It's wonderful!!! But we knitters are bemoaning the lack of sweater/scarf/hat/fingerless mitts-wearing weather.

We always want what we don't have, don't we?

Hope Springs Eternal

2012-01-29T13:01:00.008-05:00

in the human heart (or something like that).

I've been working on this Owlet sweater since Thursday evening's knit night, and it's going along really quickly, in spite of the fact that I had to start over six inches into the first attempt after I discovered that I wasn't even close to getting gauge.

It still looks small, but measures out to the specifications, so far. I am counting, as always, on the miracle of blocking to make it just the right size for granddaughter Elizabeth. Otherwise, I'll ask her mother to send it along to someone smaller. I'm not taking it out! Again!

And now, for something completely different, this is an albino alligator I saw last weekend at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Creepy? Fascinating?

I vote fascinating, but it's a good thing someone put him in the aquarium. He sure could not survive in the wild for long---he's not good at camouflage!

And for inquiring minds---these pictures were taken with my iPhone and when I opened my computer after Friday's class at Apple, there they were, in my computer! It's magic, I tell you, pure and simple magic!

And a little help from the Geniuses at Apple.

Technology----PAH!

2012-01-19T14:40:00.006-05:00

I bought a 4S iPhone yesterday and now everything is messed up. I can't get Comcast mail on either my iPhone or my Mac and I don't know why. I can't sync calendars, the music on iTunes for my iPod won't load on the new iPhone and I don't know what the heck I'm doing. The iPhone is linked to iCloud, but I can't link the Mac to iCloud until I get the Mac updated to Lion OS. I can't upgrade to Lion OS until Monday when I have an appointment at the Genius Bar, and I'm hoping to convince a Genius to upgrade it for me since I can't because I tried one too many times with the wrong registration number for the Mac. So all of this technology is causing me to get a gray hair or two....

And Baxter is lying upright on my chest, putting his (wet-ick) paw on my face.

And I don't want to know why his paws are wet.

2012-01-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today this site is on strike.

My Burley-Q Granddaughter

2012-01-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

I made my dancing granddaughter some leg-warmers for Christmas, and also for her practice sessions for the Nutcracker, which she performed in with the Austin City Ballet Company.

I assumed she knew how to wear them.

I was wrong!

Silly girl!!!

(And stop crossing your eyes----do you want them to freeze like that???)

Oh My

2012-01-13T12:14:00.002-05:00

Bounce!

2012-01-09T11:26:00.008-05:00

There is a BOUNCE feature on my Mac!!! Yahoo!!! I discovered this yesterday while reading instructions on the computer I have owned since JULY. I don't generally bother reading instructions---I've heard that this is a sign of giftedness, and I'm fine with that---but I was desperate.

I've been getting regular e-mails from someone I think is a student from my past in teaching. The e-mails generally offer "great" deals on Viagra. No thanks. But I hadn't been able to figure out how to categorize these e-mails as junk so that I didn't have to bother deleting them.

Read the instructions, I said to myself. And not only did I discover how to get the program to take junk away before I even see it, I discovered that there is this wonderful BOUNCE program that sends the e-mail back to the sender with a note saying that my address is no longer valid.

Bingo! I used BOUNCE on the most recent e-mail from Rick, and my e-mail didn't get bounced back to me. So according to the instructions, from now on, if Rick does send me more e-mails, they will go to the junk file instead of to me. I'll never see them again. Yay!!! And all of the junk e-mails I get from various businesses will now go to the junk file because the instructions told me how to do that as well.

Good for me. Now all I have to do is transfer this new skill---reading instructions---to knitting. Maybe if I do, I won't have so many mistakes that I have to tink back, stitch by stitch.

But Where Do I Buy This?

2012-01-08T18:22:00.002-05:00

I have had bob knows what for the past week and dH sent me this photo. It's exactly what I have needed but he sent me no link to a source.

Apparently it's a DIY project.

Books Books Books

2012-01-06T11:09:00.003-05:00

What to do about books.

I big, puffy red heart my Kindle. Love, love, love it.
(And I love, love, love Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie)

But I have lots of books...

TV room bookshelves:
Hallway bookshelves:
Living room bookshelves:

There are more in the basement.

And they are bugging me.

I am the opposite of a hoarder. I can't stand to have things around that I don't need or use. I am Goodwill's friend and now that they have opened a center near me, I am a frequent donor. But I don't know what to do about the books.

I was an English major and college was heaven: read books; write about books. What's not to like? And I thought I would never like an e-Reader. Boy howdy, was I wrong.

So I have all this space taken up by books and I'd love to donate the ones I know I will not read again to the library system. But what to do with all of the space......

I may have come up with a solution---yarn storage space!!! Where I can see the yarn!!!

I don't have a huge stash but it may be out-of-hiding-from-Baxter time for my yarn.

Coolest Yarn Shop Ever!

2012-01-03T12:55:00.005-05:00

The Grotto:

A Longhorn (sculpture) with daughter and granddaughter:
Blue Horse:
A Fish (in the desert?):
Now this makes sense:
The Rabbit:
Several Alpaca:
Another Alpaca:
AHA! The Shop itself!!!
There is yarn inside, but the outside is just so much fun!

[Bought some cashmere.... :-) ]

$%^&* Blogger

2011-12-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

Blogger has just changed the format for writing and for putting pictures in a blog and I can't figure it out, hence the title. Now my blog is upside down, sort of. What I intended to do was show---first---some sights from the light show at Atlanta Botanical Gardens (really, really pretty and a nice thing to go see on a not-freezing evening) and then I wanted to add some photos of a house in the Atlanta area that has gone...I'm not sure where...in terms of decorating. It was fun to walk around and see all the inflatables. There was also a table with addressed envelopes for an Atlanta-area charity---nice touch.

If you are in the Atlanta area over Christmas, go see the lights at Atlanta Botanical, and don't miss the most amazing lights EVER in the conservatory. Magic, I tell you. Magic!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T10:43:00.006-05:00

Gather these ingredients (but if you can find something other than butter-flavored pretzels-yuk-buy them instead):

Thanks to fellow knitters Sally and Deanna, I have learned how to make some very yummy candies and here is the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a kiss on each pretzel. Some kisses aren't perfectly shaped; eat those. Put the tray in the oven for four minutes. Take it out and squish one m and m (lettered side down) on each kiss. Let them cool (or not) before you eat them.

