Fannie Pie

2009 reading list

2010-01-02T11:58:00.003-06:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted and I thought I'd sum up my year with my reading list.

I read some books I really loved in the last year and had some strange serendipitous pairings. I read two books back to back that had main characters named Penelope and I read two books where the main characters grew up on a commune in New Mexico.

I have a long list of books I hope to get to soon, that I didn't read in 2009, and will see if I can get to them in 2010. I'm optimistic about a new year of reading great things! If you have suggestions that I shouldn't miss out on feel free to leave them in the comments!

In order of reading....

Up for Renewal by Cathy Alter. This seemed like a good read to start the year and it was and enjoyable read about a girl who I didn't really like at first, but loved the story of her crazy challenge to better herself via magazine advice.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich. I love her crazy characters and even though they are getting repetitive, they still make me laugh.

Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg. This is one long strange book. I loved it. Circus performers, giant man made earthquakes, world wide espionage plots and nuns.

Spade and Archer by Joe Gores. This is a prequel to the Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. I loved the way it gave insight into the Sam Spade character that you see in the Maltese Falcon. Joe Gores did a great job of capturing the tone and pace of Maltese Falcon. It might not have hurt that I read this by the pool in Mexico.

The Condition by Jennifer Haigh. I picked this up at PLA in 2008, but didn't get around to reading it until 2009. This is the story of a family falling (fallen) apart. Each character is interesting, if not likeable and I particularly like the character with 'the condition'.

All True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I loved this book. I listened to it on audio book read by the author and loved his reading. This book deserves all the awards and attention it's gotten. I also loved meeting Sherman Alexie in April. He's as charming and brutally honest in person as he is in the book. He aslo told a great story about reading the masturbation chapter out loud at the Bush White House.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This is a fascinating look at success. Malcolm Gladwell thinks about things differently and is so easy to read. I loved it and still think about the chapters on math, airlines and hockey players. I've got another of his books on my ipod for 2010.

The Hypocrisy of Disco by Clane Hayward. This book was sent to my by Kathy. She was intrigued by the name and noticed the main character was born the same year as me. I loved this book of the most disfunctional 'family' I've ever read about. The amazing story of Clane Hayward is heartbreaking and funny and the fact that she lived to write it makes me believe in the amazing power of an individual to overcome amazing circumstances.

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. I thought this might be along the lines of Outliers and in a way it was. It was more about the difference between right brained and left brained individuals and the direction our society is moving. It isn't as fun to read or nearly the concept as well demonstrated as Outliers but it was an interesting read.

Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks. I liked the characters in this book about a woman's world turned upside down. It was an interesting read.

Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn. This was a pure escapist read. Chick lit set in New York. It was a fun read.

Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This is one that has been on my list for quite some time because I love to read about librarians in fiction. This was an interesting premise and although I thought it got bogged down in dark stuff a few times I loved the characters and the very end.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. Another pure fun, escapist read.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I chatted with this author at PLA and got a signed copy of this book. The racing part didn't really interest me so I waited too long to read it. It was a great read and I wish I had talked a bit more with the author about it when I had the chance.

The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I loved Gentlemen of the Road and Kathy recommended this book to me long ago. I loved the characters, time period and the amount of ground this book covers. I love the way Michael Chabon writes and thinks. I'm looking forward to his other books.

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. I read a review that said this was a cross between Mark Twain and Charles Dickens so I had to give it a try. Orphans, con men, a dwarf, giant, evil factory owner, grave robbing, kind hearted rooming house lady all wrapped up in a fun and sometimes funny read.

Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair by Laurie Perry. Also known as Crazy Aunt Purl on her knitting blog, Laurie Perry is very funny. I love her blog and although much of the material in the book was familiar, it was different than I expected and still made me laugh. Her new book is called Home is Where the Wine is, and it's on my list for this year.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This is a fascinating look at a women's lives in China in the 1800's. The relationships and social constraints seem alien and fascinating. It's much like a Jane Austen novel in that much of it takes place in the upstairs rooms where women gather.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. I avoided reading this for the longest time because I had the mistaken idea that this was the tale of a perfect women, methodically ticking off the recipes in Julia Child's book. I couldn't have been more wrong. It's so much more interesting and crazy. I heard Julie Powell speak and she's just as crazy if not more so than she comes across in her book. I have her next book, Cleaving, loaded on my ipod.

Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford. The subtitle of this book is " an inquiry into the value of work". I was intrigued by the title of this book and as someone who loves to make things with my hands thought I would love it. Although I agree with many of the arguments in this book I didn't really like it. Most of them seemed self evident and not very interestingly made. If this subject interests you, then Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one I could recommend. Although it's fiction, it makes the same arguments in a more interesting and compelling tale.

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons. Writers, travel, cooking, France, passion, festivals, food, what more can you want in a novel. I really enjoyed this book.

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant. I love this writer. Her books are well researched, beautifully written and never predictable. This one is set in a convent in Italy in the 1700's and deals with one novice resisting and then adapting to a life she didn't chose and never expected to have. I haven't finished it, but am more than halfway through so it goes on the 2009 reading list.

Looking forward to a great year of reading in 2010! Happy New Year.

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2009-01-28T12:25:00.000-06:00

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2008-12-21T13:15:00.000-06:00

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2008-12-01T09:27:00.000-06:00

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2008-11-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Festival of trees tonight!

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2008-11-16T21:55:00.000-06:00

Baby socks

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2008-11-16T21:54:00.000-06:00

Socks!

New finished objects and Olympic knitting!

2008-08-13T22:27:00.010-05:00

I finished my Must Have Cardigan some time ago as well as a fuzzy Noro jacket. I still have a couple of loose ends to weave in and need buttons, but pretty much done!

V kindly took some photos for the blog... front and back

and a silly one that sorta shows the sleeves... I love this sweater!

Here is the Fuzzy Noro Kochoran sweater- super fast knit! I think this took me about 10 days to knit.. it was a month or so ago, could that be right? It's a knitting pure and simple pattern, top down with little seaming and took less than 5 skeins of Kochoran. I like the way knitting it top down makes the stipes match perfectly!

this yarn is so soft and fluffy, this will be wonderful once the weather cools off a bit. ( although I can't complain- it's been in the 70's and 80's !)

I've also started my first magic loop socks. I love dpn's but decided it was time to try this method. Turns out I love the magic loop too! I thought I might be a little faster knitting the magic loop, and I might be a bit. I'm reluctant to make that call based on one sock. These are Knit Picks Felici- super soft superwash wool- but very little stretch!

Finally, I've joined Ravelympics on Ravelry and have finished one sock for the sock put competition. These are Berroco Sox in a pretty purpley colorway. Also knitting up pretty quick! Barring any serious mishap, I should finish in plenty of time for the closing ceremonies!

Back to the Olympics!

where I become a weather wuss....

2008-06-06T21:17:00.002-05:00

I am not surprised at the wild weather in Oklahoma in the spring. Tornado, hail, highwind, thunderstorms are all common this time of year. What I don't seem to handle well is the frequency of power loss. Perhaps I thought we had had our quota of powerlessness in December, but I was wrong!

Sunday morning we, like many in Oklahoma, lose power. Temperature was pleasant and I am convinced that it would come on any minute. Even brushed off the fact that the power went out right before I made coffee, which would normally make me cranky. I remain, in Dorothy Parker's terms, 'the greatest little hoper there ever was...'

Monday morning - forced to go to work with what can only be described as a hair-don't, annoyed that there would be no coffee, but happy that we don't have an electric water heater.

Monday after work beginning to get irritated and sorry I hadn't done laundry on Sat. instead of my usual Sunday. Freezer thawing, so we grill up quickly melting stakes. All of them. Much warmer weather and stickier house to sleep in. ick.

Tuesday morning-wake really, very tired of no coffee when I wake, and getting concerned about the amount of clean, no-ironing-required, work clothes. Begin to lose my sense of humor.

Tuesday lunch -nearly abduct power workers I see working on lines on my way to my house, but refrain and find my power on when I get home!! Do a brief happy dance but quickly realize that it's too late for anything in my fridge. Wonder what in that fridge of perfectly ordinary groceries could possibly smell like that after 2 days of non refridgeration. ew. Turn on the a/c and go back to work and decide to deal with food later.

Tuesday night -throw out entire contents of freezer and fridge and clean both. Go to grocery store to by more groceries and wonder as I put each item in my basket what that item would smell like after 2 days unrefridgerated. Go home and restock fridge and take out trash. So thankful it's trash night. Rewash clothes in washing maching. repeat. dry so I don't have to work naked on Wednesday. Go to sleep in nice cool house instead of sticky humid air.

Wednesday- wake up to coffee and fresh clean choices of clothing. Leave for work feeling pretty good for having weathered the outage fairly well.

Wednesday after work- cook fresh new food from cold fridge and go to bed in nice cool house. Wake suddenly to sound of battery backup beeping, signaling that the power had again gone out. I am distraught- leap out of bed and wail to DH that it can't be happening again. He seems puzzled at my state of mind and I nearly weep describing the shiny new groceries and clean clothes and cool air we currently have. I grab flashlight and stomp out to phone to call power company outage number. While typing in numbers to phone robot, power suddenly comes on, and stays on. I fall on the floor in stupid relief. I am a weather wuss.

New things....

2008-05-16T12:19:00.010-05:00

While I obviously haven't been blogging, I have been knitting! Since I last posted ( nearly 3 months ago...oops!) I have ....

Finished two pairs of Austerman Step socks...

Yes, that second photo is sideways.. and no those aren't finished in the photo, but they are finished and I don't want to go track them down to take a photo. You all know what finished socks look like... just like the photo above, only different colorway of my favorite sock yarn, Austerman step. I like the way it smooths my bamboo needles as well as how if feels while you knit it.

I have also finished a couple scarves...

This is a keyhole scarf in some supersoft alpaca and a mohair blend with something sparkly in it. Obviously I didn't keep the ball bands... this has already been gifted.

This one is a seed stitch scarf in Cashmerino superchunky. Soft simple and put away for gifting later.

I've also started two sweaters....

This is my 'Must Have Cardigan' - two sleeves and half the back are done. It's getting too hot to have this on my lap and even though the pattern is very easily memorized, you have to do stuff... like cables, so I started this.

This is a top down raglan short sleeved cardigan in cashmerino aran in tangerine.... it's the perfect compliment to a more complicated, cabled, wool project. It's so quick and easy that I hope to finish this soon so I can wear it. Spring is here and although the weather is lovely, I often want a soft sweater, so this should come in handy, provided it fits!

I'm off today so the knitting continues as I tidy my house and enjoy the day. I'll make an effort to post more often than every three months.. !

Dreaming of yarn and ... Lyndon Johnson?

2008-02-26T21:20:00.011-06:00

I have dreams, like everyone else and remember my dreams, which seems less like everyone else. Lots of people I talk to about dreams tell me that they don't remember their dreams. It's possible that I remember my dreams because they tend to be on the strange side, very detailed and a little strange. I also have lucid dreams, but that's another story.

Sometimes I drift in and out of sleep in the morning and also in and out of a dream. Those tend to be the times when my dreams get a little unusual. I wonder at the strange things my brain comes up with when left unattended. This morning was one of those mornings.

That this mornings dream started with yarn isn't very surprising or strange. I'd been looking at all of the Kauni cardigans online last night. That I decided, in my dream, that this yarn was the perfect thing to use to knit myself the song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, was a little odd, although I've seen alot of art based on sound and music, so odd but interesting.

It was when I couldn't recall how the song went and Lyndon Johnson and I were suddenly standing in a practice room with a piano, that things got a little wonky. He was going to play the song for me, and when he put his foot on the piano footpedal he realised that the front panel of the piano was gone. He asked me to look around for it. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find it in the small practice room. After a minute he guessed what might have happened to it.

He and his wife had a large party in that same facility recently and she brought ice cream into that same practice room. She was planning on serving ice cream to all of the children. Along with the ice cream, she had boxes of spoons, bowls and napkins... everything you'd need to serve ice cream. When President Johnson saw her setting everything up, he pointed out that the practice room wasn't the best option because of it's size and because of the piano. He thought kids would get the piano sticky with the ice cream. So Mrs. Johnson gathered up all of her boxes of utensils and ice cream and she probably just took the front panel off the piano with her by mistake.

At this point I woke up, and my first thought was...makes perfect sense to me, she must have taken it accidentally.

Even though Lyndon Johnson never did play it for me, I've had that song in my head all day long...

Finished !

2008-02-09T18:09:00.000-06:00

I'm starting 2008 off right by finishing up somethings! I've had this yarn, Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran, in my stash for a couple years but didn't know what I wanted to make with it... finally a project seemed just right for this yarn. I hope to continue this positive momentum by finishing up my chocolate chunk sweater this weekend.

I started this sweater in Jan. 2008 and finished it in Jan. 2008. I just sewed the buttons on today so technically I finished it in Feb. It's from a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern, and it was just that-simple. A very fast knit that is destined to be a birthday present for my grandmother's 88th birthday which is this coming Thursday, Valentine's Day.

I love these buttons. I didn't get a decent picture of them, but I do love them.

