Cold Snap Haiku

It is frickin’ cold
22 below right now*
Will my Saturn start?

*this is, of course, Fahrenheit. For the enlightened, this is -30 Celsius.

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This is what -22 F looks like….

Hmm, looks like 0.  Or 10.

Believe me — my nose and my car can tell the difference.  Le sigh.

Lazy Saturday

Yet another overcast Saturday does not inspire me to do much of anything. The only blue sky I saw today was through another of our stained glass windows:

Here’s what the Saturday Sky really looked like:

It’s a warm day today, above freezing, as is hinted at by the fact that there’s only a small patch of snow in the tree hole above.

This is the same tree a few weeks ago:

They say it will rain in a day or two. Rain in January in Wisconsin — that’s just wrong. Not to mention dangerous when it freezes.

It was a lazy day. I didn’t have to work; but by not setting my alarm and therefore not getting up early (I usually get up early even without the alarm, but I’ve been pushing it as far as sleep) , I woke up late with a migraine. I just cannot sleep in any more as it’s almost guaranteed to result in a headache. So I was moving slow until it was finally gone in the early afternoon. I had thought about going out cross-country skiing again, now that I’ve figured out the bindings and now that my muscles have kind of recovered from my first excursion; and before all the snow melted (I’m sure it’s already slushy and slow, but I’m no speed demon anyway). But cold, exercise and migraine are not a good mix. So I ended up not even going outside today, beyond the porch. Our cat tried to make me feel better through the healing power of music:

but I’m not sure it did the trick.

So I knitted! I started a few things today, though I need to be finishing some things too. Finished another preemie hat, re-finished the Pirates Hat (story tomorrow, I expect) and finished a fingerless mitt which I didn’t care for; maybe I’ll get a photo before I frog it and try again. Started another preemie/maybe-more-term baby hat, started a scarf (or two, there’s a reason, though), am trying to restrain myself from starting a sweater (Simple Knitted Bodice) for the Preteen (until I get a couple other things finished). Finished one of the fingerless mitts for my brother but need to start the second. Need to take some pictures….

Allow me to distract you from the lack of knitting documentation with another gratuituous amaryllis shot:

My Computer Lied to Me

I *thought* I was ordering red yarn.

(merchant website picture)

But this is what I got:

PINK yarn! (The bottom yarn is the true color of the above yarn pictured in the first photo.)

I was checking out different yarns, trying to decide upon one for my International Scarf Exchange (ISE 5) pal. She likes any color except pink. I am planning a red scarf. So what do I end up with? Dark pink! I think most of these are going back to the merchant. I don’t have any strong need for dark pink. The only truly red yarn of the four red yarns I *thought* I was ordering, was this (click for big):

Which is very nice, but the color changes may not be as suitable for the lace scarf I am envisioning. Perhaps, but I think it would be a bit busy.

Which brings up one of my pet peeves: online sellers/yarn manufacturers that only post a color number, or manufacturers who have a name that gives you no clue as to the color (e.g. “Rage”). We all know color monitors can vary, so a description or at least a somewhat evocative colorway name would be really nice, for those of us whose LYS are limited in their selection and who are forced to shop sight semi-unseen. Mixed colorways, fine; name those whatever you like! But the seller should help interpret, don’t you think?

So that was the less satisfying part of yesterday’s mail.

But how can it be a bad day when yarn comes in the mail?

I am not going to return this, even though it is contains some pinkish also and so not suitable for the scarf I had in mind:

I am not going to return this because it is ShiBuiKnits Silk Cloud lace weight and it is. A Silk Cloud, that is. Colorway Mandarin. I have some more in cream:

I wish you could pet it.

And in a separate delightful package, some amazing hand-dyed self-striping yarn from Twisted Fiber Art (artist’s blog), via etsy (her shop):

Borrowed from the seller’s etsy site because her photos are much better and you *have* to see this knitted up: Just look!

Firefly colorway

Ravelry colorway (portion of proceeds help support Ravelry!)

Rodney colorway

Giles colorway

The last two colorways are richer, in the skeins I received, in real life:

Sorry for the blah pictures, it was a dark and dreary day. I really like this striping action, though, it’s not abrupt or jagged like mass-dyed yarn. Here’s the seller’s description of one of the striping patterns:

“The knit sample is pictured to show in general how the colors interact and move as you knit. The yarn may be different but the size of the stripes will be similar. Keep in mind that each skein is unique and will knit in its own beautiful way.

