Live and Let Learn!

dropping in

2011-09-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

Hey, y'all, I'm not kitting as much lately, so this blog will probably not be updated very often, but I'm still around, still online. If you want to keep in touch, you know how to reach me on Ravelry or, if you'd like to know what else is up, drop me a line (email link in profile) and I'll tell you how to find me on Facebook. I hope to see you there!

ingrid

2011-07-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Ingrid cardigan

Started in January, finished in July.

Top down funky genius knitting gymnastics construction in an extremely well-written pattern.

I think I love it, but it's July so I can barely touch it. Will let you know for sure in October.

Beautiful lace sampler scarf being knit by a friend after a raw foods potluck party last weekend. She scored 7 skeins of this cashmere for a grand total of $1!

finish-itis

2011-07-06T09:10:00.001-05:00

I had a raging case of finish-itis this lovely holiday weekend and here's what I have to show for it:

Cuffs on Ingrid cardigan, project now complete and blocked and I think I LOVE it. REALLY love it. Like possibly the best sweater I've ever knit. Photos soon.

Auto-pilot 2x2 rib socks. This was my always-with-me filler knitting for a while. They've been sitting on my desk for something like two weeks, just waiting for me to weave in those 4 yarn ends. Now added to the sock stash. Yup, keeping this pair for myself.

Lacy Baktus with Edge, the 5th(?) I've knit, this one for my sister. This was the always-with-me knitting for a while too, until it got too bulky. A lot can get accomplished in those little bits of waiting time that we all have, if there's an easy project within reach.

And just to prove that it's all Lacy Baktus, all the time, around here, here are two more that my mom just finished. Seriously, most wearable handknit evah. Just enough of a touch to spice up an outfit or add that extra layer of warmth without being too bulky. Mom's living in Florida in the winters, but there are plenty of times to want a little warmth over your shoulders or around your neck, even down south, in the land of overzealous air conditioning. Once you get the pattern in your head or the chart (printed on cardstock) clipped to your work, it's the perfect mobile project. I like to wind the skein of sock yarn into two equal cakes so I'm carrying a smaller package and know exactly when I've reached the halfway point, which is when the increases become decreases.

Next up: Saroyan!

perfect

2011-06-30T14:48:00.000-05:00

good live music +
good brisk walk +
good raw dinner +
good background knitting =

absolutely glorious evening

up, up, and away

2011-06-30T10:06:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, Jesse and I hung out in upstate New York with a bunch of rocket scientists.

Hundreds of launches, most as expected, some spectacular catastrophes at take-off.

I took advantage of the time in the sunshine to take a long walk around the perimeter of the enormous sod farm, have a rockin' good ATV ride, and finish the Lacy Baktus for my sister.

I'm now halfway through the ribbing on the body of the Ingrid cardigan. Will be home tonight for the first time in something like 2 wks, so might be able to finish that up after a run, then only sleeve ribbing to go!

Life. Do it up!

2011-06-20T14:42:00.005-05:00

I was away for only 36 hours this weekend, but it felt like a week's worth of vacation and festivities and, really, like I'll be riding that wave for a good long while. You know that kind of weekend? Yeah. Excellent.

Started off on Saturday morning in Cambridge, MA, to run my first 5K with Pa, Ben, and Jed (and others) from the Do Life movement. Didja hear that, Peeps? A 5K! Me?! Now, all you real runners, don't fall off your chair laughing. I know 5K is a warm-up for some of you, but for me, it's big. I mean, I've been walking that distance or even double that distance for many days in the past year, but running? No. Never did. Never expected to. But when the body has energy and the joints don't complain, it seems a natural progression and -- dare I admit this? -- I'm *liking* it.

I started loosely following the Couch to 5K program a few weeks ago. I say loosely because it's supposed to be a 9-week program and they warn you not to jump ahead, even if you feel like you can, but I did it in 3 weeks because I'm an ~~idiot~~ rebel like that. It was steamy on Saturday morning, though, so I (and the other couple of women I hooked up with) did a fair bit of walking during that 5K. Still, it's all movement and it's all good.

Then I headed to NYC, where I trekked around and had an amazing lunch of raw gourmet foods (I ordered appetizers so I could try a variety -- tostada, hand roll, pizza, ravioli) at Quintessence and raw dessert from One Lucky Duck. I ate that mint chip sundae on a bench outside and took the tiramisu and lemon square with me for another time. Boy, it's too bad that a raw foods lifestyle is so boring and restrictive and deprivational, eh?

;-) Saw some live music, enjoyed wandering the city solo, and met up late at night with a friend who was letting me crash at his place (lest y'all get the wrong idea: platonic! guest room!).

Up the next morning for another 5K! This one was in Central Park, again with the Do Life guys (and many others). If you check out Ben Does Life, you might see my smiling mug in 3 of his recently posted pics. This time, I again met up with two women with whom to run -- all of us at about the same pace and endurance. I took 1-minute walking breaks a few times, but this one felt like I really ran it. And I was able to hold conversations while running with them. And it was fun. So. Much. Fun. I left plenty of time for chatting with people before and after, met some fabulous and interesting folks, and really got the biggest buzz from the whole thing.

Back to friend's house, we had planned to take his motorcycle to the beach, but decided the traffic would be horrendous, so instead strolled the High Line and Hudson River Park on what had to be one of the most spectacular weather days of the year.

I googlemapped my weekend this morning and came up with about 23 miles of walking/running, total. No joke. Yet another Lacy Baktus along with podcasts to keep me occupied on the train ride back to CT to fall into bed, so tired but yet so energized.

they're everywhere

2011-06-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

I took a walk during Leah's voice class last week and was on the way to my harmonica class at a community college when I passed this wall of windows and noticed, sitting right inside, a cluster of knitters! So of course I made a U-turn, went inside and introduced myself.

It ends up that these three work at the college and get together to knit on Wed. evenings after work. Then it ends up that I've chatted with two of the three before and one even bought a glass button from Scott a while ago, used it on a hat with a seed stitch brim!

chillin'

2011-06-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

It was a bit warm out there yesterday, but I was in a shady spot before Leah's voice class, while waiting for my harmonica class to start. I had good tunes, good knitting, a gentle breeze, and a good view of some fine young bucks practicing bike tricks. I had planned to just stay parked until Leah went into her class and then go for a walk, but it felt so good to do what I was doing that I just stayed there. I sat and knitted for a whole hour! Such a rarity these days. And I remembered exactly why I love this little obsession so much. And I still do, even though I'm walking more than knitting lately. Down 90 pounds now, so it's all good!

this wk, the stats version

2011-05-22T19:43:00.000-05:00

miles walked: 35+

days of rain: 6

car maintenance cost: $1,900. ouch.

concerts seen: 1

average # of social encounters per visit to Whole Foods: 3

new jeans size: 12

lacy Baktus completed: #4? or is it 5?

avg # of social encounters while on walks: 1+

hoops made: 7

rocket launches attended: 1

rockets launched: zillions

evening walks/visits with friends: 3

inches left to go on body of Ingrid cardigan: ~6

kumquats munched: 20+

harmonicas bought for upcoming class: 2

hey, I made something!

2011-05-15T08:53:00.000-05:00

New kitchen, new dishcloths.
They're small, so I made two.
Fun to crochet for a change!

Old friend, very good friend.
From Minnesota, on Long Island for the weekend.
So nice to reconnect.

The whole day felt a lot like this moment looked.
Bonus: Found a fab juice bar!

Time on the ferry gave me a chance
to reconnect with another old friend,
the sticks and string. Ahh.
Good day and home in time to walk 4 miles before bed.

anything goes

2011-05-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a seamstress may feel a little steampunk.

Sometimes she may prefer the Civil War era.

At Costume Con, held in New Jersey this year, anything goes. Costume enthusiasts of all eras and genres gather together to strut their stuff, share techniques and resources, take workshops, and be inspired.

Leah was tickled to win an award for one of her outfits.