I leave you with an action shot of Scoutie and I wishing Grandma a Happy Birthday!

Knitting 101 ... or Scoutie's Knitting lesson

2008-01-21T13:57:00.000-06:00

First, find some yarn and needles...

Next, carefully monster yarn all over the living room....

Get distracted by a pencil, lesson over...

With Scout's help, I've finished another version of the Cables in Chamonix sweater. I knit the first one for the Knitting Olympics. This version is in Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky and a pretty chocolate brown ( see photos above, under Scoutie's feet). I've completed all the pieces and just need to block it and sew together pieces and add the neck.

While I'm waiting for the pieces to be ready to sew together I've started another sweater. I'm trying a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern for a top down cardigan that is knitting up amazingly quick! I just started it on Monday or Tuesday and have completed most of the body. It's a pretty simple pattern, but the yarn is pretty so I think the result won't be too boring.

I've also been shopping! I did pretty good last year with my yarn diet, but I'm already making up for it this year. I've purchased yarn to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's Ribwarmer. That will probably be next... since I have been dying to see what it would look like and cast on earlier today:-) Just trying to keep up with my growing stash!

Happy Holidays

2007-12-21T09:05:00.000-06:00

It's seems like December zipped by this year. Spending a week without power certainly didn't help. Although some of my knit night friends made good use of the powerless week. I didn't get much knitting done because my fingers were too cold! I had light and after a while heat from the generator, but still didn't get much knitting done. I am done with all my knitted presents now- but this Christmas will always be remembered for being 'off'.

All in all I'm very happy that I didn't end up with a sycamore tree in my house or any other kind of damage. I realize that although the week was disorienting and annoying it wasn't the worst thing in the world. It has actually been very interesting to talk to everyone about what they did and how they coped. Some went to a hotel, some stayed with friends while others stayed home and hunkered down. I think this is something that people will remember for a long time.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing Christmas. We will see family and have great food and have a wonderful time. I hope you will too.

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-18T21:04:00.001-06:00

Hope you're having a wonderful fall!

The holidays mean Festival of Trees 'round here. Check out the exhibit if you get a chance!

I have not taken leave of the planet. really.

2007-08-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

I'm here and I have been knitting... really. Here's an 'off the top of my head' list of F.O.s with pictures I could easily locate...

-green cherry tree hill socks that I started in Mexico

-blue austerman step ( aka austerman crack) socks. I managed to avoid any knitting injuries this time.

-Orangey trekking socks

-Super softie Debbie Bliss Lara Sweater. I don't think I've even taken a photo of this yet. It's Aug. in Oklahoma, it's too hot to model sweaters.

Okay so it's not a record, but there has been knitting along with the occasional trip and mini trip. Since I last posted I've been to

Alma, MI to the N. American piping championships, the Oklahoma boys won again this year- in a higher grade than last year.

Au Gres, MI, home and family and a stay at the cottage. Wonderful way to spend time.

Chicago, Il visited with lululibrary girl for an amazingly crazy tour of city. Love the bean thing and the crazy locals, cubs game, art institute as fast as I could, and more.

Oklahoma City, Ok just a quickie to see Wicked. It was wonderful.

Dallas, TX another quickie for work. Lots of very nice libraries there.

It's fun to get away even if it's quick,it seems like I've missed something and I probably did.

In non knitting and travel news, we seem to have finally convinced the cats that, despite their personal love of chasing and harassing them wherever, whenever, mice do not belong in the house. One of the perils of having a cat door.

While it is delightful to give the cats the freedom to come and go as they please, it also allows assorted other smallish creatures to come and go as they please ( other neighborhood cats, raccoons, oppossums, etc.) and also allows the cats to bring inside with them any creature they would like to torment and or eat.

Recently one, or both cats have decided that having a mouse in the house was just about as much fun as a cat could have. They would bring in a mouse and let it go to be chased around the house merrily until they either lost the mouse under a large appliance or under a piece of furniture. At this point they would go eat some cat food or find a good place to have a nap while the mouse made itself at home in it's newly adopted abode and the cats owners frantically tried to capture the new resident and remove it from their home.

Despite having brains vastly larger than our rodent roommates, and our use of incredibly complicated rube goldberg inspired devices and tempting peanut butter, we had an extremely difficult time ejecting our tiny squatters. They seemed to love both catfood and peanut butter, and seemed to have the incredible ability to remove every tiny greasy trace of peanut butter bait off every single trap set for them, without being caught. I have a new respect for the survival instincts of mice.

In the end we did prevail and our house is temporarily mouse free. I've spoken to the cats, and for now they are complying with my wishes for cat only access through the cat door.

I hope you're all having a wonderful end of summer.

Tagged!

2007-05-15T23:01:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Amy... who was tagged by Emma...

Here are the rules:Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in theirblogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You needto tag seven others and list their names on your blog.You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note intheir comments so they know that they have been taggedand to read your blog.

1. I was the first child born in the Tawas Hospital, January 2, 1967.....

2. I'm left handed.

3. My undergrad degree is a BFA in weaving (no, not underwater basket weaving) and my graduate degree is an MLIS ( I'm a Librarian ) .

4. I can say my parent's phone number in Finnish as well as a smattering of other phrases ( hello, excuse me, french fries, talk, thank you) and I think Finnish is one of the most logical languages ever. Mitä kuuluu? Hyvaa kiitos!

5. Before I learned to knit, I made quilts and have even more fabric than I do yarn... ( I still work on quilts from time to time.)

6. I almost never follow directions as written (or even read them all) I read enough to get the general idea and then jump in... my brain doesn't do the linear thing very well. Although this sometimes makes for complications, I think by the time I've finished with a project I understand the project better than if I'd just followed directions. big picture.

7. I can write forwards and right side up and backwards and upside down at the same time. This is a perfectly useless skill ( if you can call it that) but probably a further indication that I might be wired a little differently than some:-)

Ok, that's about as random as I get... I'm gonna have come up with 7 people to tag... watch your comments!

Knit Night!

2007-05-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the first knit night I've made in a while. It was so good to see everyone and think knitting again. I've been distracted from all my yarn and knitterly things by all my travel and catching up on other stuff, so good to be back.

There has been a little knitting. very little. I managed to complete a piece for the Tulsa Artists Coalition's annual 5x5 show. It was a felted knitted thingy. Different than the seussian knitted thingy I did last year. Unfortunately I only took the 'before' pictures and have no pictures of it felted. (how is it that I always forget the 'after' pictures?) Here are two of the befores, for what it's worth it looked very similar after, but feltier. You knitter's know.

I also received an amazing gift from a newly married friend, she brought it back from her honeymoon for me. What a wonderful present, it's hand dyed, handspun silk... all the watery colors of a mermaid, with an amazing sheen..... I'll have to think of something amazing to make with it.... ideas?

I'm also getting ready to hit the road again. An actual road trip, and I'm ready. (I know, I just got back! I can still be ready!) I'm going to the US pipeband championships ( with the US pipeband champions thankyouverymuch) and they'll see if they can kick butt in a higher grade this year. I'll also be going home, which is always wonderful. There I hope to do a little knitting.

If I get busy I'll finish the sock I started in MARCH before I go...I knit about four rounds tonight at knit night. Well, it's a start!

drive by....

2007-04-26T07:08:00.000-05:00

You Are 72% Open Minded

You are a very open minded person, but you're also well grounded.Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints.But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line.You're open to considering every possibility - but in the end, you stand true to yourself.

How Open Minded Are You?

Here and gone...

2007-04-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

I'm home for the moment. Had a great time in Mexico! Lots of family, lots of fun, lots of sun... beautiful place to relax and recharge, the biggest decision each day was pool or beach?

Here's a shot of the sock enjoying the view from my room.

I'm off again today for TLA ! Should be a great way to transition back into my real life, lots of new ideas and information to take back with me.

I look forward to catching up on everyone else when I get back!

I'm off...

2007-04-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

Well, almost off.... I'm packed and ready for back to back trips. One for fun and one for work ( fun first, I have my priorities straight:) I'll be home for about 15 hours in between. Hopefully I'll be rested and ready to hit the ground running when I get back.

In other news...

Scout turned two this week. She is actually growing up a bit, still a monster, but a mellower monster.
Finally made it to knit night and got to see my knitting friends. Lots of good stuff going on.
Went to see Earth Wind and Fire with DH and SIL.
Gonna be busy this spring/summer... more travel.
got a new phone so I won't be incommunicado in Mexico! and it has tunes... tried to put a book on it, but failed. I might actually read the manual, or not and just listed to the books on my ipod.

There has been knitting, I've finished another Cedar Creek sock ( like the Lucy socks in last post) and I'm more than halfway done with my Lara sweater. I took pictures, but the camera is packed! Someday soon, I'm going to sit down and post the ninety million pictures I've taken and catch up with this here blog deal. for real.

Hasta Proxima!

Photos!

2007-03-05T16:52:00.000-06:00

Actual visual evidence of my knitting...

New socks in Socks that Rock colorway Lucy. ( pattern is from Socks that Rock also... forget the name). The Socks that Rock yarn does indeed, rock. Love the feel of it, it's wonderful.

Here is the progress on my current sweater.... Lara from Debbie Bliss in Alpaca Silk. The yarn is wonderful and it's a pretty quick knit. I think I just started this about a week ago. Interesting construction, I'm enjoying the novelty of a sweater knit side to side.

I've still to post pictures of the Noro Silk Garden cardigan, but if you've seen me lately you've probably seen it. It's the perfect weight for this kind of weather, warm but not heavy. I've worn it a bunch.

Also need to post the Colinette jitterbug socks. Very soft, similar to the socks that rock!

In non-knitting news,

- tomorrow is my last Spanish class.

- turned in passport paperwork so I'm ready to go on vacation!!!

-weather is lovely! ( I'm totally blaming the nice weather for my abandonment of Frostrosen mittens)

Lots more going on, nothing blogworthy though. Hope to have more photos up soon!

Book Lust

2007-02-19T21:01:00.000-06:00

Still knitting, also, annoyingly, still cameraless, so I'm unable to produce visual evidence of this....

Keeping busy, here are the highlights...

Saw Librarian rockstar equivalent Nancy Pearl and got BookLust and More Booklust signed.
Finished colinette jitterbug socks ( thanks Amy!)
Started socksthatrock socks in Lucy colorway, they're gorgeous.
Finished Marion Keyes latest- Anybody out there?
Had lovely long weekend, drank and ate with friends and went for long walk. ( also knitted)
Downloaded more audio books to listen to while knitting.
Also did boring errands that no one cares about.

That's it for now.. more soon.

Updates and a meme...

2007-01-29T20:49:00.000-06:00

Okay... it's been a while. Mostly I am without photos, so can't post the pics of my progress.

I have finished the noro cardigan ( as mentioned by Connie in the comments below) .
I started the cardigan for Arwen or whateveritscalled, by Kate Gilbert in IK issuesomethingorother.
I've almost finished a sock I started yesterday.
I've started a conversational Spanish class.
I've finished a big worky type work thing.
I managed to go the entire month ( thus far) without purchasing yarn. ( Ok, that's technically incorrect since I've ordered myself some socks that rock yarn as a reward, but it won't be here until after the month is over, other than that NO yarn purchases this month.)

Emma mentioned a fun meme, it involves books so I had to do it...

Instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

6. Tag 5 people

" As you design your costume, take your body type into consideration. Colorful leotards may be high on visual impact, but if it has been a few decades since your last trip to the gym, you may want to consider something with more coverage. Remember, spandex is a privilege, not a right."

I ususally don't do these, but by some odd coincidence the closest book to me happened to by How to be a Villian, evil laughs, secret lairs, master plans and more. by Neil Zawacki.

Consider yourself tagged.

Winter

2007-01-13T18:09:00.000-06:00

Once again we're having actual winter weather. In Oklahoma.

It's enough to make a yankee girl happy.

I already had a three day weekend, but there's something about a wintery weekend that makes it even better. I've baked something yummy, tidied up my house, worked on a grant, listened to some music and am about to move on to my knitting and a good book on my ipod.

I've finished the Noro cardigan and will block it this weekend, possibly wear it next week. I am half finished with my fancypants mitten and have started a pair of socks. I think the socks are headed for the frog pond, since they look like they'll be too big for me. I'm more in the mood for bigger projects anyway, so many sweaters lined up.

I wrote down all the sweaters that I have already bought the yarn and patterns for

( calculating for the knit from my stash project, so I could be sure I wouldn't 'run out'. *snort* NO CHANCE of that happening. none whatsoever.)

I have a total of 12 sweaters, ready to go. Yarn, needles, pattern, everything. If I can knit up 12 sweaters before Sept. then I will excuse myself from my yarn diet and give up my "knit from my stash" commitment. And I'm only talking about the yarn earmarked for specific sweaters. Not mentioning the mountain of sock yarn or other 'unassigned' yarn that somehow found it's way home with me, nor am I counting the enormous amount of weaving yarn recently rediscovered in my attic!

Well I'm off to enjoy the weather and try to knit a dent in my stash!

Stay safe and warm.

