Weekend Update with hints o’ Sun(flower)

Unfortunately without shawl progress photos: I haven’t gotten the Girasole all spread out to take an up-to-date photo.  But I am knitting on the edging as of late last week!  That’s the good news.

The bad news: 640 stitches per row; each stitch to bind off equals TWO  rows of the lace edging, though short rows and pretty simple garter lace.  Still.  I was thinking 640 rows, and when I realized it was 1280 rows, it made sense why progress was so slow.  (Each lace pattern repeat is less than 0.5% of the total circumference of the shawl.  Gah.  Maybe I had better stop calculating right now.)

When I have more bound off, I should be able to photograph it (right now it’s all bunched up on the needles) and of course soon there should be a blocking shot of the Golden Girasole!  In the meantime, there was a bit of sunshine to knit by this past weekend, just as I wished for last week.

Saturday’s Sky, a neighbor’s sugar maple tree:

and again:

I admit, I didn’t specify anything as far as wishes for temperature.  With the result being temperatures 20 degrees below normal.  Oh, well, at least we didn’t get more than a trace of snow before the clear-and-cold….

(No, the snow waited for TODAY.)

Despite the cold, I had visitors from the Twin Cities yesterday, just coming to see the area, tour around, hang out for a bit!  We went to Salem Stitchery & Knittery (formerly Country Woolgatherer) where Tammy was having a fall Open House and sale; and then had a nice drive around the orchards and Grandad’s Bluff.

Nicole, Jonelle and Becca.  Above, outside Salem Stitchery; below, Nicole perusing lovely yarn inside.

Oohing and Aahing about the Mississippi River Valley from the Minnesota side. 

Though we had to watch out for the herds of lawn deer roaming La Crescent.

We even saw an eagle on top of Grandad’s Bluff!

Look!!

ITLAPD (Arrr!)

Ahoy!

Th’ sun is risin’ this fine mornin’ o’er the flag on the mizzenmast bluff.

This very day, September 19th, as ’tis ever’ year, be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Need a PirateSpeak Primer?

Then join th’ piratical party that’s goin’ on all over th’ seven seas!
Arrrrrr!

I be Red Anne Bonney, shiver me timbers!  Who are ye?

My pirate name is:

Red Anne Bonney

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate’s life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

The Panopticon About Town

I have an incredible amount of respect for anyone who is asked to talk about ‘Knitting and Humor’ –

and is able to deliver just that!

Franklin Habit, the knitter and vintage pattern resurrectionist, photographer,  blogger, author, and ‘knitting humorist’ (as he was introduced by my knitting friend Abigail,

über-cool librarian and organizer of the event) came to the “Knit-In”

at the La Crosse Public Library last night where he, yes, knit, and also stalwartly came through with the above for nigh on an hour!  He spoke about how he came to be a knitting cartoonist (not what he put down as his career choice in 3rd grade, admittedly), and his knitting career; he related the advent of Dolores, and gave us the inestimable pleasure of hearing him read a couple of the essays sprinkled among the cartoons of his new book, “It Itches”, together with background introduction and side comments.

(That’s my friend Mairwen’s book that Franklin borrowed to read from, his own copy being at home in Chicago….)

He brought some of his knitting credentials:

and told their stories, including more about what he claims is now being called the “Angry Baby Bonnet“, if I recall correctly.

There was a wide-ranging question and answer session.

Knitting, of course, happened before, during, and after.

I was so impatient to cast-on with some yarn which had been thought lost but which had just been restored to me, that I was free-skeining, leading some (including Franklin) to question my sanity ever so delicately.

No, Dolores was not there.  Though one of her supporters was.

I have to tell you that my daughters might actually have come too, even though, you know, it’s with their mom and therefore innately uncool.  Because they love Franklin’s book.  I got it signed at Rhinebeck, and

Afterwards, as knitters waited to get their books signed, I was able to see those knitting friends I hadn’t seen before the talk (I got there perhaps an hour earlier; would that I could have taken the afternoon off, it was going on from noon to 8 pm!).  I knew any number of people in the audience, from different areas of my life; all knitters, but I don’t know them all from knitting (one, for example, is my daughter’s teacher: she’s actually taught one of my two daughters for the past four years continuously, poor woman, given that Montessori has mixed age classrooms!)  And two of the Gothlet’s best friends were there.  One won a door prize in absentia!  (I won a door prize in presentia!)

I didn’t get pictures of most (well, Tina’s a front row knitter up there, but it’s not the best photo of her, so she may wish to remain anonymous!), but I did get a photo of one knitting friend who came a long way to hear Franklin.  I’m so happy he came to my town, if just so that Dale-Harriet came too!

