Meeting Carol Spinney!

I wrote about meeting Carol Spinney on my other blog but I finally got the pictures from when we met. This is the two of us singing "I Love Trash". What a thrill! You can see I'm holding my flannel board, and carring a bag of books over my shoulder because I've just finished doing some storytelling for COSI, which is where we were standing.

WIP News

I have cast on another pair of socks using the Sock War's pattern "International Sock of Doom". I like it a lot, and if I need to send another pair on to another victim, this will keep my skills up. [wink]









Here you can see the progress on the shell I'm making for myself. It has taken a back seat to other projects lately, but I sorta want to finish it before my trip to NYC in late October. I'm starting to think that is too lofty a goal.









I found this really cute baby bootie pattern that I've wanted to try, and I finally did. The pen is in the picture so you can see the size better. Took me about 3 hours to make the pair (I made one bootie each of two consecutive nights). I used 3 strands of some sock-weight cotton KB gave me. I like them, but I don't really like the pattern much, I mean they look nice but I didn't enjoy doing the pattern. I'll try a different pattern next time.




And then I bought some great new yarn for my dad's Christmas present. I cast on for a long moebius scarf. Don't let out my secrets, Mom!
And finally, my two lovely cats. Rosie, on the left, and Samwise. a.k.a. Spazmo and Luxury Cat. They rarely share a chair like this anymore so I had to capture it in pixels.

SOCK WARS!

I have finished my first pair of socks for Sock Wars! I'll be sending them to my victim tomorrow! I used an absolutely luscious yarn - something Debbie Bliss - wool, cotton and viscose blend. I am going to have to make another pair or more of these - they're delicious!

Oh My!

A friend of mine emailed this to me:
Yarn thief gets year in jail

By BY CHARLES YOO
Published on: 09/25/06
A woman prosecutors called a serial yarn thief will spend a year in jail after pleading guilty to shoplifting Monday in DeKalb County.

Audrey Yandel, a 70-year-old Atlanta grandmother and a retired nurse, has been convicted 12 times in the past two decades, mostly for stealing yarn, according to DeKalb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin.


In the DeKalb cases, Yandel was caught stealing yarn at a Decatur shop in January 2005 and knitting needles at a Dunwoody business in May 2006.

Her attorney, Charles Pekor, said she's been suffering from "compulsive behavior disorder" and has been seeking psychiatric help.

After serving a year in jail, Yandel will be placed on probation for six years. She's now forbidden from entering any specialty store that sells yarn.


*************
Yikes!

SOCK WARS!

Yarn Monkey has finally started the first ever (that we know of) International SOCK WARS! I have the first sock about 2/3 done. My victim lives in Northern Ireland - isn't that cool? Her name is Catherine, too!

More later - must go knit!

Chains and Kippahs

Did I mention I finally found the lost sock again? Well, I'm ready to finish off the toe, but I've been avoiding it because then I'll have to cast on the other sock and I can't find the paper where I wrote down how many stithces it is. LOL This one looks good, though, and finally long enough to go on a foot bigger than my own! Yay Christmas!







I've also been working on Marley's Ghost Chain in a Fibonacci Sequence. If you don't know what that is, look it up. Now I need to decide - to felt or not to felt!


I have a few friends who are Jewish, and I've been thinking for some time now that I'd make some Kippahs (Yarmulkes) to give away. Obviously not for Christmas presents, but you know what I mean. Anyway - I accidentally made one when I was trying (still futilely, obviously) to make the perfect hat for my friend Gary. I don't think it makes that great of a Kippah, though, and my friend KnittingBrow was over the other night and suggested I pick up stitches and knit sides to it, making it a cool pillbox. I think I'll do that.

I can do that partly because I did manage to find a Kippah pattern. I've made one, but I think it's too small for adults, so I'm back to the needles in a few days to cast on a larger one. Sigh. This one is really love - Stork yarn that is so soft you can barely stand it.

Speaking of unbearably soft - I got the most beautiful yarn what in PA. This is Lana Grossa Cool Wool and it's absolutely delightful. 100 % wool, but it has some stretch AND it guages out very oddly. KB and I were each knitting swatches Wed. night and we came up with MORE stitches on larger needles than on smaller. Oddlings. At any rate I've now finally taken the plunge to knit myself the shell I've wanted forever. I love this yarn, and even though it took me all evening to knit only one inch, I think it'll be great! yay!

I'm also planning to start on the Moebius cowl - a true moebius from Cat Bordhis magical books. I got some other really vibrant blue yarn that is soft as anything, but I need a longer circular needle to do the moebius. LYS, here I come!

Vacation Report #5 (final)

Two last pics from Gettysburg. First, the enormous diorama. Something like 20,000 individually painted soldiers, etc. Very cool. It is at a campground. This sign was at the campground,too. I just thought it was funny, warning people that they "assume the risk of equine activities". Signs like this are a direct result of having too many lawyers in our society. Someone ought to find those people decent jobs.

