In The Hopes

In the hopes that fellow bloggers will post something to entertain me (Cough, TDC) I will put a little something out there myself.

The knitting world just gets smaller and smaller...I was reading the Yarn Harlot the other day and enjoyed hearing about her latest sock. I followed her link and considered purchasing the pattern; I still might, but I actually have to check and see if I already did. ;o)
And the story kept running through my mind...mmmm, something's familiar about all this...

Ah Hah! I said. I have that yarn! The name felt good, but really it was the colour that called to me. (I love the names of yarn; sometimes that's about the only reason I buy it; it's not like I need it or anything, but you already knew that.) I decided to make some wrist warmers for a friend of mine; I have the first one completed and have started on the second, but I gotta say...I really like these, and I'm a little doubtful (and feeling guilty about my hesitation) that they'll actually get to the person that I started them for. I'm a baaaad knitter, or maybe just a bad friend.

Seascape Update:

Have completed the 6 repeats that the pattern called for and have begun #7. I anticipate completing #8 before I begin the end chart and blocking. Two weeks to go...I hope I make it. True to Noro form there's a colour glitch and I'm just living with this one. I have, however, taken the appropriate steps to ensure consistency in the rest of the wrap.

Because that's what I do.

Also to be completed in the next two weeks. :o)

"A Bamboo Tank Top" using Dye-Version Bamboo Sock. It's 93% Bamboo and 7% Lycra; therefore, there is a real spring to this yarn. It is absolutely wonderful to work with and I have no trouble staying true to working with it daily.

At this point in the pattern I'm working a simple 4 row repeat, and 3 of those rows are knit. Why then when I sat down earlier did I have to tink 3/4 of a 210 sts. row because I couldn't work the one round of 'YO, K2tog" a few times? Simple right? Geez! I'm sure glad it's so pretty; I was happy to spend the extra time with it.

Hyper and Unfocused

Must be left over from Halloween! Or maybe this little lady cast a spell on us all...

This will be a bit of a random post in keeping with the "unfocused" theme.

I wasn't feeling well for the past couple of days; turns out there is actually something going around where you're tired, have a runny nose and a headache that makes it feel like your head is going to fall off.

Even if no wine was involved.

So yesterday, after a serious afternoon nap, I actually had some energy to make a decent dinner and I was so pleased with myself that I made sure that I had evidential proof of said dinner.

It's Chicken and Pears with Almonds and Gorgonzola, loosely based on a recipe from the Alive magazine available at you local health food store. When I showed my husband the picture of the original he said mine was better. Brownie points for him.

I invented this side dish of lightly steamed broccoli and cauliflower tossed with leaks and garlic that had been sauteed in the pan used to prepare the chicken dish.

The evening went kind of hairy after that. Later on I was helping my son try to find his ski boots, which we never did, but that led us into some uncharted territory that is 'the crawl space'. I don't often get down there, because whoever built this house saw fit to build a crawl space where you can't stand up straight and it hurts all of our backs to go in there! So stuff gets shoved in there and moved around and forgotten about and added to etc. etc.
This is particularly not helpful for those of us who are prone to the 'hoarding' factor; especially with yarn.
I found yarn in the crawl space. I sort of knew it was there. I sort of remembered that I had it. I just don't ever remember feeling that overwhelmed by it before.
I have my studio stash...which is plentiful.
I have a few (cough-several) rubbermaid containers waiting to go---either to the crawl space or away; again, plentiful.
And once again I've encountered the Crawl Space Yarn. CSY.
**New t.v. show idea: CSI-CSY! Starring....me? The following show contains material that may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
Anyway, I guess not being able to find the boots and seeing all that yarn that I still actually remember what it was that I wanted to do with it all left me feeling a bit unsettled. Put that together with an afternoon nap, late evening dessert and a snoring husband and you've got a night full of second guessing and self negative talk.
I was setting myself up for quite a tailspin and feeling pretty badly about myself and my short-comings and choices I've made, projects I will never complete...dreams that will never come true. NOT A GOOD NIGHT!!!
So, I got up, made another cup of Bedtime Tea and, "Thank God for Knitting", is all I have to say. I quietly worked on Seascsape and found my rhythm once again. I was able to quiet the voices that tell me "I'll never finish all this!" And shortly after midnight I was able to get to sleep.
This morning I awoke embracing the Hope for Creativity that I count on to get me through the hustle and bustle of the life we are a part of. (This morning's mantra is, "Thank God for Sunshine".) If Hope for Creativity looks like too much yarn to some people, well so be it. I'll get to it someday. (It's funny, that same Alive magazine where I found the chicken recipe also had an article on procrastination, and it was written by somebody that somehow got inside my head and shared with everybody how my thoughts and days go by! Scarey.)
A few hours later I find myself sitting at Tim Hortons checking emails and there is one waiting for me with one of my favourite subject lines:
Knitting Question.
"...What do you ladies do with your left thumb when you are knitting? In particular when you are doing the purl stitch. Does it sit nicely in the palm of your left hand, does it leap back and forth to the needle, does it do something in between? Inquiring minds want to know."