(She and I called each other before we left and agreed to wear coordinating clothes and knitting.)

Not only Dale-Harriet, but the delightful Mr. Dearling, who is as sweet as D-H claims (and is a much better photographer than my husband: he took the above picture).

It was great to see them; and I had a chance to go out for dinner with knitters afterwards too, some of whom were friends or acquaintances, and some of whom were new knitting acquaintances.  Very much fun.  Almost too much fun for one evening.

But not really.  With knitting, I don’t think there’s really such a thing as  ‘too much fun’!

Is there?

A little yarn, a little music….

Trying to keep you posted (ar, ar) so I’m not even farther behind!  (I have told you nothing about my trip to the Twin Cities, other than getting stuck in Rochester, nor about spinning and knitting with friends last weekend….)

But let me show you what came in the mail this week!

A Ravelry swap led to this wonderfulness arriving from Janet in British Columbia!

(I *love* getting packages from Canada!  Especially from knitters in Canada who have excellent taste and also the ability to pick out my very favorite colors!)  Look at the Opal yarn and its gorgeous shading.  It’s a touch richer and darker than the flash (sadly necessary as we approach the darkest day of the year) makes it look.  But still all my favorite jewel tones, as you can see.

The beautiful ornament next to the yarn will unfortunately need a little surgery, thanks to the postal service; he has a left arm fracture.  However, it’s at the shoulder, and (unlike in real life), that should make it easier to fix seamlessly).  Love (1)! Then, look at the CHOCOLATE!  Some awesome Droste pastilles (I usually only am indulged with this at Christmas, and then not the pastilles, YUM) and then some Nestle’s which I have never had, but which combines two of my favorite flavors, double YUM.  Below that:

A handmade, hand-woven book mark.

Am I spoiled rotten, or what?

Thank you, Janet!!

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Quick but photo-filled proud parental update:

Today’s Nutcracker school performance apparently went well.  (RockStar alone is in it this year, the Gothlet decided not to audition as she wanted to see it and at her age, roles are limited also.)  More on that Saturday when I get to see her perform.

Few scenes from the band concert:

(the band gets a bit smaller every year in middle school).

Here’s the RockStar, second row, second from the left:

Two of her best friends are also in the picture, one behind her, and another on the far right of the picture.  Hmm.  Maybe that, as well as locking horns with the new band director, has something to do with her band grades slipping even though she’s a good musician?  Silly girl.

Here are the French horns doin’ that spit valve thing that they have to do, in some musical pieces more than others.

And, lastly, here’s another of the RockStar’s friends, who plays percussion (the Gothlet would like to do this next year), who has impressive cymbal technique during their last piece, a band arrangement of “The Great Gates of Kiev”.

They played it nicely.  (Of course, that piece reminded me of this cafepress design which I just gave to my friend, an accomplished horn player.  Love it!  And it’s so true!)

Now for equal Gothlet time: last week was open dance classes at their dance studio (i.e. we get to watch).  The RockStar is only taking two classes this year, due to schedule conflicts/interest/time.  The Gothlet is taking every class she can – probably too much.  But I got to see most of her classes last week.  I didn’t have my camera for all, but here she is in Music Theatre Dance II (turquoise cami), and ballet.

She and her friend are certainly well matched as a pair in this choreography.

Now, a little ballet:

Wish I’d had my camera for Tap: I think that’s her favorite and best class.  But that really needs a video to capture!

Photo Meme Eye Candy Friday

Vicki (Knitorious) tagged me for this photo meme, which I did with some trepidation.  Who knows what lurks in older folders?
Rules:

–Go to your sixth picture folder and pick the sixth picture
–Pray you remember the details

Here’s my result.

I do remember some details about the picture above.  It was taken in May of 2006 in our front yard/garden (yarden).  The grape hyacinths way in the front were blooming fairly late, and the leafy furry leaves you can also see are Monarda (beebalm) coming up.  Yes, I had a digital camera well before that time, and my 6th folder pictures should have gone back several years earlier.  But there’s a sad story….

I put all my photos on what was then theoretically my laptop, but really was the family computer.  We finally got a desktop computer, and my husband said he could make use of the laptop at his recording studio.  So I gave it to him, but asked him to get all my photos off & burn CDs or download to a hard drive (he’s a bit more computer savvy and is home during the day — plus he’s the one who wanted the computer).  Well, he didn’t do it, didn’t get around to it; and then the computer crashed and burned and I lost all my photos.  Problem is,  in the meantime my Nikon Cool Pix was lost or stolen with its card still in (and I had deleted photos off the card, obviously, too).  So I have a couple years of lost digital photos…..