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-01-02T18:19:00.000-06:00

It seems like a bad sign when your 40th Birthday is declared a national day of mourning... however, I'm well aware that it's not about me!

I'm celebrating anyway.

Knitting Gifts

2006-12-28T19:11:00.000-06:00

The holidays were wonderful! There was family, food, friends, and even some gifties. Knitting gifties, even!

DH got me this....

That's a Frostrosen mitten kit from Nordic Fiber Arts. In the charcoal and light grey colorway. I wasn't sure it was within my current knitting skills (having never done two color knitting before) but I decided to just dive in, in my typical fashion, and it's fun! Addictive! I did about 4 inches in one sitting. Seems to be coming out fine.

I also received this from my parents...

It's Knitpicks Options needle set. So, I am all set, needle wise. No more searching for a circ I may or may not own. No more waiting to start a project until I run to the yarn store to get a particular size. Nope, I've got them all, and they are all in a nifty case.

So I'm ready to knit in 2007. I'm contemplating Wendy's 'knit from your stash' for 2007... I'm not sure I'd make it, even with all the exceptions. But, I think I"ll try, what about you?

Merry Merry.....

2006-12-20T21:38:00.000-06:00

(our Christmas tree circa 2003... the last time we put up a tree)

I think I'm really done. ready. finished. WooHoo? Or does that mean I should be doing more? (sometimes I worry that I don't worry enough)

I'm going to take it easy and enjoy whatever else I decide to do. I may bake some more cookies... or make truffles, whatever sounds like fun. (So that means there will be knitting.)

I think my cold is getting better. Yesterday I was still feeling bad, and very sick of feeling sick. Total grump. I went Christmas shopping and it turned me into a raving monster. I must have been sick, because I liked the people I was shopping for and that usually makes shopping fun.

No matter, shopping done, cold getting better, holiday coming! I'm ready.

In fact, I'm already thinking ahead to next week after the holidays when we might finally finish painting the bathroom and wrap up that project. I'm off all week and DH has some time and Scout will be on hand to supervise. Here is Scout helping with the new sink drain installation. ( it's hard to see, but I think she's handing DH a wrench.) Who knew bathroom renovations could be so fun?

Tis the season...

2006-12-16T21:40:00.000-06:00

( Actual holiday knitting)

Not much posting going on here.. what with baking and knitting and such.

I've been knocking things off my to do list ....

* I've finished and mailed all my holiday gifts that are going out of state.

* I've made cookies, peanut brittle, toffee and sausage.

* I'm about done shopping for DH.

* I've wrapped almost everything.

* I've started a new Silk Garden cardigan for *me*, since I've finished my holiday knitting!

* After doing all that I've come down with a holiday cold. Not very festive, but appropriate for the date, if not the weather. ( it was 70 degrees today!) Stupid virus.

* I've sent a present to Doctors without borders.

If you've got the spirit of giving go see what the Harlot says about Doctors Without Borders.

I'll leave you with images of what the holidays *should* look like,

not that I'm complaining about 70 degree weather. Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations! I'm going to have some hot tea and work on my new sweater, pictures next time.

Shocking, I know.

2006-12-08T18:50:00.001-06:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
The Midland
Philadelphia
The South
North Central
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2006-11-30T10:25:00.000-06:00

I just love days like this... even if it isn't really snowing yet ( sleet counts as wintery weather) . I know I'm in the minority here, but I really love when it's cold and pretty outside and warm and cozy inside, it doesn't hurt that I have the day off. Even when I have to work on days like this, I don't mind shoveling the walk or getting out in it. This weather feels very festive to me.

I think I'll make some soup, bake some cookies and work on my Christmas knitting.

Stay safe and warm :-)

Football vs Knitting ?

2006-11-08T21:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, some jock publicly challenged a knitter to a blog duel. He thought there was no way a KNIT BLOG could possibly compete with a football blog. He swears there are more blog readers interested in football than knitting, all knitters being stuffy old ladies who have no knowledge or experience with the internets.

I'm thinking this lapse in judgement may be related to past football-related head injuries.

Help the nice knitter correct this poor man's misconceptions.

http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/designerknits

Leave her a comment so he knows you were there.

Don't forget!

2006-11-07T09:15:00.000-06:00

Update and a HINT!

2006-11-01T08:45:00.000-06:00

Loved all the guesses about what David Sedaris gave me for my anniversary, however no one guessed correctly. Some of you were in the right ballpark, a pen, a bookmark, gum. It was a simple, humble gift, since he was limited to what he had on hand. I hesitate to go further because I'm sure I'll give it away, but here it goes....

Think: traveling around the country on tour
Think: have bags with him at book signing ( no he didn't give me his clothes)
Think: staying in hotels!
Think: oh come on, what have we all taken from a hotel?

Ok, since I'm sure that did it, the first correct answer will get prizes. Something fibery and something fun...

Now for the update part...

Started sleeve two on Rogue, I've just finished the cabled part and on to the long slog of sleeve, should be done to wear to Salado.

Finished my first Christmas present! Only 7 million left to knit!

worked on tree for festival of trees, tree part done, embellishing almost done. Either I'm a grownup now, who can start projects early enough to get them done for a deadline or this tree I've made is really lame and I'll be starting on one last minute as per usual.

got the flu and did my best exorcist impression, projectile vomiting and everything.

had the best (worst?) Halloween costume ever. While most girls were tottering around in heels in their sexy pirate or alice in wondertart costumes, DH and I went with a decidedly more down to earth look. We got some of these for me, and these for him. I rolled up all my hair and wore a nasty old robe and yucky slippers and gave myself a big ol' shiner. DH wore a mullet wig and nascar hat and completed the outfit with an AC/DC wifebeater.

That's about all I can think of at the moment....

Guess again ! I'd love to send out some goodies!

Update and a contest!!! ( You may already be a winner!)

2006-10-24T17:58:00.000-05:00

Has it really been a month? Here's a quick update....

-I was assassinated! Killed in round one of sock wars, by a very pretty pair of socks from Suzy H. who may very well still be standing.

- I seem to have injured the camera, it's not dead yet, but doesn't feel like taking any pictures right now. ( note the pictureless blog post)

- Finished my husbands Austerman Step socks... and he wore them on our anniversary.

- Finished my Cherry Tree Hill socks for the Susan Koman foundation. ( Kat, our staff association has a fund raiser each year and then donates the money to the foundation.. so I don't know how you can donate knitted items.... maybe the knit guild would be interested in doing a raffle?)

- Started Austerman Step socks for myownself.

-Started a crazy sideways knit baby sweater for the 9,387th person in my life to have a baby this year ( kidding, but there are a bunch.)

-Started the Mason Dixon baby kimono for the 9388th person in my life to have a baby this year.

- Started on my Christmas knitting. ( Go me!)

- Finished sleeve one for Rogue. ( I want to wear this so I need to finish it soon!)

- Made a list for Kathy of all my projects on the needles right now and it's frightening. seriously, very long. The only thing that makes it less scary is that my recently completed list is longer.

- DH and I went to see David Sedaris for our anniversary and he not only signed my books ( "I wish you were MY librarian") he also gave us an anniversary present!!!!!!

- So since I'm over flowing with yarn and feeling charitable, I'll send a prize of the fibery sort to the first person who can guess what David Sedaris gave me on my anniversary! Please leave your guesses in the comments.

It's War!

2006-09-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

It's started. The official Sock Wars has begun. Last night I received my weapon (pattern) and this morning I found out who my target is.... I have to complete a pair of socks and mail them to my target as fast as I can. When my target receives the socks, they're dead! At the same time, someone has targeted me....as soon as I receive a pair of socks in the mail, I'll join the fallen sock warriors.

When I signed up for this swap, I thought it would be fun, I'd knit a pair of socks and someone would knit me a pair. But I wasn't prepared for was the seriousness and strategy that some of the 700+ assassins have brought to this. There is a sock war forum and the talk, the swagger and the tension have been growing. All of this has ramped up the fun and drama level a bit until yesterday, when to top it all off the pattern posting was delayed by a hurricane!

Well today I have my target, and the challenge increases. First, it's a man, so bigger socks, UK size 10 to be exact. Second, he's not on this continent, I'll be checking out global priority mail. I wonder if it will cost me more to mail these socks than it did for the yarn and needles combined? No matter, Sock Wars is serious business, and money is no object!

Back to knitting... pictures later.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

2006-09-12T21:23:00.000-05:00

I just realized that my blogiversary was yesterday! One year of knit blogging. I scanned back thru the knitting in the past year and it really seems like alot when you look at it all at once. ( and that's not counting the double super secret knitting that I don't blog.) WooHoo.

Even though I was ignorant of my anniversary, I marked the event at the local knit night with a great group of knitters! This is such a wonderful group of people who meet and knit, I really look forward to seeing all the progress and projects every one is working on and hearing about the new tools, yarn and gadgets everyone is getting. Knitter's are the best.

On the knitting front, I finished a sweater! It's a wee tiny sweater, but it's a sweater! It's the baby bolero from One Skein. I loved this sweater when I saw it, and just had to try it. I really like how it turned out, and that it's made of organic cotton. I would change a couple things if I were to make it again. I'd kitchener the shoulder seams and I'd pick up stitches around the armholes and knit the sleeves in the round for a seamless sweater. The cotton is very soft, but bulky so the seams are pretty clunky. I still love it.

Scout loves it too, I have not picture of the bolero without Scout in it.

It seems like everyone and their brother is pregnant or has just given birth so I think there may be more baby boleros in my future. Coincedentally enough this baby bolero was a one day project that coincided with the arrival of Liam! Welcome Liam!

I have also finished the socks that broke the camels' back and am still plodding along on icarus. I've started another pair of socks that will be a donation to raise money for Susan G. Komen foundation. I've started them with the new knitpicks metal dpns, and I agree with the multitude of knit bloggers out there who love them. I don't usually use metal dpns, haven't cared for them in the past, but these are very smooth, very light and very very pointy. Love the points!

That's pretty much all the knitting progress. I haven't been reading much. I finally gave up on Douglas Coupland's newest, JPOD. I read 300 pages and realized that the self referencing thing was so annoying I no longer cared what happened to any of the characters, especially the author.

I've got the new Marian Keyes, Anybody Out There, looking forward to that and hopefully my book group will meet again soon. I miss having a book group selection in the wings.

I'll leave you with the first picture I took of Scout.

Cute, innocent looking harmless little kitten.

HA!

The sock that broke the camel's back....

2006-08-26T10:44:00.000-05:00

Actually, I'm blaming the laundry, although I'm completely aware of the absurdity of claiming I have a laundry related injury. I'm fine with the absurd. After all, it was when I was loading the washing machine last weekend that I felt an unusual sensation in my left forearm. It felt just like a rubberband had snapped me, inside my arm, under the skin. This was accompanied by a loud 'pop' sound, from the middle of my arm, where there are no logical sources for such a noise. It really sounded like a knuckle cracking, but I don't have jointed forearms.

The snapping sensation and pop were followed by pain. Not, gut wrenching, teethgrinding pain, but an ever present aching that is sometimes accompanied by a sharp pain, just so I take it seriously. This pain lasted for several days, it that has prevented me from knitting. at all. This pain wasn't helped when I, in a fit of grace, fell up the stairs to our kitchen and caught myself with my hands out in front of me, slapping loudly on the kitchen floor. Some days are like that.

It's possible that the real source of this 'injury' was this.

A new sock for DH, I started it on his birthday. I loved this colorway and thought it was perfect for him. I started knitting Friday evening and Sunday morning it was done. I just love this yarn, it's Austerman Step , I couldn't stop knitting with it. It's very soft, but not in the merino/koigu/cherrytreehillsupersock kind of way. It's woolier. It has some of the tooth I associate with wool outer wear, without being scratchy. It feels like wool should. Someone who has a better fiber vocabulary feel free to tell me what I'm trying to describe. I'm sure it's partly the type of wool, but could also be from the aloe and jojoba oils spun in. Whatever it is, it caused me to abandon all reasonable limits of knitting and knit myself into a laundry injury.

So, with no knitting this week I had time for other pusuits.

I helped DH install a new medicine cabinet in our bathroom. Also picked out new tile, paint and linens for the bathroom.
Read threee books. ( three and a half, technically)
Went to see DH play with the Temptations.
Did some gambling with my SIL.
Saw Sharon Creech speak and got books signed.

Well, after five days with no knitting, I'm feeling much better. My arm feels pretty normal. I've been really good about avoiding anything that might stress my arm, like knitting. This was made especially difficult by the arrival of two packages of goodies, one from Webs and one from knitpicks.

I'm thinking today is the day to ease back into some knitting, maybe do some swatching with the wonderful angora yarn I bought, or try out my new knitpicks needles I keep hearing so much about, maybe knit a couple rows on Rogue.

Whatever I decide to pickup today, no matter how loud it calls to me... I'm avoiding this.

Progress and purchases

2006-08-13T12:40:00.000-05:00

Here's the progress on Icarus.

That's three and 1/2 repeats of the pattern, I think. I'm glad I picked a fairly simple project for my first lace, because I've already messed it up once. In a horrifying feat of daring I didn't know I was capable of, I dropped 7 stitches down about 14 rows and reknit them. Twice. The first time I didn't take into account that every other row is a purl row.

