MelissaKnits

It's That Day Again

2012-02-14T07:52:00.000-05:00

We've come a long way from three Catholic martyrs to the mess I saw in Walmart (did you know they sell organic Sam's Club brand coffee?) on Sunday

(not to mention the scary video from Vermont Teddy Bear), but...

Happy Valentine's Day anyway!

Here we will celebrate in the usual way, which is to say 'pretty quietly', also known as "not much". Sometimes at Mr Wonderful's former place of employment they'd sell flowers on V-day and he would bring some home. His gifts are generally met with concern and/or skepticism on my end. "Who drugged you? What did you do wrong? Please tell me these were free." One year I think he did the big dozen red long-stemmed thing, but I think I nipped it in the bud (heh, I am so funny!) early.

I did celebrate, in a way. I bought myself a skein of yarn, which I am in the process of

transforming into a gift (not for Mr. Wonderful. All that pink?).

Yoshi approves. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, and the color is called New Beginnings. It's the February Limited Edition color at Jimmy Beans Wool, and I may need more of it. I think if it was not for all of this wedding shopping, I'd get some more, because I love it. Love the color, and love the name. It is perfect for this project, which you're not going to see until it's done.

I remember when I was a kid I did not like this day. First, I had to sign all those cards and lick the nasty little sharp-edged envelopes, and then I had to have a box on my desk decorated for the day, and then at the end of the day we all were suppose to see what we'd gotten. I always felt horrible for the girls and boys who got only one or two cards, and so the next year I would begin obsessing early - what if no one in class loved ME this year? They always did, my box was always heavy enough to denote inclusion with 'the cool kids', but I never understood how I was really that different from the kids who got only one, or two. I sometimes wished I got none so those kids would not be so alone. It always made me very sad. I so hope they don't do this any more. When Ravelry did it and my inbox was crammed with them, I panicked and thought "Oh no. Somewhere out there, someone got NONE", and spent the whole day trying to send one back to everyone who'd sent one to me.

I was recently watching an interview about Richard Simmons, famous exercise and diet guru and all around charming celebrity - admit it, you love his sparkly tush, he makes you smile - and the woman being interviewed said, in effect, "Richard doesn't see size or color or gender. He just sees people."

So if we get to have wishes on Valentine's Day, and we should, right? Here's mine:

For Valentine's Day, I wish the whole wide world thought like Richard Simmons.

Also after Valentine's Day, too.

(p.s. - no flower fields or workers were harmed in the production of the above flower. It's made from coffee filters, using the technique found at Wedding Bee. The filters are oxygen cleansed, meaning no chemical bleach or whitening agents were used in their production.)

We'll See

2012-02-09T10:30:00.001-05:00

Most of the time when I sit down to write lately I end up talking about things that most people really don't want to hear about.

So today, since Jenn Kinzel of the Woolie Ewe says she misses me, I will post what I've done lately, and try not to be all "Oh, poor motherless me". It's a stretch. My birthday is coming up. Last night I had a dream that my mother asked for her summer clothes, and when I told her she was dead she said "Well. I changed my mind about that. Bring me my shorts..." and proceeded to go into a very detailed list of which shorts and which tops (including the one that I bought that was "...not exactly right, but would do"). If you knew her, you'd know that this conversation could very easily occur, exactly as stated above. "Oh. Well. I changed my mind about that."

But I digress...

Lots of what I have done lately is kind of crazy, really. Not a lot of design, that's for sure. I made a tiny quilt, which I decided I hated and promptly gave to Yoshi, who loves it.

I went on a doll clothing spree. Crocheted hat and sweater...

Knitted a dress...

Vest and top...

Mostly American Girl stuff (or in this case Madison from the Springfield Company who did not cost $100) but some baby doll as well. They're not all pictured here lest you think my cheese has truly slipped from my cracker.

And a crochet spree - hat, mittens, and a square from the scraps (??? No clue, but there it is. A square.)

Oh, and I stitched a London pigeon.

And then a dragon for Lillian at New Fortune, since this IS the Year of the Dragon after all, and my Dragon daughter is marrying a Dragon guy in the year of the Dragon, so I feel attached.

I went to Vogue Knitting Live! in New York, and had a ball. I went up to the marketplace only very briefly to see Ron and Theresa Miskin of The Buffalo Wool Co. (formerly Buffalo Gold). I just visited them for a bit. Big groups and moving crowds just were not where my head was at right then and I give myself permission to hide if I think I need to. Things moved really fast here between November and now, and it will take me a while to recover, and that's ok. But again, I digress. Anyway, Ron gave me some yarn, which I fell madly in love with. it's called Sexy, and was hand dyed by the folks at Koigu. And it is SO beautiful! I immediately designed a shawl,

that sort of has become a wide scarf, and I knitted half of it, and I wrote it all down, and I even named it!

And I was totally on a roll, designing something! First thing "since"! And then... And then I got project ADD. So I knitted these baby pants, and then they needed a sweater to go with, so I started that and....

Most of the time I think I need a sample knitter. Just a simple slave, willing to knit for the sheer joy of it.

I have also been very busy with Girl's wedding preparation things. Now, the wedding is not till fall, so you'd think I had scads of time. The truth is that the "best" venues and ceremony locations get snapped up pretty quickly, and things cost much more than I expected or remembered. As a result we are doing a lot of things on our own. Whoever it was at Vogue 2011 who mentioned the Off-Beat Bride website? You are my hero. This wedding is so DIY it's not even funny. Or at least right now, to me, with DIY wedding things covered half of the surfaces in my house, it doesn't feel very funny. No pictures yet, but I promise a big report after the fete. We must give Girl her privacy... to a point!

So that's it for me for now. Except this - Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and you know what looks great tied around a gift box, or draped around the neck, or a Shiba Inu? Birthday Girl, a crocheted flower chain available in my Ravelry shop for the low, low price of $1 (Shiba not included)!

On Closure (the beginnings of)

2012-01-29T17:47:00.000-05:00

I had been feeling for a while like I needed the ashes to go to Maine. Thing is, I had kind of planned that a few people would come along with, and arranging it felt too complicated. Who can go on what day, and at what time, that sort of thing. And how do we all get up there, and do we stay or not stay? And should we go now, while it's cold, or wait until it's warm?

Yesterday, Saturday, I woke up feeling this pressure on me. It had to be NOW. I was anxious and snappish and cranky, and finally told Gene that I needed to just take them and get it done. I think I would have gone alone, but he offered to come along as driver and assistant. And off we went.

But Mom... you make ME share...

We brought along my comfort animal (we call him this because he is!). This was his longest car ride to date, and his first trip to the beach. My mother would have appreciated that he rode the whole way there on top of her ashes which were in between the front seats of the car. When we stopped for a break, Gene got himself "a snack" at McDonald's. There was some debate about who should have what part of the "snack". In the end, Yoshi only got a tiny tidbit.

I got a coffee. It's about all I will eat from McDonald's. Newman's Own, black. Iced in summer, hot in winter. When my mother was asking for frappes (caramel!) all the time I always got myself a coffee to be companionable while she sipped. It was ironic then that when we got to New Hampshire, Hampton Beach, I used my empty cup to tote ashes across the crowded beach. There were lots of people out with dogs and kids; life and activity all around. There was this lovely family playing touch football in the sand. Couples hand in hand, dogs chasing balls.

Convenient ash-hiding cup

But that really made it all the more perfect. We came here as a family when I was a kid, and on the last trip to Maine she had asked me to leave ashes here. And so I did. Being behind the camera was an excellent cover. I did not cry much here.

Hampton Beach

I just waited for the ashes to wash out to sea, mingled with the sand.

Last bit

We headed north into Maine. First we stopped at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery and split a clam platter, gluten and all. She would have liked that. She probably would have liked it better if I'd added on chowder, eaten the fries, and asked for extra tartar sauce, all washed down with Coke Classic. I went with six clams and one fry - enough to say I'd had it, but not enough to make me too horribly sick from the wheat I hoped. They do have gluten free options, but it is just not the same.

Then we headed to the coast. First we stopped at Long Sands beach. We stopped at the southern end of the beach where it's very rocky and there were no people. Again I used the camera as a shield, snapping away and keeping distant emotionally.

Long Sands

This was maybe my favorite spot for the ashes. They were quickly swept out to sea, the smaller bits dropping down between the rocks, which felt very organic and beautiful; the ashes blending with the foam. I think I would not mind if my kids brought me here when I am gone. We came here when they were small and camped at Camp Eaton. We played on these very rocks in the evening at low tide. But I digress.

Next we went to Nubble Light. By now I was over the whole coffee cup thing. There was too much left to fit in the cup, and this was where she really wanted the bulk of the ashes to go. I just grabbed the bag and went. We clamored on the rocks for a bit; Gene trying to get me to head further away from people, and me insisting that I be in front of the light and "who cares about the people, anyway". Guess who won?

Right where she wanted to be

Not having the camera with me here changed things. I couldn't manage camera, ashes in a bag, slippery rock and get any decent pictures, so I handed it off to Gene. I went from observer to mourner in a heartbeat. As the ashes fell from the bag and floated around me in a gray cloud, I felt the pain of loss and the relief of the absence of someone who has eaten up so very many moments of my life. Now, I feel free and clear and clean in a way I never have before. Sometimes I resent the loss of so many days and years of my life; particularly the ones when I was very small. I wonder what I would be like if she had been more stable. Would I trust people more? Would I be more open with others? Probably. Other times I realize that if she had died earlier I would not be who I am today. And that would be a loss in its own way.

She's in there

I put her exactly where I'd planned since our last visit, in a crevice that faces the light. She approved this last fall when I took pictures down here and showed them to her.

Here, I cried. I sat with Gene for a bit up against a rock and just was sad for a bit. This place is changed for me now. I don't know how that will affect me in the future, but then every pebble that drops in our life makes ripples, and this was really more like a big rock being dumped on one of my favorite places.

Then we took Yoshi up for his portrait. This is a tradition that really began with my kids and extended to Kioshi and now Yoshi as well. He is most handsome. We met a few other dogs here, and he played nicely but not a lot - no fences, so no racing and running and jumping. He makes friends easily.

Tradition

Today I am sore which I think is from the gluten, and tired, but I feel a bit of healing. Less raw, I think, and definitely liberated in some new way. I wrote a lot the other day, and I will write more in the future; the things she wanted me to write about her life and about mine. In the end, when her own acceptance of her mental health issues became more real to her, she was adamant that I get it down. And I will.

She's in my car...

But for now the big question - do I vacuum? Or just pretend it never happened and leave her there?

I feel

2012-01-20T21:44:00.001-05:00

There are words coming, and I actually think they may be about knitting and stuff. Wild. Stay tuned. It could totally happen, I could totally blog something!

At Peace

2011-11-13T09:50:00.001-05:00

I don't have a lot of space in me for words right now, so this will need to do. They are my mother's words, the obituary she wrote for herself nearly a year ago:

Priscilla Avery Morgan, 68, of Greenfield died Sunday, November 13, 2011 at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility after a long illness. Priscilla was the daughter of James and Eleanor Avery. She grew up in Leyden and Greenfield. She attended Greenfield schools. For many years Priscilla worked at Crocker Communications and The Franklin Medical Center as a switchboard operator, both jobs she enjoyed very much and took great pride in.

She is survived by her daughter, Melissa Morgan-Oakes and her husband Gene Oakes of Bernardston; a grandson, PFC Daniel Adams and his wife Sarah of El Paso, Texas; a granddaughter Megan Oakes and her fiancé Jeroth Clark both of South Deerfield; a very beloved great-granddaughter, April Ann Adams of El Paso; two sisters, Patricia Haselton of Swanzey, NH and Prudence Carnahan of Greenfield, and several nieces. A brother, Francis Avery pre-deceased her.

At the request of the deceased there will be no services. Disposition of her remains will be at the discretion of the family.In lieu of flowers, it is asked that donations be made to Hospice of Franklin County; 329 Conway Street; Suite 2; Greenfield, MA 01301 and the activities fund at Charlene Manor; 130 Colrain Road; Greenfield, MA 01301.

I know, I said I'd be right back

2011-09-28T14:55:00.001-04:00

I probably said I'd be positive too. I don't have it in me, sorry. But I do have some honest reflections of a trip I took a day ago.

Yesterday I took my mother to Maine and New Hampshire to visit places she has loved for most of her life. Places that hold memories, places I simultaneously hoped and feared would trigger something in her emotionally. They did not. I am further reminded of what her mental health diagnosis really means. She has what we in the biz call "flat affect" lately. No expression of emotion, positive or negative.

For me there was a lot of protective sarcasm laced through the day. I expected to be sad, and was almost surprised that I was not. But, like a good daughter of "a borderline", I took my emotional cues from the woman who gave birth to me and reared me, and saved the juicy crying and stomping parts for when I got home. I quipped to Gene via text about "the day in food" - excellent for the diabetic body - beginning with a large Strawberry Coolatta (with whip!) in Keene, then oysters, clams and fries, fish chowder, three tubs of tartar sauce, crackers, and a Diet Coke (of course!) from Bob's Clam Hut, and ending with a large Orange Julius bought at The Mall of New Hampshire.

In general the ocean was a place where my mother could be counted on to be mostly relaxed and at peace - rare in that she was for the most part emotionally consistent when we were there. As a result, I have only positive memories of time spent at the beaches of New Hampshire and southern Maine. Other places in my life are more conflicted. I think this makes my feelings about her decision to end her life more complicated as well.

Although I worked in long term care and spent a lot of time caring for people who were dying, and helping their families to come to terms with the terminal changes that were occurring in their loved ones state of being, when it is a close relative the balance shifts. I knew this, and expected it, but knowing and experiencing are two very different things. You find yourself feeling and thinking all of the things you've allowed and encouraged others to express to you in the past. You try to give yourself the same permission you gave resident's family members to be angry, hurt, scared, etc. Some days this is more effective than others.

Because there was technically "nothing wrong with her" when she stopped taking her meds and started refusing treatment this is a slightly more perilous and painful journey for her family and friends than it might otherwise have been. Knowing that it is a choice - and now, with the dramatic changes in her medical status as a result of those refusals it seems a slightly more logical one - makes it difficult to comprehend. Her sisters struggle with it, one admitting that she just cannot deal with the concept, and the other an expert in belligerent denial. My kids struggle too in their own very separate ways - ironically much like their great aunts; one denies, the other grumbles. My father, my mother's nieces and close friends; everyone is confused, hurt, angry, sad - some or all of the above.

Some of us know the whole truth and understand how much of what she has said to us has been manipulative or attention seeking. Others don't, and for them I think it may be easier in a way. You can deflect the anger onto others if you don't understand who and what she is at her core. You can say "How sad that she is all alone and abandoned!" when the truth is so far from that sad little world she has created.
I, most of the time so far anyway, am sad. But there are stages to this process, and I will hit them all in the end. Thank God. It means I am healthy and normal.

The rest of her chosen path is before her. She moves toward an ending, or what she hopes will be an ending. I could analyze the spiritual side of suicide, passive or otherwise, based on her religious beliefs, but that hurts my head too much. I move toward something unknown and undesired - a future in which I live with the knowledge that my mother killed herself.

In a while - months, years, who knows when death will take her - I will retrace the path I followed yesterday. It is not likely to be soon. Her body has proven to be much stronger than anyone could have anticipated. I will, I hope, be accompanied by people I love and who love me. We will stop along the way and I will plunge my hands deep into a box of ashes and spread them as I have been asked to at all of these places she says she loved so much. I expect it will be painful but cathartic. I pray that it heals some wounds of mine and of others around me and around her. I pray that she has peace in the end; a peace she has struggled to find in her life but has never quite been able to achieve. I pray that in her eventual death there is meaning, some kind of meaning, for the people she leaves behind. Mostly I pray that when the time comes, it is quick and without pain. For her. I know it won't be for the rest of us.

Well, that WAS an absence, wasn't it?

2011-08-13T10:27:00.000-04:00

Hopefully I can get more regular in the old blog entries. Just don't expect it to be consistent, or knitting related all the time. Beginning today. If you're looking for an upbeat happy little yarn post, forget it. Soon, though, honest!

It is summertime. Gerbil and Girl are engaged to be married, which makes me so very happy. By next September, all four kids will be married. My how life flies by!

Everything around here is alive and growing, and some days I take a moment to look.

The garden is completely overgrown, and the house is an unmitigated disaster. Oddly, the result of this is that we have a huge number of tomatoes about to turn red, and enough dog hair to spin, once I sweep it all into bags.

The ducklings are growing and the turkeys now gobble. We've thinned down the layers, getting rid of some lazy girls and some boys big enough to eat and five ridiculously noisy Guinea Fowl. They are very tasty, moreso if you sit in relative peace and quiet on the deck while eating them!

But mostly, I am a bit low of late, waiting for my mother to die, or really still adapting to the idea that she's chosen to die. It's a harder thing than I expected in some ways. I try not to let myself rationalize it. It isn't rational and that alone could drive me bonkers trying to sort out. I have been very internal, and am just now staring to be more external again.

I went to the beach with an old friend and laid in the sand and ate lobster and steamers. I met up with my first boyfriend and shared old times and pictures and reconnected not in the old way, but in a new way, as friends. I've been turning to the past to help figure out the future and make sense of the present. Old friends, people who've known me since long before I wrote a book, people who knew me when I occasionally had orange cheese and cable television in my house, are the people who remember that my mother has always been "like this", and I find comfort in that.

Trying to decide how to "handle" this situation is difficult and fraught with pitfalls. If I do too much, I am giving in to the insatiable demands of a person whose mental health diagnosis makes her impossible to please, and in some ways makes her demand more.

Doing nothing leaves me feeling as if I should do SOMETHING, I should try harder. So I walk a fine line. I do enough to ensure that I feel like I've done as much as I could, but not so much that I give in to every whim and demand. Some days I say no. Some days I say yes. Some things I run to the store and fetch. Some things I say she doesn't really need right now. It's like parenting. I know we all meet a moment in our lives when the parent becomes the parented, and that's a normal part of life. In my case, I have been parenting this person for most, even all, of my life. I was reared by her to believe I was responsible for her comfort, for her emotions.

It's part of growing up with, living with, and caring for a person who has Borderline Personality Disorder. When you are an adult, you can separate yourself from a person who is manipulative or who is hurting you. When you are a child, and that person is one of your parents, you don't have a choice. You are not old enough to separate. You see yourself as an extension of the parent. As an adult, you can make choices to limit the damage that person does in your life, but there's always that residual feeling of responsibility. It isn't an easy row to hoe, and not one I would wish on anyone.

It is natural for me to feel responsible for others, and regardless of how that came to be, it is the way it is now. Over 40 I can look at it with different eyes, and make the healthiest choices I can possibly make for myself. Imperfect, but the best I can do for now. The good news is that even as a tween and young teen I knew the relationship was wrong. I really believe that helps now. it's not as if I one day woke and said "Gee, this is not good at ALL!" Instead, I always knew in my gut that most of the things she did and said to me were wrong, and unacceptable. I even related that on at least one occasion to "trusted adults" at a school I was attending. I was told that if it was really as bad as I said it was, I wouldn't have said anything, because truly abused kids never tell. I wish I could confront the adult who said that to me. I don't think she has any clue how much damage that statement did or how much shame it caused me. But I digress (into self-pity, just for a moment, for little 12 year old MMO, the poor kid!).

My mother is an astonishing person in one way. Her very existence given the present circumstances amazes me and many of those who care for her. No insulin for months. A diet that makes the standard American one look a little low in the carbs and refined sugars department. Refusal of all medications for all of her varied medical conditions. She's now limiting her fluid intake to sugar-based fluids only, and is trying to limit the quantity; orange juice, Coke Classic, ginger ale. Her blood sugar is through the roof. She has chronic infections of varying kinds. She has difficulty walking and talking. And yet she is still alive, against her will and wishes, she is alive.

Yoshi goes to visit regularly. The residents love him. He is very good around wheelchairs and in the elevator now. he can walk between closely-parked carts of varying size and shape without batting an eye.

Because he is JUST that perfect.

I am working on two projects for two people's books, which means that I will only be able to share swatches and snippets, but I hope to do that soon, now that you're caught up on most of the crappy stuff! ;) More soon!

That Crazy Stalker...

2011-07-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

I love Carol. Don't you? She is very awesome. My chips are pretty down, and she has been really a little angel sent from heaven with a sneaky long telephoto lens and a penchant for my sneakers... I am not ashamed to say it: Carol Sulcoski is MY FAVORITE STALKER!

And if having Carol as a stalker is not cool enough? Check this out - Kristin Nicholas reviews my book on her blog, Getting Stitched on the Farm AND is giving away not just a signed of teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting BUT she's also giving way YARN - three skeins of her Best Foot Forward in color ways you will never find anywhere else!

And yes, what you read on Kristin's blog is true. Sunday. Me. Dung tags. Because I am all over that s&^t (giggle!) - and wait till the gardens 'get a load of' it! (Heh!! I crack me up!!)

Falling down on the job!

2011-07-01T09:33:00.003-04:00

Still your blog-minding stalker here, letting you know that today I present a book review of MMO's brand-new Teaching Yourself Visually Circular Knitting -- including a giveaway at Go Knit In Your Hat.

I think the blog tour winds up tomorrow with the lovely Stefanni at Sunset Cat.

Happy Friday, everyone! And don't worry: MMO will be back soon.

Next stop: Laura Nelkin HACKED

2011-06-29T08:22:00.008-04:00

Hi there!

Some of you may have seen Melissa and me joking on Facebook and in our blogs about how I am her favorite stalker. So talented a stalker am I, and so mad are my Internet skilz, that I have managed to hack into her Blogger account.*

Simply so that I can show you these:

Why, yes, that is MMO's foot. Is there something odd about the fact that I took a photo of it?

