One More Reason to get an iPhone

Check out this app -  I tried it out at TNNA and it worked beautifully. 

Now if only I could keep my Verizon service and have an iPhone, I think I’d do it.  My sibs and I are all on Verizon so I can blabber with my sisters all the time for no minutes and no long distance.

MLE

Only to discover there is nothing retrograde — it’s just me.

If I were a twitterer, here’s what my morning tweets would have looked like—I discovered lots of things:

6:45 am Pick up last night’s knitting work only to discover that that the two pieces that are supposed to be the same width are no where near the same. Rip out.

7:15, Having already gotten dressed to go to early meeting where I am expected to look professional, ready to leave the house, only to discover that the top I recently hand washed was still a bit ‘fragrant’ in one underarm. No time to change, which would require ironing. Get Febreeze out and squirt on underarm of blouse.

Hey, it really works. Maybe it will work on clothes right from the hamper, too.  It says “With hints of white floral, green freshness, and rich amber” Certainly better than what I was smelling.

7:25 Spill tea on pants getting into car with cup of tea. At least they are dark tan/taupe and the tea won’t stain.

7:30 Road closure on most direct route to highway.

8:00 Arrive at meeting only to discover that I had forgotten to RSVP.

8:05 Spill half my decaf coffee on the floor, a linoleum floor, anyway.

8:06 –Go to rest room to get paper towels to wipe up coffee, only to discover when I looked in the mirror that I was wearing two different earrings. Should I take one out and pretend I lost the other one? Left both in, no one will notice, anyway.

8:15 – Woman sitting next to me asks if I know I am wearing two different earrings. (Not at total stranger, anyway.) Knit thru dull presentation, only ripping a row or two.

9:30 Arrive back at my office only to discover that the meeting I thought I had next Tuesday was actually today, and they are waiting in the lobby. The receptionist tried to call me, but my phone was turned off. All this in the first few hours.

Sonia Sotomayor is really my kind of gal -  fractures her ankle on the way to her Supreme Court appointment hearing.  I bet she had on matching earrings, though.

Gale asked some good questions in her comment about the razor shell.  I’ll try to post answers and photos for that tomorrow, before I leave for TNNA on Thursday.

MLE

Jinxed?

Some projects just seem to not want to be made.  The mysterious felting lace stole for my S-in-L is one of them.  After winding up my new (old) yarn and swatching for something simple that would require no blocking more complicated than a sweater, I went with the the  stitch pattern I used on my Openwork Rib Scarf.  I worked it at a tighter gauge, cast on more stitches and set off.  It looked beautiful, but about 10″ into it, I realized that it was consuming yarn at an alarming rate.  There is no chance to buy more of this yarn, since I don’t know what it is, and can’t remember where I got it.  I hemmed and hawed (and kept knitting) for a few days, then gave up and ripped it out while I was in a meeting.  This was in lieu of tearing my hair out, I think.  This meeting was so boring and dragged on for so long, and was so stupefying, I actually began  thinking that “Attachment A” would be a good name for a band.

Now what?  My usual go-to in a situation like this is the lace-stitch-that-never-lets-you-d0wn,  Feather and Fan.  That wasn’t an option, since the feather and fan baby blanket I made recently was for the daughter of the stole recipient, and I don’t want them to think that’s the only stitch I know. (Knitter’s vanity?)

I found inspiration over at She Shoots Sheep Shots, and started trying Razor Shell variations.  It’s a nice simple pattern, easily varied, and requires little blocking — all good things.  I began fooling around with decreases and decided that in the black yarn  it looks crisp and modern when you use a centered double decrease instead of the SlK2tog PSSO.

This is a swatch I use in my increases and decreases class that illustrates the difference, but in Print of the Hoof, rather than Razor Shell. Sorry about the color, but it is hard to see it in the black of the stole.  I tried holding it up somehow with the window behind it, as Ms. Raveller does, but not very successfully.  She either has hooks or help.

I cast on (again)  and set off (again. )  About 10″ in to the stole, (my magic number, I guess)  I realized I needed more garter stitch at the edges to prevent curling, and really needed one more repeat for the desired width.  Sigh.  The good news is that the yarn has held up well under repeated ripping, and therefore shouldn’t felt when she flings it over her shoulders on the way out the door. I’m at 16″ now, so the jinx must be broken.

Which makes me wonder -  did any of you say ‘jinx’ as a kid when you and a friend said something at the same time?  I did, but I don’t remember it meaning bad luck.  Except there might have been shoulder punching involved when you said ‘jinx’; I think that comes from having brothers.  Punches are frequently involved in many rituals involving brothers.

MLE

A Good Day to Dry

It was a beautiful weekend, Chris and her mates were drying newly dyed yarn.  I was drying newly washed (and oldly knitted) garments.  I like being able to do this out-of-doors, they seem really fresh that way when I fold them up and put them in the cedar chest.  Of course, I do remove those silver maple helicopters.