And now she's 13. It'll be fun to see where her fiber/textile passions will take her this year! Go, Goob, and happy birthday!

the big catch-up

2011-05-09T17:03:00.001-05:00

Whoa. Yeah, it's been a while. Hold on tight and I'll do a quick summary of what's been going on 'round here. It's been a wild ride.

Leah finished sewing another historic gown, attended another vintage ball, danced all night. Dinner at Ethiopian restaurant first. Yum.

Scott and Jesse spent a few days in Delaware for Red Glare rocketry event (just like the one last fall).

Scott and his buddies went camping/fishing for the annual weekend festivities for opening day of trout season.

Leah took a pottery class. Had fun with her first attempts on a wheel.

Kitchen electrical work done and appliances delivered. Scott's in the process of sheetrocking. Cabinet installation scheduled in a couple of weeks.

Kids and I saw the orchid show at New York Botanical Garden. Haven't been there since 2006. The place is super cool.

I moved out, got my own apartment. Not easy, but it was time. We're all adjusting.

Leah and I spent a weekend in New Jersey for Costume-Con. She won an award for one of the outfits she sewed.

Ireland 4/11

Spent a week in Ireland. Stunningly beautiful. Totally mellow. Click through for the photo album. Giant's Causeway!

hello, old friend

2011-04-13T05:24:00.000-05:00

Some days are like a breath of fresh air, y'know?

The trails are finally cleared of their winter muck, so I walked six miles in some of my favorite woods.

Throughout the day, I was lucky enough to chat with three friends who I've known since I was about 16. Soooo thankful to still be in touch with these good people.

And there was even a little bit of time left in the evening to add a few more rows to my Ingrid cardigan. This is only the second time I've worked on it since February, but the second sleeve is almost as long as the first now. True to form, this super warm and wooly sweater will probably be ready to wear in, oh, July or August. ;-)

Still, it was refreshing to knit a bit, chat a bit, walk a bit.

It was a very good day.

following the bliss. again. still.

2011-04-10T07:52:00.002-05:00

Scott and Jesse: In Delaware for a rocketry event.

Me: Walking 6 miles with a group of awesome and fascinating people on a sparkling early spring Saturday morning, tickled to see flowers and buds and feel the warmth of the sunshine.

Leah: Over the moon in her favorite of the 19th century ball gowns she's sewn to date, asked to dance for all but the few dances she sat out (to rest) at the 1861 Ball of the Rebellion. Months of anticipation, weeks of sewing, 4-1/2 hours of dancing and festivities, and a lifetime of good memories.

In progress

2011-04-07T09:55:00.001-05:00

Pillow to match the Goob's comforter.

Granny square mania and stash diving continues.

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each one teach one

2011-04-02T16:06:00.002-05:00

Outgoing learning: From Scott to Troy, winner of a lampworking workshop that Scott offered as part of a fundraising auction.

Incoming learning: From Holyoke Creative Arts Center to Leah, a Patternmaking: Bodices class. More skills added to her growing seamstress arsenal.

Meanwhile, Jesse and I hiked to a peak on Mt. Tom. Wicked cold up there, but interesting history/ruins and what a view!

Blooming hyacinths on my desk, because their smell is intoxicating and I wish I could share it with you all. Go ahead, take a deep breath. Can't you just feel springtime on the way?

To everything there is a season

2011-04-02T09:44:00.001-05:00

Hike now. Knit later. WooHoo!

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a breath of fresh air

2011-03-28T19:28:00.002-05:00

This post is for Rani and Laurie and anybody else who is going a little winter stir-crazy right about now.

Pics taken Saturday in NYC, where the very first signs of spring are popping up, where the sun was shining brightly and the day could not have been more delightful.

Hang in there. Warmer days are coming!

well, at least one of us is being creative

2011-03-25T16:48:00.003-05:00

I was going to title this that one of us is being productive, but that's not quite right. See, we're both being plenty productive, it's just that I'm being productive at workworkworkworkwork and Leah is being productive in other ways, creative ways, handcrafting ways.

Since we got back from vacation over three weeks ago, I have knit for a grand total of 45 minutes on a scarf for my sister, while at the MIT thing with the kids two weeks ago. :::sigh::: But I'm happy for the work and the new kitchen it's buying us, so no pity party for me. Let's see what the Goob's making, shall we?

With no less than three hoop-skirted 19th century gowns-in-progress in her room right now, this week she put the finishing touches on one! Velvet from the most awesome barter evah. Braided trim from another excellent barter. Muslin from our scrap stash. Vintage buttons and cameo pin from my Gram's house. Sewn entirely by hand. Total cash outlay for this dress: $5 for pattern. Sense of satisfaction: Priceless.

Otherwise, my girl's a happy hooker, having caught the crochet bug. She dug around in the scrap yarns recently, picked up a good audiobook at the library, and emerged from her room a while later with a rainbow bunting to string merrily across the walls of her room.

So, that's that. I gots nothin' of my own to show you. When I'm not working, I'm out walkingwalkingwalking, loving the fresh air and daylight. Reminds me of similar comments on a blog post from exactly a year ago.

As a matter of fact, I managed to arrange a Whole Day Off (almost as rare as knitting time lately) for myself tomorrow and I'm going to pop down to NYC to do a fair bit of walking there. Don't look now, but somewhere along the line, the exercise (walking and a variety of other activities) became enjoyable, something I look forward to every single day and get grumpy about if it doesn't happen. Srsly. I've heard rumors of such a phenomenon, but never, ever thought it would happen to me.

Now, while the day's work is done and there's still glorious daylight out there, I'm heading out for a few miles. After that, I'll be winding yarn and gathering supplies for a new little traveling project because there will be train time tomorrow and, you know, I am still me.

They're everywhere

2011-03-12T12:12:00.001-05:00

Kids had plans to participate in a math/sci/general goofiness event at MIT today.

I had to smile when we realized Fiber Camp was happening on the same day, in the same place.

Who are all these yarnies and why do they keep following me?!

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Early mornings

2011-03-01T20:50:00.001-05:00

Just me, the sunrise, and some fun cables.

It's too big, so I think it'll be worn more like a jacket than a sweater. 'Sokay with me.

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Multigenerational Bakti

2011-02-28T16:28:00.001-05:00

Mom and I are each knitting a Lacy Baktus with Edge by the pool.

Things could be worse.

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Having a blast

2011-02-25T08:48:00.001-05:00

Shuttle launch.

Hours of waiting. A few minutes of excitement.

TOTALLY worth the effort.

p.s. Duck!

2011-02-21T19:02:00.000-05:00

I have some knitting time coming up; I feel sure of it. And the Ingrid cardigan requires too much concentration for some situations, and the lacy Baktus is nearing the end. So rummage, rummage, rummage. Now, there's not much in my knitting bag, so you can imagine my surprise to find this little ditty in there:

It's Saroyan, a lovely free pattern in that Baktus-ish shape that I am finding so very wearable this winter. Perfect, I thought, and just enough underway to have all the kinks worked through and be ready to rock it out.

Wasn't it nice of me to, at some point in the past, set this up for exactly this kind of situation? It's like in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when their future selves left a note for them in the past, telling them where to look for the car keys and to Duck!

Whew.

Be excellent to each other and knit on! :::strikes air guitar riff pose!:::

flounces

2011-02-20T15:44:00.003-05:00

As has been the case for so many days this winter, yesterday's weather conditions caused plans to be scrapped, so the kids and I shifted to Plan B, which included a romp around NYC. We visited a science center that had a traveling exhibit we specifically wanted to see, then met up with one of my old friends for a visit with his family (baby snuggles!) and then out to lunch at an Indian buffet. While wandering around his neighborhood afterward and taking in the sights, sounds, and scents of businesses of many ethnicities, Leah ducked into an Indian sari/fabric store.

Ooh, the silks, the beadwork, the colors, the light-as-air cottons, the textures!