These are two pictures from Hershey, where we went with my friend, Ann. We don't do amusement parks (they have a huge one there) but this is the factory tour, and Simon posing by the giant Twizzlers in the garden. I don't want to post the pic of me and Ann until I get her permission. :-) We had a great time! I've been back at work 2 whole days, can I go back to vacation mode now?

Vacation Report #4

It is amazing to me to look out on all of the natural beauty of the battlefields of a place like Gettysburg and know (feel it in my bones, really) how many young men died there 150 years ago. It's creepy and horrible and awesome, really, in a vicious way. One the one hand you have these beautiful rolling hills, the trees, the monuments (many of which are really very great art), and on the other hand you have the war, the three days when thousands of young men went at one another with guns and bayonets to fight and die for their beliefs.

And there is another thing - it's good that we abolished slavery - it was a righteous cause. It was good, even, to fight to preserve the union, I guess. But is it really right to fight to the death like that? Is it entirely necessary? What about those young men of the 20th Maine who were told to hold the end of the line "at all hazards"? What about their mothers and sweethearts, sitting at home knowing that their boys were being sacrificed like they were merely instruments? What justification can we give to those grieving families?

Thousands of men died. So many men died they had to bury them in mass graves. The Southern casualties laid where they fell until the 1870s, nearly 10 years later, when the South came and claimed their remains. It was awful.

And now, every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit these fields of death. Are we glorifying the destruction or honoring the brave men or celebrating the abolition of slavery? I assume that many of us have a mixture of all of this in our hearts and minds as we go through . . . at least I hope I'm not the only one who thinks of these things.


Anyway, I lighten things up for myself by knitting, and by posing with the statues. This is the only one that really made it to the camera, though, because Simon was embarrassed by me. LOL

My next post will probably be my final vacation report. Just a few more pics to share with y'all. Vacationing with a photographer (hubby) yields a lot of publishable pics.

Vacation Report #3

These are more pictures from the islands. Simon has become uncomfortable with having pictures taken of himself so we kind of have to coerce him every time we want one. He has a tendancy to look surly, so Mike has begun tickling him, etc. This first one is the two of them in front of a shipwreck on Assateague.


Simon does, however, enjoy handling the camera himself sometimes, thus the pic of Mike and I. Mike and Si took what they now both call "the death walk" by hiking along one of the nature trails on Assateague. It was, apparently, overrun with mosquitoes and didn't yield (strangely) any good birds. I had opted to sit and knit during that walk, thereby missing the bites. Yay me! Yay knitting!

Bombay Hook Delaware is really lovely. We got there on Monday around noon, and there were thousands of birds. Mike tells me that when it is migration time there are hundreds of thousands, and many more species than we saw, but I was quite happy with our afternoon there. I really enjoyed all of the herons and their ilk.


And finally, on Tuesday morning we arrived at Gettysburg, bright and early (just as the visitor's center was opening, really). This is what Si has been waiting for all Summer. He was so excited he was nearly uncontainable. We had even had to ask him to please stop talking about the Civil War while we were enjoying the nature on the coast because he'd become so obsessed with it all he was hardly even noticing the beach and birds. We did the Visitor's Center first, and then started the cool in-your-car audio tour we'd purchased at Antietam. More on this later!

Vacation Post #2

Other than visiting with my friend, Ann (more on that later), my favorite part of vacation was going to the seashore, seeing birds and ponies, and being in nature. These pictures are all from those first few days on the Atlantic coast. I think they're self-explanatory.

Vacation Report #1

One of the things I love most about being off work is spontaneity. I don't often get to be spontaneous (not nearly as often as I'd like), even on vacation! But I love it when we can be! The very first day of our trip we were to drive straight out to the Eastern Shore, southern Maryland area near Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. It's about a 10 hour drive. Well, as we were driving, we decided spontaneously to stop at Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland. It was very cool. We purchase an audio tour guide that included a book and map and other information and we followed quickly through the stops to get a good idea of what took place there. (The bridge is sometimes refered to as Burnside's Bridge where hundreds of soldiers were killed). It's hard to believe that such a beautiful place has seen so much bloodshed. It creeps me out, but my son and husband don't seem to feel it. We also lucked out and saw the reenactors demonstrating some things, including loading and firing. It was neat!
There is also a tribute to Clara Barton, who helped nurse fallen soldiers on this field and who went on to help found the American Red Cross. You will see that, all through our trip I was relentlessly trying to find things to look at and do that weren't about war. Sigh. I'll post more on the vacation soon. Also check out my other blog for more writing about our week!

Sock Wars

I don't know how to load the link with the picture (can anyone tell me?) but you must all know that I am signed up for SOCK WARS. Should be fun! Yarmando and I are getting a group of Columbus Sock Warriors together, too, so if you're local and you're going to play, let us know!

WIPs again - finally!

I finally got off my duff and took pics of what I've been working on. First is the notorious baby blanket. The baby was born only last week, and having gotten bored with the boring knitting I did not make a very large blanket, so I wanted to finish and deliver it soon so the baby is still slightly smaller than the blankie.





