Having a Ball....

This weekend I had an opportunity to listen to Ready, Set, Knit!, a radio program hosted by Steve and Kathy Elkins, the owners of Webs. A fledgling project the radio program, also available on iTunes in podcast form, is a well-paced blend of interviews, yarn scoops, hints and tips. Listeners can learn about new yarns coming into the store, hear interviews with folks like Norah Gaughan and Iris Schrier, and enter to win fab prizes, like gift certificates to Webs. Totally not shouting this out simply because they feed me; we all enjoyed listening, even Mr. Wonderful who is often affectiontely called "Poo-Head". If it can make him laugh, it's cool.
This is what my Monday looked like. Seemingly endless skeins of yarn being made into tidy center-pull balls suitable for swatching and knitting from. As each ball is made up, the yarn information is entered into the....HANNAH! Off the YARN!!...sorry about that. She seems to really enjoy the Schaefer Anne. Anyway, the yarn information is entered into an Excel sheet. This way I can keep track of weight, color numbers, yardage on hand etc. I wrote a couple of thousand words on Sunday. That was fun. Honey, if you're reading, I love you. But I said "I am going to write now." And then you came and you spoke to me. Frankly I don't even know what about. I heard noise, words came out of your mouth and I nodded assent. But to what? I have no clue. I am going to knit up a sign that says "Shhhh...Author At Work" or something. {giggle}Author.{giggle} Anyway, that's what Monday looked like and I am glad it's over. I have some yarns pending - particularly a Valley Yarns superwash hand dyed by Kangaroo Dyer sock yarn, and some Great Adirondack. They have a newbie, a heavier superwash called Caribou that MUST be in the book. Must, must, or I will cry. This is Tuesday and I don't know what it looks like yet. It is supposed to look like Swatch Day, but it started with "Take Girl to School so Her Car Can be Aligned Day", complete with first sticking snow, resulting in mass chaos, innumerable slippy spots, and the general Stupid Driving that accompanies said first sticky snow. On the plus side, Girl slid her car for the first time in relatively "safe" conditions. She hit nothing, and continued on her way, and now knows what it feels like. On the negative side, I now know that Girl slid her can and so it will probably slide again and so now I am all maternal and worried. I am glad we took it in for brakes and alignment in advance of snowfall. Driving her to the college was a riot. You wanna see some Stupid Driving?? Sit in a college parking lot during the first snow. Lots of slamming on of brakes, over-steering, it was funny as all get out. Poor little children.
While making balls I was reading over this little number that arrived in my mailbox this weekend. It's called "Threadbared : Decades of Dont's from the Sewing and Crafting World" and is an irreverent retrospective on various handmade fashion trends over the years. Mostly focusing on knitted garb, and spanning decades from 1950's to the 1980's the book takes a big poke at what we've worn, what we've made and finds no answer to the perennial question "Why?" that accompanies ugly knitting. Why, for example, would one try to create fur out of yarn? Why would anyone crochet targets for their breasts? (I am serious, page 91.) Why would anyone knit an Elizabethan collar or crochet a saggy baby bikini?? Why? Many of the images were familiar to me from inherited books. It's a funny read; Girl read it and laughed out loud, as did Mr Wonderful. An excellent gift for the knitter who has everything and loves to laugh. There's a lot of head shaking and a significant number of snorts, chortles and giggles emitted by readers. Show it to your granny - I bet she knitted half of it.
Knitwise, I managed to get this whipped out. It goes over my tank (as seen here.) and is shiny and glittery and I love it. The yarn it Filatura Di Crosa Gioiello, color #15,and the pattern is a freebie. If anyone sees me standing like that model?? Smack me, hard. It took about a day. Two reasonably priced (I think about $10 each) skeins made this adorable little ditty, the perfect dressy go-over for those of us who choose to keep our upper arms under wraps. I topped this off with a purchase of new make-up to replace my the ten year old stuff I had hanging around. I saw some article that said you should actually pitch the stuff every 3-6 months or something. Are they NUTS? Heck, I only slap it on about once every five years. And it still had color in it. But I decided not to risk it - there might be Dangerous Bacteria from that wedding I attended a few years back. I am sure the Divas of the world would faint dead away if they knew I bought make-up from the local CVS. Just like that, off the shelf. No makeover, no $200 out the window, just some cheap face paint from the five and dime.

Look Ma, I'm Legit!

