Knitting in the Shadows

Inheritance - with a nod to Franklin

Among the people that I've enjoyed the most of those I've met through knitting  is Franklin Habit. 

I've read his blog (The Panopticon) for years.  I met him once shopping at Stitches, and now seem to be in the habit of doing it at every knitting event I attend.  We say hello, we chat for a moment, he is incredibly gracious, and we move on.  I squee when I think he can't hear me anymore. (Tell me you don't think he looks like Ben Kingsley just a little.)

Recently, he posted THIS on a new blog that he'll evidently be doing for Lion Brand Yarn.  He talked about what amounted to building a family tree, but  "rather than births, deaths, and marriages, it was a record of attitudes, passions, and techniques. It was my[his] lineage…of creativity."

I love that idea.  And so, I interrupted my current spate of genealogical research (and my never ending quest to locate some tangible evidence of the native american ancestors that my whole family agrees exists) and the ungainly burden of trying to achieve a clean house, to contemplate my creative lineage.  What did I learn from MY ancestors.

Realizing that, through my more recent ancestors, I've probably gleaned all manner of wisdom originally passed on by earlier ancestors, I thought I'd introduce you to those I'll be mentioning below (in alphabetical order)

Anna, (Grandma) my father's mother, and Grammy Dot, my stepfather's mother, for whom I seem to have no digital images at all.  They were my original enablers, tying me eternally to the web of playing with sticks and string.

Janet, my "wicked evil" stepmother, whom I adore, and of whom I seem to have ZERO solo photographs.  This will be fixed.  She is a septuagenarian who is still happy to sit and color in good coloring books.  She gave me the Beatles, and colored pencils, and her mother gave us both great books for kids.

Linda, my beautiful, talented, and gracious mother.  I'll stop there lest this post lose it's focus - I could go on for a long long time about how lucky I am to have her as my mother, and why.

Malcolm, (Papa) my father, with thanks that he didn't drop me that day he saw his fathers' face in mine. Oddly, the only digital pictures I have of him are also group shots.  Again, this will be fixed.  As you'll see below, I learned a lot from him -- even though we stopped sharing a domicile in about 1967.

Marvin, my father's brother - about whom you've recently read quite a bit.

Paul, my wonderful stepfather, without whose guidance I'd be a very different person.

Susan, Marvin's lovely wife - engineer, quilter, basketweaver, wonderful woman, who deserves a much better picture.

Sylvia, my mother's wonderful, creative, loving sister, who hasn't sent a holiday or birthday card graced with any art but her own in so long I can't remember the last time I got one without one of her marvelous pictures.

Virginia, (Grandmother)  my mother's mother, again without the digital pics.

And... my great grandmother .... I'm pretty sure you know why no picture is here.

This is what I learned from these wonderful people

Measure three times, cut once (papa, Paul, mom)

Don't limit your aspirations (grandma, mom, paul)

Mice matters (grandma, grandmother, mom, also Janet, Paul, Susan, Marvin.....)

Of course you can do it yourself! (papa, Paul, mom, grandmother, Marvin, grandma, great grandmother, Sylvia, Janet....)

beauty is worth the effort (Susan, grandmother (and no, we're not talking about makeup here, we're talking about amazing quilts and exquisite dresses)

sewing - mom, who learned from grandmother, who sewed all mom's clothes

knitting - Grammy dot, who I never saw knit

crochet - grandma, who learned from her mother, whose hooks I still own.

carpentry - papa, who gave me my own tool box when I was 12, and Paul, who made it true that sawdust smells like home and safety.

electricity isn't scary - papa

electrical repair/lamp building - papa

plumbing isn't scary - paul

It's worth writing down the stories - Marvin

and the corollary - stories are important - Marvin, Paul

no project is too big if you take it in pieces - paul (the BOAT!)

good tools are worth the extra money now (papa - from his father, PD)

bad tools aren't worth the money at all (papa)

using the RIGHT tools can make all the difference (papa)

size matters (papa and his dining room table)

just a little shift into the wind can make all the difference - Paul

save that - it might be useful - Papa)

corollary -- you probably don't need to go buy something just for this purpose, when you have that collection of string, screws, boards, needles, fabric .. in the shed/basement (papa/pd)

do a little every day and you can achieve amazing things (Paul)

just because you don't do it that much doesn't mean you can't teach it if you know how (Grammy Dot)

we don't need no stinkin' pattern! (great grandmother, who crochet amazing and large doilies out of barely visible thread with no pattern)

 

And so very much more.

Thank you -- to my parents, and their siblings and their parents, and their parents...

Paying it Forward, Creatively - The First Payment

A few weeks ago, I posted about Creative Pay It Forward 2013.  I invited folks to sign up to pay it forward themselves, promising that those who both signed up with me AND promised to pay it forward themselves would receive a creative gift from me some time during the course of the year.

Because neither I, nor the person who started this game, are wholly insane, there was a limit on the number of people who could sign up with me.  That number, which is the recommended one, was five.

Oddly, I've had two people both comment (thus signing up with me) and post about it, one person post -- offering to pay it forward -- without actually commenting on my post, and one person sign up by commenting but only link to my post  without actually promising to pay it forward herself.

I'm not quite sure how to work all that.  Do I stick to the official rules of the game which require people to both comment and promise to pay it forward themselves?  Or do I get creative with the rules, and take note that a) the promise to pay it forward is more important than the comment, thus that person should be on the receiving end too; and b) the person who commented and shared a link to me without making the promise herself does all sorts of pay it forward things in her life in the ways she serves her local community that being a stickler about it all would be stingy?