This photo was taken before I had given up hope of the Nikon showing up again (I thought it might just have been misplaced).  I borrowed my husband’s tiny digital camera when I started blogging in late April 2006 — one of those that uses AAA batteries (shudder; they go through those puppies so fast).   It isn’t a very smart camera.  But the colors of the late spring grape hyacinth were so lovely that I tried my best to capture them.

There, a breath of spring in early winter!  Seems too early to be dreaming of spring, but color is always welcome.   (At least the snow has covered up the November grays and browns now.  Even if it’s quite white.)

So:  I’m not much for tagging, usually (too much like chain letters).

But this is easy and fun.   Unfortunately,  many of my blogosphere friends and must-reads have a) already done it, b) been tagged and not done it yet, or c) profess not to do memes.  Here are a few, however, whom I would invite to give it a shot (ha! shot! get it?):

Laurie, who is apparently my twin sister separated at birth, from KnittingGarden; Lisa of Knitnzu if she has time; Deb of Wound Too Tight; another Lisa, my Rhinebeck Roommate, of purl this!, and Norma (who needs no introduction) because she was just complaining about having nothing to blog (even though she is meme-free).  ETA:  Dang, I meant from the beginning to also tag Sam of Knit Quest!  There’s 6, just like the folder, even though I wasn’t trying.

No obligation: but feel free to show and tell!

U is for Un-imaginary Friends

The kind who came out of my computer to play at Rhinebeck!  Naturally, said friends and acquaintances were never all in one place at one time, so I get to cheat again with a montage:

Definitely click to embiggen!  (May take a while to load, though….)

First, my roommate extraordinaire and chauffeuse, Lisa.  She happened to mention on Ravelry that she was going to Rhinebeck and was just in the process of getting a room, just as I had decided to go.  (I co-moderate her group on Rav, so we knew each other a bit and knew we had some things in common.)  I put shyness aside and boldly asked if she would mind a roommate.  I’m so glad I did!  After a missed connection involving a dead cell phone and a wandering Starbucks (did you know there are ten Starbucks within three blocks of Grand Central Terminal?) we finally rendezvous’d in Hyde Park where our room was.  In the picture, she’s holding my and her Socks that Rock acquisitions as we’re in The Fold’s line waiting to pay (mostly mine, truth to tell, though I think making a sweater from the heavyweight STR was her suggestion, really!)  A cozy armful of STR!  She looks happy to hold it!  And longer arms help to hold more, we decided.

Next across, CeCe found me in that line, and how she knew I’d be there when I didn’t know myself, is a mystery!  The woman just KNOWS.  That beautiful baby bump was too little to see, pretty much just numbers on a piece of paper, back when I met CeCe in April at BMFA Sock Camp.  I love seeing her so happy in this pregnancy and getting closer to a December delivery, even though she was taking a break from a very difficult situation and even though, of course, she’s in the part of pregnancy where nothing is comfortable any more.  We had our first Rhinebeck Artichokes together and decided that the line was totally worth it.  Even though CeCe could only be there Saturday, and not all of that, we kept running into each other all over Rhinebeck that day.  This was one of the nicest hugs I had all weekend.

Third on the top row, me and Allison (kaydgirl on Ravelry) and Lisa, Knitting Physicians at the Ravelry meet-up Saturday.  I needed a hat like hers for warmth as well as identification factor.

Fourth, Heather (zuzusunshine on Ravelry, sorry, I know lots of these Ravelry folks by their Ravnames!) with cupcakes!  Hooray!

Last on the top row,the Very Longest Thread from Ravelry is made corporeal and visits Holiday Yarns’ booth, with the Tsock Tsarina and Pixisis from Ravelry.

Second row!  Two awesome Twisted scarves meet in one place! I was waiting in line for Franklin’s book signing (more on that in a moment), and I saw this gorgeous and very familiar scarf go by, which I had seen on line.  I really AM usually rather quiet and reserved — but I reached out and detained the scarfwearer as she passed by!  Turns out Mel had posted on the Twisted discussion board on Ravelry (yes, there’s a Ravelry theme here, got a problem with that?) that she was coming and she’d wear her scarf, after I’d mentioned mine, but since I left at the ungodly hour of 4 am on Friday (and had no internet access thereafter), I didn’t see her post.  But I sure saw her scarf!  It was fun to have a brief mutual Meg admiration society, there in barn 31, and her Fortune Flame scarf is AMAZING in person.  Believe me, the warmth of merino/silk was very welcome on this most chilly weekend, too!