But I digress.

MMO has some pressing personal issues to deal with today and so, like the first-runner up in the Miss America pageant, I am stepping up to the plate to introduce today's blog tour stop: Laura Nelkin, of Nelkin Designs. Her blog entry can be found here.

The blog tour continues:

June 30: Getting Stitched On The Farm, with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1: Go Knit In Your Hat (MMO's favorite stalker ME)
July 2: Sunset Cat, with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats

On a more serious note, I am sure MMO would appreciate any thoughts or prayers you might have for her today.

--- Your Guest Poster/Blog Minder, Carol Sulcoski

*No, not really. Melissa invited me to pinch-hit for her today since she has some personal issues which will tie her up for the day.

My Dog Answers the Phone

2011-06-28T06:45:00.001-04:00

Back on the blog tour road again - yesterday the ladies of The Woolie Ewe posted a really fun to make video interview on their blog, with instructions on how to win a signed copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting (I need books with shorter titles, just a thought!). Give it a watch and enter to win!

Today is an interview with Yoshi (and a book review, and giveaway) with ShibaGuyz Shannon and Jason - or should I say with Dallas, Apollo and Atlas, really?

Stay tuned as we head into the home stretch - next up:
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Today!

2011-06-24T07:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday on the blog tour, We had a great review by Beth Casey of Lorna's Laces. I think I've said here many times that Shepherd Sock (in camouflage) is Gene's favorite sock yarn. I am looking forward to turning him on to Solemate. Anyway, to enter to win a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting, visit the Lorna's Laces blog and leave a comment by 5pm CDT today, Friday June 24.

Today's blog stop has be visiting with Ana of i made it so. She asked me some really fun and a couple of really hard questions and I had a blast interviewing with her. She's also giving away a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting - leave a comment with a valid email address now till Wednesday June 29th at 11:59pm EST to enter.

Stay tuned - next week we round up out blog tour with stops from Monday through Saturday at:

June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Yesterday!

2011-06-23T08:33:00.001-04:00

Yesterday on our blog tour, Ida of Knit-a-While posted an interview and she's going away a free copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting as well - just leave a comment on her blog between now and June 29 at 11pm EST and you could win!

Stay tuned, there's much more to come from:

June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Blog Tour - Day 5

2011-06-20T12:40:00.001-04:00

We rejoin the blog tour today with Webs Yarn Store. I swear I did not pay them to be nice to me, honest. (Psst! Don't worry. The check is in the mail!). Webs is also giving away a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

Tomorrow;s stop was to be Lion Brand Yarn Studio's podcast, but due to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to get into the city for the taping. We will rejoin the tour on Wednesday. You can find the schedule below.

June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Blog Tour - Day 4

2011-06-17T05:43:00.001-04:00

Today's stop in the tour is with Ruth Garcia-Alcantud of Rock & Purl. She asked me some pretty tough questions. I hope I met the challenge! And how can we not love a blog entry that starts with a picture of the little man in my life, Mr. Yoshi-Pie? And she ends it all with a giveaway!

Join us Monday for some more blog tour fun! The schedule is below.

June 20 - Webs Yarn Store with... you know, I am not sure who is going to be doing this entry. I hope it's someone who loves me. ;)
June 21 - Yarncraft Podcast with the delightful Zontee of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Blog Tour Day 3

2011-06-16T05:37:00.001-04:00

Today we stop in with Deb (Chappy's Mom) who's guest blogging at Jessalu Knits. I still love JessaLu bags. In fact, I am about to board a bus with one tucked where I can get at it easily. Also JessaLu is giving away THREE copies of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting! Three!!

And don't forget to stay tuned for the rest of the tour! More interviews, reviews, and giveaways are waiting for you!

June 17 - Rock + Purl with the energetic and ebullient Ruth Garcia-Alcantud.
June 20 - Webs Yarn Store with... you know, I am not sure who is going to be doing this entry. I hope it's someone who loves me. ;)
June 21 - Yarncraft Podcast with the delightful Zontee of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Blog Tour, Day 2

2011-06-15T17:03:00.000-04:00

Today's stop on the blog tour for Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting:

June 15 - OMG! Heart with Alice, who survived 2-at-a-Time class with me - and STILL wanted to be part of this tour. She posted a great review this morning of the book, and is giving a copy away to boot!

Also, Kristi of Books Yarn Ink posted a review today as a follow up to her interview from yesterday. And Ruth of Rock + Purl has posted a review in anticipation of her blog-stop on June 17th. All three of these folks are hosting giveaways as well - so be sure to check them out!

Here's the rest of the schedule:

June 16 - Jessalu Knits with the talented Jessalu - I love those bags!
June 17 - Rock + Purl with the energetic and ebullient Ruth Garcia-Alcantud.
June 20 - Webs Yarn Store with... you know, I am not sure who is going to be doing this entry. I hope it's someone who loves me. ;)
June 21 - Yarncraft Podcast with the delightful Zontee of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting Blog Tour Begins!

2011-06-14T11:02:00.000-04:00

Today the blog tour kicks off with an interview and giveaway at Kristi Chadwick's aptly named blog, Books, Yarn, Ink and Other Pursuits. Be sure to stop over and enter to win a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting, and maybe learn more about the book or about me along the way!

Today is also my return to real life from TNNA - and a day late at that. This was supposed to be whirlwind in and out sort of a trip. I left here on Saturday morning for the airport with a plan. Fly, land, visit, eat, sign, leave, fly, land. That's not exactly how it went.

I was met at the airport by my friend Mark and his kids. We headed into Columbus. Mark and kids took me to a place called BD's Mongolian Grill. I have never been to a place like this before. You take a bowl and fill it with your favorite things from two bars; meat and vegetable. Then you choose sauces and spices from a third bar. Next you stand grill-side while your food is prepared for you, sort of like a Japanese Steakhouse but with a huge array of selections, and most of it healthy food. It's a fun concept, and a great one for families with picky eaters. After lunch we walked to North Market and had Jeni's - of course. I had Dark Chocolate and Rhubarb & Lime Cardamom. We wandered around the market for a while and then Mark and family dropped me at the Hyatt - yelling "FAMOUS AUTHOR!!" out the window as they did so, which was very funny. You'd think that would have alerted stalker Carol S. of my presence... but no.

I checked in and decided to wander a little. I put on my new espadrilles thinking I would not be doing too much walking - just down to the convention hall, across the street to dinner, and back again. That's not exactly how it went down. Note to self. Do not break in new sandals at TNNA. My left foot looks like it's been through a war zone unprotected. The other foot got off with one or two hot spots. Not sure how that works. Lefty is jealous. Righty gloats.

Once I had my badge I spent a little time on the floor saying hello to people and finding the R&M booth so I knew where to go Sunday. I discovered the Lorna's Laces booth, but it was full of customers, so I decided to wait and not bug anyone. There was time, after all, right? I saw lots of new and impressive yarns and things, and fell madly in love with some buttons made by Bejeweled and Bedazzled. They are clear glass with copper oak leaves embedded within. Love them! I decided I needed to find some water before dinner - somehow I always forget to drink when I travel, right up until my mouth is sandpaper and my head is wooshy. I headed for North Market not realizing that they'd closed at 5 - it was 5:15. A wonderful kid at Jeni's (he should be promoted) gave me a plastic cup of water, thereby saving me from the embarrassment of tumbling to the floor. I went out the back of the market and found myself in the middle of a festival of some kind - the Park Street Festival. "Ah" I thought "surely a vendor here will have water." If they did they were not advertising. Tequila, beer, soda, yes. But no water. I finally found a lady selling unsweetened iced tea. I got one of those to sip while watching the crowd and listening to the music of a band called Union Rose. They weren't bad - did some covers and some original stuff. By this point I had found a spot to sit and realized that my left foot was complaining a little, so I dug around in my bag and found my Good for the Soles zipper pouch with it's stash of moleskin and band-aids. It was really too late by then, but I tried to cover the hot spots anyway. I could have done with more band-aids...

Still no sign of stalker Sulcoski, though. I was beginning to feel neglected. When it was about time for dinner I headed toward our meeting place, a restaurant called DeepWood. There I met up with Jack Bussell from Wiley and his wife Judy, Gail of R&M West Coast Enterprises, and a very talented crew of authors; Kristi Porter of Knitting in the Sun fame (and now More Knitting in the Sun), Alison Stewart-Guinee, author of Fairy Tale Knits (a must have for grandmothers, moms and aunts the world around) and the delightful Carol Feller whose forthcoming Contemporary Irish Knits is not to be missed. Getting to meet and dine with such talented ladies was a treat. Discovering that we share similar passions not just about yarn but about food, the environment and life in general was a bonus. The food here was excellent, and that was only enhanced by the great company!

After dinner we headed back for our respective hotels. Carol F. and I headed for the bar at the Hyatt (I like the Irish if it means we go pub hopping after dinner) and soon discovered we were in the heart of a gathering of knitterati. I saw more names than I could drop in a week, if I had a week to drop them in. Stefanie Japel posed with Carol F. for a photo.

I met Kate Oates. Imagine going through your life being called Kate Oakes, when you are really the grain with an e not the tree with an e? I bet it's nearly as much fun as being called Melissa Morgan-Oates when you are the tree and not the grain. *sigh*. The hardships of a public life. ;)

I hung out a bit and sipped my wine in the reflected glow of the assembled knitterati, and then made my way to bed.

In the morning I met Sandi Rosner for breakfast. I love meeting up with Sandi at events. No scotch on this trip; 9AM seemed early for scotch, and I wasn't there long enough for an evening date. Maybe next time! Next I had a video interview with Pam and Jen of the Woolie Ewe in Plano, which we followed with coffee and a chat. I saw Kathy and Steve, too. But oddly, not a sign of my stalker. By now I was really feeling wounded by her lack of stalkerly attention.

I was just thinking I would wander the floor for a bit when I remembered that I had to check out by noon - it was 11:55. I ran back to my room and got my stuff together in my backpack and headed down to the desk. Once checked out I was free to roam. I wandered off to the market for Pho.

This is Clara's fault. last year she took me to this place and now I cannot get enough. I have had other Pho since, and it's been good, but not quite the same. I also know that out there, somewhere, is better Pho. But until I find it, this is the Pho by which all other Pho shall be judged. And I had my last Jeni's - Queen City Cayenne and Wildberry Lavender. *Sniffle* I shall miss it.

I went back to the convention center and had a great signing - all of the tickets were gone, which means all of the books were spoken for, which means I don't have to feel bad that someone got me out there, set up a table, put out books... and nobody showed up. I always worry about that! Gail showed me a Clover product - an elastic yarn perfect for holding with your working yarn to create added elasticity and durability to a garment. I hadn't seen that before. LOVE it! I may even have a bit of it now, along with a copy of Spud and Chloe at the Farm, which I had been coveting for a long time. I got the LAST ticket for Trisha Malcolm who was signing Noro Knits at 4pm. I needed to be heading for the airport by 5:30, so I knew I'd have time to make it back. So now I have two new books that I could, maybe, if you wanted, review in a week or so when things settle down here. I can already tell you that I love both. Susan Anderson's creatures charm the dickens out of me, and require knitting. From a flock of chickens to THAT SHEEP! Must knit SPUD!! Then Noro Knits is just loaded with projects that make brilliant use of one of my most favorite yarns in the whole wide world. It's the colors that get me. I just cannot get enough Noro or enough Noro patterns!

But wait! What about stalker Carol? At long last she found me on the floor. Turns out she is as old as dirt, so her stalking skills are slipping. Badly. We wandered and saw a lot of people. For a while I was Cat Bordhi. We saw Ron and Theresa Miskin of the Buffalo Wool Company and fondled their Buffalo Gold yarns. I met Nell Bliss and her mom Debbie (maybe you've heard of her?). Debbie was at Webs a while ago and I was too intimidated to say hello. I tried to sneak into the Lorna's Laces booth one last time, but failed miserably. And then it was time to leave.

I headed for the airport full of good thoughts. I stopped just before security for a salad and a pre-flight glass of wine, guaranteed to make even the most nervous flyer crash like a 2 year old. Homeward bound after a successful 36 hours, I was content. I headed through security to my gate, and this was when things began to change.

You want a buzz kill? Try sitting on the floor of an airport surrounded by the miserable wreckage of 3 hours of grounded planes and cancelled flights all up and down the east coast. So much anger in such a small space. Six flights were listed on the board at my gate, and they cycled through them in rotation. Delay. Cancel. Delay. Gate change. And on and on. There was a lot of yelling. My boarding time approached, but my flight still showed on time departure and arrival. Suddenly my phone flight tracker - not the board at the airport - flipped to indicate that my flight was delayed by an hour, which meant I would miss my connection in Philadelphia - already a late one. I jumped into line. US AIrways called me almost immediately, but I missed it. I returned their call and was told that they could get me out, they thought, by Tuesday. Maybe.

Tuesday?? It was Sunday evening. I had an appointment Monday. I have to be in New York Thursday, and I needed to organize home and life between now and then. Yoshi has never been alone for a full day before. The chickens get watered twice a day. With me absent for 2 days of the work week, who would take care of my animals? I held it together, barely. I got out of line, still on the phone with US Airways, and negotiated and was charming and patient, and finally got a flight out 24 hours later; Monday night. I could be home by midnight, and in bed by 1:30AM Tuesday, IF I did not get bumped, and the operator didn't sound all too firm about the bumping situation. I called Gene who quickly found me a hotel room at the airport while I walked away from the angry place. I was running low on cash. I checked in to the Hampton Inn and contemplated. I was stunned by my own calm, really. It felt good to get away from the airport. I was concerned about not getting home until Tuesday, but more grateful to be out of the atmosphere of tension in the terminal. People that angry make me uncomfortable.

I went to the Hilton next door for a well-deserved glass of wine. I quietly read my Nook. I tried to be calm.

When I got back to my room I called Gene and we discussed my options. US Airways had offered me nothing for compensation - no hotel room, no flight voucher, not even a toothbrush. Nada. I assumed they would not refund because I had booked with a third party. I could get a Delta flight Monday morning for $150, direct to Hartford, then spend the day waiting for Gene to get out of work to fetch me. Or I could wait it out with US Air. Waiting was the decision.

And then my phone rang, and Mary Alice was on the line, and 12 hours later I was neatly tucked in the back of her Yaris while she and her son drove me back to Massachusetts from Ohio. They'd come out to visit family. I have never felt so relieved, I think, in my life. No more wondering, no more waiting until 6pm to find your flight's been cancelled or you've been bumped. I called Travelocity and they called US Airways and I was refunded for the remainder of my trip. By 10:30pm Monday I was in my own house, a little tired, a little manky, but HOME. Mary Alice and Jim are saints. I am so grateful for the ride. Especially when you hear what happened to my Monday flights.

Even if I had not been bumped, as the person on the phone found likely, I would not have made it home. My connection in Washington was diverted to Baltimore. It was a very late flight. I would have spent Monday night sleeping on the floor of National and Tuesday - assuming the could get me home early - skulking around Bradley waiting for Gene to get out of work and fetch me! 11 hours in a Yaris beats a bad day of air travel, hands down.

No more air travel for a while, and when I go again it's back to Delta. Stick with what works.

For now I am of to New York early Thursday morning, visiting Lion Brand Yarn Studio on Thursday evening, then scooting home on Friday just in time to select chickens for slaughter on Saturday and Sunday. Busy girl. Busy life. Almost makes me miss winter... Well. Maybe not!

Stay tuned for the rest of the blog tour!

June 15 - OMG! Heart with Alice, who survived 2-at-a-Time class with me - and STILL wanted to be part of this tour.
June 16 - Jessalu Knits with the talented Jessalu - I love those bags!
June 17 - Rock and Purl with the energetic and ebullient Ruth Garcia-Alcantud.
June 20 - Webs Yarn Store with... you know, I am not sure who is going to be doing this entry. I hope it's someone who loves me. ;)
June 21 - Yarncraft Podcast with the delightful Zontee of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

Propelled, I Am It!

2011-06-08T17:06:00.000-04:00

This week marks the official, from my perspective, launch of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. Yes, it's been around since May. But for me, it's not really real until there's a small gathering at Webs of fans and friends and family and a sample knitter or two (they usually fall into the friend category as well!). And THIS is that week!

Here's the schedule of where you can find me in person over the next two weeks -

Thursday June 9th, 6:30pm - The official first event, a book signing at Webs in Northampton with samples to see, question and answer time, and me talking about the book.

Sunday June 12, 1pm - Book signing at the R&M Booth at TNNA in Columbus, Ohio. I will be bringing along some samples for this even as well!

Thursday June 16, 6pm - a book signing at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York. If you've never been to this shop and live in the city, you really should get here!

And here's the blog tour schedule -

June 14 - Books, Yarn, Ink and Other Pursuits with librarian Kristi - and who knows books better than a librarian, really?
June 15 - OMG! Heart with Alice, who survived 2-at-a-Time class with me - and STILL wanted to be part of this tour.
June 16 - Jessalu Knits with the talented Jessalu - I love those bags!
June 17 - Rock and Purl with the energetic and ebullient Ruth Garcia-Alcantud.
June 20 - Webs Yarn Store with... you know, I am not sure who is going to be doing this entry. I hope it's someone who loves me. ;)
June 21 - Yarncraft Podcast with the delightful Zontee of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
June 22 - Knit-a-While with the charming Ida
June 23 - Lorna's Laces with the talented Beth Casey who controls all of Gene's favorite sock yarn (Shepherd Socks, color: camouflage).
June 24 - i made it so with cross crafting wiz Ana
June 27 - The Woolie Ewe with Jenn, my buddy from Texas who knows just where to find the gluten free food.
June 28 - ShibaGuyz with the lovable Shannon and Jason
June 29 - Nelkin Design with Laura Nelkin who designs the most delightful, lovely knitted things from shawls to jewelry.
June 30 - Getting Stitched on the Farm with the brilliant and undeniably gifted Kristin Nicholas
July 1 - Go Knit in Your Hat with Carol "My Favorite Stalker".
July 2 - Sunset Cat with Stefanni, who is not only a talented technical editor, but also has the loveliest Tonkinese cats!

This is summertime. I live on a small farm. I have chickens of varying sizes (and types) coming out of my ears right about now, and a garden just beginning to really require my attention on a regular basis. For the next two weeks my time and attention will be significantly divided between home and work, farm life and yarn life, barn chores and trade shows/book signings, a run-down 4-Runner and airplanes.

To keep my head on a little tighter and make sure everything get done here at home, we are sticking with a blog tour to celebrate Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. There are 15 stops on the blog tour, and each will offer up their own unique perspective on the new book. Some will be doing reviews, some interviews, and some a combination of both. A few are even knitting up projects from the book to give you an idea of the content. Pretty cool! Most blogs or podcasts will be giving away a signed copy of the book as well (YAY! Free stuff!). So stay tuned, jump on board the Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting Magic Tour Bus, and learn more about the book and about me!

She Cleans Up Well Enough

2011-05-31T18:35:00.000-04:00

Although this seems like not-a-big-deal, I was very excited last week to order and receive a brand new fridge.

Isn't it shiny?! I am pretty low maintenance about appliances, in part because I tend to focus on energy efficiency which usually means fewer bells and whistles. I had said that we would not get a new fridge until we could afford to get a Sun Frost, a $3500 investment. And not likely to happen soon. But when we were confronted with 30+ eggs a day, and no room for the iced tea, let alone the vegetables we chow down in large quantity, something had to give. My plan was to buy a small used fridge for the garage for eggs. Well, plans are subject to change. The old fridge - not very old really, although it was here when we moved in it appeared fairly new - was very loud and had a bad habit involving dripping and the perpetual need for a bowl in the back to catch run-off from the freezer. Anyway, while on my new-used garage fridge quest I called Gene and explained that all the used fridges I could find were old enough to suck about ten times the energy of our current fridge. I told him how much new fridges cost, and we decided to change the plan. Buy new for the house, and move our old one to the garage for eggs. This pleased him well enough - the constant running and noise of the old one bugged him more than it did me. Well, the plan has now changed again! In my excitement to pick our a large shiny new metal thing for my kitchen, I failed to realize that I was procuring a fridge that was 2 cubic feet larger than ours. With just the two of us at home, our fridge use has declined. Upon moving this lovely new baby in we made a wonderful discovery. We can fit about 18 dozen eggs on the lower shelf. This means, for the time being anyway, there is no need to plug in the old one, now living in the garage! This makes my tree-hugging, energy-sipping soul SO happy! AND, after some research, it turns out that this new Energy Star rated fridge, even though it's bigger, will use about 40% LESS ENERGY than the old one did!
Over this holiday weekend we got to visit the farm where our beef comes from.Wheel View Farm hosted an open house and sale - which means we also probably came home with some beef.

This farm is so beautiful, I could sit all day and look out over their pastures, watching my future food on the hoof. We are so lucky to live in this valley.
After we visited Wheel View, we drove home through Leyden to avoid holiday traffic on route 2 (the "Mohawk Trail")and circumvent the Gas Engine Show in Bernardston. This show is an annual event that I used to take my kids to when they were small (and so was the show). It's a combination flea market and antique engine show. Living where we do now it is something we tend to avoid. For those who attend, I hope you have a wonderful time. it is a lot of fun to see the old engines, and prowl the flea market sales. I just prefer to stay clear of the traffic and chaos for those two days. FedEx delivered a package up here on Saturday morning and warned us not to go that way if we wanted to leave home. Seems he could not get off of route 91 for quite some time as traffic was backed up for a few miles leading to the Bernardston exit.
Last night we were carrying in the dishes from our little two person holiday picnic and the most horrible thing happened! I dropped my official wine cup!