I have the essential laptop, and a Mac even, to round out my literary appearance...
Now all I need is a cord blazer with suede patches on the elbows and a pipe. OK, maybe not so much. There must be a feminine equivalent. That I will probably refuse to adopt. Because it will mean wearing a skirt, or un-sensible shoes, or something other than denim.
And, as if that is not enough, official contracts, two of them, with an author questionaire. I must say, every time I read the words "Melissa Morgan-Oakes (herinafter known as Author)..." I get a tad weepy.
Eventually the tears will fade and I will be able to actually read the contract in some clinical manner. Or maybe I'll just sign it and send it back. Lawyers are over-rated, right?
Knitting? Umm...shortly, I promise! Malea will rejoice to hear that we are in the finishing stages of the RockStar. I am hopeful. It looks like evrything will fit together and become something resembling a sweater. Wouldn't that be novel?

Thankful

Time to take stock. I have so many things to be thankful for, it's hard to know where to begin. First, I am thankful that I get up every morning under my own steam, and walk to the coffee maker which I can see with my eyes and hear with my ears.

I am thankful for babies who grow up into children who then become adults even if at times it appears that they are trying to drive me into an institution.

I am thankful for a man in my life who supports me and loves me no matter what, even when at times I appear to have Career A.D.D. (Nurse? seamstress? crafter? knitting teacher? author?? what next???). I am thankful for my father who never forgets to say "What are you going to be when you grow up??" and shakes his head wryfully.

I am thankful for food in my fridge and a roof over my head, for a warm bed at night. I am thankful for my life.

I am thankful for America which I often bash but truly love. I am thankful that I can be at liberty to complain about America. It's easy to gripe when you have freedom. I am thankful that tomorrow when I wake up there will not be the threat of bombs and guns blasting me out of my senses. I am thankful for relative peace around me, even if the rest of the world appears to be going to heck in a handbasket.

At this precise moment I am mostly thankful for my job. I send out letters, and yarn comes to my house, for free. Yes it needs to be swatched and designed into socks. Yes, it needs to be knitted and photographed. But it just appears here, as if by magic. And I love it all so very much! If I had to choose a favorite so far I'd have to say one particular skein of Scheafer Anne is calling out to me. I love that yarn. But then the Cherry Tree Hill, my first, is decidedly edible. The Louet yearns to be knitted - and then machine washed and dried. Where do I begin??

Maybe I am thankful that I can just stare at it for a few more days...

Been a While

I've been teaching a lot and doing a lot of mental stuff in between times. It's mostly intellectual work I've been up to, and I find it gets in the way of my knitting. But - I have finished a couple of things. First, my tank, shown here under Mr. Wonderful's jacket because I was too lazy to move it. This was a lot of fun to knit and I love it on. It's not blocked yet, but has been tried on and was, if I do say, adorable. I need to finish the capelet, which is totally stalled. Before that I need to finish the rock star, but my graph got messed up and every time I look toward it I feel kind of queasy. I need to go back, figure out where I am, replace the magnet and hope no one bumps into it again. Really it should be a one afternoon gig. One good solid day at home and it'll all be over. And be over it must, both because it was promised ages and ages ago, and because I have other fish to fry. And by the way, Malea, your vest - which I bet you think I've forgotten?? That IS a no-brainer, and will be done before Christmas. And I did get a zipper for Mr. Wonderful's jacket, but that'll take me forever to commit to. I don't love zippers. Never have, never will.

Then there are the modular scarves for class this weekend. Samples. Scarves in the Mist. It's very misty here today. It's 52 degrees, and it's rained a lot and the brook is going all out behind me. I had the slider doors open so the dogs could play on the deck. Really it was so I could listen to the brook. The one on the left is Artyarns Supermerino (109 and 125, two skeins of each) and the right is Noro Silk Garden closeout, which makes the project a fun and affordable $13.50 or so. I get so busy with other things that I forget often how much satisfaction I get out of Modular stuff, or lace, or cables or what have you. Someday I am going to make a ton of items just for me, and they're going to be all the disciplines I love but never have time to master fully, like twisted Austrian stitches and so forth.