Second, back at the Holiday Yarns booth (the former VanCalCar Acres: home of Flock Sock yarn and Tsock Tsarina kits and TsockFlock Sock Club), Stephanie Pearl-McPhee pays a call when I was there, here conversing with Lisa the Tsock Tsarina on the left, and Jennifer/Gwynivar, yarn maven, who is on extremely good terms with the FIber Fairy, not to mention being the mother of a talented young dyer as well.  The Yarn Harlot is also seen in the fourth photo, considering yarn and kit choices carefully, while in the center on the previous day (but in the same place) TheGeorg, who is The Tserf and also a peer (how’s that for a dichotomy?).  I’ll just leave it at that.  Last on the second row is me, Lisa the Tsock Tsarina and Jennifer/Gwynivar at the end of a long but productive (for them) and happy (for all) weekend.

Third row!  Still with me? First is a snapshot of Julia, one of the wonderful people behind the Twist Collective, an idea whose time has definitely come and which I am so glad to see.  (Direct from the designer for-purchase patterns, in a nutshell, along with pattern previews and a magazine.) I got a Twist button.  If you had a Twist project on or a pattern, you could get a measuring tape! : )  We were in the aforementioned artichoke line…. Second, back at Holiday Yarns (my hang-out place for much of the weekend), Lisa is demonstrating that there is INDEED something up her sleeve, though you can’t see it yet (I missed taking the picture of her investigating the inside of her shirt looking for it) — namely, a fluff of the lovely fiber she is drop-spinning, which she had stashed about her person.  Notice the lovely York and Lancaster fingerless mitts.  In the direct center, a party in the corridor outside Holiday Yarns, no doubt blocking traffic: starting at 9:00 and going clockwise, first Jesh who had the most gorgeous spindles for sale in the booth; Glenna who has a secret identity as the Yarn Pixie; um, someone I can totally not see; Pixisis again (different day, different outfit); Cyd, who took the train from Canada, and who has a Ravatar she drew herself, which looks more like her than most photographic or all other cartoon Ravatars I’ve ever seen (I recognized her instantly); and, back to the camera, Dan Brewergnome, who learned to spin with a spindle practically before my very eyes (already accomplished with a wheel, he was selling his Gnomespun from the Holiday booth also).  (Two skeins whispered my name….)  Lisa and Dan are spindling in harmony in the last pic on that row.  Too bad it’s cropped and you can’t see his kilt…  Finally, in the fourth spot is me and Franklin!  Franklin Habit’s first (but not last!) book, “It Itches”, debuted at Rhinebeck.  I happily stood in line a bit, in most congenial company, to have my copy signed and say ‘hello’ to a fellow Midwesterner.  The book is hilarious.  Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore and get a copy if you haven’t yet.

Fourth row — over half done! Lisa (LadyLungDoc), my roommate Lisa, that is, displaying the gift of knitted lungs presented to her at the Ravelry party Saturday night.  (She’s a pulmonologist/respirologist.)  Such a deal!  And her birthday was Sunday!  In token of which, when prizes were given out later at the Rav party, and no one had a birthday actually that day who was there, she was awarded an early birthday present of a sweater’s worth of yarn, courtesy of WEBS and Ravelry!  Next door to that is me and the third Significant Lisa I hung out with this weekend:  Lisa Knitnzu, who thinks I’m short.  (I pointed out that I am the height of the average American woman.  Just because I was hanging out with tall knitters all weekend!  Made them easy to find, I must admit…) As with CeCe, Lisa and I never said good-bye, because (after meeting early on, then hanging out in Franklin’s book-signing line, chatting) we saw each other about eleven times without trying, so there didn’t seem a point to it.  But suddenly, it was closing time…. Next to Lisa, you may recognize Ann and Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting, who gave a casual and enjoyable talk about how their blog and their books came to be, whilst wearing their handknits from the new book (and grateful for it too, in the chilly temps!) then signed their second book afterwards (yep!  I’m all autographed & stamped with that one too!).   Then, the series of five portraits following are from a chili party Saturday night — no standing in line in the cold waiting for the start of the Ravelry party for us! First, Carole (Carole NJ on Ravelry) invited Lisa (roommate) and I to what was a reunion of some of the BMFA Sock-Camp-Bus Sock Stars and whipped up a wonderful batch of ‘real’ and toned-down chili to warm everyone up.  (The alcohol didn’t hurt either. ) Carole made an awesome Twisted Ravelry scarf that she finished in time to wear Sunday.  And she gave me Sock Star m & m’s!  Thanks, Carole!  Continuing on with the portraits, Susan (misknits) (when I was linking Susan’s blog, I found to my surprise a picture including me from Sock Camp!  See the October 12 entry for the happy ice cream savorers), Joan (jmcmjoan) (blogless but by no means yarnless!), Alice (MissMalice aka socktopus of socktopus.co.uk! from whence she brought me some Malabrigo sock yarn in my favorite jewel tones without even knowing, wow!) and last but not least, organizer extraordinaire, Sam (samro) of KnitQuest and also frequent contributor to Lime & Violet’s Daily Chum.  She’s also someone who was nice enough to award me a second “I Love Your Blog” award recently.  (Since I already passed on the happiness once, I won’t do so again, but I feel loved!)  So, after warming up inside and out and putting on our long underwear (at least, I put on my fine merino footless tights that I wear at ballet, under my pants!), we all went to the Ravelry party, too late for goodie bags, but not too late for fun!  or Free Drinks!  Or the Raffle Prizes!  The last pictures is, of course, for those familiar with Ravelry, Mary-Heather, Jess, and Casey at the mic: awarding prizes.  I won a big bottle of Soak wool wash plus a bunch of little sample size Soaks in a variety of scents.  Awesome!