Watching it fall was the saddest thing ever. I was carrying a huge pile of dishes, much to high for safety. Everything started to tip and Gene grabbed, and down it all came anyway, in spite of our best efforts. I have begged Malea to make me a new set. There is hope!
On Saturday I will attend the wedding of Meg's closest friend Maria. I decided that maybe a dress was in order. I have some, but none really appropriate for a June wedding. With this in mind I headed off and found two possibilities... this is dress #1:

And this is dress #3:

I don't need to show you #'s 2, 4 and 5, because I decided against them all pretty quickly. It took me a LONG time to choose between these two. I wandered around the store clutching them in my hot little hands, wondering if I could get away with buying 2 dresses when I never wear them after the event I buy them for. That is a thing which drives Gene crazy. I have tried to explain this bad habit to him, but I don't get very far. He has pants. He wears his pants over and over and over until they fall apart. Dress shirts; over and over. Ties, the same. But I digress. We were talking about ME! Although my hair needs to be spiffed up a bit, and a pedicure would not be amiss (thankfully you can't see that in the pictures) I think I clean up well enough. Guess which dress I bought? I'll tell you after the wedding! The important part is that for a few events in the next few months I will not look like a train wreck heading straight for "What Not to Wear"!
Stay tuned - in the second week of June we will begin the great 2011 Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting Blog Tour. We have a great line-up of hosts for this online event, and each stop along the way has been given a book to give away to luck readers! Some hosts are doing interviews, some reviews, and some a combination of both. Judging by the interviews I have done so far, this is shaping up to be a lot of fun, and informative as well.
Also, I just recently learned that I will be at TNNA's summer show in Columbus, Ohio signing books on Sunday June 12 at 2pm in the R&M booth. Come and find me and say hello! I will have samples from the book along for the ride as well. I'd love to see you!
AND, if you are in New York on June 16 at 6pm, I will be at Lion Brand Yarn Studio talking about the book. I'll have samples there as well, and will sign books and answer questions! If you'd like to attend, please RSVP to Lion Brand Yarn Studio at the link above.
But before that - the official kick-off signing and Q&A for Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting will be at Webs in Northampton, Massachusetts on June 9th at 6:30pm. Please register with Webs with the link above - we wouldn't want to run out of champagne ;) This event at Webs is probably the only one where I will have all of the garments and samples from the book along with me. You'd be amazed at how much space 16 projects, each knit in 2 yarns, plus swatches can take up in your luggage!
More soon - even some knitting!

Well, look who's here!

2011-05-27T07:56:00.000-04:00

We had a visitor this week; Kimberly Nicdao Reynolds, the Director of Social Media at XRX. She came just in time to try to save Yoshi from certain death over a skein of Artyarns he destroyed.

You can read more about his BADNESS on his blog. It was fun to sit down and talk with Kimberly. She even got to hold and kiss chickens! Most importantly? She DID save Yoshi!

After we said goodbye to Kimberly, I headed south to record an episode of Ready Set Knit with Kathy and Steve Elkins of Webs. The podcast will air on the radio on Saturday (tomorrow) morning on WHMP and then will be available for download as a podcast. I love doing radio shows with Kathy and Steve. It's a lot of fun. Give a listen!

Random Me

2011-05-23T07:51:00.003-04:00

And now - just for fun - my answers to the daily questions:

What is your favorite circular knitting method and why?
Any involving a circular needle. Honestly, any. I often have a hard time choosing favorites of anything and knitting is no exception.

What is your dream car?
OK, up until I started learning more and more and more about energy and the environment I would have said, likely without pausing for breath or thought, a 1967 Ford Mustang convertible, candy apple red. But now I would have to say... the same car, only electric, and only if I have panels powering it up!

What was your best vacation or mini-break destination ever?
Probably our first trip to Disney, when we did the legal thing (we got married) and watched the kids youthen before our eyes. It was amazing and I cherish every minute, from the endless rain to the absent film to the seagull pooping on my mother in Tomorrowland. I would not change a thing.

How many years have you been knitting?
Eleven. I started knitting in 2000 or so as a way to use up the insane amount of yarn my daughter and I were spinning. Now I don't have time to spin!

Dogs or cats? Neither? Both? Something totally unique? What is your favorite pet?
Dogs! I love my chickens, but I don't think of them as pets. Well, maybe there are a couple out there that might make me sad if something bad happened to them, but when it comes to real pets it's always a dog!

Are you craft-monogamous or do you cross-craft? Just knit? Spin? Sew? Paint? Or collect bottle caps to recycle into sweet, hip belts? Share!
HAH! Monogamy? Me? That's like commitment, right? Not really my strong suit. As I tell Mr. W., I can only be committed to one thing. I've chosen him, which means everything else is negotiable. Hobby, lifestyle, job, wardrobe, ALL subject to change! I can, have and occasionally do: sew, crochet, spin, weave, paper mache, macrame, stencil, do crazy things to walls (although not yet in this house), stitch, glue, cut, shape, form, string. You name it, I will do it. I am not nearly as avid as I once was with things beyond knitting, but it is al still in there waiting to pop out!

Do you parallel park or do you drive around the block until a pull-in space opens up?
Parallel, baby, all the way! I got nailed with "parallel park on Main Street in heavy traffic" for my driver's test, and I passed and never looked back. Nothing like a big, high-pressure WIN to boost that confidence level. My favorite thing is to parallel park the truck, bonus if there are men nearby watching and shaking their heads. ;)

What was the first knitted project you created, start to finish?
This may be ironic, but the first thing I ever created from start to finish, cast-on to bind-off, was a sweater for Megan that was knit out of her handspun which was in about 3 different gauges. I weighed all the yarn, calculated yardage, and started knitting. Bulky rib cuffs and bottom band at about 3 sts/inch, then the body at about 5 sts/inch with her most recent (she had a whole pound of Louet roving and spun it all) and then the yoke at about 4 sts/inch. It was a FANTASTIC way to learn. I did it all with a simple pattern in a spinning book we had. I've forgotten which one. But it was a design your yoked pullover thing. Never occurred to me that most people were not out there doing this with three different gauges of handspun; I just did it, no questions.

What is your best yarn memory?
Probably that Louet sweater. Watching Megan spin the yarn herself and watching her learn as she went, watching the yarn become more and more consistent and seeing her joy at her own accomplishment was wonderful.

When you feel a little splurgy or a little down, what do you treat yourself to to perk up?
CHOCOLATE! 71% or better, preferably single-origin organic. (Favorites include Theo, Kallari (the blue one), Taza, and - although it's not organic - Michel Cluizel Grand Noir 85%, in case you ever need to know!). Chocolate beats a good single malt here, but just by a hair!

Name one thing you would never, ever leave home without.
Clothing!

What was your first love?
The first thing I remember feeling love for is my father. My guess is that you get what you give. He gave it, unconditionally, so I gave it right back. (Hi Dad! You can go get a tissue. No one is looking.)

Toilet paper: scrunch or fold?
Wrap and fold neatly, often with a square count of not more than 3. My grandfather said 2, but I think that's skimping a bit.

When the civil defense siren goes off, what's the first thought that goes through your mind?
Is it test time already? Wait. It IS test time, right? I am surprised by how many of you don't ever hear a CD siren. It may be that since I am downwind of a nuke plant we get them more, but they are a part of my life since childhood!

When you clean your fingernails, do you clean from pinky to thumb, or thumb to pinky?
Thumb to pinky on the left hand, pinky to thumb on the right.

Who won?

2011-05-23T07:50:00.000-04:00

First, while I have your rapt attention, I would like to say thank you so, so much to all of the folks who participated in this amazing blog giveaway by donating yarn and bags and books. I'll list them in order here from day one to the wrap-up so I don't miss anyone:

Wiley (and really, we have a LOT to thank them for - without them there would be no book!)
Lexie Barnes
Webs
Foxfire FIber and Design
Jessalu
Lion Brand Yarn
Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Buffalo Gold
Spirit Trail Fiberworks
Lorna's Laces
Kangaroo Dyer

If it were not for their generosity and support, things like blog giveaways and projects in books wouldn't happen! Thank you all so very much!

Next, our winners! Winners, please email me (melissaknits@yahoo.com) if you see your comment below with your mailing address. I will do my best to find you, but it will take longer (it's Monday, there's chores to be done) than if you just shoot me an email with your name and address and day of your win. Please read the comment carefully and make sure it's you before responding!

day 1: jillian.vantuyle said...
I never thought I would be a sock knitter. It seemed so tedious with all the needles and having to do it all over again when 1 was done. 2 at a time is amazong. I love making socks now! And today, what a great day to discover your blog.
(I love that a lot of these answers were 2-at-a-Time related. I wanted to give anyone who mentioned 2-at-a-Time a prize!!)

day 2: Lemmesb said...
Black BMW with a candy apple tint. Hard top convertible. All leather seats Bose sound system. It must have a large enough trunk to fit my spinning wheel!

day 3: esae on Ravelry said...
I combined this with a work assignment - Hershey Hotel spa - sipping cocoa & watching the sun set while waiting for a massage
(I'll have what she's having, thanks.)

day 4: Rebecca said...
3 years - I had a much longer, nicer answer, but blogger ate it ;-)
(yeah, that blogger... it ate a LOT of things that week!)

day 5: Megan said...
I am a cat person....I appreciate their independence, especially when I need to be away from home. I did grow up with dogs in the house though, so I suppose some day I may become a cat and dog person. Thanks for the opportunity to win!

day 6: Julie said...
Right now, knitting is my only craft, but spinning may be in my future...

day 7: Steph said...
I parallel park. Really learned when I did an internship at the Bronx Zoo & living nearby.

day 8: ME215 said...
The first project I remember was a baby blanket. Yes......it was so long ago..... ;-)

day 9:Terri D. said...
my favorite yarn memory? dreaming of a skein of wool the color of saturated seaweed, and having an enabler...er...friend provide a source for the yarn of my dreams the very next day.

day 10:Michelle said...
There is a local business called Honest Chocolates that has the most divine handmade goodies. My luxury treat is to stop in and buy myself $5 worth (about five pieces) and eat them all myself! Their Mac Mochas are my favorite....

day 11:Angela said...
My knitting bag. I've been stuck so many times sitting somewhere with nothing to do. I have a small bag with 2 at a time socks all the time that I can work on - even in a long drive thru line!
(May I say here - I have great respect for the random number generator now! It has excellent taste in winners!)

day 12: Ruby said...
I loved traveling the world. I could go anywhere and see everything by reading books. It was so much fun. I spent special time in the mornings with my dad and drank coffee (mine was more milk than coffee), read comics and 'Aunt Annie' (Ann Landers). I had a real Aunt Annie and I was so glad to meet her and tell her I loved reading her column. Was I ever disappointed to find out the two were not the same.

All of this...which really just turned me into an avid reader. But the worlds you could live in and explore and see through books. It was awesome. It opened up so much for me.

During the summers I could hardly wait to get home from the cotton fields where we had been hoeing cotton all day to a book. During school time, it was all about staying up late at night to read. During road trips, I forgot about seeing the real world outside as we passed it by, because I had books to read.

So my first love.....The joy of reading and being a part of so many different worlds involved in so many different lives.

day 13: Katherine said...
Scrunch scrunch scrunch

day 14, winners 1-5:
1: Gina said... In my town, the sirens get tested at 11 a.m. the first Wednesday of the month. And apparently, they went off yesterday for a near-by tornado... but I didn't hear them, and no one from the library came into our guild meeting to warn us!
I think that I would be thinking about what to take to the basement with me to work on, and whether or not our storm kit is stocked...

As for the other, I start with the one that prompted the cleaning, working toward the thumb, then get which ever ones are left, starting with the pinky. Then the other hand, starting with the pinky

2: Kira said...
We don't have a civil defense siren that I know of, so I guess if I heard it my first thought would be, "what the heck was THAT?".

I actually don't clean my nails, I just keep them cut really short. I guess I cut them thumb to pinky.

Thanks for the fun contests!
(You are very welcome, Kira!)

3: Bgstoner said...
Civil Defense Siren- I figure they are just testing them again.
As for my nails thumb to pinky.

4: IndigoMuse said...
Even though I spent my childhood in Hampton Roads (the land of military bases), I've never heard a civil defense siren. And we don't have them in mountains of VA. I now wonder why...

And as far as the nail cleaning, I start with the pinky to thumb on one hand and continue across thumb to pinky on the other.

5: Pamela said...
Civil Defense Siren - "It must be Saturday - noon." Which is when it was checked in a small town I visited often. I never heard it any other time.

Thumb to pinky.

I am really enjoying browsing Circ. Knitting.

This concludes the blog giveaway promoting my new book, Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

To learn more about the book, or about me, stay tuned! If you didn't win, you can get your own copy by clicking here, or by visiting your local yarn or book store. Next month we are having a blog tour - you can read more about it here very soon when I post a schedule. Lots of things planned - some free books, and a mix of reviews, interviews, and podcasts all to celebrate this great new baby of mine, a book I hope becomes a classic in every knitting home across the land!

Thanks to everyone for playing along, and congratulations to our lucky winners!

A Finale of Grand Proportion - Day 14

2011-05-22T06:43:00.003-04:00

My favorite part of the 4th of July or a visit to Disney World is always the end of the fireworks show, when they throw a bunch of stuff up all at once and fill the night with light and noise and chaos. So that's what I am going to do today - throw this all at you, one right after the other, boom, boom, boom. I will choose five - count them - FIVE lucky winners from today's post. Five lucky random people will receive one of the following:

From my personal stash

A skein of delicious Ball and Skein 50% Merino 50% Tencel in the color Arbori, along with a sock pattern of my own design and choosing (I haven't chosen yet. But I will.)

One skein of Sanguine Gryphon 100% superwash merino Little Traveller Tintagel along with a sock pattern of my own design and choosing (still haven't chosen yet. But I will.)

One ball of Trekking Pro Natura 75% new wool 25% bamboo in a color that has no awesome name, but is a lovely indigo with the shine that only bamboo can create along with (is this getting repetitive yet?) a sock pattern of my own design and choosing (which I STILL haven't chosen yet. But I will.)

And for the final explosion in our finale we have some beautiful yarns generously donated by Gail Callahan, the Kangaroo Dyer:

One skein of Kangaroo Dyer 80% BFL 20% nylon, Zinnia, which really does remind me of zinnias!

One skein of Kangaroo Dyer 50% superwash merino 50% silk Golden Flower accompanied by a copy of the talented Kirsten Hipsky's Carcosa Design "A Clockwork Daisy"

To enter to win one of these awesome prizes, just answer today's question in the comments below and I will choose five lucky winners. Today's question? Well, there's TWO of them. You can answer both, or just one. I challenge you to be brave and answer both. Ready?
When the civil defense siren goes off, what's the first thought that goes through your mind?
and
When you clean your fingernails, do you clean from pinky to thumb, or thumb to pinky?

Don't forget to return here tomorrow for the list of winners! Thank you all for playing, and thanks most to our generous contributors:
Wiley Publishing
Lexie Barnes
Webs
Foxfire FIber and Design
Jessalu
Lion Brand Yarn
Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Buffalo Gold
Spirit Trail Fiberworks
Lorna's Laces
Kangaroo Dyer

Who Does Not Love Knitting for Baby? Day 13

2011-05-21T07:00:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite projects in this book, and easily the most adorable in my opinion, is an infant set comprised of a sweater, hat and bootie socks. One set is knit in Valley Yarns Superwash DK. The other is knit in Lorna's Laces Honor.

And may I say, it was an honor (had to go there!) to knit with this beautiful yarn, 70% Alpaca and 30% silk. It is so soft, and has a lovely halo that forms on the surface.

It's huggable, squishable, pettable and therefore perfect on a baby! (The baby here is around 40 years old. Her name is Jennifer. She is missing all of her eyelashes, and her skin has odd dirty and manky spots, but she is very quiet and I love her very much.)
Today's prize, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Lorna's Laces, is enough Honor to knit a baby set of your own for a deserving infant along with a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. This pattern is not entirely worked in the round. The point of this project is to keep high in the knitter's mind the idea that a project, any project, can be worked on circular needles even if the project is knit "back and forth". I love that circular needles mean no lost needles. How can you lose one when they are attached to each other, like a mitten string on a kindergartner? I always loved my mitten string. I was notorious for losing bits and pieces. I still am! Circular needles mean no setting one down in the car and having it roll between the seats into oblivion. Two needles, joined by a cable, means never having to say "goodbye". Unless Mel is around and he eats one.

Random (really, really random!) question for today - Toilet paper: scrunch or fold?

Yes, I Said Cut the Knitting! Day 12

2011-05-20T07:00:00.007-04:00

In case you didn't believe me yesterday, I have MORE stuff for you to cut into! Same shawl, same pattern, same page (198), new yarn!

Today's contribution is from the amazing and very generous Jennifer Tepper Heverly of Spirit Trail Fiberworks. There are two skeins of her luxurious Penelope, a blend of 50% bombyx silk and 50% merino. Did I mention luxurious? Yum! Love this yarn and love Jen's way with color - saturated, rich, deep jewel tones that make my eyes say "ahhh!" Love it. And you can win some of your very own, along with a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting, if you answer the question below and are the lucky winner when we draw names!
Today's question - What was your first love? (Think about it!)

Cut Up My Knitting? Is She Crazy? Day 11

2011-05-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

Yes, I am. But that's not the point. I am not crazy about this! Yes, cut into it. Get a pair of scissors and show that knitting who's boss!
Steeking has been used by knitters for many, many years as a way to knit something entirely in the round and then open it up to add sleeves, front bands, or collars. But most of us may not feel so safe whacking into, say, a painstakingly constructed Fair Isle cardigan, right? So in Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting I start you off easy. First swatch. Then shawl. Then cardigan (not Fair Isle, but a cozy drop shoulder thing with richly deep ribbing, but that's another project!). Today's giveaway is a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting and enough yarn to knit a very generously sized shawl in Valley Yarns Goshen, kindly provided by Webs.

This shawl is found on page 198, and is knit in the round and then cut to make a self-fringe. You know those evenings when it's a bit too warm for a jacket, but a bit too cool for bare shoulders? This is the perfect project!
Now for the "how to win part" - answer this question in the comment section below to be eligible to win. Name the one thing you would never, ever leave home without!

How to Make the Most of Luxury Buys - Day 10

2011-05-18T07:00:00.013-04:00

I think we all love the really amazing stuff like qiviut, bison, cashmere... but not all of us can afford sweater quantities of these amazing and luxurious fibers. Maybe we can spring for a skein, or two, or even three depending on the yarn and the budget. But then what to knit with it? Recently there's been a move toward cowls as a perfect accessory, and it's a move I strongly support. Cowls are extremely flexible. They can be as deep or as shallow as you want. Make a super deep cowl, and it can be pulled up over your head, snood-like, to protect you from the cold.

A smaller, more shallow one is a perfect neck warmer and a cute accessory to boot. I work outside a lot and chickens have a way of getting a hold of things like scarves. But a cowl I can pop on and be toasty warm and the knitting is safe! It was an easy choice to add a cowl pattern to this book since they are also one of the many perfect circular projects. I chose to knit three as samples, all can be found on page 124 of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting - the first is very simple, knit in stockinette stitch in Valley Yarns Northfield which is a really nice yarn, a blend of merino, alpaca and silk - YUM! The second is knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Geisha, made of kid mohair, silk and a tiny bit of nylon. Geisha is a fantastic yarn for lacy, open things and the cowl I designed is a reflection of that, with a feather and fan pattern knit in a loose gauge. The last cowl is knit in Buffalo Gold Moon. I adore this yarn. Actually there is not much that Ron hands me when I am near his yarn that I don't adore. But I really love Moon, especially for this project. It is luxurious, warm, and shows the cabled stitch pattern to perfection. It has this lovely sheen that conveys amazing richness. Love it.

And you, winner, will as well, when two skeins of Moon and a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting arrive and you're able to knit up a cowl of your very own!
Today's question - What is your little luxury treat? It can be yarn, or not. When you feel a little splurgy, or a little down, what do you treat yourself to to perk up? Answer below to be entered to win this rare treat of a yarn!

Got Kids? - Day 9

2011-05-17T07:00:00.003-04:00

Today's prize is another very generous one! A copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting and Blue Moon Fiber Arts has given enough of their Socks That Rock Heavyweight to make the child's sweater found on page 176; a simple drop-shoulder pullover perfect for raking leaves, or playing in them.

This book encompasses so many different types of projects. From hats to steeks, we have it all. Each pattern really builds on the previous one in terms of skill level. You could begin at the beginning and knit to the end, and find yourself in possession of just about all the skills you'd ever need as a knitter. You would also have a pretty good sized pile of finished projects! When I design things like this I think about kids I know, what they wear, and what they will wear. A simple sweater with maybe a single stripe knit in favorite colors is often a great bet for a kid. Classic, wearable, comfortable; like a cozy sweatshirt with mom or grandma or auntie's good karma knit in. Perfect!
To win today's prize answer this question in the comment section below - What is your best yarn memory? Now think about that for a minute, and let me hear your memories below!

Feet Love Cashmere - Day 8

2011-05-16T07:00:00.004-04:00

More socks? Of course, more socks! Who's book/blog is this, anyway? What else would you expect? Today's yarn is Lion Brand Superwash Merino Cashmere, and there is enough here to knit the socks found on page 157 for most adults. The pattern makes it possible for you to knit socks for about everyone in the family, with a range of sizes (5.5 - 10 inches) and gauges (5 - 9 stitches per inch). It's a plug and play sort of pattern, or as Wiley calls them, a master pattern. The basic information is presented and you just find the numbers for your desired size and gauge, and knit away! Lion has surprised me of late with their entrance into the world of luxury, exotic and organic fibers.