Well, was my face red!! Here I was in a coffee shop, reading an email about knitting and me without my knitting!! I tried knitting in mid air without yarn and needles, but it really wasn't very helpful. I didn't care that maybe I looked like one of those crazy ladies; I just wasn't getting the proper results to give my inquiring minded friend the answer she deserved and needed!

So, here's a picture to put it all into perspective. Mostly my thumb stays pretty much in this position. It might move back and forth a little bit, but usually it sits here to do the job at hand.

I picked up an addition to my knitting library the other day.

I'll tell you more about it another day...maybe I'll bring it to knitting on Thursday...but I have to get going now. There's a dog that wants fed and a girl who doesn't have her dance stuff to get ready for her 3 hour dance class after her Volleyball tryout.

That's Seascape peeking at the corner there. I think I'm going to do a couple of extra repeats on that because I don't see how it's going to block to the given dimensions on the pattern and I think that that's a reasonable conclusion since the yarn is quite a bit different than the one called for.

I've really enjoyed writing and sharing this with you today. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Let's Do The Time Warp...

Everybody make that sound you make when you're traveling back in time. You know kind of Twilight Zoney.

It's still October. In fact Halloween started on or about the 28th this year; so here's a recap...

I went out and had lunch with my dad on Thursday and stopped at a couple of shops in Shelburne on the way home. Yes, I should have been coming straight home, but I chose to honour my mother and myself and stop at a couple of shops we would've both enjoyed.

Shop #1: Cobwebs and Caviar. I went in for Halloween decorations and found quilting fabric. It's nice how things work out sometimes.

They had quite a nice little selection of cats and yarn fabric...it had to come home with me.

Shop #2: Woolly's Yarns. I went in just to look and to cheer up a bit; it worked! Well, the cheering up part did, but the just looking part? Not so much.

The lady at the store asked me what I was going to make with the yarn? I told her I'll find something in that magazine. Still looking.
The Halloween cat is new this year to my collection. Funny, the ladies in the store where I got it were quite happy to see it go. It plays Black Magic Woman. My husband is happy to see it go away too.

October 29th, 2010. (Imagine some kind of ticker tape noice)
I went to carve a pumpkin with my 4 year old niece. We had a great time and because I was in the area...I stopped at Georgetown Yarn and Crafts. I've been meaning to get there for years, and again, instead of coming straight home I visited yet another yarn shop.

I mostly hit the sale bin there...but not everything makes it to a blog photo shoot, now does it?

Hohoho!

So we're right on Halloween's tail; I've visited two yarn shops and continue to knit for Mexico. You know what else I did, keeping in the spirit of the Big Day?

I spun Orange Yarn. Blood Orange Yarn by Dyehard Yarns, from Pick Up Sticks to be exact. It smells like an orange too, because I rinsed it in Citrus Soak.

It's fine. I know it's fine, but I honestly thought I was doing a lot better on this one. I probably was when I WAS ALONE AND NOT BEING INTERRUPTED EVERY 5 MINUTES!! "What ya doin'?" "Can you take me to Courtney's now?" "How about now?" "That's gonna take forever!" "Now?"

"What's for dinner?"

So enough about yarn (Like there can actually ever be enough about yarn!), here's a question for you.

Who are these people???

Hint: "Out Damn Spot! Out!"

Awww, The Comforts of Home

Honestly, I just make these titles up as the page opens, and sometimes they're bang on!

So today I'm going to take you back, bring you up to date and back again.

Are you ready?

Get set?

Go!!

A couple of weeks ago...no, too recent, I'm going to go a little further.

Several years ago a dear, dear friend of mine left me. Too dramatic?

Her husband kidnapped her? Too harsh.

O.K. fine. My friend moved.

Happy? Well I wasn't, but thankfully we live in an age where distance seems to matter less and less. Between Long Distance plans, emails, blogs and even snail mail we have kept in touch through the good and the bad of these past few years.

A couple of weeks ago...I received a little of the 'good'.