Some people I met are not photo-documented, either because I forgot, or the time didn’t seem right.  At Briar Rose, I saw and talked briefly to Anne Hanson, she of the amazing and lovely Knitspot designs (she told me to say hello if I saw her!), together with Kim and David.  I showed both Anne and Chris of Briar Rose my nascent reknitting of the Coulee Shawl (Ravelry link), being knit of addictive Briar Rose Glory Days Blue-Faced Leicester DK-weight yarn.  This yarn practically knits itself.  (I, however, have frogged the start I made, as I decided to start the shawl a different way.)   I also saw and said hello to Cara and Meli, who is if possible more beautiful in person than in photos.  Despite seeing Lucia every time & more that I saw Lisa (Knitnzu), I don’t have a picture of her, nor her charming and sage daughter who correctly suggested that I might find my missing Vintage leaf earring in my bag!  (if you biggify the mosaic, note that one earring is missing in the picture with CeCe, but I don’t know it yet…but there they both are in the Twisted scarf picture with Mel in the next row.  Whew!  That was after I scoured the floor of the first vendors’ area I was in….then turned my knitting bag inside out.) And not documented in the Holiday Party above are Mardi Nufflebutt and Kathe Knittingfiddler, as well as Marcy Habetrot, and I *know* I’m missing some other Ravelers who were visiting and whom I met.

And some people I really wanted to meet, I didn’t!  Wah!  Like Norma, Margene, and Sandy!

Well — I guess the prospect of meeting more Unimaginary friends is what will bring me back to Rhinebeck another time, eh?

Recipe for a Rainy Day? Handspun and a New Book!

I think it was raining the day not long ago when I received wonderful blog contest prizes in the mail.  And it was raining again yesterday, when I was finally home during daylight to take a picture of the wonderfulness.

So let me show you, imperfectly with flash, first the artistry of Gwen at Pieces of String Too Small To Save!

(She also has an etsy shop with hand-dyed roving and more handspun.  Highly recommended.)

I won the above delectable handspun goodness PLUS chocolate in the shape of Ohio (awesome!) and a blog button that DOESN’T go in my sidebar!  (It says, “Pieces Of String Too Small To Save”, since I know you can’t read it.)  All as a Blogiversary giveaway.  I have some thoughts in mind for this incredibly soft, squishy, gorgeous hand-dyed handspun, but just want to pet the yarn some more and let it talk to me.  Maybe the chocolate will allow me to hear it better….

On the very same day, another treat came in the mail, courtesy of the kindness of a knitter/author/blogger/instigator!

For Ravelympics, which I told you about recently, I was on Team Twisted, in celebration of one of my favorite yarns.  One of our co-captains, Kathleen Taylor, GrammaK on Ravelry and the one who actually instigated TeamTwisted (I use the word advisedly), is an author both of knitting books* and mystery fiction, as well as having a great knitting blog where she shares some of her excellent patterns for free (go there and check out the stranded colorwork sweater she just designed and knit.  Wow).  Anyhoo, she gave all the team members a copy of one of her mystery books just ’cause.

(Did you notice its cover coordinates perfectly with the handspun?  Somewhat mysterious how that worked….)

I picked it up and opened it in the middle just as a sample, and immediately got sucked in.  NO!  Put The Book Down!  I think it might need to come with me on my travels next week, however.