This yarn is classic-worthy; a superwash merino, with nylon for stability and longevity, and just enough cashmere to make your fingers (and toes) say "Ooo...soft!" Today's lucky winner will receive three balls of this yarn in the color slate, along with a signed copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting! Lucky winner!
Maybe a knitting question today... What was the first knitted project you created, start to finish? Remember to leave a comment below answering the question of the day in order to win today's prize!

Bag Crazy! - Day 7

2011-05-15T07:00:00.003-04:00

Today is a whopper, really. Someone is going to get seriously lucky here! Today's prize, in addition to a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting we have a Lexie Barnes Lady B, the very same one-of-a-kind fabric that can be found on page 24. This is the very bag that was used in that very photo shoot.

I love the Lady B. The size is perfect, and it holds a ton. There's lots of inside pockets and such for needles, scissors, notions and an outside pocket to store your pattern. Check out "more views" on the LB website to see just how much storage there is in this bag. Love it!
The question for today - and remember you have to answer the question in the comments below to be entered to win - Do you parallel park, or do you drive around the block until a pull-in space opens up? Good Luck!!

Warm Hands, Warm Heart- Day 6

2011-05-14T07:00:00.003-04:00

The truth about working for me as a sample or test knitter is that sometimes I can hand you something scrawled on a napkin in orange crayon, and expect you to get back to me with a finished project in a week. The mittens on page 146 are an example of this rather haphazard method of tormenting these innocent volunteers. Case in point, to Katy I said "Hey, could you put a cable on there, I don't care what I trust you, just tell me what you did." She created the beautiful cabled mittens knit in Barb Parry's Upland Wool Alpaca. To me, my intrepid and longsuffering technical editor Tamara said "We need examples of these mittens in different gauges.", and I found myself knitting a pair in Valley Yarns Northampton Bulky, and a second pair in Valley Yarns Superwash DK. In three-round stripes of four colors. Kristen is one of my favorite people to throw things at. First, she throws them back. It wasn't until, I think, this project that the others found out that if Kristen decided she did not like her project she gave it back. I remember everyone slightly aghast saying "Wait. You can give them BACK? And she LETS you?". Yes, for Kristen, I will take it back. First, we appear to be (if distantly) related. Second, she's about a foot taller than me. Really, who is going to argue with someone who could step on them without much effort? I handed her Valley Yarns Berkshire and a pattern with holes in it, and said "Make mittens". They were her first. She triumphed over them, and did so beautifully!

Now you can too, thanks to the generous contribution of Webs - one skein of Berkshire will accompany your copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting, should you be declared today's winner! Oh, and the holes in the pattern? They're gone now, so you know! Just answer this question in the comments below to be entered to win! Are you craft-monogamous or do you cross-craft? Just knit? Spin? Sew? Paint? Or collect bottle caps to recycle into sweet, hip belts? Share!

Did You Say Bag? - Day 5

2011-05-13T07:00:00.009-04:00

I have a well documented love of, one might even say lust for, bags. Any size (except super big - I am only 5' tall after all!), any shape, if it is cool, cute, adorable, practical I am all over it. So when Kim "Somebunnyslove" Reynolds told me I needed a JessaLu bag, and then told the folks at JessaLu that I needed a JessaLu bag, who was I to argue? Besides, she was so right. We met up at Rhinebeck and I met my bag. Mine has chickens on it - and you can see it on page 57 of your copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. I love that bag. Not just for the chickens, not just because it was a gift, but because it is super practical and useful and makes a handy project bag both inside a bigger bag, and out of it. Sling the thing over our wrist and it's a project bag you can even knit and walk with! This is a durable, well-constructed little bag - and I would know; remember I come to yarn from other paths, notably a strong sewing background. Check it out:

Adorable box shape!

Cunning coordinating fabric inside! Fully lined!

And I personally am smitten with the honey bee zipper pull.
Now, as a result of some faux pas, no doubt my own, the information for how to GET these bags was inadvertently left out of the resources list (page 240), so if you want a bag of your own and fail to win the gift certificate that JessaLu has so generously provided for a bag of your own - and trust my, you need one - they can be found on Artfire, and on Etsy. And as a favor to me, write "Melissa is sorry" somewhere on your order!
Question for today - Dogs or cats? Neither? Both? Something totally unique? What is your favorite pet? Remember answer the question in the comments below to be entered to win!

You Need a Hat! - Day 4

2011-05-12T07:00:00.004-04:00

Today we have a very special yarn to give away along with a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. I am blessed to live where I do, smack in the middle of a region overflowing with good and better things. Barb Parry's Upland Wool Alpaca from Foxfire Fiber and Design is one of those things! Barb is a natural choice for me on so many fronts. She is an amazing woman and a tremendous survivor. She's a loving and gentle shepherd to her flocks in Shelburne Falls. She makes and dyes amazing yarns. Her yarns come into play in the book on three occasions. Hats, mittens in Upland Wool Alpaca and a lovely pullover knit in her Cormo Silk Alpaca.
Upland Wool Alpaca is a single ply yarn dyed in an amazing palate by Barb herself. I love this yarn, the heathery subtlety of the dye, the soft halo of the Alpaca that sings out on the surface of a finished project. It was a no-brainer really.

Hey, lucky winner, you get TWO skeins of this amazing yarn! If you have a smallish head and hands you could possibly get a hat (pg. 133) and mittens (pg. 146) out of the deal - not too shabby!
The question for today - remember, post your answer in the comments below to be entered - how many licks does it take to get to the center of a.... ok, maybe not. How many years have you been knitting?

More Free Stuff, Day 3!

2011-05-11T07:30:00.003-04:00

When you are just learning a technique a small project often seems like a better idea than a big one. Sometimes you just want to DO a thing, learn a skill and move on. If you end up with something useful, even better. Today's project is "just such-a-one", as the old timers might say. In chapter 4, after you have experimented with the techniques used in circular knitting presented in chapter 2, and read a bit about potential problems in chapter 3, you can cast on and knit your first circular project. Perhaps a pair of fingerless mitts or an ear warmer, or a set of potholders knit in Lion LB Collection Organic Wool! I like potholder projects. I know some people make faces when you say the word - but here is why you shouldn't: if you make a mistake on a learning project that serves such a useful and practical purpose, the blemishes that are inevitable won't bother you nearly as much as if you had turned to page 203 and started in on a steeked cardigan (yes, there is one!). The potholder is a "safe" way to practice a new skill with minimal commitment and a useful outcome!

Start small if this is your first foray into circular knitting. Make yourself a potholder. Make a stack and give them as a housewarming or shower gift with some nice kitchen stuff from someone's registry. It's win-win, really.
Did I mention it is ORGANIC? And it is dyed in six richly saturated colors with low-impact dyes. They also have two organic cottons as well. Kudos to Lion Brand!
Ok, now, remember to post your answer to the question below to be entered to win four generous skeins of Lion Brand LB Collection Organic Wool and a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!
The question for today - what was your best weekender, vacation, break, or mini-break ever?

Giving it All Away, Day 2!

2011-05-10T09:00:00.003-04:00

Who loves socks? I love socks, of course! Who doesn't? (Don't answer. This here is sock territory, this is!)

There is no way that I could do a third book and not include socks. But it needed to be straightforward socks, maybe blank canvas socks for you to put your own design ideas into. In Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting there is a great adjustable pattern for making basic top-down socks in a variety of gauges and sizes. Start with a swatch and a size and build your own design, or keep it simple and work them in rib or stockinette.

One of my all-time favorite sock yarns is Valley Yarns Franklin, hand dyed by Gail Callahan, the Kangaroo Dyer.

If you haven't yet sampled some of Gail's work, you should - and here's your chance. If you're the lucky winner, knit up a pair, get a little creative with them, and come back here and tell me about it! Franklin is a durable, go-to yarn perfect for making socks for everyday wear. In fact, about half of my sock wardrobe is made in this yarn. 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, they go in and out of the washer and seem to last about forever. I have yet to wear through a pair! The yarn is available in 15 different hand dyed colors. Today's giveaway skein, a gift from Webs, is dyed in a colorway called Camo, which is a lovely sea of greens and blues and grays that puts me in mind of the Atlantic on a hazy gray day. I love it, and you, lucky winner, will as well when it arrives at your home with your signed, personalized copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

Today's question... yesterday's seemed a bit easy. Let's try something off topic, but still simple, ready? What is your dream car. Really. I mean it. I said they might not all be knitting questions. What, if you could have any car, would it be? Leave your answer in the comments below to be entered for today's drawing, and good luck!

Let the Celebration Begin!

2011-05-09T07:40:00.003-04:00

I made another BOOK! It's time to celebrate the birth of my newest baby, Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

For the next ten days, maybe more, I am going to be giving away STUFF here on the blog. In order to WIN STUFF here's what you will need to do. I will talk a bit about each day's prize; maybe I will explain how I came up with a certain design or how I chose a yarn or why I adore someone's stuff; that kind of thing. At the end of each day's blog post, there will be a question. It may be something about knitting or it may be totally random. Post your answer as a comment on the post. When I run out of stuff to give away, I will randomly draw names to be winners from each day's blog post. Then I will mail the stuff off to lucky new homes. Remember - if you leave a comment today you are entered for today's drawing only. In order to win another day's prize you'll need to comment again on that day as well. We will draw winners from the comments on each day's post randomly when I run out of stuff. Get it? Got it? Good!

Kicking things off with a bit of a bang, today's giveaway is a Lexie Barnes Coco in a one-of-a-kind fabric! I love Lexie's stuff in general, and have a considerable collection of it hanging around my house. I could make a long list, from the Pixie backpack that accompanies me on my bike to Farmer's Market and often appears with me on trips as carry-on and teaching material bag to my McCoy overnight bag, or my Lady B the classic pattern pink parfait or my Darling diaper bag (diapers, hell. It's full of YARN!!) in the beloved makiko print. And no, the MMO personal Lexie Barnes Collection does NOT end there.

This bag is the actual bag used in the photo shoot for TYV Circular Knitting, and will be accompanied by a copy of the book when it arrives at your door, lucky winner!

Coco is an excellent bag for storing your circular knitting needles. The outside of the bag is a durable, water resistant eco-laminated canvas. With convenient, clear, wipeable pockets and 8 extra pockets for bits and pieces, you can organize your needles in almost "at-a-glance" style. Many people make labels for each pocket to add an additional level of organization to the mix.

(My circs for the photo only and are not included in today's prize giveaway. Just the Coco.)

Now for today's question... hmmm... We will begin with a knitting question. What is your favorite circular knitting method and why? Answer this question in the comments below to be entered to win today's prize!

Really Depressing Post Preceding Giveaway

2011-05-04T15:59:00.001-04:00

***Please, after reading this post and before posting anything negative or angry, be very aware that there is nothing you can say to me that I have not already said myself, and please be also aware that this situation has been discussed among a group of very respected professionals who have all reached the same conclusion***

This has nothing to do with knitting. But next week there will be a LOT on here about knitting when I begin the VERY EXCITING blog give-away to celebrate the "birth" of Teach Yourself VISUALLY Circular Knitting. For today I am doing a bit of rather depressing baring of my soul. I haven't been able to come in here and chat about anything for a very long time comfortably, and I am hoping that by just saying all of this I can get unstuck here and in a few others areas as well. This post will also explain why I am not traveling further than 3-4 hours from home for the time being - I declined Sock Summit so I could stay closer to home. I was very, very sad about it, but did not want to end up needing to cancel classes at the last minute due to complications at home. And many more complications are pending.

I have been skirting around an issue here and on Facebook and anywhere else I "hang out" online. I occasionally come close to saying the truth and then I back off. My close friends know what's going on, but I haven't really been sure of how to handle or talk about what's going on in my life. There is a lot of stigma associated with that's happening here. I've thought about it a lot and I have come to a conclusion. It's not the things we speak that hurt us in the end, it is the things we do not speak that wound us. So I am going to speak about a topic that is painful and humiliating to some extent and certainly depressing. But it's important that I speak, for myself and for anyone else out there who is in my shoes. This doesn't make me brave. It doesn't make me smart. It makes me someone who's got a story they need to tell. There is a horse on my dining room table and I am tired of not talking about it publicly.

I am the adult child of a mentally ill parent. To the best of my knowledge my mother has struggled with varying degrees of mental illness since she was a small child under a variety of diagnoses. This means that for all of my life, as long as I can remember, as far back as I can think, my life has not been what one could call "normal". I shall spare you the details.

When your mother is "not well" (which is the kind way to say "seriously crazy-pants" or "nuts, really") you learn a different way of being. Some kids who grow up with an "unwell" parent grow up broken themselves. Others grow up well, and more or less normal, but maybe a bit resentful. This would be me. People who know me are aware of my sarcasm. Sarcasm is a defense mechanism. I developed a bit of an odd, some might say warped, sense of humor. You may have noted that above with the politically incorrect comments using words like "crazy-pants" and "nuts". But if anyone is allowed to use those words aside from a mentally ill individual themselves, its their kids.

For the past few months my mother has been experiencing an acceleration in mental health symptoms. The reasons are not of import. She has been medicated with antidepressants since the mid 1980's. She has had endless therapy. She has been in and out of a series of treatment centers, clinics, and hospitals as an outpatient and as an inpatient. She also has a host of medical conditions, ranging from diabetes to a couple of blocked arteries, congestive heart failure, a seizure disorder, high blood pressure, glaucoma, neuropathy... there's more, but I lose track. I have learned from listening and watching that when you are "just" mentally ill, there are days when it feels impossible to breathe. Nothing feels right, everything feels wrong. You don't fit in your own skin. Now imagine that in addition to feeling out of place in your own mind you have a host of complicated and uncomfortable medical conditions that require a host of medications, tests, injections, doctor visits and so on. That's where my mother is.

She has been seen and evaluated by a variety of individuals, from psychiatrists and social workers to medical doctors, nurses, her sisters, and the staff at the assisted living facility where she lives. She has been deemed "competent", which means she does not pose a direct threat to herself or others, and she is legally able to make her own decisions regarding her health care.

My mother has decided to stop taking all medications for her varying physical and mental conditions, including insulin. It is very likely, if she continues on this course, that her life will end fairly soon. Today is her 68th birthday. She has made a choice and we - her family, friends and care providers - have no alternative but to abide by her decision. It is not a decision I can relate to, but it is not my decision to make. I have done all that I can. Others have done all they can. The choice is hers, and she has made it.

When your parent is dying against their will of cancer or some other horrible disease, there's an understanding among us as people. We don't mind saying, out loud "My mother is on her 6th round of chemo and she's decided it's time to be done." We don't say that when a person is suffering mentally. I am not sure why we don't, why we can't say "My mother has been struggling with mental illness for more than 60 years and she has decided it is time to be done." Why do we insist a person keep trying if it's mental, but if it's physical we let them stop? I guess that's for medical ethicists to decide, and since I am not one, what do I know?

So if I ignore an email, or seem in a rush to get out of a classroom at the end of the day, or if I decline to appear or teach at your venue please understand that this is a very difficult time around here. This too shall pass - although I am afraid the outcome will not be a pleasant one. Please don't feel sorry for me, but understand why I may at times appear distracted, distressed, or unhappy.

Now, although this has been quite depressing, please bear with me. Next week will bring the joy of giving away a lot of yarn and books here on the blog. My life moves forward - modified certainly, (see my crying in my tea over the whole not making it to Portland in July thing? That's a modification made to accommodate the situation. But I still live on!) but forward.

And if there is anyone out there in a similar situation who feels very alone - you are not alone. Not by a long shot. Everyone's just too embarrassed to speak up. Lucky for you I have no such scruples! :)

***Edited to add - I have an amazing group of friends, a nearly perfect father, the best husband on earth, and a some really supportive colleagues. You know who you are.***

Baby Days!

2011-04-20T10:25:00.000-04:00

Chicks came yesterday. I love chick days! We already have some babies here - these are mutt chickens; mixed breed chicks from our own farm. We have given hatching eggs to a local elementary school for the last two years. This year the teacher set 2 dozen eggs in the incubator, turning them carefully every day until hatch day. Nineteen chicks hatched. They are a week old now, and very adorable. I have fun guessing which chick came from which parent.

They are used to being alone, a little flock by themselves. But, with 50 meat birds coming next week, and only 2 stock tanks available to house them in until they get bigger, they had to share their space. I like to keep the meat birds separate from the layers so that there is no confusion.

Chicks come through the mail in boxes, just like a book or a new pair of shoes, except that the chick boxes have holes and make a lot more noise. We order all of our chicks straight run, which means that we get a mix of boys and girls. Some hatcheries call this "as-hatched". You can assume you will get about 50% boys and 50% girls in an order. The girls, if they are layer chicks, grow up to lay eggs. The boys, well, they end up in my freezer mostly. We do keep a couple of roosters for breeding stock and for security. A good rooster can help to cut down on predator loss be alerting the hens to danger or by taking the hit himself when Mr. Coyote comes to call.

This year we ordered our laying birds from Meyer Hatchery. Normally all of our birds come from Sandhill Preservation, so this was a change for me. Meyer does not offer Express shipping, which I prefer - less time in transit means healthier chicks. When the post office posted tracking information was posted, it indicated that the chicks would not arrive until April 21, although they were received by the post office on the 18th. For me that's a bit too long, much too long, and I was VERY worried. Would any of the chicks even make it after four days in transit? Well, yesterday evening the phone rang and a worker from the local postal distribution center called to say that our chicks were here, and he would be delivering them to us. No one has ever delivered chicks before - usually I run to fetch them at 7AM from the local post office. Such service!

The box contained 52 live, healthy, peeping chicks, about twenty five on each side of a cardboard divider.

The chicks on the side are a mix of Welsumers, Ameraucanas and Silkies. Welsumers lay a rich, dark brown egg. Ameraucanas lay the blue and green eggs everyone loves. Silkies, well, they lay teeny itty bitty eggs that are a little silly, but the birds themselves are fluffy and sweet, make excellent mothers, and are prized by Asian cultures as a gourmet meat bird - we will see about that!

The chicks on the left are Buckeyes. Buckeyes are the only American breed developed solely by a woman, and the only pea-combed bird bred in the United States. They are currently listed as "threatened" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. When I ordered them they were "critical", so the good news is that I am not the only person interested in this dual purpose breed!
Ideally we will be able to hatch all of the birds we need in the future, both for meat and eggs, right here on the farm. I spend a lot of time sighing over a certain incubator. (Go look. Isn't it a thing of beauty? Thermostatic controls. Egg turner. SO lovely. A farmer can dream, can't she?) It is important to me that we produce as much of what we eat as possible right here on the farm. Although the chicks do well flying across the country, I'd prefer it if they didn't have to.

This is one of the Silkie chicks. Meg has a Silkie hen named Celia. Celia has been with us for a very long time. She is about 11 years old now, which is very old for a chicken. She is now the oldest hen in the yard. I decided it was time to order some new Silkie babies to take her place.

This little guy is fitting right in already! I love the silkies puffy heads and fluffy feet.

Here is everyone all together; the new kids and the slightly bigger kids. The adjustment went better than I expected.

I think the sheer numbers of new kids made such an impression on the bigger kids that they just sighed and adapted. Seventy baby chicks, all ready to begin their lives here at Ridge Brook Farm! I can't wait to see how they grow!

Sporadic? Nonexistent?

2011-04-11T09:50:00.000-04:00

That would probably define my blogging of late, right? Well, there is a reason. When things happening directly to and around me are personal and chaotic and are not things I can discuss publicly, I find it hard to come here and put on a happy face and talk about knitting or farming or much of anything really. It's easier for me to manage Yoshi's blog. He's a dog. Family drama and "situations" all go right over his fuzzy little head. Sometimes helping him with his blog reminds me very clearly that simple is good and small is important. For a while I can forget about the big, real-life human drama stuff. I like it.
Am I knitting? Of course! I am knitting around the drama and the chaos and the decisions I am making about how far from home I can go right now, balancing what I can and can't say yes to work and travel wise, I am always knitting, mostly for pleasure and sanity. So please bear with me during this time. I'm here, I'll be back. I may pop in randomly from time to time. I'll definitely be around in the middle of May to introduce my new baby book with lots of giveaways.
Thanks for understanding!

Sliding into Monday - Meet the New Lexie Barnes "Libby" Clutch

2011-04-04T10:36:00.003-04:00

Life here has been nutty, from last-minute book stuff to chickens to travel and teaching to designing and writing patterns and back again. Boxes of samples from the book came back and were finally organized into boxes this weekend. The new chicks - meat birds - are growing like weeds. I finally have a minute to sit down and talk about something that doesn't involve farming or authoring. And it's one of my favorite things - BAGS! And not just any bags. Lexie bags, for which I am a total sucker and huge fangirl.

I recently got to spend some up close and personal time with Lexie Barnes' new Libby in the color Raven (a color I adore both for it's iconic black birds and it's lovely shade of pink). Other print options include Fanfare (spring green with fan motif) and Fishnet (blue with - you guessed it - an all-over fishnet print). I am in love with this bag.

For those of you who may not know, Ms. Barnes is the mind behind Lexie Barnes bags, author of Sew What! Bags and the forthcoming Sew Up a Home Makeover (available August 2011), a gifted designer, businesswoman and entrepreneur, creator of Twist, an eclectic and off-beat but thoroughly awesome craft fair (words like "fresh" and "original" apply), and mother of a small herd of boys - nearly enough for her own sports team. But enough about her - let's get to the bag!