Chris made me some socks.

Somebody made socks for me.

If you think hand knit socks are wonderful things, well, "gifted hand knit socks" just ROCK THE HOUSE!!

Chris moved someplace where it's usually nice and warm...she says it's just hot. I wanted to send her some pictures of our fall colours. Last week we woke up to something looking a lot like this (everybody I live with was cheering...me? Not so much. In fact there may have been some words unbefitting a knitter uttered); so I was a little worried that I had missed my opportunity.
I took these photos today in my front yard. (I just wrote yarn instead of yard...hehehe)

I'm sitting outside with an Ice Cap (Mocha), I have a light spring jacket on and I think I'm a little overdressed. We're in for a mild week and after that little scare/reminder last week that this wonderful summer will indeed come to an end, we need to make sure that we enjoy every last little morsel of it.

Then I went out back, so that some of the local wildlife could be included in the photo-op.

Chris loves local wildlife, and local wildlife loves Chris. And I do too, thanks Chris, I love my socks. You did a fantastic job. In fact, what cast on do you use? It's nice and loose...in a good way!

O.K. back a little again, I was out for a walk just when the leaves really got into their changing mode and stopped to get a shot of one of my favourite trees on our street. I took this with my iPhone and always try to work around the wires that are right in the way! Every year they're in my way. Huh.

Here's me and my iPhone again.

This was a "stop and smell the roses" kind of shot. I was on my way to work (hehe work---making babies---hehe); was running a little behind (nothing new) and thought, "Oh, what a lovely sunrise this morning. I'm late. I better get going." But as I backed out of the garage, I thought, "NO! Life is all about taking the time to notice these little gems and NOBODY is going to take that lesson away from me." So, I pulled into our back lot, got out of the van and took a couple of shots.

I wasn't able to spend a long time with the view, and here's the kicker; if I hadn't been rushing out to work, I might not have really noticed it all! I'd be staying cozy in my house. So, while I may have appeared to be joining the "hurry up and get to it" crowd, I was actually able to catch something beautiful because of it, and because I'm learning to slow down and appreciate these treasures...that's what I did.

Did that make sense?

Go Here!

I was hoping to copy and paste a comment that I had left on one of my favourite blogs, but apparently that doesn't work. So go visit Glenna (especially if you're a Cast Off) to see what I had to say.
I would just like to say that I think Glenna and Wendy both rock with their generosity and giveaway fun and that Maria rocks in the "Wow factor" department.
And Wannietta just plain ROCKS!!
I don't have very much energy today and just trying to get done a few little tasks is really draining, but links on blogs are fun and here at Wine, Wool and Whoppers...we're all about fun!
I'm looking forward to knitting tonight (because it's Thursday), but to switch things up a bit, I'm taking my spinning wheel! I tell you, you just never know what's going to happen at one of our get-togethers...spinning, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross-stitch...one thing you can count on though, is laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.
It's good for the soul.

All Wool, All The Time...Except When It's Cotton

So let's recap.
Saturday I went to a yarn shop. I won yarn. I bought yarn.
Wanna know what I did on Sunday?


I made yarn! And it soooo ssssoooofffftttt....
Fleece Artist Merino Sliver, 2 ply, spun and plied on my Ladybug. It was really lovely fibre to work with, although it didn't go quite as smoothly as I had remembered the first bobbin going, but that's what I get for taking so long between spinning days.

When I had finished plying the yarn and was tidying up and getting ready to rejoin the family...I once again picked up some fibre that I bought in Haliburton while at the cottage a couple of years ago. Everytime I'm spinning, I pick it up, I look at it, think about it, remember that I bought it so that I could practise, because it's really not a colour way that I'm too fond of. And wonder if I'm ever really going to use it, but something about the fall weather and the fall colours wouldn't let me part with it or put it away. So last night, in bed, while watching "The Next Iron Chef"...

I pre-drafted. Doesn't everybody?

The overflowing basket is even somewhat compressed. One long, continuous piece of fibre....oooohhhhh.

This morning after everybody left I decided that I would just do a little spinning.

I ended up doing two passes on the bobbin and only quit because, 1) I had told myself I was going to quit half-way through the first pass and 2) the roving got away from me and broke; so I took it as a sign that it was a good place to stop for today.

All my other spinning has come from batts or those thick braided type samples that you need to divide and then predraft. I quite enjoy working with this long pencil (?) roving; I'm getting a finer single and I've got hours and hours of spinning enjoyment yet to go!