I got it right the second time and am now paying a little closer attention. I'm still enjoying Icarus and can't wait until it's done... but it's getting bigger and bigger... rows take forever. Pretty soon I'll be on to the next chart and some more interesting patterning.

Since I'm enjoying this lace project so much I decided to buy some more lace yarn for the next one.... I really like the colorways of Schaefer's Andrea so I bought this...

It's the Louisa May Alcott colorway, it's beautifully colored silk. Here it is wound into a ball, which, with some monstering by Scout, almost ended up in two separate balls or a 1000 yd. knot. She is such a stinker.

Along with Andrea came this....

That's Cherry Tree Hill's supersock in clover.... these lovely yarns came with several other pairs worth of sock yarn. I believe I'm reaching SABLE status, at least with the sock yarn. It's hard to say, when I'm knitting socks I can go through some serious sock yarn.

When I'm not knitting, I've been watching MezClave at various places around town. Great latin jazz, so much fun. Other than that, not much going on.. too hot to do much of anything except knit, work, visit with friends and enjoy great music. Not a bad way to spend the steaming end of summer.

Drive by...

2006-07-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

This is going to be short and sweet....

Due to an abundance of fun stuff going on and the inspiring nature of last weeks knitting pilgrimage, I've been doing alot of running around and when I'm not running around I seem to be knitting. Believe it or not, I'd been slacking off on the knitting lately and several weeks have gone by with barely a sock knit. Shocking, I know.

So inspired by last weeks trek and what Emma and others in blogland are knitting, I cast on Icarus from Interweave Knits.

That's one repeat of the first chart, started this morning.. so far it's fun and seemed to fly by...

and I finished one trekking sock and cast on the second....

I've also finished Summer Crossing by Truman Capote. I thought the notes as interesting as this early look at Capote's writing. Just picked up Jpod by Douglas Coupland, so far it's like a dark Microserfs... very Douglas Coupland.

That's it for the drive by blogging, the grill is hot and it's dinner time.

Trek Along with Me!

2006-07-26T09:37:00.000-05:00

When I joined the Trek Along With me KAL, I imagined myself taking the sock out to various beautiful parks and scenic spots around home and documenting my progress for the other Trekkers so see.

But then the actual reality of Oklahoma in the summer hit me. It's 105 degrees. It's humid. It's unpleasant in a way that makes the word unpleasant seem inadequate. I don't go trekking to local parks when it's 105 degrees, I stick fairly close to the A/C, being the wilting weenie yankee that I am.

There are exactly two pictures taken of the sock up to yesterday. Pretty, but less than 50 feet from my back door. The whole time I'm taking these I'm contemplating the total cop out that these pictures are and what in the world might have possessed me to consider joining a trek along KAL in Oklahoma in the summer, knowing full well I wouldn't want to trek anywhere in the heat. Until yesterday, yesterday there was a trekking opportunity not to be missed.

Yesterday, Emma and I took a road trip to see the Yarn Harlot in Oklahoma City. We arrived just in time to get a ticket, so minimal standing in line. WooHoo. Here is a terrible picture of the sock waiting for the Yarn Harlot to arrived...... ( for better pictures hop over to the Prairie Knitter's blog... hers turned out great!)

Here is the Stephanie Pearl McPhee taking pictures or her sock and the crowd for her blog.

She was witty, she was funny, she was clever, she was charming, and she didn't freak out and run from the room when the entire audience broke into a broadway tune, which was a little frightening and funny at the same time.

After the talk she signed books at the Gourmet Yarn Company. ( A lovely shop, I'll have to visit again when it's not packed to the gills with knitters ) Where we chatted with the Prairie Knitter, saw Rosemary and Kay. It was fun to go to a book signing where you actually had something in common with all the other people there, other than an interest in the book someone wrote.

It was a fun evening, and I'm so glad that the OKC knitter's guild, Metropolitan Library system and Gourmet Yarn Co. together to bring Stephanie Pearl McPhee to Oklahoma!

Actual Knitting Content

2006-07-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

I was in search of an instant gratification project and read this post by the Yarn Harlot about knitting hats for newborns. I was charmed by this pattern by Knit Chicks that the Harlot linked to and decided to give it a try.... Although I altered the pattern in every possible way.. ( I was determined to use yarn from my stash) I do love the resulting Tomato baby hat.

This was my first project using two colors (with the exception of my festival of trees tree, stripes don't count, and it was a felting project so the tidiness of the color changes was not so important) and I learned some things, both about knitting with two colors and about me as a knitter.

Lesson one is that I am an intuitive knitter. I should have already known that but this project made that very clear. By intuitive, I mean that I do much better when I look at the knitting and do what I think should come next. When I try to slavishly follow a pattern, counting stitches, counting rows, I will lose count. Every time. I finally just paid attention to the knitting and did what should come next. Ah, much better...

Lesson two is that color knitting is not that hard, I do better not trying to work from the whole skein but from smaller amounts of yarn, and that despite the messiness of the inside of the in progress hat, it will look fine once it's done and the ends are woven in. I'm guessing the second try will look even better than the first. No. I'm not going to show you the inside, it isn't perfect...it looks like a first try :)

In other knitting, I've almost finished a pair of Regia socks for my dad, and finished one traveling sock (seen below on vacation earlier this summer). Rogue is waiting patiently for one and 1/2 sleeves. I hope to work on that more when it gets a little cooler and have it ready to wear this fall.

I think there will be more instant gratification, mindless knitting coming up while I'm adjusting to some new changes. I am looking forward to more socks with yarn gifted me by the best group of co-workers ever. Thanks guys, for everything.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation... part two

2006-06-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

Where was I? Oh yes, summer vacation.... Here is dawn the first day home. I didn't take a picture of the sun over the water. It's bright. Really bright. And very pretty.

Once we arrived home, we had no specific plans, just very general intentions of relaxing, enjoying the view, knitting, eating and visiting with friends and family. Which is exactly what we did.... here is the view looking north...

Here is the view looking south...

Here is the eating with friends and family....

Here I am knitting....

We also had a dramatic, dark and stormy afternoon...

Storm arrived.....

The storm quickly blew over and left this behind.....

All in all a wonderful vacation! Next time, actually knitting content, I swear!

Thanks!

2006-06-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I have no doubt that someday, that will be how I go... not today! Thanks to everyone who sent good thoughts my way...ya'll are a powerful bunch of folks! There is some celebrating going on here... I'm excited and a little terrified, but it'll all be good.... or I'll persish of fits. Kidding! It's going to be great:D

Think of me....

2006-06-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is a different day for me. An unusual day.. possibly a good one, but that depends. Somewhat on me. Somewhat on things beyond my control. It's a day that I might be needing a little cosmic sunshine to shine on me. A time for some of the good things I've done to come back to me... (shut up, I have too done good things.) So if you're in the mood and feeling charitable, send some good vibes my way sometime tomorrow, they'd be much appreciated, and happily returned to you when you need them:D

thanks.

Happy Father's Day!

2006-06-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

Wishing a very happy Father's Day to the funniest, kindest, smartest dad I know!

How I spent my summer vacation...part one....

2006-06-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

Ah... summer vacation... brings back memories of long car trips, sunburns... some things never change.

This years summer vacation was a little early.. but was timed to coincide with the US pipe band championships. (not, as my coworkers insinuated, to miss the mad rush of start of the largest program of our fine institution. ) It also just happened that the championships took place a couple hours from my hometown so who could pass up an opportunity to run home for a lovely May visit? Not me!

The vacation started at the crack of dawn on Friday... driving 13 hours required an early departure.. with the Jetta loaded down with drums, tent and vacation accoutrements. We got on the road and off to a great start. DH doesn't mind driving and I alternately knit, chatter, nap and navigate. I even managed to get a picture or two for the KAL Have socks, will travel. see?

That's the St. Louis Arch.... for those of you who don't drive past it a couple times a year. And right after the arch? There is a navigational decision... Chicago or Indy? We sort of decided on going through Indy this time, but blew right past the turn. (someone should have been navigating!) So we thought about turning back... but why loose 10 or 15 minutes turning back and getting on the other highway, when this road also leads to where we're going, only through Chicago instead of Indiannapolis? So, what the heck, we're flexible! We'll just go through Chicago!

See Chicago is technically shorter, but being Chicago, it isn't always faster depending on your time of arrival. This time? Arrival fell at 4:30. On a holiday weekend. And there was construction. So, almost 2 hours of stopped traffic later, we were moving on to our destination.

The rest of the road trip was uneventful. We arrived in Alma for the competition and after a beer and brief tutorial on new recording software we promptly lost conciousness. Saturdays competiton went beautifully and I even managed to record the performance without much stress or difficulty. I thought they sounded wonderful and the judges agreed and gave the band first place. And there was much rejoicing!

Sunday was much the same as Sat. much tuning and preparation, it was very hot for May in Michigan, and everyone was ready to get this bigger competition overwith. They played wonderfully and placed first in grade IV, and won the US Championship!! Everyone was thrilled, and there was, again, much rejoicing. I mean really, lots and lots of it.

The group is a crazy assortment of talented individuals who pulled it together from long distances to win the championship. I had fun meeting the folks I hadn't met, and spending a little time with those I already knew. They are fun and funny and some of the drummers even posed with my sock! They didn't even bat an eye when I asked, good sports, these guys. Congratulations Westminster Pipe Band! (click that link and go to the gallery to hear what the US Champions sound like!)

Whew, if you made it this far... I'm surprised! Stay tuned for part two.....on to the beach!

Hooray for Weekends!

2006-05-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

I'm ever so glad it's here..... lots of fun things going on this weekend. First is Blue Dome Arts Festival. I'm planning on going there for breakfast and checking out Three Penny Upright. Then some shopping at the festival, and possibly even wander over to that other festival. Sunday I'll be heading back down to Blue Dome to check out some men in skirts, that's DH and company, they'll be piping up a storm for festival goers. It just ain't a festival without some loud ass men in skirts.

Graduation is coming up fast, and for those of us creating graduation presents, seen here in an old post and at the early stages here, that means there's work to be done if they are to be high school graduation presents, not college graduation presents.

I also have a list as long as my arm of things I'd like to do before the Alma trip, which means they need to happen this weekend. Then it's a short week and another long weekend!!!!!

In knitting news, I finished grafting ( or as some clever knitter called it 'Halliburtoning') my Rogue hood! This is the part I've been a little concerned about.. I didn't really think much about it, until I read there were cheat sheets!!

Then I realized that grafting cables did seem like it might be a little bit complicated, and it does fall right on the center of the hood where everyone can see it, hood up or down! Yikes.

Turns out though, not too bad. In fact, I ditched the cheat sheet after about 8 or 9 rows because I couldn't remember where I was on the chart and it seemed easier to just look at the front needle and see what I needed to do and then look at the back needle... and so on and I figured it out.

I'm pretty happy with the result, even though I haven't blocked it yet and I may have possibly pulled a little too tight on my grafting stitches. Can you see it? Yea, me too a little...still it's my first crack at grafting cables and it's such a beautiful pattern I don't think anyone will notice.

Now, on to the sleeves...

**edited to add....

I've somehow hosed up the top immovable blogger banner on my blog. crap. not sure how that happened. I am aware of it and awaiting the advice of my technical advisor (that would be V, my DH, who is ohsosmart about such things) stupid banner.

***** edited again****

DH fixed the banner at a glance! Stupid stray tags!

2006-05-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom!
Click for bigger image.

Rain, Rouge and River Rapids socks

2006-05-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

We're finally catching up on our rainfall. We've had several days of drizzly, drippy wetness. I'm not sure if that's what is responsible for my four day headache but I'm pretty tired of drugs and drowsiness and the headache. It's good to get the rain we needed and I usually love this weather, but as it is I'm ready for some sun.

During my drug fogged headache days I wasn't able to knit much, but last night I worked on Rogue again. It's getting there, the hood is taking forever. I really want to finish this soon because I want to wear it! It would have been perfect for these chilly rainy days, had I left the house. I'm still loving this pattern. It's a fun sweater to knit.

I've also finished the lace socks. The pattern is River Rapids socks from the Sockbug. One of her many beautiful sock patterns she offers to everyone out of the goodness of her heart. Go check them out, even if you don't knit socks her circle of finished socks is so inspirational you might just find yourself shopping for sock yarn!

Here is the finished pair with and without Scout feet. That's Koigu KPPM in -I'm not sure what color.

I have also started another pair of socks out of Regia Cotton. It's actually a cotton wool blend, and I really like the feel of it. Very soft. I'm using my new Brittany Birch needles and I love them! They're short and smooth which, I think, makes them faster to knit with than bamboo. Might be my imagination but I think the bamboo grabs a little more and the shorter length means less sliding stitches around.

I also bought myself a little present for my upcoming trip. It transmits the stuff on my nano to any nearby radio, so I can play my music, books and podcasts through my car stereo (or any other radio)... and no wires. Technology is wonderful.

Finished err... Object?