First, it is padded to protect the contents, be it a digital reader, your latest knitting project, or both. There is one roomy zippered pocket under the flap perfect for housing essentials in relative security; cords, cards, cash etc . There's an additional smaller pocket on the back which I will likely use for keys and phone or anything else I want to get at quickly, without diving into the main part of the bag. I love little perks like pockets! The size is perfect for a netbook or iPad as well.

The fabric is, according to the Lexie Barnes website, "water-resistant eco-laminated canvas". I am not sure what eco-laminated is (maybe I'll ask...) but for me it means that the outside of the bag is waterproof - I find this an invaluable trait during spring and fall when going out often means getting rained on. I LOVE the magnetic closure. It's enough security that the bag won't be flapping in the wind, but easy enough to access that you don't need a physics degree to get at your stuff. The bag can be carried under the arm or in the hand in true clutch fashion, but also boasts a removable wrist strap for hands-free carrying.

Yoshi approves, which is, of course, critical! I haven't had the heart to tell him it's not his.

Oh, and I did I ask Lexie about the "water-resistant eco-laminated canvas" situation and here's what she said:

"We've recently switched from regular PVC laminate to a newer, more eco-friendly one that is compliant with the CPSA and safer for our customers and the environment. It's a really big first step toward making our products greener, which is something we're very passionate about."

Works for my tree-hugging self! I suspect Libby will become my go-to bag for "travel light" days. It's also just about the perfect addition to my carry-on; my big bag can stow in an overhead of a train or plane and Libby can come along on my lap with knitting and anything I need to occupy myself during the flight/ride.

Other bags of note in the Lexie Barnes collection include the Lady B - perfect for knitters, in my opinion, and Pearl which has a multiple personality - it's the perfect make up bag, notions bag, catch-all bag; you name it bag.

Special thanks to my model Kristen for the use of her freshly pedicured paw, her Nook and her iPad. Mel enjoys her visits, and spent much of this one purring loudly and dripping drool onto her neck while I took pictures. He just can't control himself.

Imagine, I could blog something...

2011-03-15T18:18:00.002-04:00

Really it hasn't been conducive to blogging around here, unless you're a canine bent on doing a new thing every day for 100 days.

Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knittin g has a COVER!

That is always a very good sign - it makes things seem more real somehow. We are doing some last-minute editing but they assure me that we're on time for a May 11th debut. I don't think I've ever known of a book that launched on time before. I know mine have not.

I am going to New York in a week to teach at Lion Studio, and I am very excited about it! I love the city! I am bringing my daughter along with her friend Mooch. They can see the sights while I teach on Sunday. Girl's birthday is in there somewhere, so it's a birthday present of sorts. If you are in New York, I'd love to meet you - come and learn how to knit socks 2-at-a-Time from the toes up on Sunday March 27th!

I have been working on some patterns.

The Blueberry Peak socks still have no photos to accompany the finished pattern which I find frustrating, but circumstances have conspired against me of late. Now I have a backlog -

I designed these two cowls using Artyarns Cashmere Glitter and Ensemble Glitter, but I need models to wear them also. The good news is that I have models, possibly, for Thursday.

I also did a swatch for a project for someone's book. I love the yarn. It is Valley Yarns Charlemont, the same as the Blueberry Peak socks.

The pattern... you will have to just wait and see. But I like it a lot.

Aside from all this knitting stuff (!), it is spring on the farm and that means busy. The weather has not been cooperative at times, but things are moving ahead anyway. For example, chicks come this week, the first round of meat birds. Layers come next month. Somewhere in there I need to cull the old hens and reduce the number of roosters. Culling is not my favorite job, but it is essential to maintaining a healthy flock. The new birds we got to lay for us will be healthier and better if the older girls who are not in lay are gone. They are not wasted - they make great soup stock and fricassee. But choosing who stays and who goes it difficult work.

Seedlings can be planted soon, which is always a hopeful sign. After this very long and snowy winter it will be good to see signs of life. There is not yet much outside. The snow is still thick nearly everywhere. There is melting around the barn, and the birds have been out more of late. But the cooler parts of the yard are still white and cold. There is rain tomorrow, and I can hope that it washes away some more. I will be glad to see the last of winter. Peas are always planted on the first day of spring, and I doubt I will be able to get to the box they belong in by then.

Soon it will be summer and things will be in full swing again. I miss my deck and Saturday afternoons more than anything I think. The brook behind me and the chickens wandering the yard. I will be glad to have that back.

I am going to do a give-away in May to celebrate the launching of this new book of mine and a new website with a shopping cart and downloadable patterns. There will be yarn and books and bags and things. Stay tuned for more details!

Somedays it Just Feels Like Oy Vey.

2011-02-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was, I think, an Oy Vey kind of a day. It started at 1:00AM. Maybe I should even back up a little from there...

First the pictures for those socks are not working well at all. I need a photographer or more feet or both. Seriously. The pattern is totally done. This is most annoying.

Second, there's a lot of proofing here. Proofing in the morning, proofing in the evening, proofing at suppertime. I read some, I mark, I take a break. I go back and I read more. It is important not to push myself when I get annoyed or bored because then I will miss things. And we don't want that, now, do we?

Third, my mother had not been well over the weekend. We went to a birthday party for April on Saturday and it was obvious right away that something wasn't right. She was complaining of some chest pain that seemed to her to be much worse than usual. She didn't want to go to the hospital. Then my dad needed a pretty straight forward procedure on Tuesday, but sometimes the way things work around here drama comes in clusters, so I was a little on edge. Once I spoke with my mother again and confirmed that she felt much better, and Yoshi and I visited her to make sure, AND we had a call from Dad saying he felt fine Tuesday afternoon, I relaxed a little.

I even cast on a Tomten (scroll down, it's there) in this pink yarn I have in stash - not with any baby in mind, just part of my new Use Your Stash movement. I haven't made it very far yet. More will be revealed. Anyway...

Once I confirmed that everyone was well I breathed a big sigh of relief and got back to the grind of proofing this book so that everyone can have a copy, eventually.

A lot of proofing has taken place. There's been a lot of reading and scrawling in margins and marking with green highlighter, some emails back and forth with publisher and tech editor, but I feel like we're really winding down here and there really will be a book - and soon. It feels good.

I went to sleep Tuesday night with peace in my heart. Peace and love and contentment.

And then the phone rang at 1:00AM Wednesday morning (or Tuesday night, depending on your perspective). You know that foggy haze that you are in when you're awakened from a deep (Benadryl induced to compensate for the end-of-book insomnia...) sleep? When you are on auto pilot and answering with one syllable words and occasionally grunts? That was me. I could hear my son, Private Dan. I could hear what I thought was his wife in the background (it was). He sounded distressed. She sounded distressed. He was asking for advice at 1:00AM, which cannot be a good thing.

This is a good life lesson for anyone reading this, not just for Daniel. When you book any kind of transportation, especially if you are using a discount provider, be very, very, very certain to double, triple, QUADRUPLE check your dates before you check out. Check again, I mean really check. Get a hard copy of a current calender, check the date on your phone and computer, check the date you're booking for, and then check them all again. And even again.

Otherwise, you will find yourself on the phone to your mommy at 1:00AM asking for advice about how to get to Texas within just under 24 hours when you're in Massachusetts, and that cheap non-refundable plane ticket you bought last week turns out to be for MARCH 23, not FEBRUARY 23. Oh, and you need to be on base today. Which as it turns out IS February 23rd. This thing about calling your mommy? It is not a threat. It is a promise.

Once the details and the rather critical nature of this situation crept into my brain I sprang into something like action (there may have been stumbling). I grabbed my Amex and my pc and started surfing. Find a flight, I thought. Anything. Just get the soldier to the base before he's AWOL. Not the best way to begin your life as a soldier, now that Basic and AIT are done. "Oh, hey, I thought I'd just be, you know, late. That's ok, right, Army Dudes?" Not.

I found a flight, or really a series of four flights that began in Hartford and ended in El Paso, TX at 11:55PM on February 23rd. The fact that he's be in five major airports and on four airplanes in 18 hours, with lots of layovers really didn't matter. All that mattered was cheapest, fastest way there. Indirect is fine. Just GET there.

Drama. We HAZ it.

I spent most of yesterday not doing much of anything. I was exhausted. After bailing the kid out I spent about 4 hours ruminating on the whole situation, falling asleep just in time for the alarm to go off in the morning. Wait, did I say morning? That wasn't morning. 1:00 AM, now THAT is morning, my friends.

I did let Yoshi blog yesterday about responsible dog ownership, which is in my opinion the best piece he's written so far, and a vitally important one at that. The doggy in the window is so charming and cute. People rush in, buy, fall in love with and live with regret when they don't get what they expected. Shelters are stuffed to the gills with dogs who could tell you all kinds of stories. It's a topic that is near and dear to our hearts.

This brings us to today, which is Thursday. Tomorrow, Friday, is supposed to be egg day. Snow is predicted. I do not drive in snow. If it falls, I do not drive. The bad news is I will have a lot of eggs. The good - I can move on with proofing and get it done and in the mail on time, I just have to finish up and drive a half an hour to the nearest staffed FedEx location. God I love this valley.

Tomorrow I am going to cast on and begin knitting something with Artyarns Cashmere Glitter. Stay tuned... you're going to want to squash your face in this one!

Gratuitous Puppy Shot:

Because nothing can possibly be cuter than Yoshi in an orange raincoat!

Diversions.

2011-02-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

It started like this: yesterday I felt a deep need to procrastinate on three different projects. First, I did not want to proof read any more of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. It's not that this is a difficult thing, it's just that I have the head of a pig and once I decide today is not the day to do this or that, well, it's pretty much over. Actually, it is a difficult thing because I know if I miss something now, you'll all let me know later, but I digress.

I also was procrastinating on photographing the Blueberry Peak socks I shared with you the other day. Not because I do not love them; I do. In fact, the pattern is laid out and ready to go. All it needs is photos. But photos mean a drive to find either feet or photographer, and I am generally unwilling to make more than one foray from home in a week. I believe in clustering all errands into one day to save on gas and wear and tear on my car. And last I was procrastinating on a third and new project - an Artyarns design that I can envision in my head but I feel guilty playing with (all that sparkle and softness!!) when I should really be getting pictures taken of a pair of socks, or proof reading pages of a new book.

This left me at a bit of a loss. Desiring continued procrastination on all three projects but without anything to really excuse myself from getting the work done, I was becoming desperate. Then it came to me. What I really needed was a sweet little accessory made out of my sparkly yarn samples for, um, Valentine's Day. Yeah! Perfect! Knitting it would be out of the question because, after all, I was procrastinating on among other things a knitting project. Knitting would be like cheating. I trawled Ravelry and found a couple of things that I liked, but nothing that really was precisely what I was after. The one that looked the most likely was entirely in German. Das ist nicht gut. My Deutsch is limited to about four phrases and a few words, none of them knitting related.

I picked up the closest hook and the closest sparkly yarn (Artyarns Cashmere Glitter) and began to play, and this is what happened.

A flower on a chain. And then another and another and another, and before you knew it there was a whole string of them! Nothing "meaningful" had been accomplished, but I had a string of sparkly flowers. Then I remembered that the 17th (today!) Is Mary Alice's birthday. So I decided that this was Mary Alice's Birthday Girl Garland, and now the it had both meaning and value. I sent a picture to Kristen who said it was cute, and did I write down the pattern. Well, no. Not wanting to disappoint, I grabbed the next closest sparkly yarn (Artyarns Beaded Cashmere and Sequins) and began again, this time recording what I did as I hooked away.

And that's what happened - a second garland, just in time for another birthday girl. I'll not say who just yet, since it's not quite THE day.

This left me wondering about something. If Kristen would like the pattern, would anyone else? And if they would, well, why not write it up! This led me here:

Which involved the loss of a clog and then the second one while standing almost knee deep in the snow in a short-sleeved t-shirt that says "I'm a Keeper" in big letters, trying to take pictures of garlands looking "springy" in weather that has not quite turned that corner just yet. This was followed by slipping and sliding on ice covered paths and barely making it back inside in one piece with snow-filled clogs and garlands in my teeth and my camera protected from falls and mishaps on my back. Which led to this:

And really, after this, can there be more words?

The pattern is available in my Ravelry store for $1.00. Help keep my model in kibble and download your copy today!

It's been a week. I should say something, right?

2011-02-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's the boy. He commands so much of my time. I am getting back on a schedule of sorts, which is good because Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting (available for pre-order!) arrived late last week in need of proofing. One CD with PDF's of the whole shooting match in living color, and one big pile of pages in desperate need of my time and attention. But so is the boy.

And I do adore the boy. He's so full of life and energy and love. Puppies are like toddlers. They are full of amusing antics; they run, they play, they live to love one minute and live to eat the next. Then they are on to the next big thing, like discovering that the cat isn't a Shiba after all, or that the knot from one end of the rawhide makes the coolest sliding-on-the-floor toy ever. He makes me smile every day and always more than once. He's sunshine. I have said that he farts perfume, that the sun shines out of his butt, and he tinkles rainbows. All of this is true, and more.

But enough about the boy. Read his blog - he talks about himself endlessly!

I really wanted to get this pair of socks done and up before I blogged or started proof reading. It's taking about 2 days longer than anticipated, which is annoying. But I love them, and I couldn't wait to share a sneak peek with you! So excited, in fact, that I didn't even block them! Anyway -

The pattern is called Blueberry Peak. The yarn is Valley Yarns Charlemont, which I love without reservation. The pattern is perfect for spring, and we could use some of that around here! The lacy eyelets and the chevron rib combine to create a pattern that is visually pleasing yet easy to memorize - I know this because I lost my printed chart and could not get to the computer, and knit a fair amount of the foot without looking. I've written it for 2-at-a-Time, but experienced sock knitters can easily take the numbers and knit a single sock if they desire.

I am hoping to have "real" pictures with the good camera within a day or two. This involves a drive to Northampton to beg someone (usually Katy, who has the perfect office for such things) to take pictures of my feet in socks. Then I can sell the pattern. But for today all I can do is try to get decent shots of my foot with the crappy camera in the living room by hanging half upside down with blood rushing to my head, a Shiba rushing into my camera, and my morning coffee rushing... somewhere. I need a live-in photographer or a live-in model, one or the other. My current assistant and I are not always on the same page.

Now back to work - I promised myself that today would be the first day of proof reading, and I set myself a goal of a certain number of pages. I think it's manageable. Of course, that BOY may have other ideas!

Vacation, Days Four and Five

2011-02-07T17:20:00.002-05:00

*The author of this blog wishes to place full responsibility for this entry on the shoulders of her very dear friend Kathy Elkins, without who's insight and gentle nudging there would be no Yoshi to faint and fawn over*

This was, until day four, possibly the worst vacation ever. We waited for breakfast every morning, and the waiter never came. Not even coffee! Housekeeping never brought the extra towels we asked for, the cat woke up up promptly at 6:30 am every morning, and the dog needed to be out and peeing by 6:45. On day three we got an inch or so of what is called "mixed precipitation", which means snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain alternately fell from a cloudy gray sky. Occasionally Gene would let me know what the temperatures were in Sanibel, Naples, and Orlando, Florida, and I would retaliate by telling him what restaurant we were to eat at that evening, or what activity had been planned for the day. We were cranky in fits and spurts, torn between reminding each other to be grateful for everything we have and a deep resentment at what we didn't have - sun, surf, and temperatures above freezing to be specific. I am not alone in my dislike of winter here. The excess precipitation has made us both miserable and worn out. But then on day four things began to look up.
We rose early and, in spite of the nasty looking road, we headed out on a three and a half hour quest for happiness in furry form. And oh did we get it!

Meet, officially and formally, Cape Cod's Fortunate Son, called Yoshi for short. And please forgive the fuzzy photo. Most photos of our little ball of sunshine look a lot like this:

He has an agenda and it does not involve sitting nice for pictures, thank you very much! Yoshi is a Shiba Inu, although he's been called, in the last day and a half, a Basenji and an American Eskimo Dog. The Shiba is the smallest of six (some would argue seven if one includes the Tosa Inu) native breeds of Japan. The best known and most common are the Akita Inu and the Shiba Inu. Shiba share some characteristics of the Akita, but are significantly smaller and so far appear to have much greater internal energy.
We drove home as cautiously as we could. Somewhere along the journey I sent this photo to my dad with the comment "Um. I think I just paid a lot of money for a very nauseous red fox."

Once we got off of the Cape and onto 495, he settled in a bit more. Although still queasy, he drooled a lot less and appeared at times to even nap a bit. For him this was a day of intense and awesome change. This was his first long car ride, his first trip away from the only home he'd ever known and the first time away from his mom and litter mates. The stress has to be unreal. It's about the equivalent of taking an 8 month old human baby away from it's mother in terms of development. Anyone who's had an 8 month old baby knows that they can be clingy, insecure, and a little cautious of strangers. We stopped once at a rest area in Westborough, MA on the Massachusetts Turnpike. He met his first "other" dog there - a very geriatric Chihuahua named Lucky. Yoshi means good fortune or good luck, so this seemed appropriate. Lucky was very tolerant of Yoshi's infantile sniffing, and Lucky's mom wished us well on our journey with the wistful reminiscence of a loving dog mom. It felt good and right that we met them. It also gave Yoshi the opportunity to make a choice - me, the stranger he barely know, or Lucky's mom, the one he didn't know at all. It reinforced the bond. He wanted to be nearer to me, which made me feel more secure in my role as new dog mom, and him more secure in himself - he met new people, and they went away, but I didn't.

After a four hour return trip, we arrived at home. He met Boo, which went differently than I expected - not badly, just differently. I expected Boo to have an issue, and in the end it was Yoshi who had one. Scared, stressed, and confronted with what must to him look a lot like a giant black buffalo he sought to defend himself from intrusion with a growl and hackles raised. Boo was confused, and a little rebuffed. I explained to Yoshi that he did not need to behave that way, and they soon settled into mutual tolerance. Today it looks more like acceptance with a hint of jealousy on Boo's part. Tomorrow that will change, and by the end of the week I suspect we'll be at love. Boo needs this boy as much as I do.

Yoshi opened right up once we got settled. Every inch of this level of the house has been investigated. Kitchen first...

then his night-time crate, which used to be Dazee's...

and then the ever-important toy basket. He has an accumulation of toys from siblings he's never met. A couple of things that we've had since Kioshi, some of Boo's baby things, and most of Dazee's stuffies and Nylabones are in here. There's also a new bag of tennis balls and a stuffed owl from Girl. He's set for a while!

We went out for a walk after some rough play time and fetching, and he discovered snow. He also went right straght to where he'd seen Boo poop earlier and did so himself. This bodes well. There have been, at 36 hours, no potty accidents. He has actually asked to go out on a couple of occasions which totally impressed me. Maybe I should not be surprised. Japanese breeds seem to be fastidious by nature.

We had a long night. Again, imagine being wrenched from your mother, handed to relative strangers, and driven three hours from the only home you've ever known. He woke up about every 2 hours all night long and set to making enough noise to raise the dead. But this morning he was confident and engaged, playing and romping with Girl before she left for work, and walking with me in the snow.

He walks well on a leash, and for the most part stays beside me. We're using a short, 4-foot leash for a few days until I am used to how he moves and he is used to the environment. This proved to be a good choice this morning when he was spooked right to his gizzard by the neighbor's car. Another first - and obviously it was out to kill him! We will work on social experiences with vehicles, first running and not moving, then moving a little, and so on until he is respectful but not fearful.

He also loves his mom - smarty-pants-boy! (Why pink? Because with that in your arms, don't you think you'd be seeing everything through rose-colored glasses, too?) Lots of love and kisses and more love and more kisses. He loves to be held, loves to be on me, near me, beside me. And I am very happy about that. It's what I wanted. I want him to be attached to me, healthfully, so that we can do things like Rally, and if he's interested, Agility. Small steps, and we have a way to go, but so far he's on a good track.

He is super alert, but very attentive to what I am doing and where I am, which bodes well for performance. He's also very easily motivated by food. Sometimes a bit too motivated - he has discovered which pocket may contain treats already!

I think he will be great around chickens, don't you? No problems at all... Really he will be introduced to them very cautiously and with a great deal of supervision. Shiba are hunting dogs by descent, and chickens are certainly (and deliciously) hunt-able!

No fear! When I sent this to Mr. W this morning he said "We should have named him Curious George". He learned once the stove was lit that it may not be the best place to investigate, but not until after he'd covered the back of his head with soot and stolen kindling twice from it before it was going.

This vacation has certainly turned a corner. Although Gene went back to work today, the vacation technically doesn't end until Tuesday night, which would have been our return. Looking at this face I think, right now, that vacations are highly over-rated. But then he makes it easy to think like that!

The future around here is so bright you have to wear shades. Just look at him! Welcome, Yoshi. Here's to a minimum of 15 years of fun!

Vacation, Day One

2011-02-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

Today is the first full day of our winter vacation. Right now I should be up to my knees in the Gulf of Mexico, or on a rented bike pedaling myself along a sandy Sanibel road. But I am not. I am still in Massachusetts, drowning in that white stuff we all know I love so well, wondering what the reason is for the storm that ended my vacation plans. There always is one, you know. There is always a reason for everything. When the flight canceled it was almost a relief because it meant we didn't have to drive to Hartford in sleet and freezing rain on snow and slush covered highways. And although I am working very hard on remembering the positives - we are alive, we are grateful to even have had the chance to take a vacation, I can get the puppy early now, Delta gave us a full refund - I still am sad at the loss of what was to be our first non-Disney Florida vacation. Well, less Disney anyway. It was to be about beaches and the everglades and rented bikes and kayaks and beaches and seashells with a little dose of Mickey Mouse slapped onto the very end. I can't help noticing that this hotel seems to be a lot like home. In fact it IS home, right down to the 12 new inches of vacation killing snow outside my front door which rest on top of the 50 inches we had already received this season.

