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.