After a few more hours of cruising around the city, back onto the train for the start of our trip home. I did some more knitting on the Lacy Baktus du jour while the Goob oohed and ahhed over the lovely blue satin evening gown of our trainmate-in-drag. He was a totally pleasant guy who was entirely decked out for a big evening in the Big Apple, including pearl earrings, a fur jacket, and vintage evening purse.

When it was his turn to get off the train, the elbow length blue satin gloves he pulled on completed the entire ensemble. Leah admired his dress. I admired his chutzpah.

Here's a gown Leah's presently working on, made of velvet rec'd in a swap with our Rav-friend Michelle.

It's far from being finished. As a matter of fact, she's unhappy with enough aspects of it that she hesitated to let me post this pic, but I think it's beautiful, and I think she's beautiful, and, well, there you go. Seamstress, age 12. Verklempt mom who definitely needs more sleep and less work, age 44. :-)

between the lines

2011-02-13T20:19:00.003-05:00

In the past week or so,

Leah decided that sewing another hoop skirt entirely by hand, mid 1800s style, was just a little bit nutso and turned to a modern day convenience to move that job along a lot faster.
Scott's b'day, raw gourmet dinner, spinach manicotti, linzer torte.
Pre-game Super Bowl bash at Webs.
Super Bowl with the Steelers Fan Club of CT at a restaurant near here.

Scott made some more orifice hooks with glass bead handles, partially as experiments and partially to include in a swap.
More work than I've had in a long time, holding at this pace x 3 weeks now.

Sledding.

Blood donation.

Pottery class.

Leah finished her second iteration of African Flower Hexagons. We think there's an error in the outermost round, so she tore that back and, instead of DC, sc, DC where the points should be, she did sc, DC, sc. Much better. I think this is planned to be a pillow.
Laser tag.
Two afternoons spent lending a hand at a client's office.

Visited an exhibit of 19th century clothing.

Evolution of a remote-controlled rocket-powered 24" snowmobile, made from the bizarre collection of things in Jesse's room.

Sleeves separated out, I'm only about 10 rows away from waist shaping on my Ingrid cardigan. Loving it. Also missing it, since I haven't touched it in over a week.
To NY for lunch at Pure Food and Wine, a dance performance, quest for durian, and approx. 14-mile trek with some of my favorite peeps.
Reached what I weighed when I was 17. Culled one-third of my current clothes for the donation bin. Again. :-)
To Northampton with my three favorite kids for Ukes and Yoyos, ice sculptures, and a rockin' good time.

antidote

2011-02-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

Everything outside is white, gray, or brown, but Leah and I know that colorful projects are an antidote to the winter blues!

She dug out a bunch of yarns to do African flower hexagons. Because the yarns are of slightly varying weights, some are turning out bigger than others, so she's not sure if this project will go much further, but she's had fun playing with the color combos and the pattern anyway.

I was intrigued by the unspun silk mittens that the Yarn Harlot blogged about lately, so my perpetually frigid fingers dug out a bag of silk sliver to give it a go. I think because it's sliver, not silk hankies, it's a little slicker and more breakable in unspun form than would be optimal. I'm loving the silky goodness, though, and of course the colorway is one of my favorites, so I might pass this little bag of silk off to Scott to spin into some pretty yarn. I found a silk cap/bell and a couple of silk hankies in my stash, but not enough of any one colorway to make a pair of mittens, so maybe I can combine a couple of colorways to have enough silk. Good experiments.

Three cheers for the stash that made all the fun possible this week without needing to head out onto the icy roads!

But, hey, those roads are clear(ish) now, the sun is shining, and my clients are quiet, so I'm going to plug in some good tunes and take a nice long walk. Happy weekend, everybody!

oops

2011-02-02T06:46:00.001-05:00

See that leftward crossing cable to the left, four rows back? It should be rightward crossing. D'oh.

Luckily(?), I screw up like this all the time, so I have had lots of practice with fixing. I could tink back those four rows, but given that this is a top-down, heavily cabled sweater with set-in sleeves, all knit at the same time, there are MANY stitches on the needles and unknitting that much would be a bummer. I much prefer dropping down just the involved stitches, however many rows, and knitting them back up correctly. (Demo of this technique here: Part 1 and Part 2.) It's a little fiddly, but much less so than the alternative.

Woot! All better!Elapsed time: 11 minutes.

I wish all my knitting mistakes were so easily fixed.
:::sigh:::

flying blind

2011-01-25T06:26:00.000-05:00

This is the Ingrid cardigan and it has me mesmerized. It starts with a provisional cast-on mid-cable in the center back of the neck and grows from there with some interesting knitting gymnastics that have you knitting in this direction and that, all on a background of richly cabled goodness.

Jeri Riggs did an awesome job of writing up this pattern. There's a lot going on and a lot to keep track of, especially for somebody like me, who has never tackled a sweater with this type of construction before, but the pattern is clear and concise, with cables both written out and charted. I felt like I was flying blind, but Jeri's pattern helped me along quite well. I did get off track a couple of times and there are some fudges in there, but it's on track now and I think things should go smoothly from here.

The yarn is from Bartlett Yarns. It has a rustic woolly look and feels like it'll hold up great for many years, but isn't scratchy. The Wild Grape color has flecks of gold and royal purple spun into it for subtle interest while still reading as a solid. It's also spun in an historic mill in the USA and available on cones (my favorite yarn put-up because no packaging, no waste, and no skein ends to weave in!). Love.

out, in

2011-01-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

Outgoing: a couple of glass bead-handled
orifice hooks, made by Scott.

Incoming: 35 skeins of Dalegarn Heilo in charcoal and blue.
I think they want to be this.

it was bound to happen eventually

2011-01-18T09:01:00.000-05:00

In the home of a knitter and a rocket scientist,
is this any surprise?

I didn't think so.

Launch planned for this weekend. Srsly.

nimbus

2011-01-17T18:53:00.001-05:00

This is Nimbus, the super soft and squishy cropped cardigan that Leah knit in a week. She saw it as a sample at Stitches East in October and knit it up over the past few days with yarn we got in a trade a few months ago. Topped off with one of Scott's swirly glass buttons, it's a winner of a little project! She's thinking of knitting another one and said she'll let me show her how to do mattress stitch and make her selvedge stitches nice. We both especially like the collar on this easy peasy sweater.

budgie and not budging

2011-01-16T14:01:00.000-05:00

Still sick, so just tying up some loose ends, literally and figuratively.

I knit most of this little Budgie baby sweater when we were on vacation last April. Got it all the way to only the neckband and button band remaining, then set it aside. It only took one evening of knitting, sewing in buttons, and weaving in ends to call it done. Blocking it really caused the yoke stitches to settle in nicely and evened everything out. It has no destination, but I'm happy with it and even happier to have cleared out another WIP.

Rec'd a sweater's worth of yarn, assorted lovely trims to make a seamstress squeal with delight, and handpainted yarns in another barter this week. Yahoo!

---

Flashback: 1970s, winter weekend afternoon in Pittsburgh. Me, age 8-12, draped over an overstuffed chair, crocheting, usually with this hook, for hours while happily watching Steelers football and the antics of one of their biggest fans.

Fast forward 30+ years to yesterday afternoon.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. :-)
As a matter of fact, I'm feeling cruddy enough and that felt excellent enough that I will do the same today, only with the Patriots and Jets as the backdrop. First, I'll take a good walk to make the most of the bright sunshiny day out there, but otherwise I'm not budging.
---

I updated my projects on Ravelry and also Leah's, to reflect our late 2009 and 2010 projects. Always a good feeling to get those up to date and see how our work has changed over the years. I especially get a kick out of how a browse through Leah's projects illustrates how far her skills have come in the past few years. I can't believe we both have over 100 projects recorded there!

Sniffle snuffle

2011-01-15T12:57:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Boston.

Today, sniffles and coughs and bleh.

If you need me between now and Monday, I'll be here:

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snow day

2011-01-13T07:57:00.000-05:00

Recent FO: Minimalist cardigan.