And why am I so concerned right now?  Well.... I seem to have finished a perfect Pay It Forward type of project! 

In the Great Fiber Organization about which you've all read more than you wanted to know, I discovered a lonely UFO started by one of the girls.  I'd have ignored it, and let them finish at will, but it was messing with my inventory of needles and they actually declared their intention to abandon the poor thing.

I think it's a nifty thing -- made niftier by the fact that even though she's a novice knitter, she designed on the fly to make it more interesting.

It seems appropriate to send it off as a Pay It Forward thing ... it's creative, it was knit by multiple hands, which kind of makes it a community offering to the good that paying things forward does for the  community at large (as Pay It Forward things are wont to do). 

All that remains is choosing the recipient.  Which will actually have been done before this posts -- because I plan to post the project via the mail before I post the project via the blog.

So, who do YOU think will be wearing this next?

 

Related articles

Pay it Forward - Creatively

Pay it Forward - Creatively

It's a meme! 

And mostly, it seems to be playing on FaceBook.  But I know that some of you don't READ my FaceBook (or any FaceBook) page.... So I thought I'd spread the joy a little bit here in blogland.

2013 Creative Pay-It-Forward:

I will be sending out five surprise gifts sometime over the course of this calendar year.  These gifts will be something creative -- something I made, or was inspired by.  Perhaps a knitted item.  Perhaps a book, or some music.  There is unlikely to be any advance notice, and I'll send the gift when I'm inspired to do so.  (Could be tomorrow.  Could be July ... Could be December... you'll never know).

I will be sending these gifts to five people who have done the following:

1)  Posted a comment on this blog post  OR the corresponding FaceBook status; AND

2)  Posted this offer on their blogs or FB statuses (in other words, agreed to send five gifts forward to folks who have agreed to send five gifts forward.... )

When you make the offer, be sure to make sure I know about it (email me, comment here with a link to the offer, or tag me on facebook).

I've already got some fun ideas for things to give.... I'm just looking for some folks to play with.

 

ETA: FaceBook got excited early this time -- I've got some responses now (from folks who actually posted their offers as well)

Colleen M.
(Amber - who posted the offer, but didn't comment)
Kendra

Sunday Satisfaction -- on Eleven

Progress is being made all over the place.

Alas, I can't SHOW you any of it.  Words will have to do. <grin>

First, I'm pleased to announce that the State has come through, and I'm not a fully licensed massage therapist.  This is wonderful -- but has been eating into my knitting time.

Despite being distracted by giving massages to clients, I've made progress on all sorts of holiday related fronts.

1.  I've finished and mailed the gift project using these yarns:

and .

(and I have some left, just in case I decide to make something more).

2.  I finished and mailed the gift project using this yarn:

3.  I finished the gift project using these yarns:

and . 

Alas, I sent it off to its recipient without photographing it.  :-(

4.  I finished the gift project using these yarns:

and

5.  I took my family to do this

and mustered two gifts for others out of the process.

6. I cleaned the first floor of my house, and got all the pretty candles set out.

7.  I wrote the family Holiday Newsletter -- and got it approved by the GolfPro for dissemination.

8.  I found, purchased, made personal notes in, signed, stamped and mailed the Holiday Cards.

9.  I found, and purchased, the required annual ornaments for the girls.

10. I hosted a lovely party to celebrate the Solstice (and the fact that the end of the Mayan Calendar did not, in fact, coincide with the End of the World).  AND, got it all cleaned up after....

11.  I've started the last required knitting gift project, using this:

and and possibly .

There are now rumors afoot that I may add to the holiday gift knitting with two additional small projects.  Only one need be done by Tuesday.  (Alas, I fear it really wants to be done by Monday night.)

I will now return to knitting....

 

Knitting for Recovery

The other day, I posted about my discontent with our school system.

Today, my post is actually inspired by something wonderful that my children have had the opportunity to experience in our school system.

You see, here in ShadowLand we are, among other things, a Band Family.  I'm a Band Mom.  My kids are Band Kids.  And that's because we've been blessed with truly awesome band teachers -- both in Middle School and now in High School.  In our High School, it's not just a class.  It's a Band Family.

I'm willing to believe that part of what makes our Band a Family Band is that we have awesome Band Moms and Band Dads.  But another key part of what makes our Band a Family Band is that we have a wonderful couple who are our Band Directors.  Mr. and Mrs. C. are amazing teachers, brilliant music coaches, inspiring directors... (I could go on and on, but that's not really the point of this post).

Since we're a Band Family, we stick together.  And now it's time for us to support the Band Directors' actual family:  their lovely daughter has a congential condition that means that one side of her body is bigger than the other.  It's mostly okay, but it's troublesome in a number of ways.  One of those ways is that one leg is several inches shorter than the other.

As a massage therapist, I can tell you that a simple imbalance from leg length differences can lead to all sorts of discomfort.  It affects your gait, your posture, and strains various muscles in your back as they try to accommodate the difference. 

One "treatment" for leg length differences is to put lifts on shoes.  That helps a little, but doesn't solve the problem. Even with lifts, the discrpancy in the angles at which the legs work while walking can cause problems.

Another treatment that actually solves the problem is a scary sort of surgery.  In this surgery, they break the leg bone(s) and then put on a halo device that includes some rings around the leg, and some pins into the leg.  That device has little crank like things on it, which get turned daily, slowly slowly pulling the bone apart at about the same rate that the body builds new bone to heal the break.  This sounds midieval, but it's actually pretty amazing.  It induces the body to build new bone until the leg is the length it should have been!