Second has been a really fun project, and I'm just about to cast off and block. It's a 7x9 block for the homeless shelter quilt. My LYS gives away yarn for people to knit squares. Then we can turn them in and they'll put them all together. I might make a second just like this one. I love doing cables! I'm convinced to try making a sweater for my husband . . . maybe for Christmas 2008 or something. LOL Rosie likes the knitting and is constantly "helping" me. You can see her paws there on the table.

My next unfinished project is my first attempt to make a yarmulke for a friend. I messed it up and have no idea what I'm doing so I'm going to frog it. I just thought I'd document that I did try. Also, those needles are awful - very heavy.

Third is a pair of sock/slippers that I am making for my M-I-L. She likes velour-y things, so this chenille yarn should be just the ticket. She liked it when we picked it out at Wallyworld . . . her favorite place to shop. I think I should have knit a guage swatch because this is turning out way too large. I might be frogging this, too, so it's on the back burner until I make up my mind.

Finally is the beautiful sock yarn sent to me for my birthday by my good new friend,Slang! It is a beautiful color mix, and lovely texture. I might start up a pair of socks with it - right after I finish my current sock project!

I am so excited about my current socks. I can't get any more pictures in to this post, though, so I'll start another one. :-)

Shawl Given Away

I gave away the bridal shawl without a good picture of it alone. Here is my sister, trying it on. It is knit with Louisa Harding Glisten color #1, the white with silver through it. it's a ribbon yarn, but the metallic silver bits kept snagging on every little thing (like my rough callouses, even). I knit it on size 15 circulars. it was boring, but it looks pretty and at least now it's done! I think she likes it, but no idea if she'll wear it for the wedding or not. Ah well. Such is life - full of mysteries.

Sock Yarn!

I love knitting socks . . . and I love using those nice thin needles and making other things with sock yarn. I just found this great idea and I think that blanket is a great idea! I want to do it! I'm going to start this weekend with making some small squares. Yay! She's collecting sock yarn . . . but I want to collect, too! Anyone have some schnibbles I can have?

I also found this fun blog that has links to 2 other knit-along groups. Too fun!

And, I thought I'd add this great vacation ticker!

Meanwhile, on the needles

This is an all cotton face cloth. The pattern is in Weekend Knitting, and I liked it a lot. It knit up in about a day . . . give or take. It's the first time I've knit with cotton, and it was much different, but just as fun. I knit each petal onto a dpn, then when I had knit the 5th petal, I just joined them all in the round, knit a bit, and then started the drastic decreases. I have to admit that I lost track of what I was doing near the end and did one more row than I should have! LOL I love the way this turned out! I'll be making more! It makes giving a washcloth a respectable gift experience, don't you think? I mean - this, along with a little bar of some kind of homemade soap or something - lovely gift, right?





One of my friends at work has lost his favorite hat. These next two are my attempts to find a pattern that he'll like. I had this bulky yarn, which I love to use, and thought I'd just make up a few hats until I get it right, then I'll copy the good one in black, which is what he wants. This is Bernat Softee Chunky yarn - love it! I'll get the same yarn in black for him. The first one is from this online pattern and was a joy to knit. I also like the little holes in the pattern (although my pic doesn't show them up well).


This hat is one i've created from the second of this online honeycomb pattern. Again, the pic doesn't show it well. I need to tighten up the cuff and make a few other adjustments to make the hat smaller all around, but I like the pattern a lot, and I'll share it here when I get around to fixing it.

I also have a gift started for my sister. I need to finish it by July 22 for her bridal shower . . . and THEN I will post some pics. It's not complicated, but I think it will be elegant and pretty. We'll see. I just hope she likes it. I'm not posting it yet in the off chance she ambles by before July 22.

Uncle Bob

He loved photography, nature, figuring out how things worked. He used to let me use his camera to take a roll of film and then he'd go through each picture and we'd talk about what would make it better next time. It was never threatening or aggravating because he was so patient and wise and compassionate. He was a great teacher.

He would take us to the park and we'd feed the geese and ducks and chickadees, take pictures, learn about everything in sight, talk with the naturalist and have a picnic (often just whatever fast food was handy on the way there). He loved to be silly. He'd tease and goof around, and he was always joking about "getting away with things that Ginny wouldn't let him do".

He also loved to hear what we were doing. GUB (Great Uncle Bob, to Simon) was enthralled with Simon's drawing and asked him all sorts of questions about what he drew and how he drew it. Mom says that last Sunday, when Bob had collapsed and was in the hospital (still miraculously in no pain) that he commented on how Simon seems to draw things like he already sees it on the paper and is just showing us with his pencil.



Bob had the soul of an artist, the brain of a genius and a heart of gold. There is so much more I could say about him - about his accomplishments as an engineer and all of the other things he did, but in the end, this is what I remember. He was one of the most kind people I've ever known.

Uncle Bob passed away on Tuesday, peacefully. Even though he was full of cancer, he felt no pain. I believe it is the grace of God to a good man. We'll miss Uncle Bobby a great deal. I'm certain, though, that we'll see him again in Heaven.