Easy, easy, easy!

A Better Picture of Fetching

2011-12-19T13:13:00.001-05:00

More Fetching

2011-12-17T14:49:00.001-05:00

Not in the sense that something is more fetching than something else.

In the sense that this is maybe the fifth or sixth pair of Fetching that I have made. These are either for me or for a gift---haven't decided yet. I kind of like them!

What Is It?

2011-12-16T17:12:00.003-05:00

That's what my husband said when I showed him this completed Assemblage Seven Circle....scarf? necklace? I don't know either, but it was easy to knit. It's made from katia Gatsby yarn. It's not a natural fiber, unless viscose is a natural fiber. It also has nylon and polyester, neither of them knitters' favorite fibers.

But it's SHINY and SPARKLY and I do loves me some sparkle! (even if it's a bit scratchy)

We Have A Christmas Tree!!!

2011-12-12T16:53:00.003-05:00

We haven't had one in years because we usually go to Austin for Christmas. When my older daughter had two children, she and her family came here. But now she has four and travelling with four at Christmas time is not something I would ask her to do. Someone is usually ill at some point over the holidays and four children, even my wonderful grandchildren, can FIGHT and ARGUE when confined too long in the car. I would hate to find out that my daughter and s-i-l had left one or more of them at a rest stop somewhere between here and Austin.

The second, and more important reason we didn't have a tree last year and almost didn't this year is BAXTER.

But I came across this table top tree when I was out today and couldn't resist. It was only $19.99, including the stand, but it became a bit more expensive after I bought ornaments that won't break my heart if Baxter gets/destroys them.

So far, his only interest is in drinking the water in the stand. I'm not counting on that to last.

(Oh, if anyone is looking for another of these really fancy tree skirts, you can find one in the kitchen towel section of Target. No expense spared here.)

Fifth and Final

2011-12-10T15:41:00.003-05:00

This is the last hat I am making, at least for now, from the same yarn (Cascade Quatro, color #9433) and the same pattern(Meret-free on Ravelry). I cannot get the color to look like the actual color, no matter how much I play with it in iPhoto. And the lace doesn't show up well. I'm an amateur photographer, in case you couldn't tell.

The pattern is so easy that it's ideal for someone who wants to learn lace knitting. And it is SO easy that after the first couple of rows, I didn't need to look at the pattern any more.

But after five of these, plus one hat without lace for my grandson, enough is enough. Time to move on.

Late to the Party

2011-12-07T12:00:00.004-05:00

That's Baxter! He was supposed to have discovered the joys of playing with toilet paper (bathroom tissue, for the more refined) at least a year ago. But to my relief, he didn't.

Well, now at a little over a year and a half old, he has discovered it.

*Swerts!

* Swearword created by older daughter when she used a word she heard her father use when he discovered he had a flat tire. He told her she couldn't say that, and she asked if she could say "swerts." He said---sure!

Snow!?

2011-12-07T10:53:00.002-05:00

Well, it is December, but my roses are still blooming.

OK

2011-12-05T19:04:00.004-05:00

I get that Mori is a travel-related store. I get that this is a Christmas catalog. I get that the people who run Mori want people to shop for gifts.
But just who would consider this device.... this thing.... a gift?
I didn't know such a thing existed. I'm sure there are uses for it somewhere.

But a Christmas gift?

No thanks.

Poor Shaun

2011-12-04T15:35:00.004-05:00

He wants to wear Lily's leg-warmers
but he has no legs.

There's An App for That???

2011-12-02T13:01:00.005-05:00

This is my daughter. She took this photo with her iPhone (or a friend did) and used the app called Aging Booth to see what she would look like when she is older.

She said she was supposed to look bad in her "before" picture, and really, she is pretty.

But this is what she is supposed to look like when she is older---I don't know how much older, but I think I will not download this app.

So there's an app for this. But why???

(And S, why did you do this?)

The Truth Hurts

2011-11-30T16:40:00.003-05:00

A friend recently told me that Martin Clunes, who stars in Doc Martin, has a new project coming out. I told her that I can't see him as anyone other than Doc Martin.

(Have I mentioned that I love that series?)
But just as I can't imagine Martin Clunes playing anyone other than Doc Martin, I also can't see David Suchet as anyone other than Hercule Poirot. He is Hercule Poirot. I don't much like reading the Poirot stories, written by Agatha Christie, but I really enjoy the television series.

I wondered if David Suchet is still alive. Doesn't he look OLD??? Also, I apparently confused the era in the series for the era the series was filmed---which turns out to be surprisingly recently (1989-2010).

So not only is this elderly man still alive, he is a year older than I am.

So now I'm elderly????

Oh dear.

And the Voting Age is?

2011-11-30T13:34:00.002-05:00

Texas, you have a lot to answer for.

Oh yeah. And what is Election Day again?

Sewing

2011-11-29T10:33:00.002-05:00

Today I had to sew some buttons on a jacket before they completely fell off. I couldn't get the needle through the fabric and had to find a thimble. Turns out I don't have a normal thimble. I only have this one, bought in Mexico. It's silver and turquoise and really pretty and needs polishing. I didn't think about it at first because it is usually with this beauty with her thimble. I named her Woman Wearing Thimble Under Glass. I'm really clever like that.
Here she is not under glass.
Anyway, my decorative thimble worked as it should, and my jacket's buttons are securely re-attached.

But to read a really en-GROSS-ing story about sewing, check out Murr Brewster's post about her sewing adventure.

Blechhhhh......

(Can I cheat or what!!! Two posts in a row linking to someone else's writing.)

Now This

2011-11-28T16:51:00.001-05:00

is a Knit Night.

But I think I'll stick with mine.

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-23T20:26:00.003-05:00

Ooops.

OK. Now---Happy Turkey Day!
(Poor turkey....)

HELP!

2011-11-19T17:23:00.022-05:00

All of these girls know how to wear scarves. I'm a knitter. I have the scarves; I don't have a clue. I fumble, I tie knots, I drape, I loop. Nothing comes out right.

Even in summer, with jeans and a t-shirt, a scarf, perfectly styled.These four girls know what they're doing.
Uh, NO.

Honestly, even a guy knows what he's doing.
Wait---is that David Beckham? OK, so maybe it's his stylist who knows what she is doing. I don't have a stylist.

So what's a knitter to do?