Thanks to the amazing folks at the Shriner's Children's Hospital, our extended family member will have legs of equal length by next summer!

Very cool, but with a bit of a wardrobe issue.  Pants do NOT fit over this multi-halo leg brace.  This means that an adorable 9 year old girl will be stuck for months (including November, December, January, and likely February) without being able to wear pants.  Not good. And so, the Band Family is kicking in, and some of us are knitting leg warmers.  This means that at least ONE leg can be warm most of the time.

As you can well imagine, I signed up right away.  Last week, another Band Mom handed me a skein of yarn so that I could use it for a leg warmer or two.  I immediately knit this:

 

I gave the leg warmer to Mr. C. when I was at the school for Parent Teacher Conferences, and then I went home to knit this:

With luck, one of those sets of button holes is at the right place to allow the dear child to put that around her thigh, above the halo.  At least the top of that leg will be warm.

Since then, I also knit this.

And then I wrote up the design.  It's very easy, but I know that not everyone can just cast on and knit and have things work.  I thought I'd put this design out there for a token charge as a bit of a fund raiser for the Shriners' Children's Hospitals.  I'm going to donate every dollar I receive for this design.  Won't you help me help other children get the miracles they need?  You can purchase your copy for $1.00  on Ravelry .  Order as many as you like, every dollar will go to the Shriners.

If you'd rather just donate to the Shriners... that's okay too.  Here's where you can.

 

 

A tiny win for Leukemia

You may recall that I designed a hat pattern as a fund raiser for Leukemia Research...

It was this one...

 Marrowdale

  

  

And while I haven't sold as many as I'd hoped right up front, I did receive a straight up donation for Leukemia Research as a direct result of publishing the pattern!  I will still be donating 50% of the proceeds of the sale of this hat to Leukemia Research.  I hope you'll help me help.

 

Thanks Stuart!!

Playing with Lightning

This past weekend, I took Kitty to DucKon - a ScienceFiction/Fantasy convention held in DuPage County Illinois.  I took her as a life preservation measure -- saving my own skin.

Why would taking her to a con be a life saving measure?  Good question.  Most folks would consider it more dangerous to take her than to stay home.  After all, taking her means exposing her to all sorts of tempting delights in the Dealers Room and the Art Show... and introducing her to all sorts of costuming ideas (and skills).  THAT could be expensive!

But her favorite author in the world was the Guest of Honor.  And she spoke on all sorts of panels.  And she autographed books.  And... best of all, she happily chatted with her fans for two whole days.  Kitty spent a lot of time with her.  Kitty's claws would have come out all over me had I deprived her of that.  It just wasn't worth it.

Besides.  I kind of LIKE going to cons.

In addition to all the fun panels, and fun people, there was GREAT entertainment and fun playing with lightning on Saturday night the Masters of Lightning brought out their

TESLA COILS

Tesla coils make -- well... lighting.   Among the fun things about Tesla Coils is that they can also be modulated to make music...

From the side, in action, they look like this:

 

Yes, that's electricity barely controlled there. (Okay, the guys doing it know exactly what they're doing, but it sure looks like they're making lightning in the parking lot).

Once you're all happy with them making lightning, they start playing with it....

The dude is luring the lightning to meet in the middle and light up the lightbulbs on that bar...

And just to prove it's no fluke, he demonstrates that he doesn't really need both streams..

And here is he just plain showing off:

My second favorite trick was the one with the propane torch.  For this one, they had the coils play the theme song from a familar movie ....

Who ya gonna call? eh?  (Bill Murray, eat your heart out).  That sounded rather like this (though the video for this part has him playing with the lightbulbs, not the propane torch)

My favorite part -- was the cage...

It looks moderately cool from the outside.... but very cool from the INSIDE

Kitty thought it was fun too.

If you'd like to watch the first ten minutes or so of the show (and hear the coils play more music), watch this:

Supporting the Sponsors who Support Me

I'm not big on paid advertising.  I know that sounds odd, since right over there in that side bar there are ads.... and thanks to BlogHer, those ads pay for this blog to be here at all.  But generally, I think that advertising is a way for companies to persuade us that we need a thing we don't need.  Sometimes I think they even do harm (when, for example, they persuade girls that they can't possibly be beautiful, or even "okay looking" unless they were a ton of make-up or have a body shaped just so.

Sometimes, however, there are things worth advertising.  Like when a company decides to do something good in the world.  Sprite is doing something good (besides just giving us a soda that is as natural as a soda can be).  And my buddies over at BlogHer are working with them to spread the word.

Sprite and BlogHer want to know:How important are fresh air and sunshine to you and your family?

Why do they ask?  Well, they've got this nifty Parks Project goin'

Sprite has created an initiative in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. Basically, it goes like this: folks drink Sprite, and  then with a few steps in between, Sprite gives money to Habitat for Humanity to build parks!

From the Sprite Press Release: 

Sprite is giving consumers an easy and inexpensive way to give back to communities through the "Sprite Tabs for Habitat" program. During the month of May, look for specially marked Sprite or Sprite Zero™ multipacks or 12-oz single cans with a unique green tab and Habitat for Humanity logo. For each green tab consumers collect and mail in by May 30, 2010, Sprite will donate 10 cents to Habitat for Humanity, up to $500,000. It’s that easy. Enjoy your Sprite, recycle your can and send in the green tab.