For now my mind revolves around the intellectual labor of this, the Two-Socks technique. From here this looks like a pile of unfinished baby socks. What it really represents is hours of trial and error, and learning to teach a thing I do mechanically. It also represents the brave efforts of a gallant few (Katy, Kristen and Mary Alice) who were willing to go a very long extra mile for me and try out this technique in spite of my obvious brain cramps in explaining it. They've been incredibly helpful in pointing out potential pitfalls and helping me to define how this technique works. I seriously could not do this without you guys. Seriously. Now, why, one might ask, am I putting so much effort into deconstructing a technique I do without thinking? Because it will be the focus of my book. My book. I love how that sounds! My book (I can't stop saying it) if all goes according to plan will be released next fall by Storey Publishing and will include the two-socks on one circular technique, and also a collection of 15-20 sock patterns in all weights and sizes and types. What this means is that most of my blogging from now till March will be about socks. There may not be a lot of pictures. And there may not even be a lot of words. "Be careful what you wish for...". I begin to see with full clarity what I suspected all along. Writing a book is a vast amount of labor for not very much financial compensation. You really have to love what you're doing. It's like parenthood.

And I also work on this. Because I have dial-up, I can keep a project at the computer. This is the official dial-up project of the week, a mitten from measurements in a simple stripe of Valley Yarns Amherst charcoal and Classic Elite Waterlilly 1947. I am currently teaching a mitten from measure class, and this mitten and its future partner will hopefully be used this weekend to demonstrate alternative decrease options and what they look like when completed. Today we're downloading Microsoft Windows updates and trying to upload pics for the blog. Perfect for Dial-Up Knitting! (GRR!)

I leave you with this:
This is a Boo-Boo going full-bore straight for my knees. He's got a big grin, which may or may not be evident to the casual observer (trust me, it's a grin). He's so incredibly happy, all the time, unless he's scared, but then he sits on momma's foot and he's happy again. He's not a baby any more, but carries in his spirit a sense of undying puppyhood. His entire person exudes puppy in spite of his heft. He's just utterly unaware, but in a comforting way. I think we all need moments like this in our lives, moments where the grown-up life of bills and mortgages and car problem simply don't exist, and we're totally and wholly in the moment of frolic and joy and life.
I am so jealous.

Restless

My mind is restless. Last night in my sleep I designed two pair of socks. Both are based on a class I took this weekend with Candace Eisner-Strick that should be lovingly called "Strickmuster: Why my Butt is Sore on Monday". In spite of some jumping in and out of my chair by Sunday night my tush was sad and sorry. Generally when I knit for hours on end, it's here in my own chair.
This is what we were learning; Austrian twisted stitch technique. First the practice piece in Amherst, which I am planning to convert into a wristlet and make a partner for at some point, as I have two wrists and don't want any jealous arguments about who gets to wear it.
Second the "project" which may take me forever and a day to return to. Initially I wanted to make a pair of mittens, and even bought the yarn for them; Jaeger Matchmaker, color 736, a closeout at Webs - and everyone knows I love a closeout! I may begin them at some point, but for now I content myself with the bag, recognizing that at this juncture of my life, time does not allow for fingering weight twisted stitch mittens Just-For-Me. I have bigger fish to fry right now. Big old sock fish. But more on that soon. So I chose a bag, a small and simple bag. The yarn is Ella Rae ($5.99 for 219 yards!) color 33, which I officially love (both color and the yarn itself). It is very much like Cascade 220, and a dollar less a skein, but convienantly in a ball which I really appreciate. I sense that this yarn will felt very well, and want to get a bunch of colors and knit up a bag to test that theory.
I love this technique. I already cable without a needle, so changing stitch position is a natural thing for me. I love cables, and wish there were more of them in my life. I came home and ordered Maria Erlbacher's Uberlieferte Strickmuster, "...a three-volume set of textural and twisted stitch patterns, each accompanied by a black and white photograph of the sample knitted. Although in German, the text is minimal as charts are used and English instructions on reading the charts is provided." I cannot wait for them to come so I can fill in the empty spaces of the socks in my mind.
I decided to make a brioche hat. I started it late Sunday when my mind sought something slightly less mindful than Strickmuster, but more mindful than, say, a garter stitch scarf. The yarn is Berkshire leftover scraps from Mittens from Measurements samples, and the pattern from Weekend Knitting. Like some other folks, I feel a sudden pull toward hats and mittens - New England Winter gear though not of bulky gauge. This hat is much shorter than the original. I don't generally wear hats and when I do I don't like them folded up. I actually wore this - unblocked and unfinished - around the house yesterday and I liked it. I think I wear more hats at home than out. The body of the hat went pretty fast. The decreases for the crown confused the living daylights out of me, so I faked it. I plan to make more for holidays and assume that as I go on more will be revealed. Here again, I have some Knitters ADD issues and can't stay focused on any one technique or project right now. I also started this, a capelet to wear on vacation.The yarn is Fiesta Rayon Boucle. I want to wear it with this beaded tank designed by Karen Minott in Deerfield, color: eggplant. This may be a big car project. I thought the two of them with black pants would be cute for a nice dinner out on our anniversary. I need beads. Soon. Maybe today. I have to run to The Big City for dog food. A bead trip makes sense today. First I have to write down the two pair of socks on their appropriate sock spreadsheets. Then I will be free to shop for dog food and shiny beads.
Good news for one lucky knitter - one brown tortise shell barrette, hopefully the right one. I don't know who found it, but someone told me it was there, perched happily on the keyboard of the bar-code computer at the cash wrap. It reached it's little barrette hands out to me and begged to be taken away. Fun, it said, seeing all that yarn, but lonely and sad with no curls to hold in place.As I have no curls to occupy it, it must be content to know that it will soon find it's way back home. Alternatively I could put it on the dog, who has loose curls...