While I figure this out....and stop knitting scarves...... if you see someone who isn't Bea Arthur but who looks like this, it might be me.

And if you see someone who is not wearing these shoes but who looks like this, it might be me.
Or someone who is not so thin but who looks like this, it might be me.
So many scarves. So little sense of style.

Lotions and Potions

2011-11-18T11:36:00.011-05:00

Or Why I'm Glad That I Don't Have Hemorrhoids

Look at all this stuff!

I am supposed to use all of it to maintain my youthful beauty or to treat a problem.

There's moisturizer, two kinds, one with SPF 15 to ward off any more skin cancers.

Aldara, to treat the skin cancers I already have.

Some stuff from Bobbi Brown to make me appear less old.

Some Retin-A related cream from the dermatologist to exfoliate any cells that might be thinking of becoming skin cancers.

Some 12% acid AmLactin to treat actinic keratoses I inherited from one of my parents. (Thanks for that.)

Some skin-bleaching cream that, if you saw my hands, you'd know I never remember to use. I prefer to think that the brown patches are just patches of permanent tan from my years in Florida. Also? I can't find it.

Korres Guava lip butter.

And Voltaren to treat the swelling remaining from my knee surgery in August.

I'm old. I get confused. What goes where? And while I've heard that models use Preparation H for under-eye swelling, I thinks it's a good thing that I don't have to put that particular lotion in my inventory. Who knows what could happen?

One Brooklyn Tweed Project Finished/Another to Begin

2011-11-15T09:46:00.009-05:00

This is the Juneberry Triangle, designed by Jared Flood, and knit from Shelter, Wool Socks color yarn. I thought I would NEVER finish it. It is the most difficult, intricate project I have ever made.
The bobbles don't really show well, but there are bobbles. I guarantee, there ARE bobbles. I won't be making those again any time soon. They aren't difficult; they are, for some reason, annoying. Or I'm too impatient with them.

This is BT's newest yarn, Loft, color Camper. It is made from the same wools and with the same process as Shelter, but it is fingering weight. So I'm off to make another lace project called Pei, designed by Michele Wang, and while it is lace, it is much, much easier lace than the lace in the Juneberry.
I need a break.

The Crazy Cat Lady?

2011-11-10T16:06:00.002-05:00

Yarn Bombing Gone

2011-11-05T19:37:00.000-04:00

strange...

Seventeen Evergreen - Polarity Song from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.

Blocking

2011-10-31T16:02:00.003-04:00

With a little help from Baxter, again. He waded around in the bathtub while the shawl soaked and then tried to roll around on the wet shawl as I stretched it out. I evicted him from the room.

This is---FINALLY---the Juneberry Triangle, designed by Jared Flood, and made from his Shelter Yarn, wool socks color. He wrote an entire blog post about how the yarn is spun and all I understand is that is is a process that keeps the yarn very light. This shawl is light as air even though it's worsted weight wool. It is the most complicated knitting I have ever done; it had five...count them...FIVE charts. And no safety rows---like purl all wrong side rows. Nope. Every row had a pattern. But I do think it's pretty and even though there are probably mistakes in it, and maybe a zig where there should be a zag, I think I love it.

I'll know more when it's dry and I can actually put it on.

I had better love it....

Serendipity

2011-10-25T19:33:00.008-04:00

Again.

This time with mawatas. We bought them months and months ago to make silk mittens with. The Yarn Harlot had written about doing this, and we figured, with no good reason, that if she could do it, so could we.

Using this silk as yarn involves pulling these unbelievably thin mawatas, or silk hankies, out and sort of twisting the fiber a bit until the thickness is right for the intended project.

Isn't it pretty?

L and Sallyknit, while we were all in Asheville for SAFF this weekend, tried to turn one of the hankies into yarn. They succeeded, but only in getting what could more accurately be described as thread. They also tried to knit what they pulled into the ribbing for mittens, but that was not successful either. The mittens would have been very teeny-tiny.

On our way home from Asheville, we somehow turned off the road onto the wrong exit road, and ended up sort of ....not lost really...but sort of dislocated. Suddenly Sallyknit yelled, and I do mean yelled, "Yarn!" We stopped on a dime and this is what we saw:
A beautiful yarn shop in Hendersonville, NC. Not only is the shop as perfect inside as it is outside, the owner is a specialist in dyeing fibers, and especially SILK fiber!!! We mentioned our failure with our silk hankies, and she took us to the back of her shop where she was knitting a scarf from a hankie she had dyed herself. The scarf was beautiful.

The owner gave us a little demonstration on pulling silk from the hankie---and no kidding---we can do this! We decided to make scarves instead of mittens---we don't much wear mittens in Georgia, but a silk scarf? We can wear that all year long.

Serendipity. It's a wonderful thing!

2011-10-21T11:57:00.000-04:00

Spinners

2011-10-21T10:40:00.000-04:00

Color

2011-10-21T10:25:00.001-04:00

Uh oh.

2011-10-21T10:18:00.002-04:00

Ooops. Shopping already.

2011-10-21T10:18:00.001-04:00

We have arrived. Now off to see EVERYTHING (but not to buy anything...)

BLOCKING HELP

2011-10-14T13:13:00.004-04:00

That I didn't want or need.

Hmmm....What's this???

(Daughter's sweater soaking)
Testing the water:

All four feet in:
And now out:
And yes, there I was again, taking pictures instead of reinforcing what NO means. But I was so surprised that he would get in the bathtub and the two inches of water in it that I ran for the camera. He was in and out several times, but when he started walking on the sweater, and then, even worse, chewing on one of the long strands of yarn I will use to sew a side seam, I took him out and banished him from the room.

I have never soaked and blocked pieces before sewing an item together before, but in a recent post by the Yarn Harlot she mentioned that she was doing that, and if it works for her, maybe it's a good idea. The sleeves were so curled on the edges that sewing them up would have been difficult. I'll see how this works, once all that heavy wool dries.

Baxter---bad boy!

2011-10-11T15:16:00.005-04:00

Baxter's favorite toys are pipe cleaners. Yesterday, I pulled my address book out of this cabinet and was going to put it back in a few minutes. I had left the door open and Baxter apparently smelled the pipe cleaner supply in there. I saw him on the counter, so I closed the door. When I wasn't looking, Baxter got up on the counter to investigate.He was able to open the door and he grabbed the package and pulled it out.
The rest went onto the floor.
Does he look the least bit guilty?
Hah! He doesn't know what guilt is.