Blogher is rounding up a bunch of their bloggers to report on that question... and those bloggers are giving you chances to win a $100 Shutterfly.com gift card give-away.   I'm hunting down the details, but it seems to involve collecting tabs and taking pictures of them....Visit the Blogher Round up page for even more chances to win!  In the mean time -- try popping over here to see what I'm talking about.

I might even be able to get some of those chances for you RIGHT HERE....but I'm still working on how that works.

 

 

Random Thoughts

Today, my dear Zara finally found a place on my chair that lets her sit with me without interfering with my knitting or laptop computing...

I actually hope this is the start of a trend.

Meanwhile I get to celebrate the generosity of others again.  Last fall we switched financial advisors.  My new advisor is also the advisor to an alpaca farmer. He sent me a box.....

full of yummy alpaca yarn!

It also had this in it:

Luscious soft bulky alpaca.  This one creates a challenge for me.  I've never knit anything with bulky yarn.  I don't quite know what I want to do with this particular 200 yards of softness.  Lots of folks seem to like working this up into scarves, but ... well, I don't WEAR scarves.  I want something ELSE to do with it.

And the othe stuff -- I've just got to work out a scarf or hat for my advisor out of some of it.  'Cause you know, gentlemen do wear scarves.  And it's unusually cold down there in North Carolina.

This totally offsets this:

What's up with these darned crochet hooks?  Why are they bending and breaking like this???

sigh.

 

On Socks and Gloves and Dithering

I was merrily reading my blog-friends' blogs this weekend, when I enjoyed some secretive pictures of a glove in progress.  She's totally up front about knitting the glove, but wasn't all that informative about the name of the pattern... so I asked her.

That led me to the designer (Julia Mueller of Laris Deisgns).  I spent a few minutes prowling around Julia's page on Ravelry, drooling at the gorgeous gloves -- the gorgeous BEADED, cabled gloves.  And suddenly I thought of some yarn I've got in the stash -- yummy deep plummy burgundy koigu -- already paired up with the perfect beads.  The yarn was going to be for an absolutely gorgeous pair of beaded socks (yes, I know, but they're GORGEOUS).  I've not abandoned the thought of knitting those socks.  But I came to an epiphany about the yarn.

My koigu will no longer be used for socks.

There, I've said it.  I love love loved my first pair of koigu socks. But I was heart broken when they blew out beyond repair.  Worse yet, I could never find the color again.

And now another pair of 100% wool socks has bitten the dust.

The sock yarn with nylon seems to make socks that lasts.  I have at least two pair that I knit over ten years ago, and wear regularly, that is still alive and well, thankyouverymuch.  Nylon content. Or at least non-wool (I'm guessing that bamboo or tencel will have the same benefits).

Which means that all that delicious koigu meant for socks -- will be not-socks.  Gloves maybe.... lovely Laris Designed gloves.... I could spend weeks dithering over which one to knit!

perhaps? Or maybe

Entangled Stitches ...... or what about .....

Gordian ... or .... ooh the Glittens... and ... or....

And that's just HER gloves.  My brain may implode before I cast on a single stitch!

Well...maybe...

I may indulge myself with one pair of koigu socks -- I do love the way they feel, even if they don't last forever.  I wonder if that wooly-nylon binder thread would be sufficient to prevent blowouts?

Hmmm.

Better to test my lovely lovely new Merino/Bamboo blend from Lost City Knits!

(it was a pressie!)  Pics asap. I promise.

 

 

 

 

 

Knit On!

A while ago, I entered a contest in celebration of  Gloria's (of the Chronicles of a Lazy Knitter) blogiversary. Much to my surprise, I won!  And while I was off this weekend helping my Seasons of Lace co-moderator win the battle of organizing her yarn and fiber stash (okay, and rounding up all of her Lace UFO's), a package arrived at my house.

Lovely lovely things.  A mug  with the Elizabeth Zimmerman quote that I find useful all the time, several adorable stitch markers (I'm worried about these - I fear that Kitty will swipe them), some delightful note-cards (more E.Z. quotes!) and some cute socks to protect the points on sock needles.  What a delightful treat to come home to!

I'm a little nervous about my knitting - I know that the miracle of blocking will cure the funny way it looks -- but until I see it happen, I'll worry that I've done something awful to this shawl.

Ah well, until blocking happens, and with many many thanks to the generous Miss Gloriea ...  I shall endeavor to...

I feel lucky, oh so lucky...

Even though I woke up this morning from a dream that literally left me with tears in my eyes, with a yucky feeling in my head that warns of EVIL cold coming on, it's been a pretty good day. 

First, I've enjoyed knowing that there is a job opening at a company where two of my friends work -- which job is something I think I'd be pretty good at ... and I'll be officially applying as soon as they post it -- but it looks like I'll get to meet the person now in the job before she leaves.  

Second, I've forgotten the dream that made me cry.

Third, I opened my Ravelry inbox to find that even before I'd gotten the old Prize Solicitation engine for Seasons of Lace running, someone has donated two wonderful prizes for the season that's just begun.  I love volunteer prize donors -- they make my job as Prize Maven so very much easier!

Then, I discovered that I won some truly scrumptuous yarn in a Seasons of Lace raffle -- it's one that we have for folks who use and post about stuff that our sponsors and prize donors make/sell.  Thus, just becasue I've been knitting with yarn that our Sponsors sell, I get more yarn from our sponsors!  Oh darn.

That's Sheepy Time Fairy Fingering, and it's soooooo soft!

