A Sock!

I finished a sock!

Now I need another one!

Back From Austin

We are back from Austin, where we had a great Christmas with both daughters, son-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren. They might not be so wonderful for their parents for a few days - I did my best to spoil them. They didn't hear the word "No" from me!

I did not get my coveted turquoise Thunderbird (sniff, sniff) but younger daughter did give me this sparkly case for my I-phone. She knows well that I love all things sparkly, and potentially a bit gaudy, so this is a perfect gift. She also helped me find some glitter eye shadow, which I first saw on a waitress in Sayulita three years ago and have wanted ever since.

I thought that with this sparkly case, I would now be the envy of 12-year old girls everywhere, but then my 7-year old granddaughter stopped dead in her tracks and gazed longingly at it. She loves sparkles too. So perhaps I am the envy of 7-year olds everywhere.

What doesn't a TSA agent like to see? Long pointy things in the x-rays of luggage. I had wrapped these cool mushrooms (gift from older daughter and family, handmade by an artist in Austin) in bubble wrap to keep the stems from snapping off in transit, but they showed up in the x-ray machine. The TSA agent went through my luggage, finally saying in bewilderment, "She (the x-ray agent) says that there is something long and pointy in here."

At which point, my brain clicked on and I said, "Oh! Those are my mushrooms!"

Huh?

So we had to take them out and x-ray them separately.

I apologized for the mushrooms; he apologized for the delay, and all was well in the Austin Airport once again.

This is a gift from DH, but found by younger daughter at a crafts fair in Los Angeles. A mother/daughter team uses old knitted sweaters, felts them, and uses the felt to make pillows and designs. I love this pillow and have a favorite bird, the third from the top, right in the center of the pillow. He looks particularly cheerful to me.

While I was in Austin and not feeding sugary treats to grandchildren, I worked on the Yarn Harlot's one-row pattern scarf and finished it up last night. It's made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, colorway - Franklin's Panopticon. I made it on size 8 needles, and it's a bit lacy, but I'm leaving it as is. Otherwise I would have to take it all out, use smaller needles, increase the number of stitches, and use much more yarn. I'm too lazy for all of that.

So today is New Year's Eve Day. DH came home from Austin sick with some sort of head/chest thing and sounds as if he is at death's door. I have a pot roast in the crock pot and some splits of champagne in the refrigerator. AND, just too exciting for words - the plumber just left after installing a new water heater. The old one had a leak, which fortunately didn't blow all out while we were gone.

Woo hoo.

I hope your New Year's Eve is more exciting than mine and wish you a

Happy New Year!

Just a Jumble of Thoughts

Because that's all I'm capable of today.

I started off the day by opening my computer to check e-mailed photos a friend had sent me of the snow around her home in West Virginia. I saw the photos, and then Windows Vista Home Premium (the world's WORST operating system) took over, telling me that it was installing a major update, the first one there has been since I bought the computer.

(Yay, thought I. Maybe now the computer will actually WORK! And be FAST! And not FREEZE!)

So it installed, and installed, and installed. It installed for about two hours and then shut itself down.

Great, thought I. Now I get my computer back. I can download the knitting pattern I need; I can download the shortbread recipe I need; I can check blogs; I can look at Ravelry; I can...................................................................................................................................................................


do none of those things because this is what the screen said:

So even the updates for the world's WORST operating system don't work.

Of course they don't.

So then Windows Vista Home Premium (the world's WORST operating system) spent another hour or so "reverting" back to the original crummy and s.l.o.w. system it has always been.

Yippee.


Now on to something completely different:

I have been trying out yarns for the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf. I can't find the link to that specific post, but the pattern was free on her blog, so I will print it here:

Cast 26 stitches onto size 8 needles.
Row 1: *knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1.
Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2.

Just keep doing that row until the scarf is as long as you want it, or until you start hating the project, then cast off.

This is what it looks like in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, colorway - Franklin's Panopticon:

I like it! And it's certainly easy enough for me to do on a jumbled-up day.

My first try was with some Noro Blossom yarn I bought a couple of years ago at an LYS sale:

The colors and textures of the yarn are so varied that the stitch pattern didn't show up at all. I have yet to figure out what to do with this yarn, so it's going back to time-out for now.

And now for something completely different, again:

I usually scan through the Sunday New York Times engagement/wedding announcements because they are, well, unusual. People submit their own stories and information, and then hope, pray, dance, do spells and whatever else they can think of to get their announcement published in the Times.

This leads to some weird/interesting announcements. When we first met in 1998, we didn't like each other at all, says the groom, but later, after meeting again at......., we fell in love.

That sort of thing, but with lots more detail.

The announcement that caught my eye today was for the wedding of .................., the groom, age 61, and .............., the bride, age 56. After all the usual stuff - parents (deceased), schools (long ago so who really cares), jobs (nice) - the last paragraph simply stated:

The bride's first marriage ended in divorce, as did the groom's first two marriages.

And that's all she wrote.

I just think that's an odd thing to put in a wedding announcement.

And that's all I wrote.

My Favorite Socks

This is my favorite pair of socks so far. I've knit quite a few socks from many different yarns, and while this Lorna's Laces (Shepherd Sock, hand-dyed, 80% superwash wool, 20% nylon, color 502-Sassy Stripe) isn't necessarily the softest I've used (I think Paca Ped and Crystal Palace Mini Mochi are the softest) I love them the best-because of the colors! Older daughter and I each bought enough for a pair at Gauge in Austin, Texas and have both made socks. I love them!

On the other hand, there's the Mini-Mochi lace scarf. Grrrr.... The lace fought me for every stitch and I swear I ripped out more rows than I knitted (take my word for it-it is possible). So here it is, finished:

And that's all I'll say about that.

Oops...

This past weekend, I went to Austin to visit my wonderful, perfect, gorgeous and funny grandchildren (and their parents). I had a great time just watching and listening to them. Yesterday we stuffed them in the hot car (it was HOT in Austin-over 100 every day, and one day, even 105!!!) to take them to lunch, and then to a new yarn shop in town. It's called Gauge and it's great! Lots of gorgeous yarns to pet and drool over. The woman there was very nice, and didn't even seem to mind 22-month old grandson "admiring" the yarn. I told older daughter that she was to stop me from buying any more yarn, but she must not have been listening, because, oops, I ended up with this:
It's Lorna's Laces hand-dyed Shepherd Sock Yarn (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon) and it is really, really soft and the colors are ...well, you can see the colors. My daughter and I each bought the same colorway, and will make socks out of it. Great minds think alike.

However, I REALLY had not intended to buy yarn, but resistance was futile. One of the best reasons to knit socks is that no matter where you are, if you see a sock yarn you love, you know how much you need. The same is not true of sweaters and other items, so you end up either buying a new pattern in order to buy the yarn, or you leave the yarn in the shop for another knitter. But you can ALWAYS buy sock yarn!

And if you live in Austin, and love this particular colorway in Lorna's Laces, too late---we beat you to it and bought it all. Sorry...