White Pine Manor

In the housing biz, we joke that the names of housing developments represent what the bulldozers removed – Willow Ridge, Quail Run, Babbling Brook. In this case, the high density high rise next door truly is a White Pine.

If you click to enlarge, you can see the penthouse a bit. It belongs to a pair of red-tailed hawks, who have recently given birth to a pair of downy fledglings. They are sharing the tree with nests of robins, mourning doves and at least three grackle nests. This causes a great deal of conflict. Noisy conflict, especially early in the morning.

Here is one of the penthouse residents. (Please click to enlarge.  I just figure out how to do that after several years.) Thanks to my neighbor for the great photo. He climbed up on his roof to take it and is waiting to get some shots of the fledglings.

As often happens in high density housing, neighbors don’t always agree, and sometimes there are a few who are loud and obnoxious; ones who make life unpleasant for others.  At White Pine Manor, it’s the grackles.  They are driving me nuts. They squawk unpleasantly and constantly. They pester the red tail mother incessantly, until she flies away in search of food. Or perhaps some peace and quiet.  The robins chase the grackles, the doves just wing whistle around and the goldfinches seem to ignore the whole show.  I’m not sure where they nest.  Sitting outside after dinner is like Wild Kingdom.

The red tails are birds of prey, are they not? –I don’t understand why the hawks don’t just lunch the grackles. If anyone has good ideas related to good riddance to grackles that don’t involve pellet guns, please let me know.

Fleegle recently described the results of sharing lurid fun fur yarn with her bird neighbors. I know it repels many knitters, perhaps there is a variety that would repel the grackles?

Felted Lace

This is a sad tale of denial.  Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.  (We’ll come back to the overwhelming evidence.)

In my case, denial has caused me to keep knitting a lace stole, pretending that it is not felting as I knit it.

“The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether.”  This stole is not felted.

“…admit the fact but deny its seriousness.” Yes, it’s felted, but it might look nicer this way.

“Admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility.” It just happened.  Right there in the bag, while I was off knitting something else.  It resents me, that’s what happened.

I started this project nearly a year ago, as a birthday gift for my sister in law.  She asked for a black lace stole, and I figured it would be for her big birthday in late August.  Plenty of time.  I swatched and tried different yarns, stitches, even combining yarns, till I settled on a lovely little 4-row repeat using Malabrigo Laceweight.

The combination was attractive, and  it was a compact enough project to stuff in a little pouch and carry in my briefcase.  I was a little frustrated at how slowly the stole was growing.  I can’t believe how long it took me to figure out that my lovely little 4-row repeat triples the number of stitches in row 1, works the larger number in rows 2 and 3, then reduces down to the original count in row 4.  No wonder it was taking so long to generate a few inches of stole. No problem, I can finish it, I have plenty of time.

I pretty much ignored the slow poke stole for many months, since I have until August to finish.  I pulled it out to work on it one day and discovered it had FELTED.  How could this have happened?  Did my water bottle leak into my briefcase?  (Briefcase is a grandiose term for a giant bag I take to work.)  Well, never mind.  I can probably block it out.  I kept knitting.  Really, I kept believing this would work out.  I spent a whole day at a meeting knitting, and gained about 5 inches.  A week or so later, I discovered that the stole was continuing to felt up as I knit.  I think the Malabrigo couldn’t take the friction of being stuffed into a pouch, and pulled out.  Check out the before and after shots. Or perhaps they are after and before.  Overwhelming evidence.  These unretouched actual real life photos were slightly stretched to demonstrate the difference.  You be the judge.

What sort of person keeps knitting?  What level of denial must you have to even wind a second ball of yarn to keep knitting?  Oh sure, a few people said they thought the felted part looked ‘kinda cool’ -  yeah, thanks for trying to make me feel better.  I was even being greeted by knitter friends with “How’s the mysterious felting lace going?”  I was moving from denial into serious self-deception.  I took Psych 101, I knew I was on dangerous ground.  I finally came to grips with the sad truth.  If this stole is felting as I work, what is going to happen to it when my sister-in-law uses it on a regular basis, which she swears she will?  A felted mess, that’s what’s going to happen.

I finally stopped knitting the felted mess stole, and started swatching for a new stole with some black laceweight mystery cashmere blend from my stash.  This yarn has marinated for many years, and hasn’t felted yet, and does not seem to have developed any resentments.  I also started thinking, since this lace stole was for someone who doesn’t knit, sew, crochet or do any sort of handwork, that a stitch pattern which didn’t require severe blocking would be a better bet.  That is rationalization, also covered in Psych 101.  Back to the swatching seat. I’ll let you know what I figure out.

On the one hand, I wasted many hours knitting a project that was never going to work.  On the other hand, the idea of felted lace is interesting.  I may play around with it. After, all, I have about 4.5 feet of it to work with.