* I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that I owned two of Kathleen’s books until I Googled them for this post.  That is, I knew about one of them (one of her felting books) but not the second, her book about hand-dyeing yarn….idiote!

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Thank you, Gwen and Kathleen!  KNITBLOGGERS ROCK!

Happy (Oktoberfest) Birthday!

All things come to fruition in their own time.  People — and socks!

Today is my father’s birthday.  He’s special for many reasons.  He bequeathed to me brains, persistence, good hands, and a strong sense of family.  He retired not too long ago from the same institution I work for, and those who have worked with both of us say we have the same smiling eyes, even though there may not be a striking resemblance otherwise.

But, me being a knitter and all, there are also a couple knitterly reasons why he’s special.  I just told you with my last post about The Scarf — my, um, unique first knitted object.  Which he still wears at times, and proudly tells people his daughter made for him.  That’s one reason.

The second has to do with socks.  My first pair of socks, I made for me.  When I’m trying out a new technique for the first time, I will often make the object for myself in case it really bites.  Because I’ll probably still wear it!  My second pair of socks,  I made for my father.  They were pretty good, though not perfect.  I’ve learned some things since then, and also gotten more creative, now that I’ve got the basics down: top down, toe up, circs, magic loop, dpns, short rows, heel flap, throwing stitch patterns in there….

Last year, my father told me he wears those socks every week.  Once a week he wears them, on the weekend he washes them, and then he wears them again.  He loves them!

You know what that means — this man needs more socks!  How can I NOT knit more socks for someone who appreciates them that much?  (Don’t we all like to have our handknits appreciated? And really used?)

So last year I started the Tsock Tsarina’s amazing Oktoberfest socks, in a manly variation she came up with across the ‘net as we corresponded about them.  I mentioned them and showed you the gorgeous beer-colored yarn, here in a teaser.  But then, last September, a renegade bowl attacked me and the socks did not come to pass.

Then, by the time my hand healed (the second time) enough to knit, I was way late for holiday present-knitting schedules, and had already made my apologies to my father (showing him one half-made sock).  So I concentrated on Christmas knitting, and put the sock to the side.  Oops, tactical error.  My husband tidied up for company.  Sock went one place, directions another, and small skein of white yarn still a third.  It took me MONTHS to reunite it all!  Then mojo had to be regained, plus the modifications The Tsock Tsarina had made (and then I had modified the modifications minimally) had to be remembered (shhh, I goofed up slightly at that point; proving it’s handmade); my first ‘foam’ edging drew in a little, too tight, where I joined the new yarn, so I ripped; the yarn ball got tangled and had to be rewound….it was just an ongoing series of speed bumps.

But for the Ravelympics, I took the second sock with me to Camp, and crossed the finish line!  Note:  Each reverse Irish knot is like knitting 9 stitches for the price of one.  Cool effect, but is it any wonder I usually don’t like bobbles; or that it took a while?

So tonight:  The Oktoberfest Socks were presented, at long last!  They are of course, really last year’s birthday present, so we’ll just say the sock blockers are this year’s present.

Oktoberfest Socks (Manly Barleycorn variation)

Jennifer’s gorgeous yarn, The Tsarina of Tsocks’ wonderful pattern with Manly Barleycorn variation (plus Barleycorn Eyelet as in the original, at the top), and a series of unfortunate events, to coin a phrase, that made them take much longer than they should have to knit.  Finally, presented to the feet that have been waiting for them!

And, continuing the bloggerly theme, I also made my father pickled beets from Norma’s recipe.  He LOVES pickled beets.  My husband’s usually the cook….hmmm. The recipe didn’t seem hard, though, and I had organic local beets and a good will.  We’ll know in a few weeks, when they’ve sat long enough, how they really turned out.  I’ll take a picture in daylight, maybe, and show you; they are pretty, though not as pretty as Norma’s.

Too bad there was so much work and kid stuff going on; there was not much birthday celebration time, though we did go to brunch this weekend with my brother and his wife, who were in town.  But the socks and the beets will continue the celebration, I hope!  And we can always go get a brat and a beer at Oktoberfest in my father’s honor, eh?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Weekend (Mess O’) Knitting Update

It doesn’t feel like I’ve been doing incredibly much knitting — I think, just not that much blogging!

But I have a couple knitting FOs to show and tell.

First, what I was working on at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool last weekend:

The RockStar’s School Colors Mitts!

She wanted them alternating colors instead of matching, so I obliged.  Made from Regia Nations self-striping sock yarn, from my own fingerless mitts pattern, except on 48 stitches (it was seeming a bit tight at 40 stitches, though it probably would have been okay; these are loose.  But I also know these will get abused, i.e. machine washed and dried, so allowing for possible shrinkage seemed wise!)