2006-05-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Here is my piece for the 5x5 show at the TAC. It is sort of silly, a little Seussian, rather bright and most importantly DONE! (before the deadline, I might add.) Not so great photos, no sunshine makes for not so great photos.

The observant among you will recognize the yarn from a recently finished pair of springy socks.

Now that it's finished I have learned a thing or two about shaping for a canvas, in case I ever decide to knit another seussian stripey canvas cover. ( yea, right) It was fun, now it's done and I'm almost done with the lace socks I started here . I'll post photos when I'm done so you can be amazed at how similar the second sock is to it's mate.

I'm done with my whiney week, glad it's over. The weirdness seems to have passed, although the storms just keep on blowing through. I'm glad for the rain. I spent some of the afternoon yesterday cutting and whacking and planting in the yard. So the new things need the rain.

I'll close with a cute photo of the stinker. Even though she just brought DH a present in the form of a recently deceased tiny bird.... ah the joys of having a cat.

Fancy terrible...

2006-04-26T18:35:00.000-05:00

"This wasn't just plain terrible, this was Fancy terrible. It was terrible with raisins in it." -Dorothy Parker.

It's not good when the most fitting description of your week comes from Dorothy Parker. There must be some type of cosmic disturbance this week. Every single simple thing has been endlessly complicated, derailed, backwards, missing or just broken. If I'm in good form and have both feet under me, the little oddities of life come and go and I vent and move on (I know I vent and vent and vent but still I eventually move on) but the weirdness has been coming so fast and thick this week, I'm losing my balance.

This disturbance has mostly manifested itself at work. Now, usually, work is odd. I work with the public and people can and will do ANYTHING, and they seem to find their way to my workplace to do it. Working with the public is always interesting, sometimes rewarding and often downright strange. I'm here to tell you there is no ONE reality, there are lots of them, and some are plenty interesting to visit.

But this week it's not the people, (well it's always the people, people) but even more than that it's the stuff... gadgets, computers, tools, malfunctioning weirdly and in impossible ways. Add the regular irregularities on top of that and it's been a helluva long week already and it ain't over.

Maybe it's the weird weather. From 95 one day, tornado sirens, hail, rain and blasting winds to 41 degrees the next. Even Scout got caught out in the thunderstorms. Ever seen a long haired cat soaking wet? I didn't take pictures, she would have been humiliated. Fortunately Scout doesn't mind the blowdryer, and felt just as pretty as you please, once it was all over. I wish the rest of the world would bounce back like her. She is unsinkable, that Scoutie.

So I'm home thinking of ways to blot out the weirdness and get something done. I'm working on a piece for the TAC 5x5 show. Not sure how it will turn out yet... it's due Sat. (Lots o' time!) I haven't done this show before but I love the idea and it's wildly popular, so what the heck.
I need to do more stuff like this for balance.

Before the fancy terrible week started, my book group met at Chez Fanniepie and watched Capote. Very interesting and enlightening after reading In Cold Blood. I loved the peek into Capote and Harper Lee's relationship, tiny as it was. Next month it's In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. Should be quite a change from In Cold Blood, dwarves and courtesans, quite a change.

I gave up on reading The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. I think too many people raved about it to me, so the expectations were high. I might have enjoyed it if I had stumbled on it when I hadn't heard anything about it... but as it is, I'm putting it away for now. It's cute, but I'm not in the mood for cute.

So I'm in search of a good book. Something quirky, befitting my odd week. Until I find it I'll be knitting on my TAC project, Rogue and assorted socks ( how did I get so many socks going at once? ) and listening to Coutesan on my ipod and thinking about next month when we'll be off to Alma and then on to my favorite place on the planet. ( see below)

Where do I knit?

2006-04-21T18:11:00.000-05:00

Where don't I knit might be easier to answer....

Kat asked so here is my list...

1. In a cow pasture in Salado Tx. (Salado highland games)

2. At various meetings for work..

3. In a van on the road to tribal libraries around NM (for information in society class)

4. waiting rooms ( robertson tire, cable volkswagon, petosky hospital, dentist, etc.)

5. Reader's Advisory Class, Organization of Information class, Theory of library administration class, Archives... etc.

Not that unusual... but with the working and all, I just knit where I am.

It's been fun to see everyone's list, go over to Kat's and check them out.

Stash Enhancement

2006-04-17T19:37:00.000-05:00

I've finished the springy socks, which is a good thing, since spring weather is long gone here. In the 90's today. In April. Ick. We just blew past my favorite time of year, right into Sweatuary. Yuck. Not exactly wool sock weather.... so I've temporarily abandon my lovely lace socks and somewhat picky aqua rib socks.

Did I move on to something summery? Linen? Cotton? Nope, I've gone back to Rogue. I am loving this pattern. It's a fun knit, even considering I had to go back and rip out the throat. twice. I, somehow, in a feat I wouldn't have considered possible for even my dyslexic self, I knit the cable pattern on the inside of the sweater. Perfectly, but on the INSIDE of the sweater. I took no pictures, but trust me, I wasn't hallucinating, I really did this.

But now having tinked and re-knit my way up the throat, I'm working on the neck/hood and it's very cool. Here's the best part.... IT FITS. really well.

(I have made three sweaters that are/have been gifted because they didn't fit me, as intended. So the fitting thing is a big bonus, especially since I really love this sweater. )

I've also been working on my stash enhancement. I won't run out of stuff to work on for a bit.. or maybe ever. First, I have some lovely Classic Elite Premiere in the color Gourd.

I'm thinking of making this sweater from Boathouse. This will probably be my next knit because it's lovely cotton blend, just right for summer. I also have this....

For this sweater that I fell in love with before the book even came out.... although I'm making it in a slightly darker color. ( I must like this color... same as the color I picked for Rogue.)

Also, more sock yarn than you can shake a stick at....

Ok, well maybe you could shake two sticks at it... Emma could whip these into some lovely socks in a heartbeat. She's got a new blog where you can see some of her beautiful socks... go have a look!

It was a knitting and taxes weekend with a slightly scarry interruption by Fannie the bleeding cat. She isn't saying exactly what happened, but she had a puncture wound on her back leg and although she wouldn't even dream of boasting about it, I think the neighbors little terrier went home with some nasty scratches. The Dr. cleaned her up and sent her home with some pink stuff she rather likes. She's doing pretty good, if we could just convince the stinkerbell to give her a little break from the monstering......

socks and more socks!

2006-04-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

I've got a little case of startitis. I've started a third pair of socks. I can't decide if these are obnoxious, or just relentlessly cheerful. Either way, it's a blustery, sunny day after the storms of the past couple days, and the sunshine and the flowers in my yard made me want to knit something bright and springy.

I did some stash diving and came up with this yarn I bought on a yarn jaunt with E, who just finished her first ever socks, woohoo! ( If I've got my days correct, the second sock of the pair she made in 4 days, that with taking time to go visit a yarn shop for... you guessed it, more sock yarn! ) I think she's hooked. Now she just needs a blog so everyone can see her cute socks!

Here's another shot of the spring socks. The yarn is Regia crazy color. They are resting on another project I'm working on, a new quilt. It was time, I've neglected my fabric stash too long. I decided to just wing it, grab some fabric I loved and just put stuff together and see how it feels. Anthing that makes me smile gets stitched up, no smile... set it aside or try it with something else, mo pattern, no measuring, just random happy pieces. Not the most orderly of methods ( my cutting table looks like a years worth of laundry just out of the dryer) but the results are charming.

I'm going to get back to my socks and tidying up my house before I go out to the ballet and an opening tonight. Wonderful day all around, ah spring.

Progress....

2006-04-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

After finishing the most boring socks in the world (that seemed to take forever) I have started two other pairs of socks. One pair half done, the other just started... both seem to be going much faster than the boring socks!

It's not just me, a couple friends have finished their socks too!

And there's been some progress on Rogue too.... front and back divided and working the armhole shaping on the back is coming along nicely. I just love the way the shaping takes place in the cables on the side. Even though I just noticed I made a little goof early on.. can you see it? It's there to stay so I'm learning to love it, luckily I did the same thing on both sides!
Here's a close up of the cable detail under the arm, starting right above the goof. Pretty, no?

Back to my knitting!

Happy Birthday Scout!

2006-03-28T09:20:00.000-06:00

Today is Scoutie's first birthday.

What a year it's been. I've had cats all my life, and they have each been unique and special to me in their own way, but I've never seen anything like Scout. She's a stinker, a total monster, but she's my girl. She is the most determined cat I've ever seen ( I should take a lesson from her) nothing in the world will keep her from what she wants, or induce her into doing something she doesn't feel like doing (like looking at me for a birthday picture) She's clever too, which is why she is so successful in driving us crazy, when we try to keep her from doing whatever she wants.

Like the time she really really wanted to get on the dining room table and play with the digital camera. She would jump up, DH or I would tell her no and put her back on the floor. She would jump up and we'd put her down. Repeat, until finally she walked away. 'Success! She gets it!' we thought, until we turned around and found her on the table patting the camera with her paw. As I made a step toward the table, she looked me right in the eye and pushed the camera over the edge of the table on to the floor. Bad kitty (but smart) if she can't play with the camera on the table, she'll play with it on the floor.

My pretty Fannie Pie also has trouble getting through to Scout. No matter how she hisses, growls or pats her, when Scout wants to play, Fannie is often the target of a sneak attack. Since Fannie doesn't willingly play with Scout, Scout makes a game of chasing her around the house until Fannie finds refuge somewhere high enough to be defended. Fannie, not being fond of this unpredictable housemates' games, also decided she wasn't fond of Scout, at first. Lately though there has been progress. Scout is getting older and less rambuncious, and she is finally getting the idea that Fannie really doesn't like her games, and well, sometimes it's really cold outside and Scout needs someone to snuggle with. Luckily, Fannie doesn't hold a grudge.

In knitting news, the most boring socks ever are about finished, Rogue is coming along, nearing the dividing of front and back (also known as the armpits), and yesterday I got this in the mail.

That's three skeins of Kureyon (#95) and 12 skeins of Jaeger Charmonix! It's the softest yarn ever ( angora and extra fine merino wool... I've swatched it already and it is probably going to be next on the needles if I can find a great sweater pattern I like.

one of those days

2006-03-23T10:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days. Not one of THOSE days, those craptastic days that make you want to scream. But one of those days where everything was a little off. I just wasn't all there, and wasn't quite connecting with the world around me. I was feeling a little puny and just needed to be horizontal. Since my being in the upright position was of little use to anyone, I took off work a little early, and drove mindlessly home, managed to pay enough attention to arrive in my driveway without incident or injury to anyone.

I gathered up my big bag o' junk and made my way to the door of the house and felt like I was really dragging. I knew I really needed to take a nap as I could hardly make it through the front door. As I got into the house, the wonderful smell of dinner cooking hit me and I perked up a bit as I attempted to make my way to the kitchen. I say attempted because on the second step in the door, as the door slammed shut behind me, I was rudely halted. Confused, I plopped down my bag o' junk and looked around me and quickly discovered the problem.

It's difficult to see in this picture... I was having difficulty focusing throught the laughter induced tears and couldn't hold still because I was shaking with a stupid abandon that comes from having an off day that ends like mine did.

Here is an 'enhanced' view of what I saw... note the boring sock sticking out of my bag ( big arrow) and then look at the series of arrows and what they are following.... even Scout has discovered my idiocy. Click for bigger pic, you might be able to see.

Yup, the sock was in my bag.... but after following the long string out of my bag.....

out the door and through the yard......

over a car.......

inside my car, on the front seat, I found the connected skein of yarn!!!

After a good nights sleep I feel a little better, I woke up thinking spring is here the flowers are blooming and things are bound to be better today than yesterday. I looked outside and saw this.....

Yup, that's snow.

You asked for it.....

2006-03-16T18:40:00.000-06:00

Pictures of my finished lace leaf socks, with tiny Scout feet. It's really hard to get pictures of stuff with her around. She's fascinatied with the sounds the camera makes.... add failing light and.. well.. me trying to take pictures of my own feet, and you get some interesting pictures. Here are the two best photos.

I love this sock pattern and will make it again. I started on some simple stockinette socks at the same time, and they are still not finished. Too boring. These were much more fun. Click for big.

I also started on my next big thing... I went with your votes, and started Rogue. I am loving this pattern too. It was a little intimidating at first because the instructions say for those 'experienced' with 'advanced cables' . While I've had lots of experiences, the vast majority of them had nothing to do with cables. However, once I started it became clear that this pattern was written by someone who is experienced with advanced cables and also with communicating clearly. Very clever pattern, very clearly written. I was not sure I wanted to deal with the optional pocket on the front, (just because I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with figuring it out) but I finally decided that I would really like to have a pocket on the sweater, so I decided to just try it. It turned out to be as simple as the rest of the pattern and kinda fun too. So far, so good. Here's my progress so far....

The curly part on the bottom is the hem and will be turned under when the sweater's finished. That's the completed pocket in the front, with the sweater progressing up behind it. As soon as the sweater is up to the top of the pocket you knit it into the front. I'm describing it badly, but it's just the best way to do it without having to sew it on later... I hate sewing seams, so this sweater in the round with minimal finishing seems delightful to me! ( I still haven't sewn up the Manos sweater I completed in Jan.!)