Mods: Tomcodgurl's cable panel in place of the stockinette panel, sleeves knitted in the round.

Yarn: mystery tweedy wool, 3 cones shown to the far left in first 2 pics of this blog post, knitted 2 strands at a time. Fairly coarse stuff, but I don't mind, especially for a grand total of about $6. I really like the fabric it made, medium gray to white with specks of royal blue, turquoise, purple, and black.

I was right; a smaller sweater knits up way faster. Only about six weeks from start to finish. It also helps that this was the kind of project where you barely ever need to look at the pattern, so it moves along quickly and can be worked on in many settings.

Now I'm clearing some UFOs out before I start another sweater for myself. Yesterday we got about two feet of snow (quite a bit more than there was when Jesse was cleaning off Scott's car, above), so it was a day of shoveling, knitting, shoveling, eating, shoveling, knitting. Thank goodness for extra winter woolens, as some were still soggy when we needed to bundle up and head out for another round of digging out.

Closed the evening out with a documentary about the Shakers. Of course, there was knitting on-screen and in my lap!

making the most of what we have

2011-01-11T09:01:00.000-05:00

'Round here, we don't have power jobs, whopping incomes, or impressive connections, but we are really good at making the most of what we have and turning our unused stuff into things we want. That's how some recent barter offers on Ravelry helped us pass our unused things on to people who could enjoy them. So far, we've ended up with

a glorious pile of velvets, satins, and brocades (all the way from North Carolina via a generous Raveler and a good friend) to make a young seamstress squeal with joy,

a half dozen skeins of luscious handpainted yarns (rec'd on my b'day!), and more packages still to come.

Simple pleasures, boundless joy.

coat makeover

2011-01-06T19:16:00.002-05:00

Last night, I visited with my old friend Tina and her wife Phoebe. So great to catch up with them both and spend an evening in their awesome home. Extra cool when Phoebe pulled out her knitting while we were chatting.

(Poor cell ph pic taken in low light, on the fly, so I fiddled with effects to basically make it an even worse pic, but you can tell that there was wine and smiles and knitting, right? That's all that really matters.)

Today, my coat had a makeover.

Bleh old black plastic buttons.

Spiffy new swirly glass buttons
made by Scott!

MUCH better!Winter is tough enough without dreary buttons.

i suck

2011-01-04T10:24:00.000-05:00

One delicious part of a raw foods lifestyle is green smoothies. These are made with assorted fruits and vegs run through a high powered blender (optimally, although it can also be done with a so-so blender or food processor and strained through a paint strainer bag) to make a tasty drink that's chock full of nutrients, fabulous if you're on-the-go, and very satisfying. I have happily sipped a green smoothie every day for breakfast (and sometimes also for lunch and/or dinner) for the past year. To give you an idea of how delicious these can be, even Jesse loves them and jumps at the chance to have them frequently. His favorite is spinach, bananas, cacao powder, maca powder, cinnamon, and a bit of salt, which he calls "Tasty Mud" and feels like drinking a delicious chocolate banana malted milkshake for breakfast, but is soooo much healthier. We make a lot of green smoothies 'round here!

So, in an attempt to further reduce disposables in our life and cut down on our use of plastics, Scott got some boro (strong) glass tube, added some decorations for the fun of it and to keep them from rolling when on a table, and now we have a beautiful assortment of glass straws in different lengths and thicknesses to work with different sized glasses and smoothies ranging from juice to milkshake consistency.

Glass straws are awesome
for people like me,
who just plain suck.
:-)

up for grabs

2011-01-02T12:42:00.002-05:00

15 lots/items posted on Ravelry barter board(just a sampling of them above).
LMK if there's anything you're interested in!

where there is fun...

2011-01-01T13:48:00.001-05:00

I should have known. A few weeks ago, Leah and I went to our first contra dance and it was F-U-N FUN!, so for New Year's Eve, a slightly reluctant Scott and Jesse joined us at another one. Jesse was lured there by the promise of a potluck dinner (yum!) before the dance and we all took part in the beginners' lesson before the main dance started. The next few hours were spent spinning and stomping and laughing and getting the most enjoyable aerobic workout there's ever been as we met a handful of the ~200 other folks who were there for a great time.

See Leah in the middle?
She's dancing with a whirling dervish and excellent dancer
who kept spinning her round and round (with permission)!
I should have known that where there's an evening that's chock full of simple pleasures, there would also be knitters, many knitters! We chatted with at least four who were actively knitting as they did stints as volunteers in various roles or were taking a breather in between dances. Rhonda had this gorgeous shawl draped over her shoulders until it was time to warm up in the foot-stomping way.

Contra dancin' folks are great about mixing it up, and experienced dancers are especially helpful to newbies by asking us to dance and keeping us pointed in the right direction (ha! Truly. They gently scoot you right along when you get confused and I got scooted a lot last night!), so all four of us kept dancing with a variety of partners and had a BLAST.

You wanna know the most astounding thing of all? On the way home, Jesse asked when there will be another such dance because he would be psyched to go again, even if there's not a potluck! He loved the music and even admitted to enjoying the dancing!

I was up early this morning to tackle the sleeve cap on my Minimalist cardigan. I had read others' Minimalist cardigan notes on Ravelry and knew the sleeve cap might be funky, but I figured I'd follow the instructions first to get a better idea of what needed to be done. Sure enough, compared to a sweater that fits well, the sleeve cap was too tall.

Since the rest of the sleepyheads were still crashed, I took advantage of the quiet time to rip back a few rows, modify the pattern, and end up with something that seemed like it would work better. It does!

Now, it's downright balmy out there (54º), so I'm heading out for a good long walk. Happy new year, all!

the ketchup post

2010-12-30T09:31:00.000-05:00

Hoo boy, two weeks since a blog post! I got happily swept up in all the Christmas festivities and the relaxation surrounding it. I remember two weeks ago, thinking I'd do a blog post describing the assorted live music we had seen that weekend -- bagpipes, orchestra, folk music, choir, handbells, fiddles and flutes, and more. Outstanding, but I didn't get around to writing the actual blog post.

Then came Christmas and all the fun visits and prep of tasty treats in our luxurious kitchen facilities (where even that last cabinet is now gone; now only a sink and stove in the kitchen). Then a bunch of snow, a super-light workload, and plenty of leisure activities to fill in the blanks. So here, in no particular order are some pics and catch-up bits.

One of two beautiful beaded alpaca scarves knit by my mom. This one will keep my sister warm this winter and beyond.

Yarn cakes wound by Leah for my mom, who was planning her new knitting projects in much the same way many of us do before a vacation, with the same sense of urgency and importance -- must have options! must have a variety of projects of varying skill/concentration levels! must have supply of needles and patterns and yarn and stitch markers! Except her trip will last at least five months, it's to her own home in Florida, and there's a yarn store 15 minutes up the road. Don't tell my mom, but I think she's hooked. heh.

One of the three man-hats Leah knit as gifts this Christmas, this one for Scott. You've seen the others here and here. Kiddo received a straight As report card recently and decided she's done with the school hooey, so she's now officially a 7th grade dropout. :-) This allows her more time to get on with the really important things...

Hope you all had a fantabulous Christmas and are making plans for starting 2011 as you plan to go on!

since you asked

2010-12-15T15:41:00.002-05:00

Hey all you gawkers, supportive folks, and snarky commenters (I'm looking at you, Coleen), this one's for you:

Here's the state of the kitchen as of today's destructo session.

Ceiling down, pantries out, walls gone, two (of five!) layers of floor up. After having done this to approx. 14 rooms (some have been re-dos after 10+ years), we're pretty good at being in destruction mode.

Discoveries so far include:
1. Dangerous electrical work. Not a surprise. At all. Guntherisms galore!
2. What might have been an original exterior doorway. Big surprise. Could be fun.