Secondly, a bad picture of a Twisted baby hat in Kabam yarn base, Braider colorway (had to take the picture at work, immediately after finishing on my lunch break, and before sending the hat off with my husband to pass on to its recipient):

Also my own pattern, knit for a friend’s new grandbaby.

Third, this was the week I received the box from DishRag Tag (The Sequel).  The box took THREE DAYS to get from Chicago area to me, one state over, by Priority Mail, so I felt obliged to do a same day turnaround if possible (aided by the presence of an Automated Postal Center at our post office, open till midnight!).  Our mail gets to our house late (4 – 6 pm), and I got home from work at 5:30 pm in any case.

The box was finally there!

Wonderful dishrag from Katie, a teammate on our DishRag Tag team, “Dishin’ It Out”, as well as yarn to knit another, the most amazing chocolate-and-spice scented soap, and plenty of yummy things, as well as the official DRT pattern & instructions.

Of course there was kid stuff to be done this night: specifically, after dinner, The RockStar had a Nutcracker rehearsal (Chinese!).

I’d already knit the edging by the time I needed to drive her (my husband had a gig in another city).

But the dance studio is right by a Panera.  So I bought a cup of decaf and settled down to knit away for an hour and a half (Gothlet being well ensconced at home).

While reading the book for book club!  (Might account for the odd bit of froggage I had to do.)

Only 8 more rows to do when rehearsal ended; quickly done,

a few treats added to the tiny box, and then a bedtime drive to the Post Office for same day turnaround, for whatever bit of time it makes up.  Whew!

Gradual progress is still being made on Swan Lake; no new pictures.

Ditto for the walking/meeting sock (I should take a picture, I’m almost done with sock # 1).

And a combination of two things have led me to cast on yet another project:

Scrumptious new yarn in the mail, and a sore thumb.

My left thumb has been hurting for a week or so.  I thought it was a flare of some mild hand arthritis I have, though it usually bothers my finger joints (but my mother has had surgery for arthritis in this area of her thumbs, so I wouldn’t be surprised).  It’s been getting more and more sore, though.  Then, yesterday I tried to pick up a half-gallon carton of milk with my left hand and almost dropped it, the pain was so searing.  Yowzah!

That kind of pain reminds me very much of my dealings with hip tendinitis some years ago, so I’m thinking it’s tendinitis and not arthritis.  It would make sense, due to a combination of work activities and small-needle knitting (the speed cotton knitting probably didn’t help).  Purling, inelastic yarn, and stitches requiring more needle tension are all quite painful right now.

So, when this lovely yarn from Twisted came in the mail (Big Needle Club), begging to be something — a special scarf? — I thought of Anne Hanson’s pattern “Boing!” somehow.

But when I obtained the pattern, I realized it called for not only purling, but Purling Two Together Through The Back Loop: not so fun any time, but agony right now, and not designed to allow this left thumb to rest.

Thus, I decided to keep this pattern for another day, another yarn, though I think it would have looked good (here it is pre-frogging, in a bad picture)

Instead, I chose to use this great yarn in my fall-back Multidirectional-type scarf (but a variation I’m working out, which I’ll write up and publish on Ravelry).

The colors are a touch more saturated than this looks, but the photo is pretty close.  They just glow.  This is a light worsted weight tussah silk/wool yarn, currently exclusive to the club, and it’s wonderful to work with.

This is all in garter stitch except a knit-front-and-back at the beginning of each row, and a slip-slip-knit before turning the short rows (which doesn’t seem to bother my thumb too much).  This is MUCH easier on my thumb!  Just knitting does hurt a little, but given that knitting IS my stress relief, I’m happy to find some I can do without seeming to make it worse.

Boy, all this knitting adds up; maybe there’s a very good reason my thumb hurts….

Resting it otherwise, anti-inflammatories, and if I can find an appropriate splint without going to see someone (don’t have time, I leave for a meeting Tuesday, and Monday is just packed) — should help.

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Lastly, I was very flattered and pleased to be awarded a Blue Ribbon recently!

Toots aka Sara aka ChickenBetty is someone whose blog I’ve been reading since I started blogging.  And she was kind enough to award me, among others, an “I Love Your Blog” Award Blue Ribbon!  I may not have won any awards at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, but I’ll happily accept this one!

Of course, Blog Love cries out to be spread around.  The Blue Ribbon ‘rules’:

1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
3. Nominate at least 4 other bloggers and add their links.
4. Leave a comment at the recipients’ blogs so they can pass it on.