My plan was to alternate spinning wheels so that I get proficient on both my Ladybug and my Bee....So much for that plan!

I'm going to predraft some "Blood Orange" fibre tonight (today) though, to spin on my Bee tomorrow!


FO ALERT!!

One of my finishing projects that I was whining about on Saturday was this top. Hollyhock Ridge from Knitter's Summer 2010 K99 using Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. (The amounts called for were bang on with just enough left over to make some baby hats, I think.) While my dessert was baking yesterday, (Creme Brulee---it was o.k. I've made better) I wove in all my ends and felt really good about the whole thing, because I wasn't "just" knitting; no siree Bob, I was baking dessert!

Just like now, I'm not "just fiddling on the computer"; I'm doing laundry, and planning dinner, and thinking about dentists appointments, need to get new glasses...

Women make the best multi-taskers.

All The World's A Stage!!

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Today, October 16th, 2010, I...(well, I'm not sure what to fill in here)...

a) Enjoyed a lovely, sunny day?
b) Finally got the fish tank cleaned?
c) Experienced, in all it's glory, the wonderment of being the mother of an eleven year old female ie. preteen?
d) Found out I was indispensable?

If you guessed e) All of the above? Well then you've just earned yourself a Hero Biscuit!



What I had planned to do was go here for this for the day. Not too much to ask for, I don't think. I didn't make it to Rhinebeck (again). I don't plan on going to the Creative Festival this year. And I've bailed on my plans to go to Vogue Knitting Live. SO I DON'T THINK I WAS ASKING FOR TOO MUCH FOR A FEW HOURS AT ONE OF MY FAVOURITE KNITTING SHOPS.

Apparently, I was.

Yarns on Stage unveiling was scheduled for 11; I was a bit late...had to organize the fold...but thankfully did not miss the big moment!

Some beautiful yarns were introduced and a lot of wonderful knitters gathered to share in the excitement. Above are just two of the examples....(that came home with me). You can take advantage of the new yarns by visiting Pick Up Sticks yourself!



These yarns were purchased today (I tried to rotate the photo---sorry) to hopefully complete a design idea I have that also involves this:

I picked this up last time I was out to see Connie.

So anyway, the yarns are debuted and the fondling and enabling began...and my phone rang. "Yes, I'm here. Yes, I just got here. Yes, I know what the children are doing (well, supposed to be doing)."

A short while later, and I mean SHORT WHILE, the phone rings again. "No, I can't get the fish that are hard to get, because...I'M HERE!!! KEEP TRYING!!"
I had been away from the house for less than an hour. Connie encouraged me to turn off the phone, but I didn't.
A little more yarn, (in fact I WON some yarn! Connie always has great door prizes) a few snacks and....once again, the phone rings. I go outside for this call, because all the knitters (me being one of them) were having a good time and it was difficult to hear anybody on the phone.
I pointed out that nobody else was getting called, but by the third call I knew my time away was coming to a close. I had made an error in judgement thinking that the house, family, dog, cats and fish would survive if I went to play with yarn for a few HOURS!!!
Honestly, I had packed a bag of Show and Tell. Some items that needed finishing...just a little finishing. I had packed a sketch book to work out some design ideas. Some yarn that I had purchased on my last visit that I thought I might wind there....because I can't seem to get it done here...and start on a little project. I even threw Seascape in there! All told, I probably packed more yarn than I could work with in a week and here's the kicker....
I KNEW I would be buying more yarn (it's what I do), but I wanted to make sure that I had something to work on; I even made sure I had any needles that I would need!

On my final pass around this Sublime Soy Cotton called to me from the sale bin and...into the basket she went! What a beautiful colour; she was meant to come home with me.

When I came home I dove into (literally) the fish tank cleaning; ended up taking a run into town to get a new filter. All the fish are back in the tank alive and well; it's nice to be able to see them again.

I managed to put together a Spaghetti and Meatball dinner, my mom's recipe, which was my aunt's recipe and it always makes me feel soooo good to recapture that taste/memory.

And now I sit here trying not to hear the 13-16 year olds playing in a rock band upstairs...my son's a drummer. The band always practises at the drummer's house, it's a rule.
I may be sounding hard done by here and I know I'm not! I'm very blessed and am grateful for all that I have, but sometimes.......

Luckily this morning I was able to capture this bit of beauty that I now look for every October...

Two years ago I saw this image when I was recuperating in my living room.

I think it looks like an angel. An angel of light.

I'm once again reminded to slow down and just enjoy the beauty that surrounds us everyday, and that includes fish tank and drums kits.