3. I tend to turn into Tim Allen with the grunting and refer to myself as She-Ra after heaving large pieces of construction debris around.

You know what's the funnest part of all? We have Absolutely No Clue how we'll turn this room back into a kitchen once all the destruction is done. Many, many configuration options and extremely minimal actual needs. At this point, we have more questions than answers, but that's okay. A ~~construction zone~~ temporary set-up is still better than the ~~crap~~ kitchen we've been living with.

Ahh, nothing says winter 'round here like the delightful familiar feeling of 100-year-old plaster dust up your nose. :-)

yarny bits

2010-12-14T16:03:00.001-05:00

Progress to date on my Minimalist cardigan. Psyched. Looks like the armholes aren't tall enough, but I think they are. Hm. Gonna have to check that again.

Another hat knit by Leah. Kid's on a roll w/ the hat improv. Using up the scrap yarns, keeping people's ears warm. Win-Win.

Yarn cone reincarnated as a Christmas tree rocket, inspired by this video but downsized so we can skip the $150 worth of engines it would've taken to launch a real tree. Test launch happening at this moment in prep for launch at rocket club this weekend. Junk rockets are my favorite kind.

And yesterday, some time with needles of a different type. I got a few quick rows in on Lacy Baktus with Edge (my fourth -- I know! Can't stop! Love these scarves!) while waiting at a blood drive.

I also took a pic of this Lacy Baktus with Scrooge after seeing Hartford Stage's performance of A Christmas Carol. The picture didn't turn out too hot, but the show was great fun. We did a behind the scenes tour afterward to find out more about all the special effects and backstage workings, during which nephew Z got chosen to sit in the Ghost of Christmas Present's huge chair with a wreath of candles on his head as the whole shebang glided across the stage with lights, booming sound, glittery snow, and a low fog cloud. Totally cool.

tis the season

2010-12-12T11:01:00.001-05:00

Lacy Baktus w/ Edge, #3, knit by Debbie
Following mods by Chery Alison (Rav: Cheryknits).
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry, an experimental colorway.
Knitted in Montreal and NYC.
Given to Scott's mom as a gift yesterday at Salem Cross Inn's Christmas Memories dinner show.

Mini Christmas stocking, knit by Leah.

Look on the bright side

2010-12-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

When you're having a bad day, just be thankful that your kitchen doesn't look like mine!

Yup, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

nyc xmas

2010-12-06T07:12:00.000-05:00

A few pics with a yarny bent, snapped around NYC on Saturday:

Esprit windows dressed with yarn ball-decorated tree, mannequins in knitted clothes and accessories, packages tied with yarn bows, and a backdrop of criss-crossed strands of yarn.

A wool-encased family waiting in the ice skating line at Rockefeller Center. Thank goodness for the wooly warmth.

One of the Macy's windows depicting the Yes, Virginia story. Can't tell from my cell phone pic, but the librarian has knitting needles sticking out of her hair bun.

I also knit about 14" of another (my 4th!) lacy baktus scarf while listening to an audiobook on the train there and back. So much funstuff to see and do!

the rest of it

2010-11-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

I already blogged about how we spent part of our Thanksgiving day, but there's been so much other good stuff going on too.

Wednesday afternoon, after the kids and I finished a bike ride, we visited with an old friend, Michael; his wife; and their sweet new baby boy.

Friday, I worked almost a full workday, but I still managed to fit in an extra long walk and was rewarded with a glorious sunset on my way home.

The Goob continues on her hat-knitting kick, this time a Skull hat. I didn't even know she started this project until she brought it out of her room for blocking.

Saturday included an evening of contra dancing and it was a BLAST. The dance I went to was smaller than the one in this video and I wasn't nearly as adept at it as these folks, but the music was fun, the people were friendly, and before I knew it, two hours had passed by. There may be more of this in my future because, well, live music, fun people, laughs, and exercise all rolled up into one big party? Sign me up!

Yesterday, I got to visit with Lauren, who has been a friend since my very first day of school in this town, when I was 12. She was visiting from Toronto with her wife, Meg, and their two awesome little people, so we all met over at Lauren's parents' place. There's something really fabulous about hanging out with people you've known for that long, where you know the extended family and have such a solid history together.

In between it all, there has been knitting. My Minimalist cardigan looks much the same as it did a couple of days ago, only now the body is about 12" tall. Lovin' it.

Today, it was back to work and celebration of Jesse's 16th birthday, but I took a mid-day break for a walk on a rail trail, where the water is starting to freeze and the beavers have been very busy.

And now to drop the Goob off at a sewing studio where she's been spending Monday nights. This time, I'll pop over to the nearby house of a friend to spend the evening knitting and catching up with each other. Yay, life!

phases

2010-11-27T14:01:00.003-05:00

Scarf knit by my mom, blocking.

My Minimalist cardigan, with a miscrossed cable. D'oh.

All other stitches held in place on needles, dropped the six cable stitches back down to the miscrossed row. Used a spare needle to pick up those stitches and then knit them back up, row by row, with the horizontal yarn that was just waiting to be used again. Slightly fiddly, but better than re-knitting all the way across all those rows.

All better!

go-abroad knitting

2010-11-26T08:33:00.000-05:00

It was cold out yesterday. Luckily, a knitter's family is well equipped for such weather.

Number of handknits in use among the five of us (including a nephew who came along for the day) at Old Sturbridge Village: 11.

Loved this quote about go-abroad knitting, since I, of course, had mine along for the day and got a couple of repeats in while listening to some Native American storytelling. Later, back at home, I added a few more inches to my Minimalist cardigan. Noticed this morning that I twisted a cable in the wrong direction, so after I get some work done, I'll fix that up and then hopefully move forward some more. I seem to have picked up a little bit of a cold (no surprise, as Scott and Leah were sick this week), so I'm looking forward to planting myself firmly in front of the tv for a movie or two tonight.

knotty but nice

2010-11-25T07:32:00.000-05:00

Both the knitter kid and the hat are
Knotty but nice

Yarn from Adams Family Farm in VT.
Needle size bigger for cabled section.
A quick and fun project as the temps drop.

Happy T'giving, y'all!
Yeah, there will be a turkey on our table,
but otherwise it's all raw vegan
and always delicious, baybee!
mmm mmm...carrot salad, cranberry sauce, spinach salad w/ raspberry vinaigrette, rosemary sweet potato chips, pumpkin spice cookies with maple vanilla cream, almond cacao truffles, and a truly orgasmic pumpkin pie...mmm mmm

And then a long walk 'round town, feelin' fine!

But first, our traditional T'giving visit to Old Sturbridge Village to shuffle among the leaves, smell the traditional foods roasting in the hearths, sing some songs, do some dancing, and generally get high on the fresh air and commercial-free goodness.

-11"

2010-11-23T10:59:00.001-05:00

I was holding off on knitting myself a replacement sweater or two because my current size is only temporary, but then I decided I should just get over it and dive in, especially given that this week is traditionally one of the most mellow of the year for my workload and I'm about ready for some quiet time at home.

The Minimalist Cardigan seems like a good choice -- easy pattern, informal style -- especially with a cable modification up the front instead of the rolling stockinette stitch panel. I rummaged through the stash and chose 3 cones of mystery wool ($6 total) scored in the weavers' guild tag sale bonanza a couple of years ago. A little swatching to settle on yarn weight (I'm knitting 2 strands together) and needle size, and we're off and running. No clue if I have enough yarn, but I don't really care.

The tweedy yarn might be too much in competition with the cables, but it's pleasant knitting, so I'll stay the course for now. Besides, the current sweater size is 11 inches smaller than I used to wear (woot!), so I'm choosing to believe that this wayyyyy smaller sweater will fly off the needles.

Meanwhile, there are beautiful brisk walks to be had and I'm even aiming for a bike ride later today, but later this evening, I have a date with a movie and a Minimalist.