Now I'll have to put a child-proof latch on this cabinet door, just as I had to do with the cabinet where we keep the bread.

Bad kitty!

(And yes, I was taking pictures instead of pulling him off the counter, but I had already pulled him off several times. He was relentless. I pulled out my camera.)

Two Sleeves!!!

2011-10-11T15:06:00.005-04:00

Two knit at one time on one needle:
This is what I'm aiming for, except in green, of course.

and minus the flashes from my camera.

Front and Back

2011-10-05T17:32:00.002-04:00

Finished!!!

Yay!!! Now all I have to do is:
knit two sleeves, which I am doing at the same time on the same needles with two balls of yarn, even though using two balls of yarn at once DRIVES ME CRAZY because they get all twisted up but I don't want Second Sleeve Syndrome because that's worse than Second Sock Syndrome because sweater sleeves are bigger than socks. And then pick up a few thousand stitches around the neck and sleeves to knit a six-inch ribbed collar.
I learned a couple of things making the front and back:

1. Give up sitting in my favorite rocking chair to knit and instead knit at a table where I can have all three pieces of paper in front of me at one time because I have to keep referring from one to the other because the pattern is so %^&* complicated.

2. Use several counters and don't get them mixed up. EVER.

3. How to knit the following types of cables and twists: claw, diamond, large rope, V, plaited and small rope. Yee hah. (Actually, that was sort of fun, once I stopped staring like a deer in the headlights at the instructions.)

4. Keep the cable needle in my mouth AT ALL TIMES so that I don't lose it---again---and have to spend five minutes looking for it.

5. Keep the scissors in my mouth AT ALL TIMES---next time, once I find them---so that I don't have to spend however long it is going to take to find them this time.

All in all, a learning experience. I can't wait to get the whole thing finished so I can admire it and then send it off to younger daughter in LA and be done with it.

(And as a bonus, I bought yarn to make myself one too. Can't wait......)

I am Smitten

2011-10-04T16:29:00.005-04:00

with a British TV series called Doc Martin. I LOVE it. It takes place in Portwenn, a fictional town along the Cornwall coast in England. The characters are wonderful; the scenery is drop dead gorgeous and I swear that everyone who lives in the tiny REAL town (Port Isaac, Cornwall, United Kingdom) has a view of the ocean. The show has the usual mix of British humor and eccentricities. It is on PBS, but on Hulu, I can watch every one of the episodes of the seasons I missed before I discovered the series.

It's perfect.

More History

2011-09-27T17:09:00.007-04:00

Thanks to Ann in NJ, I have found even more history videos. There are millions and millions of them. (well, 53). According to the comments after some of them, they were made by two teachers in Hawaii and they have been used by history teachers all over the country.

So in honor of the approaching Halloween season, I have posted the most gruesome one. (You're welcome.)

If you want to know all sorts of things about history, taught in a decidedly different way, go to You Tube and either learn something or kill a few hours, or both. I can't decide if they are entertainment mainly, or actually good teaching tools.

I report; you decide. Fair and balanced.

Does Anyone

2011-09-23T13:42:00.005-04:00

see a mistake here? Of course not; I fixed it! With a lot of help from "Other Sally" (there are two Sallies-one who knits at the shop and one who knits and works at the shop. Those of us who didn't know her last name just shout Other Sally and she knows who we mean) at knit night last night. She had recently had the same problem and I benefited from her experience.
Now I can knit on. DH asked me if I learned anything from fixing the error--- which took almost all of last night's session. Why yes, I did. I learned to NEVER make this mistake again!

Does Anyone

2011-09-21T13:44:00.002-04:00

See a mistake here?
I do. One of the cables goes over instead of under. DH says it's on the back of the sweater and no one will notice. But I know it's there and it will bug me. And I suspect younger daughter would notice it too and it will be---if I EVER finish it---her sweater.

But not to worry; I have a theory and a plan. I THINK that I can put the stitches on either side of the eight stitches involved on holders and then just un-knit those eight stitches, and re-knit them correctly. I think it might work.

I will take it with me to knit night tomorrow so that if I lose patience or get really, really upset, someone will stop me from throwing the whole thing across the shop or from ripping the whole thing back.

I hope.

Modern History Class?

2011-09-18T12:26:00.007-04:00

I occasionally hear or read about the need for education to make things more interesting/entertaining for kids. Experts say that schools need to use modern technology to get the students' attention because teachers are now competing with all sorts of e-gadgets/social networking, and who knows what else. Of course, since I am a stodgy senior citizen, I can't figure out what is wrong with how I learned things in school---work, sometimes really hard work.

I came across this video about 1066 and the Norman Invasion and the Battle of Hastings (on Ravelry, of all places). Granted, the students will have 1066 embedded in their minds after watching this---but so do I and that was just from reading about it a million years ago.

I guess this is sort of entertaining, in an hypnotic, weird sort of way. But was it intended for the classroom?

It does make me laugh, though.

Hello? 911?

2011-09-17T14:35:00.006-04:00

The girls and I refer to these contraptions, fearfully, not affectionately, as Dad's Kervorkian machines. His goal is to reattach the fan to the ceiling in my knitting/tv room and this is the system he has cobbled together to accomplish that. I am always present for these shenanigans because someone has to call 911.

So far, so good, except that the fan won't turn on. The Kervorkian machine has been disassembled, but it looks as if it might have to go up again.

Did I mention how WOBBLY it is??? And that I'm here to call 911?

Also, not one of the three ladders he has available to him will reach the ceiling in the family room, so it looks as if he will have to go off to Lowe's to rent one.

Mission. Creep.

[Update: The fan works and is quiet. One down; one to go.]

Yummmmm.....

2011-09-13T16:53:00.007-04:00

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman's website, I have just made what I am sure will be a delicious rhubarb cobbler. When I was at the store yesterday I came across some rhubarb and thought---Aha! Time for cobbler. I love rhubarb; my husband does not. He is out of town and I've made it all for meeee. Not that I would have to fight him for it. I called older daughter to check and see if she thought that a fruit cobbler would be appropriate for a breakfast meal and she said yes. (I know how to stack the deck.) Really, it's fruit; it's carbs; it's sugar; it's protein (one egg); what more do I need but coffee?