Then, I checked my email and discovered that I won a raffle prize on another blog!  This time just for reading a blog and posting a comment!  The blog in question allegedly provides the Chronicles of a Lazy Knitter, but if this charming lady is lazy, well, I'm a toadstool.  And the post in question was celebrating her fourth Blogiversary.  That sort of thing always makes me wonder.... when is my blogiversary again??  But I quickly got distracted by the thought that sometime soon, a package of undisclosed goodies will be arriving at my door.

Also in my email -- first round photos from one of my pattern testers.  She found a couple of errors, which I fixed, and managed to produce a cowl that was just as I'd meant it to look.  I'm eagerly awaiting emails from the other testers...

And finally, I ad libbed a whole new approach to mashed sweet potatoes tonight, and Ithink they worked pretty well.

I'm feeling seriously lucky.  Here's hoping its a sign of the times.

Trying something new --- to me anyway.

I seem to be knitting a whole lot with lace-weight yarns, and with fingering weight yarns.... but I seem to avoid the stuff that requires needles larger than U.S. 8's, or maybe 9's.

But suddenly...I find myself in posession of at least a shrug's worth of yarn that wants 9's or 10's.  That's way out of range my little fingers are used to these days. The yarn was a gift from a long long lost friend (thank you Facebook) whom I've not seen since my sophomore year in high school. It turns out she works for the company that makes the yarn!

The yarn in question?  Florafil.  It's an unfairly soft cotton with an interesting texture that manages to be crinkly, but not loopy. And I've got five skeins of this:

and three skeins of this:

While I admit that I really prefer the second color, I'm enjoying the challenge of designing the shrug with the former color.  After several false starts, I think it's going to have a 3x2 rib for the cuffs.

 And I might even be able to resit overdyeing it when it's done. (Okay, I'm not a fan aof the camo look, and this color combination reminds me a lot of camo.)  But whether I wind up with a dyepot or not, if it works the way I hope it will, it might even make it as a Holiday gift!!!

Returning to the Fun I Used to Have

One of the things we bloggers do is reveal bits and pieces of who we are.  Over time, folks who read learn a lot about us.  Today, many of you will get to learn something new about me.... (for those looking for a real review of my last weekend, this won't do the job)

Or something old....  whatever.

The part you probably know - I read. A lot. I read so much that when I went to college and my dad dissuaded me from majoring in Theater, I chose English Literature -- 'cause it let me read a lot.  I mean what could be more fun that reading a good book and then talking about it with other folks who have also read it?

How about taking classes that focus on the genre you most like?  Excellent. (and here is where we may branch from what you knew about me). Not only did I get to do that (What was then labeled English 120: Science Fiction Literature), I got to help the prof design the next class in that sequence: Fantasy Literature.  It felt a lot like cheating.  I mean, my prof told me to re-read some of my favorite books, and write about them, and then gave me college credit -- and then told me to re-read some and go find some new stuff so that we could choose the books for the next course.

I loved it.

At the age of, oh, 11? 12? I started spending all my allowance, birthday money, and bonus chore money, and babysitting money at Paul's Books, on SciFi/Fan.  Pretty soon, my circle of friends was full of fellow SciFi/Fan fans.  I had attended my first Science Fiction oriented convetion before I hit high school. (A Star Trek con, where I met and got autographs from Leonard Nimoy AND Bill Shatner.)  Yes, at a tender young age, I joined the ranks of the Fen.*

That didn't really change in college -- even though I also collected Shakespearean fans and fans of other genres.  Then I added gaming to my repretoire, and added Gaming Conventions (Gen Con anyone?) to the fun.

And as time went on, I replaced gaming cons with Renn Faires ... but many of the folks were the same.

Then... there was law school, and a law practice that kept me working such insane hours that I couldn't actually plan to be gone for that long  far enough ahead of time to make it work...

And then there were children, and I was infected with knitting.... and some how, I lost track of the fun I had with fen.

But this weekend,....thanks to my dear friend Whichy who invited me to come take over the bed in their hotel room that would otherwise have been used to hold suitcases and knitting bags,  I returned to my roots, and attended WindyCon37 .  I had so much fun that the fall out will fill several posts ... you'll likely be hearing about it all week.

There were funny speeches, and awesome musicians, and long lost friends, and more funny t-shirts than I knew what to do with (none of which came home because choosing is not my strong suit).  There was good food, and good fun, and ots of parties (even a Chocolate Party!!)... and very  little sleep.  Oh... and there was knitting in public (by me, of course, but by so many others that no one really noticed me).

And there were hugs.  And more hugs.  And did I mention all the hugs?

And now... there are NEW friends.  And there is a long list of music to check out, and books to track down.

And as much fun as I had -- I missed as much in panels that I didn't go see, or workshops that I didn't attend.

I wonder --- do you think I can still get away with an annual Knitting Convention or two if I also add in a SciFi Con or three a year?

*Fen: plural noun: The plural of "fan." Another word for "fans," as in people who like something, not cooling devices. Typically used to describe science fiction and fantasy fans.

I've joined the Army

Today I joined the Army of Women.  This group seeks to gather one million women in a vast, and new assault on breast cancer. 

How does it work?  Well, when one joins, one has the opportunity to sign up for participation in all sorts of research projects designed to help understand the causes of breast cancer, and to learn ways to prevent it, treat it, and improve the quality of life of those undergoing treatment, as well as to improve the likelihood of recovery.

It looks like I may get to participate in a study that will let the scientists compare "healthy" breast tissue to breast tissue that has or has had cancer.  The more we learn about how things differ, the more we can learn about what makes the differences. 