---

p.s. Anybody know why my spacing is off lately, with the sidebar so far off to the right? I thought it was because of a wide youtube video that was here for a while, but I made it smaller and it's now slipped into the archived pages anyway, yet the spacing remains funky. Code geeks, help?

that good

2010-11-20T18:50:00.002-05:00

You know how there are some friends that you don't see for a long time, but when you do hook up again, it's like you never missed a beat? Well, yesterday I was with someone like that. We've known each other for almost 30 years, but haven't gotten together in almost a decade. He lives in NYC, so I took the train down (1.5 hours of uninterrupted knitting/podcast time!) and we wandered the city, mostly aimlessly, for almost nine hours, talking all along the way, visiting the zoo in Central Park, stopping here and there for a bite to eat, to watch the ice skaters in Bryant Park or the fountain at Lincoln Center or to see something interesting.

This pic was taken on the stairs of the TKTS booth in Times Square as we were meandering back toward Grand Central. The weather was brisk and beautiful, and we had no plan for the day except to spend some time catching up with each other's lives, so we couldn't go wrong. It couldn't have been a better day.

Don't blink and let another year go by. Reconnect with an old friend. It feels that good.

a hop over the border

2010-11-16T17:46:00.001-05:00

The four of us piled in the car on Friday and drove to Montreal for a long weekend, just because. There were stunning sights to see, like the Notre Dame Basilica,

along with a history museum, Old Montreal, a science museum that ranks among the best we've ever been to (and we've been to a lot of science museums), super cool bicycles modified to look like motorcycles, and an archaeological museum that was equally eerie and amazing.

We stayed downtown for this trip and saw the city entirely on foot, which gave us an opportunity to discover cool graffiti'd spaces, cobblestone streets, interesting architecture, street performers, city parks, Chinatown, and gargoyles.

Along the way, we learned a little French. We relaxed in the pool and hot tub. We tasted Tim Horton's coffee, crepes, Montreal style bagels, and poutine (didn't think we'd care for it; we were wrong).

We had a picnic dinner in upstate NY on our way to Montreal and stopped for a knitting pic on the way back.

Yup, another Lacy Baktus with Edge. The two we have were worn constantly this weekend, as they have been ever since they came off the needles, so it made sense to me to cast on another one as my travel project. Halfway done now and infused with happy Montreal memories.

warm hat for a cool kid

2010-11-11T06:10:00.000-05:00

You may remember the Fiber Twist this fall, when my nephew Z asked me to knit him an earflap hat.

You may also remember the holiday that wasn't, when I picked up some yarn in Z's favorite color.

Then there was a visit to look at options so he could pick which pattern he liked best.

Followed by a browse through the projects on Ravelry, where I learned that the hat was too tall for many people, so I eliminated a plain row at the top and bottom of each colorwork band.

The knitting happened at a rocket fest.

The ends were woven in while watching part 2 of a Theodore Roosevelt documentary (and we all know where that led).

The lining, chosen from the fabric given to Leah by a kind farmers' market customer, was sewn into place last night.

Now there's a warm winter hat on the noggin of a very cool kid.

comforts of home

2010-11-08T20:50:00.000-05:00

First snow this morning!

But the fire in the wood stove is keeping things comfortable and both of my kids have new socks to keep their tootsies toasty.

Ahh, the beginning of the winter season and its very welcome slower pace.

happy accident

2010-11-08T07:01:00.008-05:00

We watched a documentary about Teddy Roosevelt a few days ago. I had heard the Roosevelt home in upstate New York was an interesting place to visit, so early Saturday I plugged it into my phone for directions and off we went for a fun day trip on our very first free weekend after five solid months of farmers' market commitments. Cold and sunny day, Stuff You Should Know podcast for all to enjoy.

It wasn't until we reached our "destination" that I realized we were in the wrong place. We were at the home of FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt, not Theodore! Hm. Well, we were there, so might as well check it out. Good thing we did, too, as it was an interesting tour in a beautiful location. We had watched a documentary about FDR and Eleanor a few months back and the kids remembered a lot of it, so that tied in nicely.

I loaned Eleanor my sock-in-progress on the way out because she was an avid knitter and her hands in this sculpture are totally positioned properly for knitting. I think the artist chose to skip the knitting in this portrayal, but from what I saw elsewhere, if she and FDR were hanging out like this, there would have been sticks and string in her hands.

It ends up that right up the road was a Vanderbilt mansion, where we had an outstanding tour with a funny and engaging guide. This included a stunningly beautiful view along the Hudson River as we walked around some of the expansive property.

Just a few miles in the opposite direction and we were at Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage, Val-Kill, a heavenly, humble cottage in the woods.

So then we looked up where Teddy Roosevelt's house is -- Long Island. Hey, no dog at home to worry about, no major commitments on the calendar for the next day, so let's go, I said, and off we went! Nope, we didn't have luggage or a plan, but it didn't matter. Spent the night in the area and visited Sagamore Hill on Sunday.

Took the ferry as a shortcut to home, during which time I knit, Scott watched football, and the kids had a blast exploring the boat.

A happy accident, for sure!

sheep on steroids

2010-11-05T07:54:00.000-05:00

(L) stitch marker-sized sheep bead

(R) sheep on steroids, part of a special order for a necklace
---

Coming soon: Multiple starts, multiple fails.

Stitches East 2010

2010-10-30T19:38:00.000-05:00

Saw: Countless knitterly friends, including one I've known since I was about 16. :::hi Roz!:::

Made (by Leah): baby hat for Caps for Good.

Walked: from East Hartford boat launch, over the river, round and round the convention center, then back again.

Wore: My newly finished Lacy Baktus with Edge. Pattern from Cheryknits, posted with her permission. If you make her version, she'd love to see a picture of it. Since my first Baktus has been worn just about every day since I finished it, I knew I'd also like another one. This time, I used two skeins of Koigu. It was smaller than the first one, so I gave it a good blocking. This really shows off the lacy edge and made it every bit as big as the first one. Love it, love it, love it, and got lots of compliments on it from other knitters too. I'm tempted to knit a third, but...

Bought: Two skeins of Miss Babs' Windsor Shadows sock yarn in Blackwatch colorway, with the idea of doing something about my mismatched self. The plan is to knit a Semele scarf and Ringwood gloves. Both patterns are printed out, so with that, I'm off to cast on!

one foot in front of the other

2010-10-30T06:31:00.000-05:00

During last night's walk:

Who's the most colorfully mismatched knitter hoofing it along the sidewalk?

Three cheers for knitwear season!

Turned the corner onto Main St. and I was so pleased to see this:

The yarn store in my town has never been my favorite. It was always messy, disorganized, overcrowded, dreary. And I always felt like I was interrupting something private when I went there. Still, they had some awesome sales and yummy yarns and came in handy when I didn't want to make the longer trek to my usual/favorite LYS. Unfortunately, this store suffered water damage a few months ago, so it closed down for renovations. I'm psyched to see that they're giving the place a complete overhaul. That sheep sign in the front window says reopening is expected in 2-3 weeks. That ought to be fun.

Meanwhile, have I mentioned that Stitches East is happening 10 min. from my house again this year? I wasn't planning on going, as the whole atmosphere of the thing didn't thrill me last year, but the Goob wanted to go, so we will spend the afternoon there. I told Scott that I might buy some yarn. He laughed.

then there was thursday

2010-10-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

We got home late Wed. evening, which meant that Thursday was chock full of catch-up work for me. So of course that's the day the electricity went out repeatedly for short periods, for no apparent reason. Luckily, blocking a scarf is an electricity-free activity.

Later in the afternoon, I gave the Goob a ride to the farmers' market so she could work with Scott and Jesse, as usual. It was the last market of the season in this particular town, dark and cold by the time I returned to help break down our booths, but such a warm and friendly feeling among the vendors there. Our organic farmer friend Jessica was so proud to be wearing her first ever knitting project!

Since Leah helped her with some of the knitting basics at the market a couple of months ago, in between customers, Jess made sure to show Leah how far she's come. She winged the whole thing, just made it up as she went along, and it turned out great. I especially like how the gather at the top turned into a star.