MLE

Fabulous Prizes

The winner of the Misti Alpaca is Helena at  Just Another Raveller.  She wants to use it to make up for the handknit baby cardigan she had stolen when her daughter was a baby.  Who knew there was a pattern of theft of baby things?

I forgot to mention that I recently won this cute pattern from Reddog Knits.

She has others on her site, so check em out

Plus,  I won a set of stitch markers from Jen at Knitting Interrupted. And, unless you were an only child, you will really love the Mother’s Day Video on her post.  I haven’t received them yet, but if they look as nice as the picture, I’ll be quite pleased.

MLE

Yet Another Blanche Dubois Moment

Reposted because WordPress is being weird.

Like Miss Dubois, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.  In this case, strangers who sent me these:

I made a baby blanket for my newest great-nephew out in San Diego. The yarn, Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran, was a gift from a coworker at the Yarnery staff stash swap. It worked out well and washed up beautifully, quite soft and cozy.

I received a lovely thank-you note from my niece about how perfect it was, and how she was the envy of her new mommy class. A short time later, I  received an email from her. The blanket was so admired by members of the class that someone in the class  STOLE it. Can you imagine?Of course, I promised to make another one, but the yarn has been discontinued and I didn’t have quite enough left. I could have used a different yarn, but I wanted to try to recreate the lost one.   Generous souls on Ravelry shared from their stash, many simply out of the goodness of their hearts. So thanks hockeyme, AimyBamy, joymichelle and Mauri. I finally have enough to make a similar blanket, perhaps a bit bigger to accomodate the growing boy.

I mean, look at this kid, doesn’t he need a blanket?

In order to celebrate the generosity of knitters, I decided to have a little give-away contest. I think my sob-story of the stolen blanket helped me win over the knitters on Ravelry who offered yarn.  So,  I will give away three skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky in a beautiful dark olive green to someone with a good story.  The color is much prettier when photographed by someone besides me.

Write a comment with your sob story of why you need this yarn and I’ll choose a winner at random. Or maybe the comment that makes me snort the most.

Another Blanche Dubois Moment

Like Miss Dubois, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.  In this case, strangers who sent me these:

I made a baby blanket for my newest great-nephew out in San Diego. The yarn, Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran, was a gift from a coworker at the Yarnery staff stash swap. It worked out well and washed up beautifully, quite soft and cozy.

I received a lovely thank-you note from my niece about how perfect it was, and how she was the envy of her new mommy class. A short time later, I  received an email from her. The blanket was so admired by members of the class that someone in the class  STOLE it. Can you imagine?Of course, I promised to make another one, but the yarn has been discontinued and I didn’t have quite enough left. I could have used a different yarn, but I wanted to try to recreate the lost one.   Generous souls on Ravelry shared from their stash, many simply out of the goodness of their hearts. So thanks hockeyme, AimyBamy, joymichelle and Mauri. I finally have enough to make a similar blanket, perhaps a bit bigger to accomodate the growing boy.

I mean, look at this kid, doesn’t he need a blanket?

In order to celebrate the generosity of knitters, I decided to have a little give-away contest. I think my sob-story of the stolen blanket helped me win over the knitters on Ravelry who offered yarn.  So,  I will give away three skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky in a beautiful dark olive green to someone with a good story.  The color is much prettier when photographed by someone besides me.

Write a comment with your sob story of why you need this yarn and I’ll choose a winner at random. Or maybe the comment that makes me snort the most.

MLE

Tax Day Cometh

From the Diary of Samuel Pepys, the original blogger.  I saw this and thought, “Why, that’s me.”  And it seems to be almost everyone I’ve talked to this week.

All the morning at the office busy. At noon to dinner, and thence to the office and did my business there as soon as I could, and then home and to my accounts, where very late at them, but, Lord! what a deale of do I have to understand any part of them, and in short do what I could, I could not come to any understanding of them, but after I had throughly wearied myself, I was forced to go to bed and leave them much against my will and vowe too, but I hope God will forgive me, for I have sat up these four nights till past twelve at night to master them, but cannot. Thus ends this month, with my head and mind mighty full and disquiett because of my accounts, which I have let go too long, and confounded my publique with my private that I cannot come to any liquidating of them.

I don’t think Sam had knitting to soothe his brain, however.  We just came back from a trip out east for a family wedding.  I got to see the beautiful new baby who received this:

Sadly, I lost my Forest Canopy shawl while traipsing around Manhattan.  It was a glorious spring day, and the scarf was too warm, so I tied it to my bag.  Silly me.  I hope some one who is knit worthy found it. My husband said “Oh no, that pretty one that looked so nice on you?”  Who knew?  Then he said, “It was a knitty thing, right, with holes in it?”   Yes, it was.

MLE