I have sworn off work at least until Monday. I am on a UFO quest - finishing the plethora of unfinished objects I discovered during my pre-puppy stash clean out. I found a Bobbi Bear sans pattern or yarn that Girl had started and never finished. I gave him pink and gray nose and arms.

I knit 2 crate mats for the puppy using the Valley Yarns Nantucket Felted Rug (FREE!) pattern; the striped one is in Berkshire Bulky leftover from when I knit this rug for Kathy, and the other in Schaefer Esperanza that was left over from this last book.

I finished the Brambling from Rowan's Story Book of Little Knits that I started for April a million years ago - that now will never fit her and so will be stashed.

I seamed up a languishing Winecozy, began 2 years ago for a Christmas gift that ultimately was delivered naked. Maybe this year. It needs to be embellished once it dries.

I put faces on six Owls and Tigers and Zebras, Oh My! hats.

In the spare moments I've planned out some work projects that I will start next week. I want to finish Gene's Dale sweater. Saturday we get the puppy, a week ahead of schedule which is a nice thing. Unless you consider that between now and then I should be on an island in the Gulf of Mexico under an umbrella, or kayaking around the mangroves. Bitter? Moi? What made you think that?

Every year I threaten to move to a warmer climate, but I never do. I am supposed, by virtue of birth and genetics, to be a tough Yankee; a hardy New Englander. I am supposed to suck it up and make the best of it, supposed to get out there and enjoy the variety. Well, forget it. This place, this climate, feels like it is killing me by inches. It's never been much of a secret that I dislike winter. Since I was young I've just never been happy with this season. I was the kid who had to be forcibly bundled and shoved out into it, and then stood there wondering what the point was. I had a beautiful little toboggan, my own runner sled, and my sister's flying saucers at my disposal, but my favorite thing to do was curl up in a snowbank with an icicle and wait for my mother to grant me a reprieve so I could return to my books. As an adult I invested in snowshoes, and I went shoeing - and even had fun - except for the painfully frozen extremities and the chapped, red face and cracked lips it was great. We once climbed to the tree line of Mount Monadnock in January. In the end it was all useless, this attempt to make me embrace winter. The white fingers and toes that burn and ache almost constantly, the depression that comes with short days and endless dark, the "bundling up" making me claustrophobic and cranky, the endless mounds of snow needing to be moved - it's just not my thing and it never will be. Of all the things I will miss when I leave New England (and I will leave New England) winter will not be one of them. I wasn't made to be here. It's an accident of birth that I haven't yet corrected. But I will!
Not a very cheerful way to end my vacation report is it? I'll be better in a day or two. And definitely better by Saturday evening!

I am coming, small furry happiness. I'm coming!

Sparkle and Hyde

2011-01-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

From the first moment I met Flicker on Mary's desk at Webs, I knew it was love. And I knew it was only a matter of time before my wee brain developed an idea for putting it to work.

I don't know where the name of this pattern came from, really. I was struggling to think of something last night and was recruiting assistance from the peanut gallery.

Gene said Twinkle and Hyde, and I don't even really remember why he said it - maybe he does. I don't usually let him name things. I have no problem telling him he's way off base. Meg suggested Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, but there's such a wealth of patterns with that name or variations on it, that unfortunately it wasn't a good choice.

Then I started musing - Twinkle and Hyde. Sparkle and Hyde. I don't know why but it appealed to me. The more I mused, the more I liked it. Split personality project. And it is, too.

The yarn is both deliciously soft and comfortable, but has this bit of wow factor in the form of a subtle glimmer that runs through it. It's like having the best of both worlds - warmth, comfort, softness with enough bling to make it sophisticated, like someone made your favorite sweat-pants into a chic little fashion statement.

The pattern is fun to knit, not too difficult, but not too simple either. It's perfect for an intermediate knitter who is familiar with cables, increasing and decreasing, and knitting in the back of a stitch. You'll be entertained by it in the best possible way. Something to keep you entertained, like a good page-turner. The three items knit up relatively quickly so you will be wearing them in no time.

When the trio are finished, the twisted stitch pattern adds subtle visual interest and texture. Once they're on your head, neck and hands, if you don't smile I'll be very surprised!

You can find the pattern on Ravelry, in my little Gallery shop here, or by clicking the "Buy Now" link below. I hope you like this little winter offering. I know I do!

Pattern Cost $6.00

I Love This City

2011-01-25T14:00:00.002-05:00

It seems strange when I think on it, that just a few short years ago I had never been to Manhattan, and was really downright afraid of it. I remember my first trip when I was shepherded around Book Expo by Amy Greeman, then acting in the role of handler/quasi-publicist, later to act as my actual publicist. She even did an entry here on this blog that I had forgotten.

I must have some mad city adaptation skills, because on this trip into the city for Vogue Knitting Live I popped out of Grand Central on Vanderbilt Avenue, crossed 45th to 5th, and headed uptown toward the Hilton without even checking my phone to see if I was going the right way. After checking in, being stalked by Carol while trying to leave the check-in desk (the official MMO stalker - accept NO substitutes!), and depositing my bag in my room, I headed out to find a snack and see some sights.

I found Radio City Music Hall.

And the Ziegfield Theater.

And the Radiance Tea House, with which I fell madly in love.

It may have been that the place is charming, or it may have been that I got on the train sans lunch and it was now approaching 5pm and I was something like starving. I ordered a delightful repast of homemade miso soup, sticky rice in a lotus leaf, and Hojicha tea. The tea is a slightly lower in caffiene green tea that's roasted to give it "a delicious earthy flavor with notes of cedar...". It was very very good.
I wandered a little more - to Central Park for a walk, and then I headed back to the hotel to get an early night, stopping along the way for the essentials of life - an emergency banana and apple - very handy in case of starvation.
The next morning we had an early teacher's meeting, which was really just a time to sit in a chair and breathe the same air as the knit-and-famous Knitterati. It was also a time to catch up with friends that I really only "see" mostly online. We got our room assignments, attendance sheets, and a run-down of the plans for the weekend.
When I travel to events like this I always worry that students will not be happy - that I will bite off my tongue, that they won't get what they came for, that I will not give them what they need. Particularly before the first class I get kind of freaked. I was so freaked, in fact, that I had the wrong materials with me. I raced back up to my room, and then to my classroom. My classes were in a converted guest room, which was a little tight, but we made it work. 14 people assembled to learn how to knit Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks. We worked diligently through the morning session, and they made excellent progress. They were really excellent students. Focused and responsive, and I didn't spend hardly any time yelling at them - some classes can feel more like herding cats than teaching knitting. We're knitters and social by nature, so there's a lot of talking and sharing. Part of my job is keeping everyone focused. I tend to tell stories, which at least ensures that everyone is listening to me, so that when I need their attention, I already have it and don't have to yell over the voices of 15-30 excited knitters. Eventually I will run out of stories, I suppose, but for now it works.
At lunch time I headed out to the street to find something I could take back to the classroom with me. I like to be in the room during lunch in case students have questions or problems, so lunch needs to be quick. I found quick and YUM all in one - my official new favorite Halal Guy.

I love Halal carts. I love street food in general. I think that if I were young and could eat bread I might love hot dog carts in New York better. Or maybe not. I love the flavors of rice and veg and white sauce and hot sauce and cumin and the faint whiff of cinnamon all happily mixed up in my tin plate. And really, where else can you get "too much lunch" for $5?
I took my lunch back to my classroom (an action I would repeat all three days) and ate and rested for a bit until students returned. The afternoon session went smoothly, and by 4:30 I was fledging new 2-at-a-Time sock knitters into the halls of the Hilton and into the world beyond - good will sock ambassadors now who will assist in my goal of World 2-at-a-Time Sock Domination.
At 7:30pm there was a "Purls and Prosecco" reception for students and teachers. And I made a decision. Why not stalk Carol? I mean, every time I see her she's stalking me, and it really looks like it might be kind of fun. Don't you think? Following around a member of the Knitterati, taking pictures when they least expect it? Bribing hotel staff to give you a pair of undies or a few hairs from the hair brush for your attempts at voodoo? Serious fun, I think.

See, I told you. FUN! At the reception I saw more knitters I haven't seen in a while, and got to meet some new ones - I finally met Franklin (who, I must confess, is much shorter than I expected him to be, which was actually quite reassuring to my 59 3/4" self), and saw Iris Schrier of Artyarns. She has a yarn that I am over the moon for - cashmere and a bit of sparkle and silk that just makes me so very happy! I have a sample here that I spent some time swatching last evening. It's quite delicious. But more on that another time. After a glass of wine I realized that what was really missing from my day was dinner. Since it was 9pm, I headed out to find something, and then took myself to bed so I would be alert for my students on Saturday morning.
Saturday's class was also made up of excellent students who were really focused on learning. This was top-down day, and by the end everyone seemed to be pleased with their progress - I know I was!
I headed out for a walk, knowing that this was my last evening in the city. I didn't really have a plan. First I stumbled across Elmo.

Elmo is certainly larger than I would have expected. In fact I would think that an Elmo of this size would freak the dickens out of the average preschooler, but what do I know?

And then I found myself in Times Square, surrounded by sparkle and glitter and shopping.

It was very cold, and getting colder, so I headed back toward the hotel, stopping on the way for a snack. In the lobby I ran into Ron and Theresa Miskin of Buffalo Gold, and was able to show them the shawl I designed with their Moon yarn and Webs beads. It was supposed to be done in time for Brendon and Selina's wedding. Now I am just hoping it's done by spring. It's an easy knit really, but until this book is completely done and put to bed I experience disruptions in the construction.
On Sunday morning I dined on Fage yogurt and a banana from the 53rd Street Deli, and a cup of coffee from Starbucks. It's strange that when I travel I try to avoid chains, with the singular exception of those white cups with their green and black logo. The predictability reassures me I think.
My Sunday class, a second round of Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks, was filled with yet another excellent group of learners. By Sunday we were all beginning to feel the effects of the exciting weekend, but even so everyone seemed to take to the method. Promptly at 4:30 we headed for the door. I am very grateful to them for this - often a class will run significantly over with questions, but they respected that I needed to head for the train station in a bid to be home by 9pm.
I raced for the front door, and a cab line. Normally I don't do cab lines, but this time it seemed best. I got an excellent driver.

Best cab driver in New York, or at least for that moment he was. He got me to Grand Central (admittedly not a long drive, but still!) in plenty of time for me to catch not the 5:34 train, but the 5:07! Those extra few minutes may not sound like a lot, but after a long weekend and facing a 2 hour train ride and a 2 hour drive they sounded important to me right then.

I was on the 5:07 with minutes to spare. I settled into my seat and checked again on the weather reports for this area. Cold, it said, dangerous cold. In New Haven I took a cab to the parking garage on Temple Street. Between the dark, my being alone, and the frigid temperatures it seemed like the best option. It was by then beginning to feel dangerously cold.
I made it home at 9pm, and was welcomed back with a hot meal and an open bottle of wine. Don't we just love Mr. Wonderful now?
By morning the thermometer had plunged to new depths for 2011. It was -20 degrees for most of the morning.

When I did chores at noon the bucket handle got stuck to my hand, and as I stood there breathing on it to warm it and recover my hand, I found myself questioning my sanity. Chicken farm. Really? Well. OK, I guess. I only think this in winter. looking at that thermometer gives me heebie jeebies. Tonight is expected to be clear, but then we're anticipating more snow, possibly another 12 inches.
All of this makes me long for vacation, which isn't for another week. Warm Florida sun, I cannot wait to bask in your glow.
Vogue Knitting Live is rumored to be heading for Los Angeles in September. If you're on that coast, I recommend it - it's a great opportunity to meet and learn from some amazing knitters! I have but one regret from my whole experience. I had wandered through the market on Friday with the clear intention of returning to get at least one set of Signature Circulars before the end of the event. I never did make it back. Luckily there is always online ordering. And just maybe I have a birthday coming up, hint-hint dear family!

When I Was a Child

2011-01-11T13:36:00.001-05:00

I don't talk about spiritual things here. But my heart is breaking and I need to feel like someone can hear me outside of myself, so the tears will stop a little.

When I was a child my father taught me to love my neighbor as myself. He taught me not to say mean things about others - "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all". He taught me to be kind to animals, to respect my elders, and to believe in God as I understood God. He never told me what he thought I should believe God to be although there were Bibles in our house, and it was from the Bible that I got my ideas of what God is. I read a lot.

He never told me any one religion was right. He never said anyone else's religion was wrong. He said it was a matter of conscience; we should tolerate the beliefs of others and leave their conscience to themselves, and maybe, if we were lucky, they'd do the same for us. He told me that it was wrong to hate another person because of their religion, their gender or the color of their skin. God, he said, loves everyone. And it's our job to love everyone the best way we can.

There are some people in Arizona who need to meet my father and other people like him.

At first I was angry. But that passed and I was just sad. Now all I can do is sit here and cry and wonder at the unmitigated gall of people who do things like this in the name of their god.

My God said this:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34, NKJV)

Maybe, really, He is who the people who protest the funerals of nine-year-olds need to meet.

ETA: It has been brought to my attention that the above reference to "meeting" God indicates that I wish terminal harm on the individuals involved in this planned protest. I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact it is my fervent prayer that they "meet" God well in advance of their physical demise.

Playing Catch-Up With Myself

2011-01-10T14:20:00.004-05:00

There is no knitting in this post. I figure I should just come out with that up front. This is all personal kind of stuff. There should be knitting next time, as I am working on a design and on Gene's ancient Dale sweater. You should know that before you continue on. It's only fair.

I am exceptionally skilled at denial. In fact, if it were a sport I would be an Olympic champion. If it were a career path I would be bringing down six figures with ease, and the first one would be a 2, at least. I don't think. I just do. I try not to ponder, wonder, or question. I just forge ahead mostly thoughtlessly. I find it very successful. Most of the time...

Until the denial confronts me in a painful way, or in a way that just makes me stop and recognize what has transpired. Today the reality of my life over the last 5 years is coming back on me as a result of a decision we made yesterday to bring a new puppy into our lives. It seems strange that a small ball of fur can have such an impact on me, but there it is. The last five years are tumbling onto my head and with them, the realization that my life has changed so dramatically and so rapidly, and at times has been so out of control, that it's no wonder I haven't really been able to keep up. In fact, only by reviewing the blog was I able to put it all together. Sad but true - I had to read my own blog to figure out what I've been doing for the past 5 years. Such is my life, and the denial I choose to live by.

In the last 5 years I: wrote one book, then another, and another in rapid succession. I flew a lot, and I HATE flying. I traveled, I met people, I had an amazing journey. My mother got scary-sick, then better, than sicker still, then better again and so on. Today she's ok, more or less, most of the time. She's safe and cared for which is more to the point. I lost Kioshi, the second best dog I've ever owned, the first being an amazing mutt named Lady Anne that I had when I was 8. I lost my best friend in a fight of that typically female type that I despise - but I had, it seems, reached a tipping point on a thousand small things, and I let the whole relationship fall apart over one of them rather than confront or discuss the rest. I got sick and didn't know why, then found out why - Lyme - and spent a year sucking down the kind of drugs I routinely refuse to take. I was gifted with an amazing and beautiful granddaughter, and more recently two daughters in law. I expanded the farm from a few chickens to lay eggs for us to provide meat and eggs to a decent handful of local customers. We added bees. We planted trees. We put solar panels on the roof for hot water. It hasn't been a particularly uneventful few years.

In between all of that (more or less) big stuff - and I know I've forgotten some that are probably even bigger - were a million little things; ups and downs, moments, hours, days and weeks of stress and anxiety, work and exhaustion with occasional outbursts of joy in between. Through it all I never really gave myself a break. If I fell apart, I tried to pull myself up and get back to it - I may have made a lot of noise, but in the end I got it done. If I felt like I needed a nap, that was too bad, naps are for wimps. If I took a nap, I felt guilty for a week. If I had done enough and was at the end of my rope and something else came up? I pretty much just did it, often kicking and screaming the whole way.

In short, I have pushed myself just about as far and as hard as I ever have. And on a rapid approach to 44, I am feeling it, and I need to start thinking about whether I want to keep up with that attitude. And how long I can keep up with it.

I have been musing lately on where I am now; what my plans for the future are, how I want the next few years to look. Some of this has been spurred on by the experiences of others. No, I have not had, nor do I plan on having, a heart attack. But do I need to push myself to one in order to learn a lesson from someone else's experience? I'd like to think I am smarter than that.

Most of the time I think I just need a break. Not just a little vacation to the Cape, but a more significant break, like a half a year or so of non-work. At other times I think I need to work more; that not working is just giving in to weakness. Maybe I just need to learn to balance. Still other times I think I need something new in my life, something to inspire me and give me hope and joy just by breathing in the same space. Something fun, something emotionally rewarding on a personal level.

After we put Kioshi down in 2007 there was a lot of thought about what our next dog would look like. It would, I decided, be a dog that was a go-getter, someone with mental skills greater than the charming but dense sap that is Boo-Boo - and don't get me wrong here, I adore him. But the differences between a Bernese Mountain Dog and an Akita in terms of mental processes are something akin to the differences between a stump and a toddler who's reading at 2. I miss the agile Akita mind. I thought a lot about the decisions we had needed to make about Kioshi's treatment that were based on financial issues versus what she really needed medically. Authoring is not exactly lucrative. $350 a week for human pharmaceuticals wasn't in the cards for Kioshi. Had she weighed 20 pounds and not 80, things might have been very different. And then, before we could cement a choice of shelter v. breeder, boy v. girl, big v. small, I was confronted with a difficult choice.

Dazee the Pekingese needed a home. And really, it was me who'd put her in that position. Over a few months I had effectively taken away everything that gave my mother joy - her job, her freedom, and her dog. A choice needed to be made. Should I hand the dog over to a rescue or a shelter and try to re-home it? Or should I bring the animal into my home so that at least she could visit my mother? Well, if you've been following this blog, you know what I chose. I kept the Peke. And then, without a lot of warning, she was gone; a victim of kidney failure, cause unknown. Did she eat one too many dropped pills at my mother's house? Did she get a piece of a food she shouldn't have? Or something outside that my "Drop it!" could not force her to give up? It didn't matter.

I spent a lot of money and a lot of time developing a relationship with her so that we could live together. She had been spoiled in her former home. At 8 years old, she bit, snarled and snapped to get her way. She hated all dogs, and many people. She could not walk nicely on a leash, and she peed and pooped all over my house. I took her to school. I housebroke her. She became an AKC Canine Good Citizen and started learning rally obedience which I had so much fun with, and she did well at it as long as no strange dogs came into the room. She had her moments of charm, and she taught me a lot about myself and about small dogs. But she wasn't ever really my dog.

This brings us to today.

Meet Yoshi, or the Dog Currently Known as Yoshi:

He is a Shiba Inu from Cape Cod Shibas. I am confidently hopeful that by mid-February he will be living here with me - my schedule doesn't allow for him to come here much before then.

We met him yesterday and wore him out with lessons on fetch and a lot of play time and bonding. There's even video here, and here and here, if you want to see (you should - he's AMAZING!).

I just figured out at least one thing that I need.

Bewildered and Bemused, For Now

2011-01-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

It's pretty typical of me to skip the New Years blog entry thing. I know a lot of people do it. But then I am contrary in general so it's not a surprise really that I resist resolutions and recaps.
We did go out for New Years' Eve this year, for the first time ever. We went to First Night Northampton which was, frankly, a total, utter bust. But we had good company -

Newlyweds (how long can we call them that?) Brendon and Selina and their adopted and troublesome Balloon Baby. Brendon does not like Balloon Baby. I am not sure if it was the baby part, or the part where it just was not behaving well at times.

We had a good time with them in spite of the lame (sorry Northampton, but really. Lame. Sad and lame.) First Night "celebration". I think I was expecting more - maybe some shops open, maybe some street vendors selling cocoa and street food; that sort of thing. We are told that Boston is better. Maybe next year. We came home early, which was fine with me. At least I got to stay awake until midnight - 2 am actually. Someone had to keep an eye on these two.

Brendon and Meg and Gene and I played Mario Party 8 on the Wii. Selina went to sleep, although how she slept through these two and their, shall we say, 'youthful celebrating', I don't know. Brendon tried to find the ball drop on the laptop. Gene and I kissed in the New Year while watching him surf for it. I also beat everyone at Mario Party, which should give you an idea of just how celebratory they were. The next morning there were some long faces, and I don't think it was losing the game that did it to them. Ahh, youth!
Meg was given (yes, GIVEN!) a Majacraft Susie Pro yesterday. I brought it home for her and really felt that, as her mother, it was my moral obligation to oil it up and - of course - take it for a test drive. It's a tough job, taking bullets like this for my kids, but that's what motherhood is al about. I'd love to convince her that it's too much wheel for her, buy myself a pound of something awesome, and spin the rest of winter away. I have always been an Ashford girl, but I feel my head being turned by this wheel. We have a "no new wheel" policy in effect here, and technically this one coming in means one should leave. So far gene hasn't noticed, so maybe we're safe.

It spins like a dream. A little rattly and loud which I think is the platic bobbins, but that's more than compensated for by the smoothness and the wide ratios. A little oil here and there and it quieted down some. I may be in love. There may be jealousy. But I will get over it, in time!
I've been trying to work on this sweater in my spare time. This is Gene's Dale sweater that I started...oh...a little while ago. The yarn is Dale of Norway Hauk which I am not loving. I am finding that it is biasing in stockinette, overspun out of the skein, which is frustrating. Maybe I just got a bad bag, but there it is. In fact, the Jo Sharp DK Wool I am using for the contrast? I wish the whole sweater was made of it.