My parents grew rhubarb and it just occurred to me that I could do the same, but why deprive farmers of their income, I say. So I'll buy it and cook it and eat it and do my part for the economy.

I'm a saint.

A Blog

2011-09-12T17:34:00.002-04:00

Kind of a weird concept, but you knitters and crocheters out there might enjoy this blog. Or something it. It's weird.

DIY

2011-09-12T11:55:00.006-04:00

Not as much fun as HGTV would have you think.

We (and that IS the Royal We) have two projects going at once.

One is to replace drawers in the kitchen that have gone all wobbly and off center when we try to open and close them:

The new drawers were made to order, but don't seem to be the right size. That means adding shims or something to make them fit.
So that means a mess in the kitchen. For how long?

The next project is an example of the dreaded Mission Creep. The fan---missing in this photo---in the room where the TV is and where I usually knit, was making a terrible gronk, gronk, gronk

noise. The fan is 22 years old, and so we decided to replace it.

When we went to Home Depot to choose a fan, I found one I liked but it was too large for my knitting room.

Light bulb moment! Let's put it in the family room, which is the larger room, and take the one from the family room and put it in the knitting room, which is the smaller room. Brilliant!!! So now the family room is missing a fan as well. This is no small concern in the south, where even with air-conditioning, air needs to be constantly moving to keep us comfortable.

But something was wrong with the wiring in the long rod in the family room, and now dH has to go all the way to the ceiling to fix this. He doesn't own a tall enough ladder, so he borrowed one from a neighbor. We have ladders all over the place now.

In the knitting room:

In the hallway:
And we have stuff all over the place. The new blades:
The old but soon to be re-used blades:

The box, the plastic bags, the parts:

AND, much to the delight of my granddaughters, the EYE is still stuck to the ceiling.
The EYE has been on the ceiling since July and shows no signs of falling off. I hope the drawers and fans are installed sooner than the eye drops off because I have been told that that might never happen. It's really sticky...

And Now

2011-09-07T15:19:00.005-04:00

I have finished another project. One of these socks has been without its partner for so long that I don't remember when I started on it. But now there are two. I love the yarn: Rio de la Plata, kettle dyed, 100% pure new wool from Uruguay. The yarn is soft and the colors are spun together in a really interesting way. If I were a spinner, I could probably tell you how, but I have no clue.

At last week's knit night, one of the knitters (Hi Deanna) showed us how she knits two socks at once on a 40-inch long circular needle. The way she described the method almost made sense to me; I think I could do it with a little coaching. But I can't decide which method is better psychologically. I used dpns for this pair of socks, and for a long time I had one sock completed. That's it. If I had used the circular needle method, I would have had two one-half socks completed. I don't know which outcome would bother/nag at me more.

And now for something completely different. This is a photo of some of the fire in the Austin, Texas area. This is a view from west of downtown looking east. Scary. Daughter says that there are so many fires that Austin is almost surrounded. Governor Perry cut the budget for volunteer fire departments, who are the first responders to 90% of wild fires in the state, by 75% this year. Seems like a bad idea now, but who would have thought that there could be such bad fires during fire season after the driest, hottest summer on record?

Finally!

2011-09-03T17:22:00.005-04:00

I've finished a project!!! It's the Clapotis (here on Ravelry) that I started in May. It's easy, fun and a great take-along project. The only change in the pattern from row to row comes before the first marker and after the last. The rest of the row remains the same, over and over. The rows on the back are purl rows. This took such a long time because I made it with Malabrigo sock yarn (Persia color).

I think this is the first thing I've finished in F.O.R.E.V.E.R.I'm working on this sweater for my younger daughter. Unlike the Clapotis, EVERY row in the 24-row repeat is different. I can't knit this at knit night because I can't concentrate well enough, and I doubt that I could recruit another knitter there to read every row to me so that I could work on it. They are nice people, but they expect to be able to work on their own knitting.

Maybe a bribe????

Can You Say Paradise?

2011-08-31T10:58:00.006-04:00

Doc told me that if I want to walk for pt, I needed to walk in the pool, and this morning was my first "walk." The weather is glorious; the pool water is just the right temperature, and the pool is salt-water purified---no chlorine odor. The time is right for a re-run of my pool/teaching story and here it is:

Paradise is what our neighborhood pool felt like today. For some reason, once the end of summer vacation comes and the kids are all back in school, no one comes to the pool, and so I have it to myself. It was lovely this morning: the bluest, cloudless skies; no noise except for the birds and whatever the noisy insects in the trees are; perfect temperature and humidity; and the occasional, silvery corporate jet gliding noiselessly overhead, very high in the cloudless blue sky. I have said for decades that the only thing I would trade my soul for is my very own swimming pool. Natas, are you listening?

When I lived in Florida, I was a regular long-term substitute teacher in a school for the gifted. It was a separate facility, on its own campus, and the students had to meet IQ and other ability requirements to qualify for the school. The kids were amazingly bright, smarter than most of the teachers probably, and teaching there required that the teacher’s ego could stand knowing that if a student questioned something, it was OK to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out.” We couldn’t fool these kids. Since it was a separate school, the kids weren’t bullied by the types of people who would call them “geeks” or “nerds.” They may have called each other that at times, but all in teasing fun. They tended to spark off each other so classes were never dull and it was a blast to teach there.

One student has stayed in my memory. His name was Joe, but when I took over the class for the remainder of the year at the start of second semester, I couldn’t figure out who he was; he signed his papers “Natas.” I asked Natas to let me know what his real name was so that I could record his grades correctly in the grade book. Turns out, he was signing "Natas" because that is "Satan" spelled backwards. It was meant to shock, I’m sure, but I just said “OK.” Let’s just say that Joe was dancing to his own music. He was sort of Goth before Goth was even in existence and occasionally got in trouble for his behavior and his appearance, but all in all, he seemed like a nice kid. His poor father was called in once for a conference after Joe had done something wrong, and he certainly was rattled by his son’s behavior. He said to me, “Do you know he signs ‘Natas’ on his papers?”

Well, yes I did, and I told him it didn’t worry me, that it was just meant to shock and it wasn’t working. He finally bought his son a computer (before the days when every home had one, let alone multiple, computers), hoping that using it would inspire better work. Oddly enough, Joe started signing his papers “Joe *anonymous*, 3rd.” I guess he liked how his actual name looked in print.