They have many different studies going on -- they need women who have never had breast cancer,  who now have breast cancer, who have survived cancer.... women who are under 40, or 30-60, or pre-menopausal, peri-menopausal, post-menopausal.... women who have never had children, women who have had children, women who breast fed, women who didn't...

and even men -- for Breast Cancer does not ignore men.

If you have breasts, or if someone you loves has breasts, it's worth taking a look at this organization.  If you know someone who has had breast cancer.... it's even more worth it.

We all know that breast cancer research needs money -- but not everyone thinks of the fact that the researchers also need people to participate.  We can't do it all in the test tubes.

Wanna join the army with me?

 

Customer Service....

There are lots of places where customer service is failing.  The Dimensions company is not one of them.

In the year 2000, I purchased a kit to make a needlepoint Holiday stocking. I've been working on it....ever so slowly...

and then ... just as the end drew nigh... I lost page two of the instructions.  You know, the part where they provide the alphabet so that you can needlepoint the name..... and where tell you how to assemble the thing once you've finished it off.

So, just because I am a hopeful person, I looked up the company on the internets, and contacted them.  Yes, I filled in their little form, providing them with my name address and such, and then brazenly asked for a set of instructions that is more than ten years old.  I also remarked that if they had another strand of a particular color of yarn that would be marvelous.

And lo.... a few days later -- a copy of the instructions arrived in the mail!

And then lo... again ... a strand of the thread arrived in another envelope.

It's so nice to have real customer service.

And it will be even nicer to finish off the stocking at last.  THIS year -- this year I'll get it done.

 

The Beatles were right.

Why yes, I do say it's my birthday...

And I've had a lovely day. Golf Pro woke me with a cup of coffee.... and when I finally meandered in to my desk, I found a dozen roses waiting for me.

Then...he took me to the mall - a scary place at the best of times - and he helped me upgrade my phone (I do so love it when you renew your contract and they give you a new phone!).  We wrangled our way into a deal that means our basic service goes up, but... the kids are free for the next year (and thus it goes back down again).  And...   my phone has APPS!

This whole week has been pretty good, actually.

Monday, I had lunch with a dear friend, and discovered a new drink made with a totally new to me, and totally awesome, liqueur:  Hum "Inspired by the great amaros of Italy, celebrated mixologists, Adam Seger of Chicago and London’s Joe McCanta infuse organic rum with fair trade hibiscus, organic ginger, green cardamom and kaffir lime to create the beautifully balanced spirit called hum."  The main thing I can say about Hum, is ... YUM!

Then, Monday evening there was a bit of a yarn fest at my house.

 

There was a BIG box from WEBS to distribute.  Luckily for my pocketbook, only this much stayed here at the end of the evening:

And of that ... most of it will be converted to Holiday Presents before it's over.  The cone in the middle is ssssillllllk.  yum.

This one would have been at great risk of stealthy theft,

but it's a self striping yarn, and I'm not currently into stripey socks.

Tuesday meant another delicious lunch out (my friends are so nice to me)...

And tonight, I get to go out for dinner.

Tomorrow, I'll be making great use of the SparkPeople app for my phone -- but dieting is illegal on your birthday.

And an added bonus?  On Monday, I got a clean bill of health from the doc (everything but my vitamin D levels are "perfect" (and I've got fancy prescription vitamin D now).  (Of course, I also got the order to get a colonoscopy, but I'll leave that for later).  AND  The pond is all ready for fall -

Those fun arches are holding up the nets that keep the leaves out of the pond.

Tuesdays are for.... totally random

It's Tuesday.  Many folks out there do a ten things tuesday.  I've got no themes today... So, Ten random things for you.

Band Things:

The girls have a band concert tonight -- I still need to exchange a pair of pants for the right size so that Bookworm has something to wear that fits.

Kitty needs new reeds, and a "ligature".  Preferably tonight.  I can't grab them on the way to pick them up from school because I've forgotten what size reed she needs.

Weekend things:

I got something wonderful in the mail  on Saturday:

That, my friends, is a hand-written note.  Yes -- real mail, from a real person, written by hand!  How many of those do you see a year?  Okay, what if you omit the Holiday cards? yeah, I thought so.

It's a thank you card from Kym.  I supported her with far less than I wish I could have for her recent Light the Night walk fund-raiser for Leukemia. And, despite the way too much on her plate that she has (like most women I know), and the lingering follow-up stuff she has to do as a cancer survivor, and and despite now having a full time job (yay), she took the time to write a personal note -- to me.  I feel so honored!  I wanna drive right over there and hug her!

I also got some great pictures of Bookworm on Saturday --

As you can tell from the sequins (no the green has nothing to do with this, she's just playful), it was dress up time.  'cause she went to the Homecoming Dance.

She tried to hide -- but paparazza mom won out in the end, and got some nice pictures.

Who IS that chick?  and where did she put my little girl?

Monday stuff

Monday night is knit night around here.  Here's what I worked on

What?  yes, I know that's not knitting.  But it's also not DONE.  and though I tried to finish it before Holiday Time last year, I failed.  I'm not going to let another year go by without Bookworm's stocking acutally hanging by the fire instead of sitting on my lap with threads dangling everywhere.  Too much of it still looks like this:

That's not to say no knitting is being done.  Inebriate of Air now looks like this:

Note the rapidly dwindling skein of yarn:

That does not look like it's going to finish this baby.  Which confirms my decision to use this color (of which I have about 6 skeins) instead of the other color, which I like better -- but of which I had but one skein.