I also like that the shaping is happening in the cable panels up the side, so no boring shaping to deal with every 8 or 10 or 12 rows, which I almost always cruise through a couple times and have to tink back to fix. Cables require a little attention so I haven't just knit past anything, yet. There's a bit left to do, but again so far, so good.

And then there's the yarn... Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed. I just love this yarn, it just feels great while you're knitting it. So all in all, I'm enjoying this project. There's a reason tons of knit bloggers have made this sweater. If you'd like to join the Rogue knitting throngs go see the GirlfromAuntie and get a copy of this pattern.

*WARNING* long Librarian rant ahead....

In other, not so great news, the Oklahoma House passed HB2158 last night. This thing is going to give me a stroke. I really didn't think it could get this far. Intellectual freedom is a good thing, really, it is! Censorship bad. Isn't that how it is where you are? Information and ideas are good, choice is good, segregation and censorship bad. Are you with me?

I'm having a difficult time believing that the state government believes that they, not a childs parents, should decide what children in Oklahoma read. State censored reading lists, in America. Aren't we the ones going around dropping bombs on people to promote this thing called Freedom? Ok, bad example, but isn't that one of the things the US is supposed to be fighting against? Taliban-like control over human rights and freedoms?

Maybe my husband is right, if this bill becomes law libraries should just not comply and let the state close the doors. People would be appalled and horrified and pissed. But I think people should be appalled and horrified and pissed now, at the mere suggestion of this measure. grrr.

If I bang my head on my desk again my nose is going to be completely flat. I'm running out of aspirin, I know many of the house reps email by heart and the state house switchboard lady is starting to recognize my voice. Sorry for the rant, but Librarians are a little touchy about intellectual freedom and the bill of rights and all those silly things that are the basis of democracy. I swear Canada looks better to me every day.

So to help with the blood pressure I'm going to have a little drink, work on my lovely sweater and see if Turner Classic Movies has anymore Busby Berkeley movies on tonight. That should just about drown out any thoughts of backwards ass Oklahoma government.

Excuse me, I'm using those.

2006-03-13T08:17:00.000-06:00

It would seem that the Oklahoma legislature would like to *protect* me from my intellectual freedoms.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Be sure to tell your legislator what you think of this measure. The vote on this Wednesday, so hurry.

What's next?

2006-03-07T09:09:00.000-06:00

Since finishing my Olympic sweater I've been working on several small projects. I've finished the Olympic socks, the embossed leaves socks, started on two more pairs of socks and worked a bit on several small stalled projects. While I love the socks, especially the embossed leaves socks... they feel wonderful and I just love them, I feel like I should be taking on the next large project.

I have several sweaters worth of yarn burning a hole in my stash, lots of lovely patterns on hand, but I can't decide. Nothing really jumps out at me right now, so I've been waiting and knitting on the little things. I've resisted just starting something, because most of the unfinished projects I have on the needles started just that way.... just to start something. So I'm going to ask your help. I'm going to poll the readers and see what you think I should knit next. I have to finish with the disclaimer that if for some reason when the poll is over I feel compelled to knit something else, that's what I'll do. I'm not tying myself down here, just looking for some input.

The three choices are....

A. Anya~ Jo Sharp's Gathering B. Rogue ~ Girl from Auntie C. Urchin~ RYC classic beach

I would knit A from the lavender Jo Sharp Aran Tweed shown a couple posts down. Sweater B would be knit in same yarn but pretty brown color called 'brindle', better pictures of it here. The third could be knit out of the lavendar Jo Sharp, but I think it would require purchasing something summery, a silk/cotton/linen blend? or possibly even the yarn called for in the pattern,what a concept!

** edited to add....

scroll way down to vote... (keep in mind I'm a low tech nellie, and sometimes the blog with all it's fancy codes and such just don't take kindly to my simple ways!) Also for my library friends, it appears that the library computers all broadcast one IP address so only one person per day can vote! ( and the lucky one today is Kathy, which is as it should be, dontcha think?) Feel free to vote in the comments if ya want!

Gold!

2006-02-28T17:06:00.000-06:00

Next!

2006-02-28T10:19:00.000-06:00

Now that the Olympic fun is over, I'm looking for another knitting project. (I'm working on socks while I think) I still have the beautiful silkroad aran that I'd love to use next, but can't decide what to make with it....

While I'm thinking, I've got the stripey Olympics socks, and one embossed leaves sock to make. I also bought sock yarn yesterday, and more came in the mail..... no shortage of yarn here.

Last night was book group. I had fun and as I expected, the things that bothered me about the book either weren't noticed by others or weren't the annoyance to them that they were to me. It was fun to hear what everyone thought about it and pick another book for next month. We chose something completely different for next month. Laurie Notaro's We thought you would be Prettier, which I have wanted to read for a while. I actually bought the book to take to the Salado games, but I knit instead. I also finished She got up off the couch, which I loved.

I think I'll download Secret Life of Bees from Audible, because Sue Monk Kidd will be here at our Central Library April 1st. Everyone who has read this seems to love this book. I'm thinking I'll listen to it, but maybe I should just buy a copy to read, then I can ask her to sign it at the program.

It's a sunny, pretty day and I've got to get ready for work. It's supposed to be in the 80's today. crazy. Speaking of crazy, here is Scout on my sheepskin. She sometimes acts afraid of it, and sometimes acts like it's her mommy. Today, she was so focused on kneading it, she wouldn't even monster me while I was taking pictures.

Finished!

2006-02-26T11:51:00.000-06:00

Here is the completed Olympic Sweater. Finished late last night, after days of just sitting there waiting for me to put it together. Photographed today in a sunny window (sorry about the shadows, I didn't want to go outside and shoot it).

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, I liked the yarn, the pattern was simple and quick, but I doubt I'll wear it. It's just a little too bulky for me, and a little too close fitting. I tried it on late last night. DH thought it looked good, and it fits better than I anticipated and looks fine, but I don't like the feel of it on me. I think it's the combination of bulky yarn and the fit. I think it would feel better if it were a size larger, even though it might look sloppier. For the next knitting Olympics I'll try something in a finer gauge

:-)

I finished the pieces long before I thought I would and instead of just finishing the whole sweater, I worked on other things. I finished the second sock from a pair I started at the Scottish Games last Sept. I didn't include a picture because they are plain ribbed socks in a solid green. Not very exciting, but I'm glad I got them done.

Then I started another pair of socks and almost finished them too! They are just simple stockinette stitch socks, but I like the pattern in the yarn, how they fit and feel and wash. I made a similar pair for Lolly's socktoberfest in October and I wear them all the time. Socks are so much easier to throw in my bag and take with me everywhere. Portable knitting is good.

I probably won't work on them much today. I have a tiara to make for wonderful Annie and I think I'll make some raspberry chocolate truffles for my book group. I've only made truffles a few times. The first batch tasted great but looked like the dickens. The second batch tasted even better and looked a little more like actual truffles. I'm getting quicker with the dipping the cold center into the warm chocolate, so I don't end up with a lumpy melted mess. Today we'll see if the improvement trend continues.

I finished the Historian and I'm about finished with She got up off the Couch. I am really enjoying She got up off the couch. It's the sequel to Girl named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. They are both about the authors childhood in a small town in Indiana. She manages to convey exactly how life looked through her childhood eyes. I love the way she presents the picture of her life just as she understood it then, no adult understanding enters into the story. I also love the crazy characters, the craziest of which are her own family. It's wonderful non fiction storytelling like few other books I've ever read.

I struggled through the Historian, I liked the characters and the plot was interesting ( even though I'm not interested in Dracula) but there were so many points where the book made me grind my teeth, I would have put it down if it weren't one of my book group books. Too long for me, too plodding, too many huge convenient coincidences, too many 'she uncrossed her legs and looked at her watch' or 'removed her gloves' ... I just don't have the patience for a book that takes almost 700 to tell me when people cross their legs, but doesn't explain huge plot points that make absolutely no sense or worse, explains them as a stunning coincidence.

I also couldn't stand that while some of the non english speaking characters searched for common everyday words to express themselves, the next sentence they would use words like 'waxen' and say that someone was 'slighter' than someone else. I'm sorry, if you don't have a basic grasp of enlish, the word waxen won't cross your lips and slighter? sorry. no. smaller maybe, littler possibly, even tinier I'd believe before slighter. It's a picky little thing, but it bothered me to no end. I know at least one other person in my book group loved this book, so I know it's one of those personal taste things. There are plenty of books I love that other people thought were silly, simple or just plain bad. That's how personal taste works.

This is one of those things I love about books and talking about books. Two people can be in absolute agreement on many books they read and then there will be one of those books that throws them completely on opposite sides of the spectrum. Or two people who have nothing in common with one another, at all, and find they love the same author. It's just so odd how people's tastes overlap, I find the intersections of taste so fascinating.

Okay, enough rambling... here's Fannie Pie herself, sunning on a Booga Bag.

Old News

2006-02-19T16:54:00.000-06:00

Well here are some old photos of projects that I'm finally posting here... some socks I made for my dad for Christmas.

Both made from Regia sock yarn that suvives both machine washer and dryer, according to my mom. (Hi Mom!).

I also have pictures of the tree I made for the Festival of Trees at Philbrook this year. I neglected to take pictures of it after I felted it, however, and I also didn't include anything that would indicate the scale. So you'll just have to take my word for it, it was big and I felted it and it got smaller.

I have made progress on the Olympic sweater, both front and back are done. I'm knitting both sleeves at the same time so they'll be exactly the same. I'll probably finish them tonight and block the pieces overnight so I can begin assembly tomorrow and pick up stitches for the collar. I don't see any real problems getting it completely done before the closing ceremonies next weekend, unless I just goof off and don't do it. I am almost done, I'm working on the sleeve caps, but it's really reallyboring.

In fact, this whole sweater was pretty boring, and in addition to boring, it isn't going to fit me :-( I neglected to measure carefully ( or at all) and I picked the size that *should* fit me, based on the size sweater I wear.... but not based on anything that has a base in reality, apparently. Not to worry, there are plenty of people who could wear the sweater comfortably. The next sweater will be for me, and I'll measure first.

In keeping with the old pictures for the rest of this post here is Scouty.... from a week or so ago...

For more cute cat pictures check out www.catsinsinks.com and www.cuteoverload.com . I didn't realize there were so many cats that like sinks, I thought it was just Scout, but she's in good company.

Day One.....

2006-02-11T07:44:00.000-06:00

This is the progress after the opening ceremonies.... I've completed most of the back (up to the armholes) and used almost 2 skeins of yarn. I think I'm off to a good start.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to work on this project, but it's possible that my project will be done with time to spare. When this realization hit me last night, I immediately started to wonder if I could complete two sweaters in 16 days. I'll just chalk that lunacy up to Olympic spirit.

I do think I'm knitting faster, probably the result of knitting practically all my non- working and non-sleeping hours. It's possible, although unusual, that I've underestimated myself. I'm not much for competition normally, it just seems so artificial. I usually prefer to just do my best at the time, with out contrived time restraints or circumstances, at least where knitting is concerned. Because of this, and the fact that I'm still learning and improving, I don't really know what I can do within artificial time constraints. But the Knitting Olympics? Just sounded like too much fun to miss.

The yarn for this sweater is GGH Savana, it's a blend of alpaca, wool and linnen. I ordered it from Knit Happens, and it's very soft and springy with the occasional slub of linnen. At first, I didn't like the irregular texture that the slubs created, but I'm growing fond of the bumpy, frosty look of it. It feels like alpaca with a backbone, lofty and strong. The color varies too, making it look more like a hand dyed yarn. The sweater will be a little warm for Oklahoma, but I think I'll wear it... depending on the fit.

I've also finished one lace leaf sock. No pictures yet. I love that sock pattern. I'll definitely be making more. I've set them aside until the Olympic sweater is done. No point in taking chances, even if I did finish 1/6th of the project on the first day. I also have to keep in mind the finishing. My least favorite part... in fact, the Manos sweater is done, and has been for over a week, but can I wear it? No, it's in pieces on the blocking table.

I'm off to work today so no progress until tonight.

Embossed Leaves socks and birthday yarn...

2006-02-04T09:54:00.000-06:00

Here is my birthday present from my sister. Lovely sock yarn, the colors are close but not exactly accurate. The pale green in the top left is Merino Gems in willow, the blue/purple/green is Cherry Tree Hill supersock and the pink/peach/purple is Koigu. The Cherry Tree Hill and Merino Gems are from Darn it Yarn! I'd have to say these are my three favorite sock yarns. All very very soft and they come in beautiful colors. Thanks Pam!

The light green is destined to be Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt from the Interweave Knits Winter 05 magazine. I have been busy making sweaters of late, but haven't forgotten my favorite portable knitting, socks. The sock yarn arrived Wednesday night and by Thursday morning there was sock progress. I woke up early (thanks, Scout) picked up my sock yarn and needles, turned on Turner Classic Movies and found the Thin Man was starting. Wonderful yarn and one of my all time favorite movies, a great way to start the day.