Then Jess mentioned how she bought a few more hanks of yarn recently. I said it sounds like she's been bitten by the knitting bug. With an ear-to-ear grin, she agreed wholeheartedly.

Ahhh.

oh. now I remember.

2010-10-29T15:38:00.005-05:00

Remember how I killed the blog as a means of simplifying? Well, I forgot that blogging actually IS simplifying for me. I got slapped upside the head with a reminder of this over the past couple of days, as Jesse and I went on a trip and enough people have since written to me to ask how that trip went that I might as well just blog it, rather than send individual emails in response.

First, let's back up a week. Jesse and I hit the road for the Maryland Delaware Rocket Association's 3-day rocket-launching event, Red Glare. Translation for the yarnies: This is Rhinebeck for rocket scientists.

There were rocket drag races, vendors, experimental rockets, chemicals, charity fundraising, camaraderie, and plenty of sunshine on the most enormous wide open, flat expanses of soybean fields I've ever seen. I took this pic, with my newest lacy baktus in the corner, to send to the Knitwits podcast because I've recently become a fan and they mentioned getting a kick out of knowing what people are doing while they listen to the show.

Next, we headed to DC for a few days. Since it was just the two of us (Scott home to work, Leah still happily doing that silly school thang), Jesse got to choose the itinerary. The best part was that these places were of such high quality that I was every bit as enthusiastic about them as he was. After hitting up the Air and Space Museum and the Spy Museum, we stopped for a self-portrait in front of the Capitol.

The junk behind us is leftovers from the engineering and science expo held there the day before. We were hoping to make it to that, but a dead car battery stole a few hours out from under us, so we shifted to Plan B for that day. Still, I was pretty happy with this pic. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a pic of two people (one of whom has minimal tolerance for the mom's self-portrait efforts, preferably not looking like they're in pain or camera pointing directly up nostrils) AND a building in the background without actually being able to see what's in the shot?

Another day, another couple of amazing museums, this time the Smithsonian's Museums of American History and Natural History. I had to laugh out loud when we arrived at the latter and there was a big banner announcing that the Crocheted Coral Reef was currently on display.

Seriously, a CROCHETED exhibit in the Smithsonian? How could I not blog this?! My little iPhone pic doesn't even begin to do it justice, but browse this Flickr pool for better ones, especially this pic to get an idea of the scale. It's huge, it's colorful, it's a textural bonanza. There were LOTS of people gathered around, admiring it. Totally unexpected and totally cool.

Our last little jaunt was over to the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport (related to but separate from the one in DC). This pic shows a fraction of one of the two ginormous hangars full of flying contraptions of all shapes and sizes.

One of the rocket dudes mentioned this as a must-see a few days earlier, so we squeezed it in on our last day and I am so glad we did. It was entirely fascinating for both of us and we could've both enjoyed a few more hours there. It just blows my mind how much interesting stuff is out there for the learning.

Okay, so now be prepared for a flurry of catch-up posts, especially since so much yarny goodness continues to happen all around us.

ha ha ha. And then Blogger imploded and politely stated that it could not complete my request (um, to post to my blog) at this time. I'm going to make it post my words and pics from a diff. direction, but ha ha ha, Blogger, you're too funny and the timing is impeccable.

over and out

2010-10-20T18:21:00.003-05:00

I think the time has come to close up shop. I've been writing this blog for almost five years and feel like it's run its course. I'm not knitting as much now that I'm spending more time walking and Leah's barely knitting at all. My Gram's not out there to read what I write anymore, but people are who I don't necessarily want to know what we're up to. I also keep whittling away at things and still feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions. Time to shift my focus elsewhere and simplify further.

Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing. Hope to see you all on Ravelry and in real life. Take good care.

clues

2010-10-19T06:57:00.000-05:00

You just might be at a pumpkin carving extravaganza with knitters if you notice:

DPNs being used as pre-carving tools,

handknit American Girl doll sweaters on an end table,

and jack-o-lantern carving encouraging everyone to pick up the pointy sticks.

a holiday. or not.

2010-10-11T08:35:00.002-05:00

Some of my offices are open on this Columbus Day Monday, so in my head it's a holiday, but the reality is that I might only be able to squeeze out a few hours of being off. That's okay, though, because the kids and I have a beautiful hike planned for later today. Meanwhile, here are a few snaps of things that made me smile in the past few days:

Most adorable yarn label ever, on the yarn I picked up at the Thurs. farmers' market. The writing on the sheep has faded now, but each label tells the name of the sheep the wool came from.

Some of the fabric given to Leah by a very kind customer who has become a friend. She's an elderly woman now, but many years ago, her sister worked at a textile mill somewhere in CT and the sister was able to take home yards and yards of fabric. When the sister passed away, our current customer inherited all her boxes of fabric. Since she hasn't been able to sew it all and loves to chat with a certain young seamstress working at the bakery booth, she's unloading some treasures and Leah is delighted.

Irish step dancing, AWESOME live music, yet another incredible autumn day, a massage for me, and friends galore at the Sunday farmers' market. (BTW, this is about one-sixth of the market. It's a biggie.)

My second Lacy Baktus with Edge in progress, this time in Koigu. I see a few misplaced YOs where I didn't KBL on the return row. They don't show too much with this busy colorway, but I think I'll change the increases to M1s to avoid the oopsies. I'm also going to do a little stitching at the points to pull that last sawtooth all the way across the end. The first Lacy Baktus has been worn by me or Leah every day since cast-off. Love. it.

While writing this post, work came in from two more clients, leaving only one that may or may not be closed today. I'll check that next, but it appears my holiday time is dwindling. Oh well, if I dive back in now (have already been working for a few hours this morning), we should still have enough time for that hike before dark!

---

ETA: Just checked on that last client. Not only are they open today, but the doc who makes the most work for me is on. :::headdesk::: (no, not really. happy to have the work, but would've been equally happy to lounge and hike today, y'know?) That was a quick trip from holiday to a hoppin' workday!

at the ren faire

2010-10-10T04:57:00.000-05:00

A Goob among her peeps,

hanging with the knights, lords, and ladies
on a glorious autumn weekend.

Wearing an outfit handsewn with joy.

so long, old friend

2010-10-08T14:47:00.000-05:00

This week was a tough one. We had to say goodbye to our 11-year-old furry friend, Kodi, whose spinal stenosis made her unable to do the stairs in our house on her own for more than a year and had lost control of her bowel and bladder. It was the right time, but that doesn't make it any easier. In case you never got to meet her or just wanted to be reminded of how sweet she is, at the bottom of this post is a video of our gentle giant playing with nephew's dog, Squirt. Watch to the end for a good laugh -- such a tough watchdog! We all miss her quirky ways, her twinkle toes, and the white eyelashes around her big brown eyes.

:::deep breath:::

Meanwhile, my mom is working on a pretty scarf...

and it is the beginning of another
beautiful autumn in New England...

and we know friendly farmers
who like to share the abundance, as do we,

and this weekend is chock full of funstuff,
including going out with an old friend and a new one tonight,
so forward we go with lots to smile about
even though the tears spill out a little easier than we might like.

early morning baktus thievery

2010-10-05T06:49:00.000-05:00

I spy a daughter and her knitting at breakfast.
But what's that cozy accessory she's wearing?

There is clearly a need for more than one
lacy baktus with edge 'round here.

something for everyone

2010-10-03T05:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was atlatl day. If you've been reading here for a while, you may remember from past blog posts that this is a favorite event of Jesse's, so, for the umpteenth Saturday in a row, the boy and I were up and out the door early for a trek to something he was excited about. Little did we know that I'd enjoy the day every bit as much as he did.

I had a great walk along some trails of the state park and found a perfect little cabin.