We teachers wondered what would happen to Joe. Would he end up a bored office worker? A conservative, right-wing Republican, very strict with his own children? I hope not. I hope he’s found a creative and fun way to make a living, and is able to use his sort of odd outlook on life in a way that he and those around him can appreciate. It’s just one of those things I will probably never know….

Knittergran?

What? Who’s there?

It's me, Natas.

Huh? Wha…?

Quitcher bitchin.

What?

Didn’t you just go on and on about how no one is at the pool and the weather is perfect and blah, blah, blah?

Well, yes.

So you already have your own pool. Stop bugging me. I don’t want your soul. Geeze, you’re practically circling the drain aren't you?

Uh, well, I hope not, but...

Well, you're old. So there's not much soul there for me to work with, right?

Well, Ohh...kay . I see your point.

Good.

Yikes!

Just My Luck

2011-08-29T11:56:00.006-04:00

After I went through physical therapy to strengthen my leg to help support my bad knee, I found the perfect gym for me. It was small, not fancy---no pool, steam room, sauna, fancy dressing room---and I joined it. I went there for a couple of weeks until my knee gave out on me.

So now I have had the surgery and am back in physical therapy. After my surgery I received a letter from a big gym, LA Fitness, telling me that they had bought out my old gym and when I brought my old membership card in, LA fitness would swap it out for a membership card at their gym.

Rats. I loved my gym. It was small, never crowded and had exactly the equipment I needed. LA fitness has the equipment as well, but it's filled with people like this:

Young women in great shape:
Men who think they look like this:
But who actually look like this:
My old gym was not in the least intimidating. Everyone there was sort of middle aged and older, and I never saw anyone in great shape there, just people like me trying to be in better shape. No show-offs.

And my old gym cost $12.00 a month. LA Fitness is honoring that fee for six months, and then it will go up to $39.00 a month.

I hope I can find a new no-frills gym close by, but the attendant at LA Fitness told me that a gym charging $12/month can't last long.

Rats.

Aw, Shucks

2011-08-26T14:58:00.006-04:00

Will I ever learn?

This skirt has been too big for forever, but I kept telling myself that it was just an illusion, that once I had more of it finished I could try it on and it would fall just right and it would fit.

It doesn't.

SO, I guess I will start over.

DAY...UM. But it is my own fault.

On the Road Again!!!

2011-08-23T13:18:00.003-04:00

Watch out world! I'm free!

I can drive!

I just had my stitches removed!

I can bend my knee!

I can stop trying to scrub off the yellow blobs and streaks of betadyne! (turns out it's not betadyne; it's bruising)

My knee still looks like a grapefruit and I have a couple of months of pt ahead, but one week to the day after surgery, I'm in the home stretch.

After the appointment with my doctor, I went to Whole Foods to get yummy stuff. Apparently my body has missed fruit, because when I unloaded the bags at home, I realized that I had bought about $70 of fruit. And one ear of corn. (dH is out of town for the week.)

Yum.

Make It Stop!

2011-08-22T13:56:00.007-04:00

I think I have mini-bi-polar disease. Since my knee surgery last Tuesday, I have been housebound, save for one RIDE IN THE CAR!!! My husband wouldn't let me open the window and hang my head out to catch the wind, but still, I was out of the house.

Today, suddenly I HAD to clean the refrigerator. No lie. I cleaned the refrigerator.

And then I returned to my whiny self. Ohhh, mykneeisthesizeofagrapefruit. Poor, poor me. Time for ice and wallowing in some self pity.

And then there were all these papers on my desk. I MUST deal with them. RIGHT NOW! Where did they come from??? What are they??? I sorted through them, wrote checks, paid bills, and shredded the very important potential identity theft papers. Whew....

ooops. Back to whining. Poor, poor me. Mykneeisstillthesizeofagrapefruit. Really, really, poor, poor me. Sniff....sniff.

I get the stitches out tomorrow and I'm going to ask the doctor if it's true that anesthesia affects a person for ten days after surgery because sweet baby jeebus, this is no fun.

And I have watched way.too.much.tv. No more Hoarding: Buried Alive for me.

So I Just Had Knee Surgery

2011-08-18T10:45:00.004-04:00

and my friend told me that the anesthesia takes ten days to leave the body. Maybe the presence of the anesthesia might explain why I giggle when I watch this.

Or maybe not. I might just be silly.

Bad A** Baxter? Not My Kitty!!!

2011-08-14T10:42:00.005-04:00

A little over a year ago, we adopted a rescue kitten and named him Baxter. He is a sweet, sweet kitty! He snuggles, he plays, he sleeps. He is so good natured that he even let 8-year old Lily haul him around when she was here for a visit. She took him repeatedly from point A (the counter, the table, the washer and dryer) to point B (the floor, the floor, the floor). He didn't protest AT ALL. He is such a GOOD boy!

And then last week, he had his one-year check up and I didn't recognize this cat who has lived with us for the past year.

There was a pen of cute, cute kittens in the reception area, and since Baxter is an only cat and an indoor cat, I thought that he might like to meet some of his own species. I put his carrier down near the pen so that they could all meet. The kittens were thrilled. They wanted to meet Baxter, play with Baxter, love on Baxter; Baxter hissed. And hissed some more.

We went into the exam room where I let him out of his carrier and he was quite happy to wander around and sniff all the new smells.

The vet tech came in. She talked sweetly to him. He hissed.

The vet came in. When it was time for Baxter's shot, the vet took ahold of the area where the shot would go, and Baxter WENT CRAZY. Batsh*t CRAZY! He tried to bite the vet; he tried to claw the vet; he hissed at the vet.

I was mortified. I apologized. He has never done any of this before!!! I promised. I apologized some more and then asked if someone could trim Baxter's nails.

We can try, the vet answered through clenched teeth. He took Baxter away to a different room. I don't know what happened, but Baxter's nails were trimmed and we were sent on our way.

Once we were home, my sweet Baxter returned. I don't know who that cat was at the vet's.

Not MY Baxter.

My Sous Chef Wannabee

2011-08-09T17:07:00.004-04:00

Baxter!!! No!!!

The Eye

2011-08-04T11:36:00.005-04:00

It's watching us.

When the grandchildren are here, I put toys in the top drawer of a dresser that they use and they have fun finding odds and ends of small things. This time, I put an eye in a teacup in the drawer, but after a couple of days had passed and they hadn't looked in the drawer, I told them to go look.