Katy Kissed a Goat.

Or he kissed her, I am still not sure which.
But then it's Rhinebeck and people do crazy things at Rhinebeck. Some of them they'd never admit to in public.

I, for example, have been tempted in the extreme by this, the most amazing spinning wheel I have ever touched. Remember me, the Frugal Knitter who can take a cone of "something scary from the warehouse" and turn it into a wearable and lovable Rogue? Not just beautiful, although it certainly is that, an amazing machine lurks beneath the external beauty of this triple flyer high-speed wheel. The plan: a custom job, using the Welsh love spoon my husband got me as a basis for the wheel of my dreams - with matching chair! The experience of spinning on this wheel was amazing. Every spinner should own one. Go to Golding Precision Fiber Tools and order one today! They also have simply blissful spindles. Although not a fan of drop spindling myself, it's obvious that their spindles are as precise and perfect as their wheels. I am starting a Golding Wheel saving account. It can't take more than a few years...
Once again I failed to get any Brooks Farm Yarn. Being short on cash I had spent just enough to make the purchase of my two skeins of Harmony impossible. I could have cried. I did narrow down my choices. I want two skeins of Harmony in either Blush or Red Hot Salsa. I can't decide which. Or both, both would be good too. I was too busy being sad. But I got over it quick enough when I found these, penannular brooches from Ram's Horn Studio made according to ancient Celtic specification. I got the smallest one. Sine I want it primarily for shawls the little one made sense. Not to say that I don't plan another trip for a second, the medium. And some buttons, I love their clasps and buttons. They also have a variety of jewelry, but I don't wear it so it did not fascinate me like the buttons and clasps did.
I should mention here that I ditched my poor family just inside the gate and run off with Katy and Kristin who'd been there the day before and so had a better feel for the lay of the land, and things of importance - like where the Socks that Rock was, and Brooks Farm, and that sort of thing. Next year I really would like to go for the whole weekend, Friday to Sunday, and take a class or two in there somewhere.
I also found these beautiful circular glass needles, which are nothing like the straight glass needles I've used. These are lightweight and warm and I loved them. They are made by Sheila and Michael Ernst of Oregon. I'd love some of these, in the designer colors in sizes I use a lot, like 6's or 7's. They've got amazingly pointy-points. I love a pointy point. Unfortunately the designer colors don't come smaller than an 8. But I could be happy with that!
I tried square needles later in the day after Katy and Kristen had left and I was back with the Fam. I did not love them. They felt clunky, like my hands were forever trying to get them "straight" or hold them "right". It seemed like a possible, but ended up as a not-so-hot, IMHO. I also tried some wine later in the day with my mother in law, who's not into wine and certainly not into the kind of wine I drink! She tasted the strawberry and the sweet holiday wines while I tended toward Cabernets. There was nothing to write home about there really either. Nice, but not stellar. Not nearly as fun as when Katy gave Kristen the hot mustard on the cracker. I did buy some hot sauce, and also some garlic jelly (beyond fabulous!!) and garlic dill pickles from Spacey Tracy, as well as some garlic dipping oil mix (coming soon to a drop-in near you) from Awesome Specialty, who also had wonderful soup mixes and a fantastic garlic herb dip - are we seeing a trend here? I love garlic.
We stopped by Grafton Fibers for Girl's garbage box. I love that. 'Garbage'. OK, if you say so...looks pretty slick to me. It's a mix of leftovers of various batts in various colors, perfect for a felter. One woman's trash is a teenaged felters treasure. The colors are just painfully beautiful. Usually I walk into that booth and touch softly and lust over the batts. By the time we got there very few batts were left. It seems "bloggers" were to blame - having read the Harlot's blog and discovered the joys of Grafton Fibers they wiped it all out before we got there. The same was true of Socks that Rock...I got two hanks of Sock Candy, color Scaponia. I like it. But I wish I'd been able to see more. I did find one skein of Socks that Rock fingering. One skein. Amazing what can happen when bloggers unite.
Kristen bought a Lucet, a cool little device that allows you to make cords of varying weights from a skinny little thing to a big bulky cords suitable for bag handles. She bought it for her kid, but if I were the kid I'd watch out. I want one of these too. It just seems like the kind of ancient hand tool I'd need around here.
This blogger bingo thing? I totally missed the boat on it. I was sick for the two weeks leading up to Rhinebeck, not posting or even reading and missed out. That would have been fun. Yeah, next year we're going to do it right. A limitless budget, a recognizable face, and a big group of Webs people. Well, maybe the face and the Webs people, maybe not so much on the budget. Yet I believe in my soul that the words "budget" and "Rhinebeck" should not exist in the same sentence. Rhinebeck should be - and for many it was - an orgy of fiber shopping.
Lest you think I never knit...this is Mr. Wonderful's Rhinebeck Sweater that Didn't Make it to Rhinebeck. It needs a zipper - I thought to avoid a zipper and substitute button bands, but when he tried it on he said "Where's the zipper??" Sigh. It's Auracania Nature Wool Chunky, color 102. It's got Celtic cables up the sleeves, saddle shoulders, and is steeked front and armscyes. The body was worked in the round in English rib (K1, P1 first rnd, then K around the second)It was designed on the needles, based on the measurements of Mr. Wonderful's favorite fleece cardigan. And amazingly, it FITS! It needs to be blocked, zippered, and finished. It was a good try, and I came very close. I am not loving the pooling across the chest, but this is what comes of knitting while sick. It's a hit or miss proposition. But better there than in the cables where it would have wreaked visual havoc.
Katy and Kristen introduced me to the world's softest goat (truly. really and honestly. She'd been brushed and washed and brushed again for the day and was indeed the softest goat I have ever touched, and I have touched a few goats in my time. Not kissed. But touched.) Katy and Kristen need blogs I can link to so you can meet them. I also saw the smelliest - I mean the really coolest goats I've ever seen. Cashmere, baby, on the hoof. But man do they smell. In fact, they smell exactly like goat products taste to me, and it's not a pleasant smell. But it's a cool goat to look at, with it's huge curling horns and long coat.