Skein Design: Organic Stripe. When knit this yarn will stripe organically, blending from one color to another without the abrupt changes and predictable repeats found on machine printed yarns. The stripes vary throughout so shaping will not interfere with the look of your knit garment. “

So that was loverly, and a spirit booster.

The best thing, given my day yesterday, was the little bonus skein Meg threw in:

Can you read the colorway name in my inexplicably blurry picture? “Angst”!! How perfect!

And I forgot to brag mention that I received some of Jennifer’s lovely hand-dyed yarn last week! Oh, joy!

Now, the full beauty of the subtle variegation in her yarns does not come across photographically, especially in Dark and Drearyland. And the Electric Blue Slide yarn slid right away from me, apparently, while I was photographing, so I will refer you to here and here to see it.

But looky, looky!

Jennifer’s Flock Sock in Copper Pennies

Flock Sock in Garnet (not coincidentally, one of my favorite stones)

and the yet-to-be-named yarn in Rosetta colorway.

Now, if all of that isn’t a cheerer-upper, I don’t know what is.

Oh, yes, I do know! All of the kind wishes and supportive words you left for me yesterday! I had a nice Pity Party, and you all helped me get over it. All will be well, I am sure. But there is no way to rush healing. (There are lots of ways to sabotage it, however.) Patience is a virtue. Not one of my foremost virtues, always, but a laudable goal.

Thank you for cheering me up while I try to be patient!

More Whine and Cheese

I was (still am, really) feeling sorry for myself today.

Yesterday, I had the stitches taken out of the deep cut on my knuckle. Seven days, they told me, for the stitches to come out, and I waited eight only so I could do it on a Monday. The stitches came out — and the cut came apart the first time I bent my finger.

I wanted to cry. Now it has to heal from the inside out, and in the meantime I have to not grip with that hand, not bend it very much nor too often, and not do an important part of my work. And it’s going to look ugly while it’s healing and probably forever. I am slightly vain about my hands, one part of my body I think is pretty, despite the potato-peeling scar on my little finger and the early signs of arthritis. (“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.”) Here my hands were, when they were still whole, knitting the Oktoberfest socks, a photo for a blog contest:

and modeling the Piano Mitts and Mini-Mitts:

OK, I know, they’re just hands. [I should have taken a photo with the stitches in; it didn’t look too bad, just like I had my own personal spider conga line dancing across my knuckle. ] And heaven knows, I have enough scars here and there that one more — not even an inch long — shouldn’t bother me. And it does hurt less today. But they’re *my* hands, y’know? Worse, right now, I can only knit with difficulty and caution, and that’s really ticking me off. I even have had to switch from Continental to English, which slows me down considerably above and beyond the knuckle thing. (It’s my left little finger, which seems to be more an active participant with ‘picking’.) And I have so many things I need and want to knit! Waah!

Well, I did cheer up slightly tonight; the poor mail carrier only got to our house in the dark at 7 pm (!), but he had some yarny goodness for me, though joy was not unmixed with angst (more on that tomorrow, when I can take pictures). But some of the yarny goodness was very good indeed. And I got to go to my dance class, for the first time in way over a month (I’ve been too busy doing mom things to take the time for myself). Oh, I’ll be sore tomorrow and the next day, but it will be a good sore. And I came home to a very funny email from the Tsarina of Tsocks, which made me laugh and laugh, and I couldn’t explain it to my family, which made me laugh even more. There is something healing about laughter, yes?

And speaking of the Tsarina, I was absolutely sure there was one more knitting thing I wanted to share with you yesterday, and I finally remembered what it was. It was continuing on with the theme of knitting in the visual arts, and it was the Tsarina’s blog post from Friday night. You *must* see this work of art, and its story. At the very least, you have to see the cat with knitted soakers on. [Thought that would get you.]

Here are some flower photos from the last few weeks to cheer myself up on this cloudy, windy, 30-degree-colder-than-yesterday-day (of course, that suits my mood, so I don’t know why I’m complaining about that). To heck with my photo storage capacity!

and one of my favorite flowers:

There, I feel a little better.