Someone asked (here? on Facebook? on Ravelry?):  It currently takes about 40 minutes to knit one row (in Continental -- I'm speeding up slowly, and the rows are getting shorter.. it'll likely be down to 1/2 and hour in no time).

And to balance that, I taught my friend cgirl to knit "English" style last night too.  So... I'm picking instead of throwing, and she's throwing instead of picking. 

So... six (seven?) random things instead of ten themed things.  Life's like that sometimes.

Lace in Progress and Lace Returning

I'm actually making progress...

See.... several repeats of that edging:

But I also got a surprise in the mail.

Ages ago, I knit the Weekender Shawl for Crystal Palace Yarns.  They've used it at shows and such to show off their yummy Panda Silk yarn.  It came home! It's been well over a year (I'd almost given up hope on seeing he dear thing again).

I took it out last night to a dinner dance. Outside, it was hot and sticky and yucky.  Thus, the venue was air conditioned to death. I wore the shawl happily until the dancing started.

And the wonderful folks at CPY also sent a thank you/apology for taking so long present!

Yummy new yarn to play with!

 

and ..

...yes..

AND!!!)

And oddly, I never realized that their colors go together until I saw these two pictures next to each other.

Faithfully Faithless ... Interminably

I have been ..... unfaithful...... and yet, in my unfaith, faithful.

Despite my keen desire to finish Irtfa'a, the interminable nature of the edging has weakened my resolve.  I've knit and beaded and knit, and knit and beaded and knit, and still, despite two diligent weeks of effort, I've yet to hit the center panel.  I've not even made it to the 58 repeats that would have gotten me to the center of the shawl had I not added to it.

And so, I've allowed myself to be distracted ...

... by being faithful to the members of Seasons of Lace, whose season changed on Monday. Season changes mean lots of work for me.  Plenty to do keeps me distracted from lace edging that won't end. Here's a basic list of the major tasks involved in season changes (each, of course, has many steps):

1. Running the raffles for prizes that are awarded to those who posted in various categories based on size or other attributes of the projects (beaded, self designed, handspun), including adding up how many entries each person has earned.

2. Determining winners for the judged categories (including, of course, rounding up the nominees), and building posts that reveal who all the nominees are. (While I know this part isn't interminable, it seems that way -- every day I've got another whole swack of nominations (okay I do ask for them), so sort and, where appropriate, add links and images to the posts I'm building, and sometimes to the poll I'm building).

3. Setting things up so that the members can vote for the Viewers' Choice award.

4. Building new Prize and Sponsor pages for the upcoming seasons; and of course, updating the Prize and sponsor pages for the now past season, announcing who won which prize.

5. Registering all the new users. (More daily efforts that never seem to end).

By being faithful to my family.  Secretly, quietly, I've been knitting along on a sock. Yes. It's true, there's a sock. It's for Golf Pro.  And now that it's gotten to the foot part, it's easy knitting in line.

Funny thing about this sock.  It was looking all... skinny, what with the elastic in the yarn pulling things in.  So I fretted that it would have wound up too small for Golf Pro's full sized man feet.  So I had Bookworm try on the sock, since green is her favorite color.  It fit her.  She wants it.  But... it  also fits the Golf Pro. So it's his sock.

I'm also being faithful to the folks who are knitting a sock of my design.  Evidently there's an error or something in the instructions for the Illinois Corn Prairie Sock.  I'm tickled to death that it's one of the sock of the month KAL's in the 50 Socks 50 States book's Ravelry group.  I'm not so tickled that this problem, which caused one knitter fits, got past both of my testers.  This means that I'm re-knitting the heel of the sock.

 

I've  found part of the problem --- a wee typo.  I so hate wee typos.

And, I've even figured out a way to let casting on for something entirely new be "being faithful"!  you see, Seasons of Lace often runs a KAL (or two) each season.  And this season we're going to be knitting Emily Dickinson.  So, I'm joining in.

And there, were have just under half of the stitches cast on.  I do so hate patterns that start with cast on an interminable number of stitches. Well, okay, 545, but still. There are 275 stitches on that needle.  I took a rest and went back to working on the sock heel.

Better still, Kitty will be knitting one too!  We'll be Emilying all over the house in lace-ly solidarity.

Meanwhile, I may need to go back to the labyrinth --

Even during that part in the middle where you begin to wonder whether the path you're walking on ends, you know that the center is there to reach.  And once you've enjoyed the peace at the center the journey out is just as long, but you know it ends.  Though it begins to seem as though everything  I'm knitting has no end, just like the labyrinth, I know there's a center, and I know there's an end.

Blooming....

It is clearly the time of undoing around here.

I finally picked up the Wolf Hoodie to put on its hood, and discovered that I had somehow may one side two inches longer than the other.  I've since cut out the sleeves, ripped out the sleeve caps and shoulder seams, frogged back the fronts, reknit the fronts, and restarted the sleeve caps.  Only now they're not as wide as the tops of the sleeves...So I'll be frogging something again.

I found an error in the Wings of Bambu that caused me to frog again.  And while it was off the needles, I put it on to discover that I do, in fact, need to add width after all.  It's back in time out.

The only knitting that is working right now is the plain ribbing of a new sock.

BUT.

My wisteria is blooming like crazy, for the first time in its life.

 

Aren't they amazing!

I just KNEW this plant could do this....

 

Otherwise... I've been steadily putting the rest of my stash into Ravelry (so that I can list a lot of it for sale. I'll remind you of the page link when I've updated the page). 