This sweater has a story, but it's a pretty embarrassing one. Once upon a time in a December past we were at Epcot Center at Disney World in the Norway pavilion. Norway has this really silly but essential ride called Maelstrom (there are trolls, waterfalls, and a movie called "Spirit of Norway" that I always sit through. I also always cry when the kid touches the boat. If you have been, you know what I mean, and I bet you sniffle, too). After the movie you are dumped into a string of little shops featuring noxious Norwegian perfumes, delicious Norwegian candy, Dale of Norway Learn to Knit kits, and a large selection of Helly Hansen and Dale of Norway garments. Gene pointed at a black men's henley and said "I like that. I'd wear that." He didn't say "Will you knit that for me?". He didn't have to.
I bought the yarn after Christmas that year, and I cast on. Ten or twelve inches into the body something didn't seem quite right (can you say "gauge"?). And I didn't like the yarn I'd chosen. (Classic Elite Wings - it just did not have the rugged stability I wanted for this garment). Back to Webs I went in search of a new yarn - the Wings was ripped out and eventually knit into something completely different. What December, you ask? Well. The notes here indicate that I cast on in this year:

I bought the yarn in January. Which means he saw the sweater in December 2004. Which is embarrassing given that this is 2011, and I knit "for a living" so to speak. And the sweater is still not done. In fact, up until a couple of weeks ago it was just a lower body. Today it has a finished back and the beginnings of a front. If I had a resolution for the new year, this would be it: finish the Dale sweater by February 2nd. Of THIS year.
As you can see, there's been some frustration along the way. The thing has languished in it's own basket with it's pattern and pen and yarn labels and such since 2005. In an attempt to end the bad juju I made some changes.

First, it has a Lexie Barnes bag of it's own. Second, it is next to my chair and may not move until it's blocked. Third, I got a different color pen. And fourth? I actually pick it up and knit on it once in a while. There's hope. But then... but then this arrived in my mail box and now I have a problem. Not only am I distracted from work and knitting only things I want to knit without any sort of guilt or shame, now there's cashmere and silk in my house, in my line of vision, and al of a sudden "Poor Gene" and his "poor sweater" seem pale and not worthy of my energy.

Throw a little Spirit Trail Neith in the colorway Brown Eyed Girl and I am just all kinds of distracted. What could it be... something just for me, after all, since my eyes are brown...
Last week Army Boy married Army Fiancee (now Army Wife) in a typically hasty civil ceremony arranged on nearly the last day of his Christmas leave. Paperwork was filed and the words spoken over them by the best optometrist (six years running) in Brattleboro, Vermont, Dr. Peter Duff. In a few short weeks he went from unemployed single father to married man with a career and seemingly unlimited prospects.

The wedding reminds me a little of my dad saying that you could get married in the town hall, and put your baby to bed in a dresser drawer (on the floor, mind you, not in the dresser!) and have a blissful, wonderful life. He's right. What do we need, really, in the end? Money? Fancy dress? A cake bigger than the flower girl? A $500 crib and an infant-sized wardrobe to rival that of a Hollywood baby? No, really, we don't need any of that. Love is what we need. That's it.
It's a crazy world we live in and a crazy life we lead. I gave birth to that boy just a few short years ago, and now he's all old, and even married.

Go forth, new Army Family, into the big wide world and make a life for yourselves. What you are to be you are now becoming. Make it good, guys, because there are no dress rehearsals. You get one shot. You have it in you to make it count. And I know you can.

The Year is Nearly New

2010-12-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful holiday here and I hope yours was good too! We are gearing up for our first New Years out. Yes, you heard me. First New Years not tucked safely at home. I am kind of excited, and kind of nervous that maybe at 43 I am too, shall we say, 'mature' to begin living like it's 1985, but we will see. Wish me luck.

I knit a sweater for my mother-in-law's puppy, Max, in the 24 hours before Christmas Eve. I wanted a picture, but did not have a model, so I grabbed the closest thing.

Mel! Now, some of you may know that Mel was rescued by us (Girl, really) from a shelter after he'd been found wandering the streets, and had just come back to the shelter after a bad 24-hour adoption experience that left him labeled as "viscious" by his 24-hour-adopter. You can see from the picture above that he's a brutal beast. Terrifying even. I even still have all ten fingers AND my face! The pattern is a Drops Design and the yarn Berroco Comfort. I did make some modifications as I went along; the hood was left off, and stitch pick-ups for the legs were based on ratio not numbers.

Dinner here Christmas Eve day with three of our four kids and their partners/spouses was a lot of fun. Starting with Mr. Wonderful at the head of the table (far right) and going counter clockwise around the table, that's Rachel and Eric, Megan and Jeroth, and Selina and Brendon, the newlyweds.

It was a good day with lots of good food and good company. It's nice when kids are grown up and have learned to get along. Not once did I have to smack any heads together. They all got along like regular grown-ups. I am so proud.

In and around the holiday fray, I have been working on editing the new book. In my spare time I knit up owl hats with Katy's Owls and Tigers and Zebras, Oh My pattern:

(their faces will be along shortly!) and I work on this shawl:

I am loving it in a lot of ways. I love the way the beads sit on the yarn like fat water drops. I love the subtle (and difficult to catch with a camera) glow of the yarn which contains a good amount of tencel.

I love the rippling motion of the stitch pattern. The yarn is Buffalo Gold Moon and the pattern is my own. The beads are from Webs Beads. The pattern will be available someday, somewhere, but I can't say yet!

In the meantime, check out the pattern shop and grab yourself a copy of my new Moon and Stars Socks pattern!

I heard a rumor that there will be a knit-a-long with this pattern on Ravelry. Although Stella, the yarn the sample socks are knit in, is not currently available Carol's beautifully dyed Luna makes an excellent substitute. A little bunny tells me that until January 3, 2011 a 10% discount will automatically be applied at check out... ok, I read it on Facebook, but still - a deal is a deal!

This weekend our annual family Christmas on Sunday at my Dad's was cancelled due to an impending blizzard. I had planned to make a Butternut Squash Soup with the Vitamix, and had already cooked up the squash the day before. No one here likes that soup except me. After a couple of days of contemplation I decided to use up a few leftovers, including the squash. I present for you here my solution to leftover cooked squash, spinach, chicken and bits from the holiday cheese board. It has no name, unless we want to call it something like:

"Leftover Butternut Spinach Chicken Cheese Casserole"

1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken
1.5 cups cooked butternut squash, chopped or mashed
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 of a large purple onion, sliced thin
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup neufchatel cheese, softened
1 egg, beaten
1.5 cups shredded cheese (mine was a combination of roughly equal parts parmesan, fontina, manchego and cheddar)
1 teaspoon sage
10 cranks black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil (or 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 cloves or garlic, chopped finely)

Assemble all ingredients. Spray a 3-quart with non-stick cooking spray. Combine 1 cup buttermilk, neufchatel cheese and egg and beat well to combine. Set aside. Layer ingredients as follows: 1/2 of spinach, 1/2 of sliced onion, 1/2 of squash, sprinkle over all 1/2 of salt, sage and pepper, 1/2 of chickens and 1/2 of cheese. Repeat with remainder of ingredients. Pour buttermilk/cheese/egg mixture over all. You may want to use a chopstick or fork to help the liquid penetrate the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the casserole is heated through, bubbly, and cheese is browned. Let it set up for a few minutes before serving. It was good! Ask the dog... he stole my lunch today!

Winter Solstice and a Lunar Eclipse, and a Pair of Socks, Too!

2010-12-20T09:50:00.001-05:00

Tonight, or more correctly tomorrow morinng, there will be a rare occurance of a lunar eclipse on a Winter solstice, the first since 1638. The next one will be in 2094, and I hope to be dead by then. I may need to rise from my bed between 2:30 and 3 and have a look. Ironically, this weekend I released this sock pattern, rather aptly named Moon and Stars, given the astronomical happening we're about to experience! I have added the pattern to my little pattern store. I had to spend some time remembering how to put a pattern in there, which is an indication that I have been doing entirely too much of the wrong sort of work.

The yarn is Black Bunny Fibers Stella in the colorway Meteor Showers. The base yarn is very similar to Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver, for which I have a deep weakness. Black Bunny Luna would make a great substitute for Stella as well.

The pattern is an undulating eyelet that lets the yarn show off both it's beautifully dyed colors and it's hint of silver...yes I said silver. That glint in the close-up is sterling silver!

I knit them on a US 1 at 8 stitches per inch. The pattern, written for top-down 2-at-a-Time knitting, includes directions bsaed on this gauge, and suggestions for knitting a larger sock by changing the gauge to 7.5 sts/inch.

Really they are just beautiful, which I think I can say even though they are mine! I am a bit of a sucker for the sparkly stuff. Add an amazing dye job and a deceptively simple stitch pattern and really, you need to knit these socks! They would make an excellent last-minute Christmas gift, or a stellar (no pun intended) New Years Eve accessory.
And aren't the pictures amazing? Thank you Katy!! Using my camera and her office, I think we got some pretty nice shots of these little lovelies!

I also, somewhere along the way, made this adorable owl hat that Katy designed. But now I don't know who to give it to. It needs a child's head. I can't really see April in it, unless it were red or maybe princess pink. And I need to move it's beak up. And make it bigger. It needs to be goofier, I think.

Yes, I know, it's not quite done. I can't find my button box, which is a very odd occurance here. Gene usually brings it up and puts it away when I need it. This leads me to believe that it is someplace over my head. I looked around a little but I can't find it. Regardless, it's adorable, and I want to make more of it and more animals (not really joking about the princess pink...maybe a pony...with sparkles!). The yarn is Berroco Vintage Chunky, color Chana Dal, and it knit up so fast I barely knew what happened. You can buy the pattern, Owls & Tigers & Zebras Oh My! from Katy's Ravelry store.

It's almost Christmas! I am hoping to have all or at least most of the kids here on Christmas Eve. I thought I didn't want to do it this year, I thought it would be too much with the book finishing up, but I think I need the connection with our little family unit, just for a part of a day. Just once, before they are all really grown up and gone!

In the Army Now

2010-11-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

Fort Jackson SC, Basic Combat Training Graduation, 3rd Battalion 34th Infantry Regiment Delta Co.

Delta Co. on parade at the conclusion of graduation.

My boy.

My boy and his girl, who was at first unsure, but then made up her mind that Army Daddy was actually real daddy after all.

Daniel, Sarah (fiancee) and April (World's Cutest Grandbaby)

Hug for mom.

Socializing.

Here the babies are having a silent communication - "Your dad looks kinda like my mom, who really doesn't look like my mom any more..." "Yeah. And your mom looks kinda like my dad, and he's not really him, either. Are we sure we're ok here?"

Child training, Army style: learning to work the camo.

Army Daddy, Army Baby, Army Bear. Army Bear and Army Daddy have graduated from Basic and have their berets. Army Baby cannot go to Basic for, thankfully, a few more years.

Army Mom.

Graduation struck me in a way I had not anticipated. It made me think a lot about many things. I am not a fan of war. I am not a lover of conflict. In fact, I flee from conflict whenever possible. I was reared in a family that has generational military ties. Not career, mind you, and not hard-core pro-military, but we were reared with an awareness that service is noble and necessary for the security of all Americans. How, I wondered, did I end up with a soldier son?

I was reared on the patriotic songs that many of us know by heart and that more of us should know now, and do not. I remember singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, You're a Grand Old Flag, My Country 'Tis of Thee, America the Beautiful, and of course The Star Spangled Banner in the car with my sisters and my father. They were things we shared together driving around the county I still inhabit, driving in late summer through amber waves of grain and toward the purple mountains as we sang about them. Those songs were as familiar and as stirring and as emotional as the hymns we sang in church on Sunday and the Christmas songs we sang from the end of November until January 1st. I shared them with my children on our drives, assisted by an 80's Wee Sing America cassette and songbook (I wish I still had this.).

My intent was to create loyal, aware, thinking people, with respect for their traditions and beginnings and an awareness of their duty and responsibility in being specifically an American person. But I also taught them about the not so great parts of our heritage; how exactly we had come to be on this continent, the people we had hurt and killed to stay here, the land and humanity we had thoughtlessly plundered and exploited. It's an odd upbringing they had, and not really one that would necessarily lead them to consider the military as a career.

We had a flag that we treated correctly. We watched presidential inaugurations. We discussed the electoral college, taxes, individual freedom, rights and responsibilities. Freedom isn't free, and it should not be free for anyone. You do not respect or appreciate what you do not suffer for or work to earn. Sometimes we said things about America and Americans that were less than complimentary, even if they were completely honest.

We talked about selfless service to others; about giving to others for the sake of giving. Giving back but in the way that Jesus taught us to. ("But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matt 6:3-4). Altruism was the name of the game, and it extended beyond people to the natural world around us. If you fail to recognize and respond to the suffering of the living things around you, how are you better than the animals?

I tried to raise them with respect. Although there were times when it was a significant challenge, I tried to model the respect for others that I wanted to see in them. Simple things. You don't need to be first in line. Hold the door for others. Say please and thank you, and mean it. Acknowledge the humanity of those around you in a way that shows that you value them.

Integrity is huge for me and my children were reared with it. Be truthful. Do the right thing, even when those around you do not. I believe in God, and I believe in moral truths and the concept of right and wrong. Some things are just wrong. Don't do them. Other things are right. Do those instead. It's really very simple. If it will hurt another person, do not do it. If it fails to show respect for another person, don't do it. And don't lie. It will only make things worse in the long run. I made them make restitution if they hurt others.

I tried to teach them to face their fears head on and not run from them. As Roosevelt said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. In fact, the fear of the thing is often worse than whatever it is we are afraid of. This is a hard one for me; I tend to be a fearful person. I hate to fly. I don't like new situations. I am afraid of people in large groups. Cities make me edgy. Public transportation scares me. I like small, confined, controlled environments - you should see my hotel room when I travel. Everything must be just so. This was something I could only teach them by example. I confronted people I was afraid of and told them to get out of my way. I went to college. I made friends. I got on an airplane. I wrote books. I went to New York, and I rode public transportation. Sometimes my example wasn't the best - as evidenced by a minor meltdown in 2000 in Orlando International before boarding - but I did the things I feared and came out the other side a better person.

What I didn't realize while I was doing all this bizarre (I am, remember, a bit of a freak) blend of moral, values-laden, pro-Republic, Libertarian, crunchy-granola, tree-hugging, Jesus-loving, natural-child-led-homeschooled-child-rearing was that I was apparently beating into them, with my many failures and flaws, core Army values. As I stood in the stadium at Hilton Field at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina and I heard the songs of my nation over the speakers above, and I saw the flag that represents who we were, who we are, and who we should be on the field before me I found myself discovering, or perhaps rediscovering, a new sense of patriotism and nationalism. I know - that's a dirty word in some circles now, isn't it? Maybe I should whisper it, for safety...Nationalism. Or maybe I should just pick my head up and yell it. Regardless.

There are approximately 1.5 million active US military serving all around the world. The population of the United States was most recently calculated to be around 310 million. 1.5 million people defending us, 1.5 million people defending others, 1.5 million people doing their duty, heeding a call, obeying a chain of command that they may not always agree with or support but that they recognize as their authority. I don't always like or approve of what our military or our government does. I am, for example, fanatical about liberty, freedom, and individual rights in a country that seems to be increasingly intrusive and legalistic and that seems at times bent on dictating my every liberty - which wasn't the plan in the beginning and it confuses and confounds me that it has become what it has.

But what I discovered, or more rightly remembered, on that field on Wednesday was that for better or worse and in spite of all of her many flaws and failings (and I do believe they are many) we still have the best game going (see. Nationalism!) and we owe it to ourselves and our children and our children's children to make it better (Patriotism!). America the beautiful. Land of the free, home of the brave.

Now if you will excuse me, I think I shall go and knit something red white and blue, and wear it with pride.

Knit it Forward

2010-11-24T19:31:00.000-05:00

Potter Craft has teamed up with Warm Up America! to help in accumulating knit and crochet blocks that will be assembled into afghans, hats and other items for distribution to those in need. If you have a little time and a little yarn to spare, consider this worthy cause. Potter has even posted two patterns from Nicky Epstein's new book to get you started.

Mail your blocks by December 2nd to:

CrafterNews c/o Potter Craft
Crown Publishing, 12-1
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Post a photo of your block (or blocks) on the CrafterNews Facebook page. The first 25 people who send in their blocks will get a copy of Knitting Block by Block by Nicky Epstein. The next 25 will receive another free pattern. And if you're not in the first 50? Well, you get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that during this holiday season you took some time out to help people in need. Be sure to come back here and post in the comments that you contributed. You never know when the MMO 2-at-a-Time yarn fairies might start tossing things out!

The Indigestion, It Goes Straight to the Heart.

2010-11-23T22:33:00.000-05:00

Anyone remember this post? If you've been here long enough, you may. If you don't remember it, you can read it now. Go ahead. I'll wait. But you may want a tissue.

We have children, most of us, for noble purpose. Or by accident. Or maybe a little of both. Or even none of the above.

I had mine, both of them, by a direct act of God. I know this because I had been labeled infertile at a fairly early age - long before I was really ready to have children, actually. I married young and my (then) husband and I were waiting to adopt. Never mind that I was 18 and he was 23. I knew I wanted babies. In fact, I wanted a whole farm house stuffed full of them. Millions. Or at least a dozen. And since having them on my own wasn't likely, adopting was the way we were going.

The week before Christmas 1985 I sat crying over ceramic ornaments I had painted by hand, ornaments I knew I'd never hang with a baby born of my own womb. I tried to make peace with that. When my cousins announced that they were pregnant, all I could do was cry. I cried a lot. In fact, I cried constantly. And sometimes I felt pretty nauseous. Really nauseous. And I almost passed out at work once. Or maybe twice. But it was hot in there. And then...well, and then in the normal manner of womanhood it came upon me that I might be, just might be, pregnant. And I was. And I was joyful. I quit smoking. I drank milk. I hate milk.

It wasn't easy, but then nothing worth having ever is. The baby made a few early attempts at departure. I spent a lot of time trying to lie down and trying not to do things like move refrigerators (I saved that for my second pregnancy - and almost lost that baby in the process - but if you know me, you know that sitting still and waiting for help is not on the menu). By December 1986 I was proudly carting around this beautiful, amazing, shining baby boy. You'll have to either read that post I linked to up there or take my word for it, because I am not in a place where I can get baby pictures right now. Trust me. I make amazing babies. The kind that go right to your heart the first time you look at them. And they stay there.

I am not at home today. In fact, I am a few hundred miles from home, spending my first ever holiday away from my (now) husband, waiting patiently for tomorrow.

What's tomorrow?

Tomorrow the indigestion I had on a warm and stormy August night in 1986, the stomach ache I have carried since 1986, the one that wormed it's way into every thread of my life is going to graduate from basic training. Army basic training. He's giving 8 years of his life. For me, and for his daughter and his fiancee and for us all. He's one of thousands. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. All of them nothing like each other in most ways, but all alike in one. They're willing to put their lives on the line - not an imaginary line, but a real one.

I don't know how, and he keeps saying it was me that did it (and I swear I am not paying him), but somehow I reared a soldier. For now this is what I have of him:

That is my son. Goofy weird grin, chowing down on government-issue turkey. Tomorrow when he graduates I'll have more. And for 24 hours I'll take all the pictures I can, but it won't ever be enough. I don't know where he goes from here (Ok, fine, I do. AIT in Virginia. But then, well, then I really don't know, and neither does he), but here's what I do know.

Somewhere today a soldier died. Maybe of old age or maybe of a gunshot or maybe s/he got blown up by a bad guy. And sometime before today that soldier had a mother, and that mother is now me. And if you think the first 24 years of indigestion were rough, try that on for size.

So what am I thankful for? On this day, and the next day, and the day after that, ad infinitum? I am thankful for indigestion. And the tens of thousands of indigestions that came before him, and the tens of thousands that will come after.

I don't get political here. It's a matter of conscience. How you or I vote, what we believe, how we feel about war or peace or anything in between. I don't go there.

But right now, right this minute, I am going to tell you something. I am going to go so far as to tell you what to think. And here goes.

You damn well better be thankful too. And if you aren't? You might not want to say it in front of me. Because while you debate your politics, and your yes or no to war and yes or no to troops here, there or anywhere, my kid - MY kid - and tens of thousands of other woman's kids - are standing by someplace willing to take a bullet because their nation and their president tell them they need them to. Get off your horse, high or otherwise, and the next time you see someone in uniform you remember this post. You remember that for every American in uniform there's a mother.

Now do what your mother said you should, and say thank you.

One Year Ago on Rhinebeck Weekend

2010-10-29T21:57:00.003-04:00

I haven't done a Rhinebeck recap because this has been a very busy and exciting time around here. I am writing a book, working a lot, my mother has been unwell in fits and spurts, we lost a dog, my son joined the Army - it's been a sort of endless year of up and down and craziness. But this is a very special weekend here, and so I want to share.

One year and two weeks ago, give or take a day, as I sat at the Wild Fibers dinner surrounded by friends, I got a text from my daughter conveying some very exciting news. Her oldest step-brother had asked the girl of his dreams - and ours - to marry him. And she said yes. Even though she knows him. Even though she has met all of us - and I do mean all - in this insane blended family we have built.

This is Brendon.

He's the oldest of four, or the oldest of two, depending on the day and which house he is in. He's the leader of the pack. The first to shave, the first to get a license, the first to graduate from anything, and the first drive my right up a freaking wall.

When I say we're an unusual family I do not exaggerate. First his parents were married and rearing he and his brother and then they were not married any more. I was married to someone else and had two kids of my own, and then I was no longer married.