Well, that’s easy and fun!

And, though I read a number of blogs and keep them all on my feed aggregator because I love them (I should mention that my blog list over to the side is woefully out of date): there are some I read before others when I come home from vacation and there are a gazillion (OK, hundreds) of unread posts.

So, a selection of 4 from those first-read blogs:

Kmkat and her Kneedles.  Though we live not that far apart in the big scheme of things, I first found her blog through a comment The Kat(tm) left on the Yarn Harlot’s blog, as I recall.  Fun and obscure stuff, a hint of politics (local and national), nature, and some knitting!

Knitnzu.com.  I found Lisa’s blog wandering the blogosphere one day, before I had a blog, perhaps even, and misplaced it (before I knew about using Bloglines & similar feed aggregators).   Later found it again for good; apparently in the meantime I won a contest but never claimed my prize (because I hadn’t come back and hadn’t left contact info….)  So, a year or more later, Lisa sent me a consolation prize for a contest I never knew I’d won!  She has great, intermittently photogenic dogs, one of whom lends her name to the blog; she and I are about the same age with the same age kid; and share a love of the outdoors, though she is immersed in it, since it’s her work.  And, yes, knitting!

Yet another K: Knot Much of a Knitter (which title has become false pretences, Nora, my dear!) Another knitter my age with kids my age, located on the other side of my state, with a broad range of interests and well-written, insightful posts.  Newer blogger and newer knitter, It’s also been vicarious fun to see Nora ultra-rapidly gain knitting skills and confidence, egged on by a large peanut gallery!

Breaking away from the Ks (unless you spell creatively) is Cats, Sticks and Books, being the blog of Dale-Harriet, another Wisconsin knitter.  Dale-Harriet’s point of view as recounted with her own unique voice.  I always enjoy her posts, usually stop to think, and learn something to boot.  Knitting is slanted towards reenactors’ knitting, by popular demand!

I didn’t start out to single out Wisconsin (well, OK, Lisa, how about Northern!) knitters, but wanted to share with you some blogs that I really love that maybe not everyone has seen (though some of these do have a pretty wide readership).  I mean, I could have mentioned Stumbling Over Chaos, Norma, Margene, and the Yarn Harlot, among others, also, but many many of you also read those blogs!  So off I go now, to award blue ribbons in person via the comments.

Pre-Vacation Vacation

So, I need to rest up before Family Camp.

(Actually, I’m mostly taking advantage of being temporarily without children!) My husband and I usually celebrate our May anniversary by going away for a night or two to an area bed and breakfast (usually a different one every time). It didn’t happen earlier this this year because I had to work every weekend around then, including Memorial Day weekend. Thus, we’ll just celebrate a bit late this year!

I took a day off tomorrow, and today we’re driving Up North a few hours to the lovely St. Croix River Inn. This is a place we’ve stayed a few times, actually, over the 25 + years we’ve been together; more often when we lived in the Twin Cities. So it will be nostalgic. It’s really beautiful; and breakfast is amazing, too.

AND — double bonus — upon realizing that Osceola was in Polk County, Wisconsin, and upon that triggering a recollection about who was a newly elected governing official of said Polk County, I fired off an email; with the result that a knitblogger meet-up is in the works for later today with kmkat! W00t! and Woo-hoo! Having met her IRL before, and having lived with my husband all these years, I’m looking forward to them meeting (I promised him we wouldn’t just talk about knitting — no fear!)

I ran across the Polk County info in some random Google search. But, above and beyond this allowing us a rendezvous, I was glad to get the county info. The last time we stayed at the St. Croix RIver Inn, there was a tornado somewhere in the vicinity. We could see black and green clouds (no funnel, granted) from the huge picture window in our room (picture THAT imploding into the room), and turned on the radio; well, the tornado warning information is by county, and we had NO clue what county we were in! There is no innkeeper on premises in this particular inn. So we went into the hallway of the lower level of the inn for some time, and hoped for the best.

I already know what knitting I’m taking — now to throw some clothes together. Priorities, after all.

Here’s yesterday’s Saturday Sky with bonus bird (much more photogenic than today’s gray sky, which just started sprinkling as I typed this; ah well, perhaps we’ll just have to plan on more indoor-type activities….)

And last week’s Saturday Sky, which never got shared with you as such (I guess I did show you a close-up of the sunset bee on echinacea) .

And, lastly, how about a flower picture, since I didn’t really give you my usual Flower Eye Candy Friday?

Phlox in yesterday’s early morning sun.

See you when I return, hopefully with knitting progress to report!