The eye is icky. It's sort of sticky and it squishes. So of course, one of the grandchildren (I'm not saying who; I'm protecting the identity of the guilty.) threw it against a wall and it stuck. That prompted said child to toss the eye to the ceiling---two stories above the family room. And there it remains, keeping watch over us. We could reach it using a yardstick while standing in the hallway on the second floor.

But I'm kind of curious to see how long it will stay there.

I Big Red Heart Apple

2011-08-02T15:23:00.003-04:00

I had an appointment with a brilliant young man named Mark at the local Apple store this morning, and he was able to answer EVERY SINGLE QUESTION I had about using my new Mac. ALL OF THEM!!! So now I know everything I currently need to know.

The only problem is.....

How am I supposed to remember it all????

Let Your Kid Have a Computer

2011-08-01T09:57:00.002-04:00

and she steals your blog post.

(Hey, H! I was gonna write that!)

I know. I know. He who hesitates is lost.

Letter to my daughter, who owns a Mac and knows EVERYTHING about them

2011-07-31T11:29:00.003-04:00

about my new Mac, with which I am not yet in love:

I can't open excel spreadsheets with my Mac...whine...

I can't sync my Mac and my Iphone....whine...

I can't find the tutorials in my Mac....whine...

Help????

(I should wait for Tuesday morning's private session at Apple?)

But I want help NOW!!!

whine....whine....whine....

Is Something Wrong With This???

2011-07-22T13:46:00.001-04:00

Betting it's in Texas.

A Shot of Cortisone for My Knee

2011-07-21T21:02:00.007-04:00

A shot of tequila for the rest of me.

A couple of months ago, the knee I had surgery on in 2009 started hurting---a lot. So off I went to my orthopedist. He took x-rays. He prescribed physical therapy, Voltarin and ice.

I did everything I was supposed to do, and was discharged from pt two weeks early, with a perfectly pain-free knee. I continued my exercises, went to a gym, and my wonderful knee lasted......two weeks. That was it.

So here I go again. I studied the knee chart in the exam room while I waited for the doctor and after that lengthy and comprehensive course of study, I diagnosed bursitis of the knee.

The doctor came in and suggested that I am wrong. Torn meniscus (again) maybe. Torn cartilage, maybe. Degenerative arthritis, maybe. He said he could tell more from an autopsy.

No, he didn't say that. I may have watched too many episodes of NCIS. He said that he could tell more from an MRI, which is scheduled for next Tuesday, with a follow up on Thursday.

In the meantime, I'm counting on the cortisone to reduce or eliminate the pain, so I can party while the grandchildren are still here.

And there is always more tequila.

What Fresh Hell is This?

2011-07-17T12:59:00.007-04:00

Baxter asked, when on Wednesday younger daughter arrived from LA. He had already spent a week running away from one normal sized person and four small people. And now there was one more.

It was a tough time for Baxter until he discovered the benefits of extra people. Especially the small ones.

Toys to investigate. Bags to knock over and crawl into.

Soft places to sleep.

Suitcases to crawl into.

Lots of STUFF everywhere!

What more could he ask for?

New beverages to stick his paw in to test-taste.

And yesterday, after I went all through the house, looking under beds and in closets calling for him, when I went into the tv/knitting room, there he was, on top of his cat condo, ignoring my calls. "What? I'm watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid with my peeps. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Scram."

I think he has adjusted to all of this, and will miss all these small people when they leave.

They're Here!

2011-07-09T10:16:00.005-04:00

To preserve our sanity, I decided all visitors' shoes should be in one place to avoid the "Where are my shoes????" every time we go someplace.

We'll see how long it lasts.

Baxter hid the first day, came out and snooped the second, and today, he's wandering, but staying a step ahead of the small people. I bet he'll miss them when they are gone.

Would it be Wrong

2011-07-05T12:55:00.003-04:00

to pay grandchildren a bounty for dust bunnies?

It would save on vacuuming. Just a thought........

Deer in the Headlights

2011-07-05T11:45:00.006-04:00

Now I know what he feels like.

Tomorrow my older daughter and her four children, ages 10, 8, almost 5, and almost 3 arrive.

I am trying to be ready. Last year, I was very organized but I discovered that with four young personalities, there are no guarantees that plans will be successful. This year I am not organized, and I'm hoping that if I have enough of the basics (snacks, toilet paper), all will go well.

Baxter has no idea what he is in for. He has never been around children en masse, so watching him adjust, if he does, should be interesting.

Poor Baxter?/Happy Baxter? Time will tell.

And Baxter said "Hah!"

2011-06-28T16:32:00.004-04:00

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

Nevermind.

Oh, what to do? What to do?

2011-06-25T15:02:00.004-04:00

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

2011-06-20T10:42:00.011-04:00

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

2011-06-12T12:05:00.004-04:00

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

2011-06-08T16:22:00.006-04:00

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

2011-06-07T12:33:00.007-04:00

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

2011-06-05T11:50:00.013-04:00

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.

AGE

2011-05-31T09:57:00.003-04:00

On Getting Older

Lately, three things have come to my attention about the issue of getting older.

One:

There was a list going around on the internet on the topic of the advantages of getting older. One was that no one would accuse us of being hypochondriacs. not.funny. (Well, it sort of is, but you know what I mean.)

Two:

I listened to a man on NPR (being old and all, I can’t remember if he was a doctor or a researcher) who said that we shouldn’t call getting older aging; we should call it-----Deterioration. Not nice. Not nice at all.

And Three:

I think of myself as ME! Just plain ME. Yes, I know I’m older than I used to be. But when someone speaking about a group of people she had encountered at an event said to me: They were about your age, I thought, Wait, WHAT?

I thought I was just me, a bit older than I used to be yes, but just me. I hadn’t realized that OTHER people knew this. I thought they just thought of me as ME. Not OLD me.

My cover is blown? Or I had no cover to begin with….I was just fooling myself?

Maybe I will go for this look.

I think she's having fun.

Pioneer Woman and Memorial Day

2011-05-30T12:07:00.000-04:00

Pictures speak a thousand words, maybe even more.

Just for Fun

2011-05-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

Confusion

2011-05-27T13:08:00.005-04:00

Reigns.