First, the roofer came...

and it was good. The old shingles came off beautifully; one single layer removed from the garage in record time. They were in pretty bad shape, but we have been blessed. Underneath, the sheathing is as clean and pretty as the day it was put on some 20 years ago. This is the secret of a newer house - there's only one layer of shingles and it tends to be over a beautifully intact structure. It's a relief for us - the last roofing job we did was about ten years ago. There were three layers of shingle on some ugly rotted old stuff on our old house. In fact, the ease of maintenance had a big role in how we chose this house. "Imagine..." we thought "straight walls!" You have to understand we came from what was originally a corn-crib recycled into a four bedroom "house" (I use the term loosely) with one closet and one bathroom. And four kids. For us, one layer of shingles is a miracle. More than one bathroom is a gift from God. And the closets? I still hyperventilate when I count them, and it's been two years. There's...seven of them. SEVEN.

But the best laid plans of knitters and men sometimes go awry. Take for example our new handy roofing material slide-through door attachment. No easy way into the garage? Not a problem. Paul here will make one just the right size for sliding lumber, drip edge, and other items into the garage without the aggrivation of that whole annoying open-and-close the garage door thing. I think Gene was more worried about the glass on the garage floor by his bike than anything else. It reminds me of our old house, with the cracked siding from baseballs thrown too hard, and the three missing panes of garage door glass from who knows what that we never replaced because 'they'd just break them again'.
Dumpster delivery right to your front door is not a problem for this crew! Getting the truck back out of the front yard while leaving the grass intact? Well, a bit more of a challenge. All you need to do is dump 120 or so pounds of pea-gravel onto the grass. Voila!! A new driveway! See the kid? When all was said and done his father turned to him and said "See all this gravel? I want it all back in the buckets." I think he's still raking.
Think of me today, as you go about your work and play. I will be here, waiting for what thrills today may bring.

No, mother, the roof is not the surprise.