Here is the progress on the embossed leaves socks, I started Thursday morning and worked on them a little Friday night. The chart is fairly easy to remember, I still keep it handy because I haven't knit enough lace type things to trust my memory yet... I still am amazed as the pattern appears before my eyes as I knit, although I'm starting to be able to see what should come next by the pattern repeat above. The simple combination of knits, purls, k2tog and ssk result in amazing overlapping leaves. It's a lovely pattern, and I think these socks will be for me, although I can see this being one of the sock patterns I knit over and over again. I have a couple different sock patterns that are my standard socks that I have memorized so I don't have to carry a pattern around with me.

Which reminds me, I need to find one of my simple patterns to take with me to a sock party! Some knitting librarians I work with want to make socks! I'm bringing my sock patterns to help get them started and they are bringing their sock stuff and pizza! What could be more fun than an excuse to get together with fun people and knit socks? I can't think of a thing.

Speaking of Librarians... have any of you looked at LibraryThing ? It's an online library cataloging service type thing. It allows people to catalog their own collections of books ( although I can already see using it for movies, cds, knitting patterns, Audible books, etc.) and also allows people to create their own tags for items. At first I didn't see the power of this idea, but LibraryThing allows you to see others collections that are similar to yours, based on real subject headings and your own descriptions of items in the tags.

After reading about the tag idea I found that the user tags are actually quite an interesting idea. People are creating their own 'subject headings' or descriptions of their books. Working daily with the DDC, and being fully aware of the limitations of controlled vocabulary and somewhat artificial official subject headings, I am falling in love with this idea. These tags don't replace subject headings, they enhance them. I have often wanted to be able to search our catalog for 'chick lit' novels, but that's not an 'official' subject heading, so you get nothing. Library Things' tagged collections could make searching for things like 'chick lit' so much easier and possibly more interesting since definitions of that term vary with the user. This direct, unpredictable, messy, small d democratic type of catagorizing really appeals to me. I even love the term that has come to describe it, folksonomy. I would not give up the precision of actual subject headings, but as an addition or enhancement, tags could be the frosting on the cake.

Too much librarian jargon? I'll close with a cute cat picture. Scout and sock yarn.

'pod covers and p*rn.

2006-01-31T09:13:00.000-06:00

Here are the photos of completed Ipod Nano cozies or sweaters. The orange one is made from Koigu, I believe it's color 216 but I could be wrong. The dark purple one is Gems pearl merino in eggplant. The third one is Noro Kureyon. Just some leftovers from socks and a booga bag. The sweater I use the most is the Koigu one. I can get to the controls through the sweater. It took some experimenting but I can even turn up the volume without taking it out of the cover.
The Kureyon bag is a little bigger and I can poke the headphones in with the nano. I added a strap too.
When it comes to using them, I prefer to just stick the nano in my pocket and not have a strap to deal with along with the headphone cords. I've been listening in my car alot and it seems I alway get the headphone cords and seatbelt intertwined and I have to take off the headphones to get out of the car. Yes, I'm very graceful that way. I'm thinking I need to get the little cassette adapter so I can play it on my car stereo.

I've been listening to The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. This is my February book group book. I'm not very far into it (chapter 8) and it's getting interesting. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first because it's a story within a story told from the present day looking back a few years and most of the interesting stuff went on in the past. There is not alot of information about the present day characters in the beginning and they just seemed like a framework or stretching device to make the story set in the past take longer to unfold. I was impatient whenever the book lingered in the present, but now I can see how the past is impacting the characters in the present and the two stories are unfolding together. I'm really starting to enjoy it. It doesn't hurt that alot of the 'action' takes place in archives around the world. Lots of research and digging, just my kind of thing.

In knitting news, I've finished all the pieces for the Manos sweater except for the hood. I've got about one quarter of the hood completed and should easily finish it before the end of the week. This yarn really knits up fast and nice. It's very soft to work with and the colors are beautiful. I haven't included any photos yet as they have all come out looking too orange. I have blocked all the pieces (except the hood) and even the photos in natural light where I block don't look very good. I really need to play with photoshop more so I can tweak my photos. See photos above for example... they could really stand some cropping. It would be nice to post a photo without a cat's tail in it... but Scout, ever helpful, loves to help with photographing stuff.

One photo I took did come out pretty good, so I'll leave you with some yarn p*rn.

Pictures as promised

2006-01-24T08:16:00.000-06:00

Here are the photos of my completed cabled jacket. It has no buttons, nor has it been blocked, but the knitting is done! It was a fairly quick knit, I can't remember when I started it exactly, but about a month ago. The cable detail is very easy and fun.

It's very soft and it fits, (although I think I know now why I don't own anything with raglan sleeves, I don't really like how they feel when I'm wearing it) and I'm sure I'll wear it.

What I really love is the yarn, Jo Sharp aran tweed. I bought more:-) Two sweaters worth. I don't have patterns picked out yet, one might be a sweater for DH. The other might be for a Rogue for me...

Last night I picked up the Manos sweater I started while the cable jacket was blocking and worked on it for a while. I don't know if I can get it finished before the Knitting Olympics starts but I'm going to try. It'll be good training!

Olympics? Me?

2006-01-19T21:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, stop laughing. I've joined the knitting olympics hosted by the Yarnharlot. I am going to attempt to complete a cabled sweater in 16 days. My current project is a cabled cardigan, I'm not quite done with it and I've been working on it for almost a month. So... it will be a challenge, but my current project fell among all the holidays and all the festivities may have cut into my knitting time (realistically I had more time off and I did take my knitting with me everywhere...). I was also temporarily sidetracked when my Nano arrived sans cover and I had to design and knit 3 ipod sweaters. Yes three, I have to have choices and they're small and fun to design. I must get pictures posted soon.

So, other than the knitting olympics.. I've been busy with work stuff, some fun projects there.. weeding, curious george program, knitting group, reading workshops for parents, movie night planning... work type stuff.

My book group met for the first time Monday and it was fun, good discussion of Wickett's Remedy and interesting thoughts about the sidenotes and other articles and stuff inserted in the story. I listened to most of it on my nano, although even at the fastest speed it's much slower than I read. So listening takes a long time. Our next book is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Should be interesting- great reviews and I've heard lots of good things about it...I have to go get it from Audible so I can start listening to it.

Got birthday presents from my parents they got in Hawaii.. great yoga cat shirt with all the poses written out in hawaiian.

Also heard from Ulla,my friend in Finland, today!!! She says it's -25C there, very very cold, but all is well with her wonderful family. Hello Ulla, drop me a comment if you visit my blog! We may be going to Scotland in 07, and if we do I'll have to sneak in a hop to Tampere and visit. It's been a long time since I was there.... it's a beautiful place, so many good memories.

I'm off tomorrow, if I finish the cabled cardigan I'll post pictures. Well it's time for me to get training.

Happy New Year...

2006-01-15T20:18:00.000-06:00

I am not one for making resolutions ... although this New Year did find me scanning all the things I'd like to get done but for whatever reason haven't. So I've actually been working on projects that have been waiting patiently for me to find the time. I like to think they were ripening. I've started with my studio... baby steps here. Mostly it's decision time, although I've reorganized yarn and shelves and have decided that the goal is to get all my yarn in containers, on my shelves. Then I'll move the rest of the furniture.

The first picture is of the shelves before the reorganization.. actually long before but they hadn't changed much... lots of books. Big surprise for a librarian. Mostly school stuff, articles and papers, that I would like to take out somewhere and have a big bonefire... not a good idea right now in Oklahoma. So I've just stashed them where I can easily load up and take to the recycling bin.

Here is the progress after the reorganization. Still alot of books, but the yarn is taking over, and is fairly easy to find and get to and the baskets are off the floor.

Aside from reorganizing, I've been knitting ( surprise!) and I've just about finished a cabled jacket. It's blocking in the newly created space on my cutting table. Once it's done I still have to add the collar and button band, but it's mainly done. I used Jo Sharp silkroad aran tweed and it's lovely! My lys had a sale on it after Christmas and I bought enough for two more sweaters.

While it's blocking I needed something to knit so I went back through my stash and pulled out some Manos and started another sweater. I started yesterday, and today finished the back. It's a quick knit, mostly stockinette. Manos is lovely to knit with also. The yarn was a Christmas gift from DH last Christmas and I just didn't have the right project. I finally decided to make a simple hooded pullover that will show off this pretty yarn.

I knit most of it while listening to Wickett's Remedy on my new Ipod Nano (Happy Birthday to me!) with my new subscription to Audible.com. I have really slacked off on my reading since I started knitting. I used to read about a book a week, until about July 2004 when I started knitting. Since then I've read only a smattering of titles and some of my favorite authors have had new books that I've taken home and back to the library without reading them. It seems I would rather knit right now. So the audio book thing seemed perfect for those times when there isn't anything I want to see on Turner Classic Movies.

Well I'm off tomorrow and one sweater or the other is going to get larger. I'm also going to do more catching up here soon. Then tomorrow night, my book club meets. Just the kick in the pants I needed to get back to reading. Should be fun.

Who Knew?

2005-12-20T21:43:00.000-06:00

Wow... this may have been around forever, but I just discovered it (thanks to Bookish Wendy) and I love it. Pandora is a wonderful idea, and so far has been spot on for me.

It may just be me cuz I love Novelist and other services that try and figure out (guess) what books you'll like based on other things you've read and enjoyed. There are just so many different qualities to things like books and music, and you know, taste? totally unpredictable if you ask me! This coming from someone who likes Douglas Coupland, Janet Evanovich, Tolstoy, Fanny Burney and Defoe and Dashiell Hammet, just to name a few that don't seem to have any common thread. (for the record Amazon refers to Ms. Burney as Frances... but the library catalog lists Fanny, you know I'm going to be going with the public library... does anyone know if Amazon uses OCLC?)

Well, anyway, so far Pandora is some kinda voodoo mind reading thing... 6 tunes in and I've loved all of them... there were even a couple new ones to me. How did I not know about Tina Brooks? Seriously. True Blue's Up Tights Creek? How could I have lived with jazz musicians for the last 18 years and missed that?
Thanks Wendy!

Happy St. Lucia's Day!

2005-12-13T10:50:00.000-06:00

For all of the Scandinavians out there....Happy St. Lucia's Day!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_lucia%27s_day for information about the day.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-11T10:47:00.000-06:00

.... sometimes you just have to take things in the spirit in which they are offered.

Several years ago while teaching weaving I was approached about doing a private tutorial for a man and his wife. It seems that man had purchased a loom for his wife and thought she would get more out of private lessons than she would in a class setting. I agreed and both husband and wife attended lessons.

During the months I taught them he questioned me about the parts of the loom, the age and evolution of the technology, the origins of the techniques I taught them and seemed surprised that I actually knew the answers to the questions he asked. He also made it clear that he was not going to be doing any weaving, he was just here for the information so that when his wife had questions later he would be able to help her. She was actually a fairly quick learner, although not as curious as her husband about the background stuff, I felt she had a good start and could become a very good weaver.

On the last day of class when we were wrapping up projects and making sure they had all the information and equipment they needed to get going on their own the husband turned to me and said, seriously and sincerely, "you know, you're pretty smart for a girl".

And I said " thank you".

If someone is not trying to insult or belittle you, I think it's better to just take their good wishes in the manner and spirit in which they are offered.

Ditto wishes for happiness during a season of many holidays.

Still here...

2005-11-29T09:36:00.000-06:00

It only seems like I've run away. In reality I'm hunkered down with my holiday knitting, no, you can't see it, yet. That might ruin the surprise. I've been busy with other non- knitting stuff too.

In mid November I went here where I recorded this. That is the Westminster Pipe Band, for anyone who is interested. They placed second to the Juvenile World Champions at this event.

Last week I went to the opening of the Festival of Trees, something I have done for the last 13 years (at least). This years creation was a felted knitted tree. There were lots of wonderful things there and a nice party.

The next night I went to a library program to see Janet Stevens. I helped at her booksigning table and even got a picture with her, I'll have to post later.

There was a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in there with relatives and great food, and visits with friends and family. Very nice.

Also a vet visit for stitches, Fannie not Scout. I was surprised too, and Fannie isn't telling what exactly happened. Since the stitches she's been locked up in the house with a monster, and she's not enjoying it at all!

Finally, there was a Thanksgiving tug o' war with a raccoon. DH heard a noise in the kitchen Thanksgiving night and found a coon trying to pull a full bag of cat food out the cat door. It wouldn't fit. I guess the raccoons were having takeout for Thanksgiving!

Just in case you thought I wasn't anything to blog about since it's been quiet here. Quite the opposite is true. Lots going on, just no blogging.

Still working on Fuzzy Feet. They had to take a back seat to some other holiday knitting. They will get done soon. I'll post pictures then... along with pictures of the many other knitted holiday items.

Socktober wrap up and Fuzzyfeet

2005-11-04T22:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't finish the knit picks pair of socks by the end of October. In fact, they're still not finished.... I just picked up stitches for the gusset.