In between bouts of photographing yarn that I was sure I'd photographed when I got it, I've been peeking into the blog lives of my friends and of knitters who seem to be making actual progress with their knitting.  One of them (Denise) is have a contest ... and will be giving away a luscious skein of hand dyed yarn.  Go HERE, and play! 

Still lovin' that mailbox

I've got to figure out how to make this keep happening...

Look what my mailbox gave me yesterday:

It's a prize from Seasons of Lace.  This one comes from BBKnits.  It's Divinity Lace (a luscious blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere).  Yummmmmm.  I was supposed to choose my own color, but I just couldn't do it.  So, I gave Bette my top three choices, and asked her to surprise me.  This color is called Endearing.

I've also figured out the little bit of trouble I was having with Wings of Bambu, and am once again enjoying the knitting.

I almost planned to participated in Ravelympics.  But I failed to plan enough.  Evenstar's first clue came out just in time too, but I'm still dithering away over my yarn choice, and ... well... I've not chosen and the opening ceremonies have come and gone.   I have at least started one swatch -- I'm almost 1/2 way through, having knit the first half on size 3's and the second on 2's.  I'll show you the result when it's off the needle and blocked. 

I suppose I could use Wings of Bambu as my Ravelympics project if I held off on knitting it for a day (But do I have to watch they Olympics while I knit for it to count?  the kids took over the TV earlier and were  watching .... Shrek 2!)

Still Casting on.

Yesterday, I was determined to decide on a yarn for Echo Flower.

Instead, I seem to have found a pattern for the Bambu that I'd thought was going to be Echo Flower. Ravelry, that delicious time suck, revealed the Wings of Peace Pattern (for non-Ravelers, look here).  I rather like the way it drapes, and it claims that it can be done with the yardage I have.

I've got two fears.

1) that I'll wind up being myself and changing the last half of it (it gets very simple at the end); and

2) that I'll go insane trying to knit without a chart.

Who knew?  I learned to knit without charts.  I even learned to knit lace without charts.  Then,  I learned how to read charts, and now I can't seem to read a pattern that's written out without going insane!  I'm pretending, for now, that I'm not going to chart this puppy.  I mean, c'mon, it starts with 77 stitches, and gets BIGGER.  We'll see how long that lasts.

Meanwhile, here are more signs that I'm not myself.

Do you see all those markers?  i mean seriously! Who is knitting this thing anyway?

 

Since when do I put markers in every dozen stitches?  Since I keep losing track of how many repeats of the pattern I've done.

But I do think that this pattern agrees with the yarn more than the Echo Flower did.

(sorry it's so pale).

And when fussing about with out a chart drives me to the edge...I've got a new visitor to play with!

Look what came to visit!

My dear friend Mother Chaos has lent me her wheel for a bit.  During my last spinning escape, I found that this one

was fighting me every step of the way.  I tried Whichy's which seemed friendlier.  I pondered whether it would be the better part of valor (or sanity) to sell the old wheel, much as I had loved her, and replace her with a new one that wasn't at odds with me.  And now I get to spend more time with the same type of wheel to see if this is indeed what I want to acquire.

I'm kind of hoping that selling two single treadle wheels will get me enough money to afford one new double treadle wheel.

Though the frugal part of me wonders whether simply getting the double treadle attachment for the old wheel would be enough.  The nervous part wonders if it's more in the mechanism than just the single treadle -- single treadle never used to bother me (Besides... that pretty up there folds up and is portable!!) 

Look what I made (oh, and got!)

Lookie at what I made!

And lookie what else I made

The recipe is calls it a Brigid Braid.  It has tomato and herbs in it.  It's my first ever braided bread; it's also my first ever herb  yeast-bread, much less one with tomato, and it came out really well.  Yummy I tell you... Just yummy!  Even if it did take longer than it should have to rise.

Meanwhile, just to show you that my mailbox is still on duty.... this arrived today.

 

There I have two 5ml bottles of Limited Edition Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils, a full "Imp" of a bonus oil, and three partial Imps of three more Limited Edition oils, AND two samples of oils from a company that is new to me... PLUS - yummy candy for my kids (well, wait, that Ginger Chew is MINE).

Better still - the box in which I will be keeping the imps ALSO arrived today.  I have a safe place to keep the imps. 

I resisted BPAL for a long time, despite many efforts by my Thriller friends to lure me in.  But after a weekend surrounded by delicious smells... I'm doomed.

But for now, they physical therapist wants me to rest my right arm for the next 24 hours -- no typing -- which means I'm typing this with one hand -- which sucks.  Also no knitting, no writing, no spinning - I asked.  It's going to be a long night.

Things Just Keep Getting Brighter

I'm beginning to love my mail box.  And I'm totally enjoying February.

Not so long ago, I won a raffle.  I didn't feel wholly deserving, but I'm thrilled about the prize!!

 

What is that?  Well, from right to left, we have two lovely stitch markers (they were bonuses, wholly unexpected, amazing little treats).

 

Aren't they adorable?

And there were more treats.  Adorable little treats

 

You know what those are?  Those are... well, here, read the labels

The labels read: Swatch Me!! Ten yard sample.  I've got one each of "Yummy" Sock Yarn (100% superwash merino 2 ply) and Yowza What A Skein (4-ply superwash merino (worsted).  What delightful fun!

But those aren't actually the "real prize".  Those treats go with this...

That's silk my friends.  Silk...

Miss Babs "Mulberry Silk" Lace-Weight yarn.  1250 yards of delicious exquisite silk.

 

Is is strange that I still want to drool even when I have it in my hands?

(Have I said thank you Babs??)