Whine and Cheese(head)

Warning: Whining from a Cheesehead follows!*

*Beth, did you know we cheeseheads were in Wikipedia?
I was not feeling good yesterday; 4 days of a summer head cold and a full-blown migraine and my allergy shots yesterday (which always make me feel a little weird — or weird-er, I guess) and a week solid of not enough sleep and a medical procedure involving sedation earlier in the week, and a mentally and physically exhausting day at work the day before yesterday. So I left work without finishing everything I should have (though unfortunately I still didn’t leave early), and came home and tried to crash. But couldn’t. So in the evening, the girls, my parents and I went to a Community Theatre production of “The Music Man“, one of my favorite musicals (I didn’t even know it was going to be put on in this area when I recently misappropriated one of its many memorable songs). The play distracted me, anyway, and was overall very well done.

Today, I had to work, but I at least caught up with what I had left from yesterday, and the cold is a lot better, as is the migraine. Still need more sleep, though.

So would you like some cheese with that whine, madame?

But tonight was a Beautiful Night, and despite the laundry and cleaning which desperately needs doing, I took time for me and my needles and sat outside. Mental health imperative. And I took some pictures. So here’s some knitting! (And about time, I must say!)

Here I am all happily set up to continue the Vanilla Version of MS3, just starting the second chart of Clue 1. It’s going to be kind of like re-reading Harry Potter 7 — I won’t race through it with the same kind of excitement and anticipation — but I can savor it, on the other hand! Here’s my chart management strategy (slip both sheets into one page protector and turn it over in the middle of the row, a good time to ‘read’ my knitting anyway), with highlighter tape; here’s my bead management for these smaller 8-0 beads, my Addi crochet hook 0.75 mm; and my Addi Turbo Lace needles US size 4, which I am finding perfect for this!

Close-ups of my little ‘bead box’:

I love this little box, and it has a story. I bought this as a souvenir in Southern France, when I was there on a high school French trip. I think perhaps in Nice. The top seems to be abalone or something similar, and the embossed metal bottom looks like brass?? It hasn’t tarnished in 25 years. It was sold as a pill box; I remember the elderly gentleman in the shop asking me to be sure I really wanted a pill box! I just wanted it to hold little things. It’s perfect for its current use; the top fits positively and securely, and there are no gaps the beads can escape through, and it’s weighty enough to stay put and not to fall over when the top’s open. (I have too many beads in it right now, I was — as usual — overpacking for my recent trip and didn’t want to run out of beads! It’s easier to skewer the beads with the crochet hook if there’s only one layer of beads, of course.) And I love these beads; milky opalescent with gold inside. Gorgeous, and for just a few dollars!

So all this stole love tonight helped me feel better!

More knitting from the last 2 weeks:

Finally visible progress on Ribby Shell, which I knit a little bit on here, and there, and in Chicago O’Hare airport, and while awaiting the medical procedure, and at work today, and at the play intermission last night.

And the Preteen’s Fern Sock in its natural environment:

Had to re-do the second toe of the Gothlet’s socks:

Jeanne asked about this yarn. This is Schachenmayr Micro Color, a microfiber (acrylic) sportweight yarn. I don’t think this colorway is available any more, as I got this as an orphan from elann.com a couple years ago (I’m a sucker for orphan skeins). The colorway is called “Tutti Frutti”. I’ve lost the ball band, but elann has everything I’ve ever ordered from them documented on my account, which is either scary when I add it all up, or really cool like now! Schachenmayr also makes Micro Fino Color, which is apparently a fingering weight. I like this yarn even though it’s synthetic; it’s easy to work with and soft but not splitty. Good for my sensitive skin girl.  The colors are certainly cheerful! These are anklets because I only have one skein; I weighed the first sock as I knit it and stopped when I had used half the yarn.

I hope to put Montreal together in blog form tomorrow, with (highly selected) photos. (I managed to take over 800 in 5 days….). But in the meantime, let me leave you with a garden photo, sadly absent lately (this would have been Eye Candy Friday if I’d been with it yesterday):

And a Saturday Sky this morning:

And a Saturday Sky with bats tonight!