I used a provisional cast on for the skirt I am starting. It is supposed to be an easy way to hold live stitches. If I had used my brain, I would have remembered that I could have just cast the stitches on to my Knit Picks interchangeable needles, then taken the points off and capped the cord and kept the live stitches on the cord. But instead I crocheted a chain and knit into it.

The idea is that the red yarn would just pull out easily as I picked up the live stitches. I have tried picking up from both ends, but the waste yarn will not pull out. So I have just spent 45 minutes picking up stitches one by one, and clipping out the waste yarn stitch by stitch. And I'm only about a third of the way around the 222 stitches. Aaacccckkk.
And at last night's knit night, after I finished all the rows I needed for the skirt waistband, I started an EASY project, the Clapotis scarf. Sallyknit was wearing hers and I loved it, so since I really, really need another scarf, I picked out this lovely Malabrigo sock yarn, colorway 852 Persia, to make my Clapotis. I cast on, knit 14 rows, and pulled them out twice. It's EASY, says everyone at knit-night. Not for me, apparently. So once I finish the mess I've made of the Hip in Hemp skirt cast on, I'll try the Clapotis again.

Knitting is fun. Knitting is fun. Knitting is fun.

Hydrangeas and an Air Horn

2011-05-23T17:38:00.010-04:00

Lacecap Hydrangea:

I don't remember the names of any of my hydrangeas and the little tags that came with them are long gone. But a hydrangea by any name would be as lovely.

I LOVE them!

Also, while watching coverage of the terrible tornadoes last night in Missouri, I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for anyone in the path of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding) to have on hand an air horn. I would hate to be buried under layers of a building turned to rubble and not be able to shout loudly enough to be found. An air horn would take care of that. I used to have one that I bought for my daughters to carry in their cars, but they both thought I was crazy and never took it. So it's somewhere in the house, I think. I should find it and put it in the cubby that we think of as our tornado shelter.

Otherwise, I'll have to get another, and I don't remember where they are sold.

But Not Yesterday

2011-05-22T19:45:00.007-04:00

Apocalypse not.

Whew, says Baxter.

Apocalypse Now?

2011-05-21T09:36:00.003-04:00

That's what I've been hearing. My older daughter says that it's supposed to happen at 6 pm local time everywhere...a sort of rolling rapture.

I hope I'm still here tomorrow, as I forgot to sign up for post-rapture petcare and Baxter loves to eat.

I think I'm safe. I'll be here.

Summit Shawl

2011-05-16T11:31:00.004-04:00

Finished, now blocking. It is shorter than I like, but I unintentionally made it one column wider, and that is the reason. I didn't discover that I had miscounted until the shawl was well under way, and I wasn't about to rip it out. It will have to do.

It looks complicated, but it's not. It is just very time consuming because of all of the back and forth knitting and purling on small numbers of stitches. Turning and turning the work.

And now on to something completely different: One of my peonies. I LOVE peonies!

Dumb Luck

2011-05-15T15:37:00.004-04:00

I have just finished the Summit Shawl. That tiny ball of yarn above is all I have left and, boy howdy, am I lucky. I never once weighed the yarn or the shawl to see how much I had used by this point or that point, so I had no idea how long to keep on knitting. AND I had never actually read ALL of the directions (dumb, lazy luck) to know that I had to finish on a left-curving section in order for the bind off instructions to work. I just kept on going and suddenly noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of yarn left. But I had just worked a left-curving section. So I was golden. Whew.

I'd rather be lucky than smart? Not really, but I'll accept it here.

Now, (past exonerative tense here, since I will admit no blame) mistakes were made. But I can fix/hide them, so once I have done that, and tied off the ends, and blocked it, this shawl is over. Thank doG.

Why, I Oughta.....

2011-05-13T15:44:00.006-04:00

What rights or recourse do I have with a business I pay nothing to? No contract. No money.

No recourse, you say?

Well, never mind then. But Blogger deleted yesterday's post ( although not just mine, SO THEY SAY) and some of you might have missed this.

And you might have missed the ~~20 or 30~~ two comments about the video. So it's back.

As an apology for the icky video, here are some pictures of flowers in my garden:

My clematis.

Water Lily.

Water Lily in the pond. We put it in about a month ago on the recommendation of a pond supply business. The large leaves will help obscure the fish (if there are any left) so that the visiting heron won't have such an easy time picking them off.

I love having flowers in my own back yard!

Update: Well, those tricky folks at Blogger. Now they have re-posted yesterday's post, but not the ~~20 or 30~~ two comments. C'mon guys!!!

So Wrong It's Right?

2011-05-12T12:48:00.000-04:00

No, that's not it. It's not right.

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right?

Nope, that's not it.

Uh, it's just plain WRONG! In so many ways. But I watched it anyway.

Now I'll share it with you.

You're welcome.

(With thanks to Rants from Mommyland)

Good News/Bad News

2011-05-10T10:03:00.007-04:00

The good news: My Claudia Handpainted Yarn, Ocean Depth color, is finally here and I can knit the Hip in Hemp skirt.

The bad news: My Claudia Handpainted Yarn, Ocean Depth color, is finally here and I can knit the Hip in Hemp skirt. (I don't understand the pattern yet.)

Isn't it pretty??? I know that I'll figure it out once I get the stitches on the needles.

!!!!!!!

2011-05-05T12:04:00.003-04:00

What the heck is this and what is it doing in my house!!! It is almost three inches in length.

Does it bite??? Is it dangerous???

Well, not any more. I vacuumed him up. I hope that serves as a warning.

These Boots Were Made for

2011-05-04T15:30:00.004-04:00

ME!!!

I'm just back from Austin and visiting my four grandchildren (and their parents). I had a great time. They are all fun and...quite often, quite unintentionally...funny. We all had a good time until the very last few minutes there. We were just about set to leave for the airport when grandson (age 4) ran and then fell, hitting his chin on the coffee table CORNER. Ouch.

So off went daughter and grandson to the ER and off went my son-in-law, two-year old granddaughter and me to the airport. Grandson ended up with three stitches (poor little guy) and I ended up languishing on the runway for an additional 1 1/2 hours because of a groundstop in Atlanta.

But grandson is fine today and thanks to the versed he was given in the hospital, has no memory of the trauma part of the ER visit.

And I am back in Atlanta...sniff...and still waiting for the Claudia Handpaint to show up so that I can knit the second skirt that I need to wear with my new boots.

Yee Haw, y'all!