(Brendon, Eric, Gene aka Mr. Wonderful)

In the end we found each other and we blended this crew into some sort of family.

When his father and I got together he was about 12. I was about 24, and Gene was about 30. Brendon's biological brother, Eric, was 7. My kids, Dan and Meg, were 5 and 3. I don't know what we were thinking when we decided to make this all work. Well, I do know what we were thinking. I think we were in love, we knew this was huge for both of us, and we decided that hell or high water we would make it work. The kids were no where near as accommodating as we might have liked. They all came into this new family with their own varied baggage.

(Brendon, Eric, Dan and Meg)

But blend they did, and in the end they formed a pretty reasonable if motley group with Brendon at the head. And I love them all, and they are all mine. And I mean that.

Because he was the oldest and the first to do all of the fun stuff, he was also the first to leave home. He was the first to leave pieces of himself behind in our lives and head off into the world to make a new life all on his own. We watched and sometimes worried and waited a lot for reassurance, and in the end it came. This bird fledged and made it look easy. The rest would have a tough act to follow. College, a good job, and in the end the right partner to share his life. And we are so very proud.

This is Selina.

(Selina at her Bridal Shower)

Brendon brought Selina into our lives a while back. His last girlfriend had been a very nice girl and we all liked her. What, we wondered, would this new girl be like? Girlie? Tomboy? Rugged? Dainty?

Selina is, and I do not lie, perfect for him. She is game and energetic, joyful and sweet, and a pleasure to be around. She's smart, witty, charming and unbelievably adorable. She can be a girlie girl when the situation warrants, but will cheerfully ditch the heels for a pair of jeans and a romp through the woods after a bear.

From a small family and with one sibling - and parents married only to each other since before she was born - what on earth would she make of the chaos and craziness that is our family? We worried. Would she run? Make for the door? Really, who wouldn't?

(Rachel, Eric, Aidan, Brendon, Selina, Megan, Jeroth - Christmas 2008)

But she stayed. In spite of the insanity that is this family, and in spite of the handful that is Brendon, she stayed. And then the text came, at the Wild Fibers dinner, the text that said that she wasn't just staying for now. She was staying for real. The girl said yes.

Tomorrow Brendon and Selina will join their lives in marriage. We're proud, we're thrilled, we're beside ourselves. We're adding a daughter to our crew, and we could not be happier. We could not have chosen a better partner for him if we'd searched the world over. And the best news? Check this out people....

SHE KNITS.

More Books That Aren't Mine. But I Love Them Anyway.

2010-10-24T09:55:00.001-04:00

Disclaimer: Reviews posted on this blog reflect the opinion of me. I am not compensated by the publishers in any manner other than the acquisition of a free book (never a bad thing!). If I don't like it, I won't talk about it. If I do like it, you'll have to put up with my blather for a few paragraphs.

Most of you know by now that I am a grandmother. I am also a big fan of handmade gifts. And I am a big old sucker for "cute". When I was asked to take a look at two Watson-Gupthill books, Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen and Knitting Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec, there was no choice but to say yes. I may have said it a little louder though. And there may have been a very very tiny bit of a squeal.

When I was a child, one of my things was watching my G.W. (aka Gramma Winnie, aka Winnifred Harvey Irish Morgan) crocheting and knitting a variety of animals and toys. Bears, mice, elves, you name it, she would make it. I even once had a purse that was made from the bottom of a used laundry soap bottle. When opened, it converted into a doll bed. I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I watched her fashion many of the same for siblings and cousins, and many, many more for selling at the local Christmas craft fair held annually in Northfield, MA at a variety of churches and other locales. Small knit and crochet friends, therefore, have a special place in my heart.

I have also been very busy of late with this new book, and once again my plan to knit sweaters for my grandchildren for the holidays is falling away from me. It makes me very sad that once again I am thwarted. But then I got to thinking. What about a smaller item? Not a sweater. What about...a toy? And then the email came - would I like to review books on knit toys? It's like they read my mind.Yes, of course I would love to!

When the books arrived I dove right into them. The books are decidedly different from one another, and yet I find myself in raptures over projects in both. Knitting Mochimochi is the work of Anna Hrachovec who's adorable blog and website Mochimochi Land contains a wealth of cute, cuddly and sometimes a little bizarre creatures.

In all there are 20 amigurami designs divided into four categories - Fierce Creatures, Random Objects, Impractical Wearables and Nano Knits. Most are under 8" when completed. The projects range from Bite-free Bedbugs to Feet Eaters (this is the cover image - a slipper that eats your feet) and from Grouchy Couch to a Hamster Herd. Information is provided on everything from childproofing your toys to designing your own. Most importantly, I think, there is a great deal of information on basic toy technique. Unlike a traditional knitted project, toys require a few tricks that some may not have in their arsenal. The information presented here on these topics would alone make it worth the investment for any toy knitter.

Most of these projects are small and quick to knit, making them perfect tote-along projects. I personally require a herd of hamsters for my office, and possibly some Pigs in Wigs as well. I am looking forward to boatloads of fun both to knit and to enjoy when they're complete. Excellent as gift ideas or just adorable objects to have around you, this book is loaded with fun and inspiration.

Next I turned my attention to Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen.

The patterns in this book are more traditional in appearance, but are just filthy all over with cute. The cover image alone is captivating, but then you begin to flip the pages...fifteen adorable creatures peer up at you, page after page of wildlife just begging for you to pick up the needles. Lion and tiger and, well, no bear unless you count the unbelievable cute giant panda. There's warthog and moose and zebra too!

A technique section gives advice on the basics of casting on, increasing and decreasing and binding off. There are helpful hints on working with intarsia, making tassels (tails!) and embroidery for faces as well as stuffing and care of your finished stuffed creature. These creatures are larger in size, about in the 8-18" range. You could knit an entire zoo that would keep any child entertained for hours regardless of their chronological age.

Continuing the trend toward unbearable cuteness, the Webs Holiday 2010 catalog just made it's public appearance.

Seriously cute. Within hours I had knit two penguins using the pattern from Webs which is available as a download (in case you are, as I was, instantly driven to whip some up), and I doubt my obsession will stop there. I love the slightly sarcastic look of the penguins. These are mine (so far):

There will, of course, need to be more. I've been rewarding myself for accomplished work with something like this - a project I can knock out and feel finished with in a matter of an hour. Of note, I did NOT put them here. When I went up to bed last night they were side by side on the mantle contemplating who they wanted me to knit next. I think this display indicates they want more of themselves? I can happily comply!

(edited to add an update on penguins and the resulting stacking behavior seen above from Girl - "Well there was an epic penguin battle going on, but then we all came in to watch movies so they had to freeze where they were. At least that's what I think happened... It's not like I was there.". I don't think I believe her about the not being here bit...)

Next weekend is our oldest sons wedding. There's a lot of flutter and excitement here. We love Selina (oh and Brendon too) and could not be happier for them or for ourselves, really. Among her other fine qualities, Selina KNITS. Just a little for now, but I think we can work on that, don't you?

One Block at a Time.

2010-10-14T08:34:00.000-04:00

When I am in the middle of a big project (like, say, a book...) I tend to crave small things, just a small project to wipe my palate free of the big one, if only for a moment. When I was offered a copy of Nicky Epstein's Knitting Block by Block, I couldn't resist.

I am a fan, I will admit. I own the functional eye candy that are also known as Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments, Nicky Epstein Knitted Flowers, and of course Knitting On the Edge and Knitting Over the Edge and Knitting Beyond the Edge, among others. I even own the 2001 Knits for Barbie Doll. The concept of this new block-based book is simple - using these simple shapes as a foundation, you can knit a variety of pieces - wearable or huggable or anything in between.
As it turns out, you can. Beginning with some helpful basic information on designing with squares, the book moves into a series of block-based designs for the knitter's perusal. Patterns for the featured designs are included in the back, but really I like to view them more as inspirations. In total there are 13 projects with specific pattern directions ranging from afghans and scarves to full garments and accessories. There's even simple toys, which I must say would make excellent last minute gifts!
Then there are the blocks. 150 of them to be precise. In true Nicky Epstein fashion, they run the gamut from simple to creative and tame to wild with a little of everything in between. Blocks are knit simply, or are embellished, cabled, embossed, colorized and liberally textured. Last but not least, there are four pages of images of the blocks themselves to finish things off. Simply copy them, cut them out, and use the squares to design your own project.
This book made me want to drop everything and play with my knitting. I think we don't do enough of that. isn't knitting, first and foremost, about enjoyment? We don't knit because there are no socks or sweaters. We knit because it's fun. it feels good. This book will inspire you to have some fun with your craft. One block at a time!

Nothing Significant to Say

2010-09-22T09:51:00.001-04:00

Things have been hairy here for a while now. I can sum it up for you with two phrases - "personal stuff" and "nobody died". Or maybe that's one phrase if I move the quotation marks around a bit. This happens when I am writing a book, it seems. The closer I get to deadline, the more things fall apart. So things started to fall wildly apart, and I got myself and some of the things back on track (the ones I had control over anyway) and right now I am not good for much more than casual conversation. So that's what you get!
I am looking forward to three days of work in a row, no interruptions. Except to share a little glimpse into life outside of and around the insanity.

After weeks of craziness, I declared Monday Big E day. For those of you not local to New England, the Big E is also known as the Eastern States Exposition, and is a weeks-long regional fair that just happens to be about 50 minutes from my front door. And I love fairs. I had no date so I called my mother in law and she was delighted to come along.

She likes birds. And these are really cute houses for birds.
I generally have an agenda at the Big E which usually involves browsing the state buildings and indulging in certain retail activities within them.

This ranges from the very specific salmon on a stick in the Maine building to the more vague "something else really bad for me".

I saw a lot of Whoopie Pies - these from Wicked Whoopies come in a string of flavors as long as my arm - but they are made with wheat, so no-go for me.

We did stand in a very short potato line in Maine - this one is half-loaded. I cannot believe how much stuff they put on those potatoes! I decided that half-loaded = "bad for me", so this about terminated my eating, except for the tastes of spun maple sugar in three of the buildings and the samples at Halladays that are required eating. As is buying a stack of their dips, which this year I managed to keep at three (Scampi, Spicy Garlic Dill and Garlic Chipotle). They're not just good dips (which they are...). They are also excellent for days when food prep is decidedly minimal - a tablespoon of one of these in the crock pot with some vegetables and maybe a meat, and dinner is decidedly simple.

We found these - Pushovers from Bigfoot, Inc. Would that I had a stack of them by the front door in a variety of sizes.

We saw and talked with beekeepers. I wonder if my customers would be interested in small strips of cut comb in their one pound jars? Judy thinks this is a bit of genius. I love comb honey. We will have to try it next year.

We saw an intelligently placed solar trash compactor outside of the Massachusetts building. Because all solar things work best in the shade.

And the most adorable shirts in Vermont. The one on the far right says "Vermont: we were green before it was cool." I love the tie-dye one, but I am a sucker for tie-dye.

As we stood debating what to do after our whirlwind tour of New England states, a parade came by. Not just any parade. A Mardi Gras parade, complete with bead throwers. I explained to my mother in law what is generally required to obtain beads at a Mardi Gras parade, and also that on this occasion I doubted that the general means would be required. I did state, however, that a certain amount of aggression would be required. Hands up, jump around, yell, and dive for them when they fly.

I created a bead maniac. We raced from one end of the fairgrounds to the other, dodging through buildings to get ahead of the parade route. She flattened little old ladies and small children in her quest. No football player with big shoulders would keep her from her strings of delight. When it was all over she was as decorated as a tree at Christmas.

Since I was a small person (no smaller, like 3' or so) I have lusted after, sighed about and in general desperately wanted a Vita-Mix. I just know that a Vita-Mix will solve all the problems of life. it would probably make me grow to 5'6" tall, remove all my stretch marks, and possibly cause me to lose weight. I just know it. I love to watch the demo, nod knowingly (since I've about memorized the thing) and run to the front for samples of freshly made dairy-free frozen treats, or peanut butter so new the peanuts are still weeping, or soup made hot in what some people call a glorified blender. I, of course, know better. The Vita-Mix is not a mere blender! It makes food processors look weak. It can BOIL WATER for crying out loud! Every year I watch the Vita-Mix guy and every year I am persuaded or constrained or in some other manner forced to NOT hand over my Visa and NOT head to the gate at a dead run in search of ice cubes and whole fruits with the seeds still in them so I can whip up a fresh, organic smoothie. I've sold them, not literally, but just by my obsessive and effusive adoration, which inevitably rubs off on someone near me. But I still don't own one, and if Mr. W. has his way I never will.

When we entered the Better Living Center the first thing I saw was the Vita-Mix guy. We must, I said, watch. Judy must see for herself the glory that is the Vita-Mix. Now my mother in law, is not much on spending. She's very good at saving, scrimping, and in fact makes me look like a spendthrift (and I reuse tinfoil and plastic flatware, so we're talking hard-core cheap here).
She bought one!!! Red. With a second bowl thing. AND a DVD and a recipe book. My mother in law now owns what I consider to be the grail of appliances. I still do not.
They say I will recover in time. This helps:
On a dare of sorts I made marshmallows over the weekend, and let me tell you this was not only easy, it was also fun and they are quite delicious. My candy thermometer bit the dust, but I like to test sugar in cold water anyway - I think it's more accurate. I used this recipe, although I did adapt it a bit to fit the day. For example I had no light corn syrup. In fact the presence of corn syrup here is somewhat miraculous, and I suspect that the jar this came out of was legal to vote in all states. Combined.

So I used the dark corn syrup I had here.And white sugar? Not so much. Cane sugar. White sugar goes to bees and hummingbirds. I also cut the vanilla by half because I have this vanilla on crack that my mother gave me, and it's dangerous in food if used as directed. When they say double strength, they mean it. There were three unopened big bottles in her house when we moved her and a few open ones. It will be a very long time before I require new vanilla. A very, very long time.

I also used a silicone mat to line my 9x13 pan because I had this vision of failure involving a chisel and rock-hard sugar goo. I did not need to fear. They de-panned beautifully, and were cut into appropriate sized cubes and are now...well...gone. But while they lasted they were perfection and I highly recommend the activity to anyone. Great fun, great gifts (I know because I gave them all away), and they do taste like marshmallow.
That's all the thrills and chills for this week. I need to get back to the grind, churn out this book, then take a nice long break in which I shall knit endlessly and bore you with pictures of knitting, DIY home projects (like my mudroom floor), and probably more food. Definitely more marshmallows!

Dear Squeamish People: Don't Read This Post (Except Maybe the End)

2010-09-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

(there's knitting toward the bottom - if you're squeamish, scroll fast until you see yarn)
I cooked feet. Chicken feet, mind you, not people feet. We had livers the other night, but really that's kind of passe by comparison and so there was no real need to blog it. The only notable bit was that I cooked them in bacon fat, and somewhere a good Jewish mother cried. Feet on the other hand...feet are emotionally charged. They bring out strong opinions. I have strong opinions of my own. Maybe it's because I come from a long line of wise and frugal people who didn't waste. Maybe it's because I grew up in a family well-populated with Depression era women who's sole goal in life was to wring as much meal as they could from the smallest amounts of food possible. When all you young folk start canning and saving your giblets, I laugh a little. In my world, who doesn't can and make giblet gravy and boil necks and bones for stock? Why would you peel the root vegetables when that's where all the good things are? And so it is with feet.
I've been asked about the feet - do I think it's gross? No. I think it respects the animal that I killed to feed my family. If I threw away useful parts, if I wasted things, that would be disrespectful and that would be gross. Don't I think they're dirty? Yes, but often so are my own feet after a day around here. Once they're washed, they are no longer dirty. The same applies to chicken feet. In fact I was amazed at how quickly they came clean.
When we slaughter birds, anything that can be used is used. The blood and feathers make excellent compost additives. The entrails and heads, minus gizzards, hearts, livers and feet are taken well away from the house and laid on the surface where wild animals eat them. It's all part of a cycle.
I believe strongly that animals are here for us to care for and to use. I believe equally strongly that this entails a responsibility on our part to care for them wisely and well, and not waste what we have been given. Chickens have feet. Feet have tremendous nutrients. Waste not, want not.
After viewing some recipes online I decided to begin with stock. Although this recipe for Hot and Spicy Chicken Feet was appealing, I am feeling more like it's a soup day today - obviously fall, a nip in the air and a good breeze, the leaves changing gently from green to gold and orange and red, a little overcast with breaks of sun. The day says soup. Soup begins with stock, and today stock began here,

with chicken feet. Apparently there is more to this than just hucking feet in a pot as I'd imagined and secretly hoped. Although frugal to the point of discomfort, I am also lazy. The preparation is minimal, however,and quickly accomplished. First the feet are rubbed well with Kosher salt - this assumes that you have clean feet. Ours were well-scrubbed before they were put away for later use.

Next the toenails are removed. This is apparently more about aesthetic than necessity. I chopped them off with my super cheap ($3!) and super-wondrous knife from the Asian Market in Hadley. I debated disposing of them, but really I don't think I care if there are toenails floating in my stock, and it all gets strained out later anyway, so into the pot they went. First though, I blanched the feet to remove the membrane. This was a total fail. I suspect I let them blanch just long enough to adhere the membrane to the leg, making removal impossible. I ended up making longitudinal shallow slices down the sides of the legs and feet to help release the goodness inside.

Into the stock pot it all went, with two carrots, an onion, and some herbs. No celery here - Mister Wonderful and celery are old enemies. Now we wait and simmer slowly for an hour or two. Tonight we dine on animals we knew well. It feels good.
In the meantime, I wandered out to find herbs and discovered that I could get away with a late harvest of the perennials. Since I was slacking about this all summer being otherwise focused, I was glad to come back inside laden with sage, oregano and thyme.

Now the kitchen smells doubly good, with simmering feet and piles of herbs waiting to be laid out for drying.
The yarn, Buffalo Gold Moon (yum, yum, yummo!) came for my shawl for the oldest's wedding in October. I have also silver lined E-beads, and a swatch.

I want to start it today but I need to get some work done. I think this will be my weekend project for a while. Once it's done I will write it up, I think. The plan is simple and quick, but lovely with enough bling and drape and halo to gain lots of compliments.
The brilliant Barbara Parry, author of Teach Yourself Visually Hand-Dyeing and shepherd at Springdelle Farm recently asked if I would like to design a sock in her new yarn. I jumped at the chance.

The yarn is lovely - and new so not yet on the Foxfire website - but when it is you will want some. Warm and wooly and delightful with excellent stitch definition and dyed subtly and beautifully in earthy colors - I am smitten. Madly and deeply. The pattern is finished, but not yet available - I will let you know when and where it is.
Simmering chicken feet, squishy warm wool in my hands, the promise of a tomorrow filled with silver beads and bison down...an excellent day for rest and reflection, I think. may your day be filled with the same.

The Waiting Game

2010-09-09T14:32:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time there was a girl, a young one, who fell in love with a boy. Not in the way you’re thinking, mind you. This wasn’t a romantic kind of a love affair. This girl fell madly in love on one August morning with a boy much smaller and younger than herself. She was too young to understand then just exactly what this new love would do to her life. She only knew that he was small and soft and smelled like new things. He began to grow, as many small things will. For a long time the relationship was pretty one sided. She carried, he threw. She fed, he burped, pooped, and on occasion threw up. She gave. He took.

It changed a little at a time, slowly, over months and then years. One day he smiled at her. Another day he said her name, her new name, “Mama”, as if he meant it. She still gave, he still took. But the giving was never as hard as it maybe should have been and the taking never seemed selfish, only necessary. He walked when she showed him how. He learned to blow bubbles, wave bye-bye, and from her masterful example he learned to talk more than most humans ever do. She showed him letters and numbers, and he learned to use them. He got very good at writing things like “I hate you Mom!” on pieces of paper and leaving them on the kitchen counter for her to find in the morning. She sighed, and made him his breakfast, and waited for him to grow some more.

People never seemed to understand this boy in the way she did. Some people made excuses for everything he did and said she was too hard on him. Others said she wasn’t hard enough, that she gave too much and he took advantage. She didn’t care so much. She followed her heart, and she waited some more.

Twenty four years went by in the blink of an eye, faster than she ever thought they would, faster than she thought even possible. He left her one day, which was fine in its way because it was time. It hurt a little, but she knew it was right. He rarely called. She worried, she wondered, she checked in now and then to see how he was. Boys, it is true, must find their way in the dark world, and a person once called “mama” isn’t always who they need to shine that light for them. They have to do a lot of it themselves.

She learned more about herself in those twenty four years than she thought possible. Ugly truths, gentle and tender secrets, deep things and shallow. Loving that boy made her a different person in the best and worst of ways. It was painful, scary, joyful, delightful and unbelievably real.

In four days, more or less, she will begin a new wait, and he will begin a new chapter of his life. The tables have turned; the demanding infant has become the young man willing to sacrifice himself for his country. In a uniform she’s not sure how she feels about some days, this boy will stand in front of her and swear allegiance to the country in which she reared him, the one she taught him to love and respect, the one she believes in, way deep down inside. He will become the property of a nation, the servant of a people, the protector of a country and she will be proud and scared. Mostly proud.

When you see him in his uniform in an airport, on your tv screen, in your newspaper you’ll look at him and think, depending on your politics and opinions, that you’re proud, or shamed, or angry, or sad and scared for his future. You will see a man you don’t really know, and you’ll think you do know.

But you don’t. While you see all of that or some of that, and think all of that or some of that, I will see and think only one thing.

Once upon a time there was a girl, a young one, who fell in love with a boy. Not in the way you’re thinking, mind you. This wasn’t a romantic kind of a love affair. It was motherhood. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.