I got a little distracted by Gromitknits' Fuzzy Feetalong. So I had to cast on one huge sock for fuzzy feet before I started the second knitpicks sock. I have been wanting to make fuzzy feet since I saw the pattern in Knitty, but I just hadn't yet. So the fuzzy feetalong was the perfect excuse to try out that pattern.

I was a little curious about the actual size of the unfelted fuzzyfoot. Would they be as huge as they seem? I've seen pictures on other people's blogs of fuzzy feet and they look zigantic. In fact, it seems like the thing to do to take a photo with one on your head. I won't be doing that, although I surely could. It would definitely fit.

Here is another photo with one of the knitpicks socks for scale. Putting it on my head would probably have been better to show scale, but I ain't playin'. If they look a little long, it's because they are for someone with large feet, so I adjusted them according to the instructions. Let's hope they fit.

In non-knitting news, it was the most beautiful day today. I had luch on the patio of BBD with a friend. It was lovely.

Socktoberfest update!

2005-10-26T21:47:00.000-05:00

Well two and 1/4 pairs of socks so far.... I'm shooting for three by the end of October. Socktoberfest has been fun, I'm really enjoying all the updates on Lolly's blog! The big pair is my regia pair and the little ones are of baby cashmerino... so soft.

To see for yourself, you'll have to click on my socktoberfest button, as I'm on my laptop without a mouse and it suddenly refuses to obey ctrl+c and ctrl+v commands. Damn laptops think they're so cute they don't have to function as well as desktops! Dragging items is also more than my laptop cares to do this evening. sigh.

The reason I'm without my trusty desktop computer is that DH and I spent the better part of an day rearranging the living room furniture. The result is wonderful, but left the computer desk, and it's companion computer far from their network tether. Instead of further swiss cheesing our house to run more network wire, we're gonna extend the wireless network I use for my laptop. Much easier the next time we decide to move computers, but until we get to the computer store we're functioning with my wireless laptop and the plethora of work machines in DH's room. I won't be using any of his, however, that room is frightening. Too many machines in one place, the hum alone is scary not to mention the possibility of screwing up some impossibly complicated machine/setup/attatched appliance.

Aside from socks, I have been playing with one of the ideas I got from a new book called Oddball Knitting by Barbara Albright. There are some great things in it, but what caught my eye was the little charm bag. I didn't actually read the pattern, just looked at the pictures and grabbed some leftover yarn.

That's a quarter at top for scale. I still haven't finished them, only the largest one has its string, and the two at the right aren't decorated at all, just knitted. These were fun and they use a tiny amount of yarn. The purplish bag is Noro silk garden, the green one is alpaca silk from Blue Sky Alpaca. The other two I can't remember.

I'm going to try and finish my newest sock. We'll see if I can possibly finish this pair by the 31st, they are huge and I have lots of stuff to do between now and then...Here's where I am now...wish me luck and uninterrupted knitting!

Heads up.

2005-10-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the tiara. They are difficult to photograph, even with the assisance of DH. It took longer than I thought because of a killer headache that I suspect was weather related. It is suddenly fall here and apparently my head is a barometer. I also finished the regia socks and one baby sock and a hat ( to match Scout's scarf below). The baby sock is made from Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Lovely soft stuff. Pictures coming soon... when I have both the big and little socks to show you.

Last month I purchased the pattern for Rogue, I'll have to look at the guage and see if cashmerino would work, or possibly the new Cashsoft from Rowan. The cashmerino has a little bit of a shine to it, which might bother me in a sweater like Rogue, Cashsoft is a little more matte. Anyway, Rogue will have to wait a bit, I'm trying to finish up some of the umpty million things I already started. Well, I'd better get knitting~

Wild and Wooly girls weaving and a Sock

2005-10-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

I took a few days off giving myself a long weekend. It's been a fun little break. I got lots of not so fun errands done like two car repair appointments that were over due, and some fun stuff too.

Saturday I went to the Wild and Wooly girls meeting where we did a little card weaving. I hadn't done this in about 12 years and had fun playing with it again. It started with a little demo of cutting warp and threading cards (although the instructor had kindly threaded cards prepared for all of us!!) and progressed to weaving a nice little row of trees. I'm new to this group but they do lots of fun fibery stuff and just couldn't be a nicer group. Some talented spinners and knowledgable folks so I'm looking forward to learning more.

On the knitting front, I fininshed the back of my Londra sweater and I have one and a half socks done for Socktoberfest! I should finish them soon. I got distracted by the card weaving and other activities this weekend.
I will be further delayed by a request for a tiara. I should really make a few and have some on hand for just such an occasion. I'll post photos of that as soon as it's done. After the tiara, it's time to get to work on my tree for the festival of trees. Somewhere inbetween I'll finish my stripy sock. I may have to keep these for myself, I really like the colors.

Tonight we're off to see the new Wallace and Grommit movie.

Socktober!

2005-10-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

I decided join in the Socktoberfest fun started by Lolly. Great idea, Lolly. Last night I cast on a pair of Regia striped socks on size 1 needles. I usually knit socks on 2's or 3's but 2's seemed too sloppy so I ripped and started smaller. Maybe I'm starting to knit looser? Anyway, here is the progress so far. It's going pretty fast despite the tiny needles. I am off to look for more sock yarn.

Socks!

2005-10-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

While reading one of the knitting blogs I check out regularly and admiring Claudia's collection of socks, I decided to round up the socks I have on hand and photograph them. I was also inspired by all the socks shown on Quiddity's blog and entered in her contest! If you knit socks or just enjoy looking at hand knit socks, you have to check it out. An amazing array of socks.

After gathering up all the hand knit socks in the house (almost... I just remembered 5 more pairs that didn't make the photo) I was a little disappointed because I thought there would be more.

I've only been knitting for a little over a year, but sock knitting grabbed me early on in my knitting. Socks are my default, portable, mindless knitting. They are what I knit when I can't decide what to knit. I have a couple patterns pretty much memorized (sometimes I peek at the heel turning directions) and I have a sock on the needles all the time. When I'm only knitting socks I can finish a pair in about a week, when I'm knitting other things too, socks get done when they get done.

So how is it that I have only 13 pairs of socks to show for all this knitting.....? I realized that socks have also become my default gift! I have given away at least 4 pairs of adult socks and several pairs of baby socks! In fact, most of the socks in the photo are probably destined to be gifts as I haven't worn any of them, I just keep making them and stashing them.

So if you have a gift coming from me soon and see something you like let me know. If you don't see a finished pair of socks, have a look at my collection of sock yarn for something that appeals.

Scout is recovering from her recent surgery with only one additional panicky visit to the vet. She is healing nicely although the whole idea of taking it easy really bores her to tears. She is a girl of action who is up for anything anytime, including something as mundane as photographing socks.

All Stitched Up

2005-10-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

Here is Scout with her finished mohair corkscrew scarf. Both of them have been all stitched up! Three guesses which one had to be restitched due to excessive monstering after surgery. Yes, Scout stops at nothing, not even recent surgery. She was sorta quiet for a day after being spayed, but despite the drugs and diligent efforts of her humans, she managed to blow out her stitches four days after her surgery. Not the outer stitches, which I understand happens on rare occasions when a cat excessively licks or picks at them, but the inner stitches which actually happens about never. The vet said she had never had this happen to her, nor had she seen it happen to a cat. My sister in law also works at an emergency vet and said she had seen this very rarely in dogs, but never ever in a cat. We were lucky the outer stitches held.

So Saturday morning I was getting ready to go to yoga and noticed Scout's tummy looked very odd. In fact, the way it pouched out unnaturally made me feel slightly sick to my stomach. I called the vet and we went for some emergency surgery. Just the kinda thing I like to do on a Saturday morning. Who needs relaxing yoga when you can rush your kitten to the vet? She spent the night and is home now with meds that actually make her verryyy sleeepyyy. She puts up a good fight, brave attempts to monster continue right up until the moment she topples over and zonks out. I intend on keeping her drugged and as quiet as humanly possible until the new outter stitches come out.

On a totally different note, piper/illustrator friend Stephen Gilpin's new book came out this weekend. It's delightful, you should go get a copy.

My Hidden Talent?

2005-09-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system.And while this may not seem big, it can be.It's people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes.You're just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

What's" Your Hidden Talent?

For the record I thought this was common knowledge, not hidden at all, at least the rocking the boat part. So far, I can take credit for no changes of any kind, unless you count the times I've been asked to change my attitude ;-p

Scout knits

2005-09-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here is Scout, taking a break during a hard days monstering and knitting. She is working on a corkscrew mohair scarf. She loves the mohair yarn and I think it's a great color for her.

She is off to the vet today to have a little operation. She couldn't eat after 10 last night which irritated her to no end. She woke up this morning and her little world had rudely changed.

No more food on demand, got shut in a crate, and made to ride in the big scary car to the place where they pick and poke you with stuff. Unbelieveable.

On the knitting front, I've almost finished the scarf Scout was working on in the pictures, no real progress on the sock, sweater or anything else.

My mother did request a new scarf to go with a pumpkin colored jacket. I found a beautiful hand dyed silk/mohair laceweight blend called Haiku, in the gold and grace colorway. For the record the color is much more varied and rich in person, the website almost looks like a solid color. It's the softest thing ever and I can't stop touching it, so I'm sure it will be on the needles before I finish my other projects. I just need to get it wound into a ball, lacking a swift it will require the assistance of DH. Luckily I have a ball winder and a DH who likes gadgets.

I realize that even though this blog is named after my big sweet girl, it's been all Scout, all the time. Pretty much how it is in real life. Fannie is the spooky sweetheart and she gets monstered right out of everything. She is shy, soft and polite, and has the most adorable face, definitely worth showing off here! So for the record here is the one and only Fannie Pie.

Scout

2005-09-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been running around the last couple days from one scheduled event to the next... not exactly how I usually like to spend my time. It's not been bad, just busier than my usual. I feel like my 6 month old kitty/monster when she's tearing around the house pouncing on one thing and then the next thing and then nothing. Pouncepouncepounce.

Scout has started to bring me toys, like a dog, when she would like me to throw them for her. She'll chase it down and attack it for a bit, and then bring it back to me to throw for her again. I like to think she is playing with me... not making me entertain her. Bright side.

I have tried to capture the true Scout nature on film, well not really film, but digital media card... whatever.. but she is in almost constant motion. Turns out that makes it hard to focus on her and she often turns and attacks me, because I am within range and therefore fair game. Everyone knows if you're close to Scout, you will be attatcked. Stinkerbell. Here she is in action, attacking my foot as I try to take her picture.

Here is the one place she likes to curl up where you can actually get a decent picture of her... why yes, that is my sink. It's fun to try and brush your teeth around here....

Dreaming in Color

2005-09-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke from a long strange dream. The kind that goes on and on and evolves but maintains some common element. This entire dream took place at the spot in the picture. There was a huge storm, ballet costumes and in the end I was helping Orsen Welles design a line of knitwear.
He was flipping through sketches, not even looking at each one, but picking one out almost at random and asking me... "what about this one?". I would look at the sketch and offer some idea or opinion like ' that one is silly, or I like that one only it needs to be longer'.... He'd cut me off and say, "okay, but not in those colors!". He was right, the colors were awful.

Starting Something

2005-09-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well, we'll see how long this lasts! I'm hoping to keep a record of knitting projects and progress and possibly other projects. Maybe some venting/whining/bitching. I'll try to keep that to a minimum, but it is my blog after all ( I'll whine if I want to).

So.... on the needles right now.... I have one half finished salmon alpaca sock. (salmon is the color, there isn't a new type of fiber bearing fish.. ) these sock are intended for me, but I may well give them away, as often happens.

I just started a sweater out of lane cervinia londra, a very soft, lofty single similar to Rowan Polar. The pattern is from Interweave Knits fall 2002, it's called Tuscan Hills. I'm about 25 rows into the sweater and I've already altered it:p I can't help myself.

I originally purchased the Londra thinking it might be good for Rogue(from the girl from Auntie), but it was not a great yarn for that pattern, it really needs a plied yarn with all the cables and the loftiness of this yarn left it looking sloppy and fuzzy... not nice. I swatched some Debbie Bliss alpaca silk and it was lovely, but I'm a little worried about the fuzz factor. I'm not sure that alpaca silk won't totally fuzz out and loose the cable definition.... I'm going to do some searching for the perfect rogue yarn. So far for swatching purposes I've used the chart for the sleeve, and the cable pattern on the sleeve is very nice, works up really quickly.

Also on the needles, is a sock of Paton's Kroy, but not for long! I've only started the pattern just below the cuff and already I feel myself slipping into a boredom induced coma. This from someone who can make endless pairs of simple ribbed socks. I guess it's more the result than the process that is boring. If I take it off auto pilot and follow a pattern, the result should be worth the minimal attention it takes to follow the pattern, at least that is my new rule. So, these will soon be frogged and I'll start another pair, possibly something with a little cable....

I have several projects lined up after these, and hopefully will make a dent in the yarn piling up in my house. A yarn diet is in order, but not likely to happen soon. I'll probably just limit myself to sock yarn as it disappears fairly quickly and takes up little room!

I'm off to continue my tidying and knitting... wonderful activities for a Sunday afternoon.