I ran into a few delightful knitters over the course of the day, including this vendor; a woman who used to own a yarn store; and a couple of white-haired women who were on a bus tour where somebody else was knitting socks during the rides and there I was, also knitting socks while waiting for something, and they thought that was just about the best idea ever and they were both inspired to go home and dig out their long-stashed knitting supplies and get back to it.

I finished the lacy baktus scarf and, with it being October in Connecticut, put it to use right away for a walk along the boardwalk with Knitajourney and Stuff You Should Know podcasts in my ears. I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about this scarf all along, but it turns out that I just might love it. As a matter of fact, I just might be planning to cast on for another one. The size and shape make it that good.

I joined in on a wild edibles talk and group walk that included tasty snacks and a cool group of interesting and interested folks.

Life is good. :-)

i can haz isosceles

2010-09-30T09:58:00.003-05:00

My lacy Baktus, nearing the finish line.

Jesse's homemade RC plane, ready for take-off.

A beginning flight.
Fun in the making!

whatta weekend

2010-09-28T10:23:00.005-05:00

It started on Friday with a remote control airplane flyers club with Jesse (where I met a super nice knitter from Maine), then to Taekwondo with Leah, then the haunted corn maze with both kids. Saturday morning, Jesse and I headed to NY for Makerfaire, a.k.a. tinkerers' happy place. Since crafting is also part of making, I felt right at home among the yarny goodness.

The boy, though, was out of his mind with delight. Arduinos! 3D printers! Pulse jet motors! Steampunk contraptions! Tesla coils! Life sized Mousetrap game! CNC machines! Mentos and Coke! Geeks and freaks galore!

I had a blast watching Jesse, who was in his element and drinking it all in. And when I wanted to rest in the shade for a little while, I crocheted up a square to add to the rocket yarnbomb for the weekend, eventually to be made into blankets for charity. Ran into a couple of knitbloggers along the way too.

Sunday, up bright and early for another fabulous farmers' market. Really awesome how the work blends seamlessly with the party, the social aspect, the fabulous a cappella and folk music, and how fast the time goes. Rock on!

---

Hey, just noticed I'm in the pics on the blog of the woman who did the rocket yarnbombing at Makerfaire. On her Sept. 26 post, 3rd pic from the bottom, that's me in the blue shirt (really? that's me? that's like a normal sized human!), crocheting away in the shade as fast as possible so I could meet Jesse at the Eepybirds show on time.

a bird in the hand

2010-09-23T07:19:00.003-05:00

What's the Goob up to? Inquiring blog readers want to know.

Well, last Wednesday we passed a sign for an upcoming Renaissance Fair, so the next day we stopped at the fabric store and she bought a pattern. The day after that, she rummaged through her fabric stash. Saturday morning, I spent the day with Jesse at rocket club. By the time we got home, she had a wearable Renaissance style outfit, stitched entirely by hand, brocade on top, velvet on bottom, just needing a few more edges to be finished off.

When she picks up the pointy sticks, her project lately is these Bird and Vine Mitts.

In her spare time ;-), she's settling into the school routine and apparently getting a kick out of it. I think the perspective shifts tremendously when going to school is optional, so she seems to be looking at it as one big, interesting adventure, just another thing she was curious to explore and experience. It seemed to take her about three days to feel like she had it under control. heh.

The after school club sign-ups start today. Her calendar is already pretty full, but there's one club in particular that she'll be checking out...

---

p.s. I have a big clear-out in progress with lots of crafty stuff up for grabs. Check out my offerings on the Ravelry barter group and LMK if you're interested in any of it.

twisted

2010-09-22T08:03:00.000-05:00

Sunday was the Fiber Twist at the Coventry Farmers' Market. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.

My sister was helping with the bakery booth, so I had plenty of time to visit with the steady stream of knitterfriends who stopped by.

A highlight for Leah was when a Civil War reenactor noticed the hand stitching on her outfit and complimented her on it. He really made her day.

A highlight for me was when my nephew, Zach, asked me to knit him a bulky earflap hat for this winter. Requests like that are music to a knitter's ears!

steeking Sipalu

2010-09-18T18:24:00.000-05:00

Instructions for the Sipalu bag have you starting with the band that runs along the three closed sides, knitting its stranded pattern flat, which means doing stranded knitting on purl rows. That doesn't sound like fun to me, so I cast on a few extra stitches and knit it in the round so the right side was always facing me. The color combos with the yarns chosen from my stash didn't have the contrast I would have liked, so you can't really see the stranded pattern anyway, but it's only an issue on the side of the bag (so far) and I'm not bothered by it. Today at Jesse's rocket club launch, I finished the reverse stockinette band that turns the corner from side to the face of the bag, so it was as good a time as any to steek.

A few quick snips, open up that circle of knitting into a U shape, cast on 80 more stitches to go across the open top edge of the bag, and now I'm working on the ever-decreasing rounds, perimeter to center.

Among the rocket dudes today, there were at least three knitters lovin' the sunshine and the rocket show.
---
To Anonymous, who requested an update on Leah's projects, it'll come soon. She's been a busy stitcher and has much for me to photograph, if we're ever both home at the same time long enough to snap some pics!

fixer-upper

2010-09-17T08:57:00.001-05:00

So, I keep thinking that I'm not really in the knitting world much anymore, but then I realize how untrue that is. I may not be devoting quite as much time to thinking about it/doing it lately, but it's still definitely a part of every day, even if just in some small way. I'm making good progress on my Lacy Baktus now, getting a kick out of the ever-shorter rows on the second half.

Meanwhile, my mom finished another Juno Regina recently and was thrilled with it until she stretched it out for blocking and noticed this:

Ack! It's just one broken yarn strand, though, so a fairly easy fix, as Vanna White'd here by nephew Zach:

Ending up with a beautiful alpaca scarf w/ beads, to be given to a friend, just because.

Anybody remember Northern Exposure? I used to get a kick out of that show, so I watched some old episodes lately. Had to smile when I saw Marilyn happily and peacefully knitting while Joel bounced off the walls of their office.

Looking forward to the Fiber Twist at Coventry Farmers' Market this weekend! Come say hi!

little bits

2010-09-14T08:32:00.001-05:00

I was recently given a nearly completed baby blanket knit by my BIL's grandma. She passed away before finishing it, so it was given to me to finish off and donate somewhere. It ends up that all it needed was to finish casting off a small portion and weave in the ends, so I did that, give it a wash, and donated it to Project Linus through my favorite LYS.

Just a little bit of effort on my part, but a BIG baby blanket added to the donation pile! The grandma's knitting basket, needles, patterns, and some yarn were scooped up at our local put-and-take (freebie swap space at the dump) before Scott even pulled out of the parking lot. Yay. Pass it on, folks. It's all good.
---
On Friday, I chauffeured Jesse to yo-yo club and struck up a conversation with a quilter who was hand-stitching the binding on a wedding gift quilt while her son yo-yo'ed. She doesn't knit and I don't quilt, but we shared the passion for making useful items by hand and had a great conversation.

This girl wound up her yo-yo string and came over to chat a couple of times during the evening. She wanted to know all about the knitting, all about the quilting. So much interest. So sweet. Between all the chatting, I only got a little bit done on my Lacy Baktus scarf, but I didn't mind.
---
I started these socks way back in April, when we were heading out on vacation. Finished the first one soon afterward, but realized it was too long, hanging off my toes by more than half an inch. That's what I get for not trying it on when it was time to start the heel gusset because I was at the beach and didn't want to put it on my sandy foot.

Figuring I'd deal with it later, I went ahead and knit the second sock in little bits here, little bits there. A few evenings ago, I threaded my needle through a row of stitches of the long sock at the place where I wanted the toe decreases to start. I snipped a thread, expecting to easily zip off the excess and then knit the toe. But the socks were knit toe up and this repair would be knit top down, so I actually had to unweave the yarn through all the stitches around the row. Still no biggie, but not the quick fix I was imagining. Eventually, though, I ended up with a pair of socks that fit well and feel great.

Random bit: Live music I've enjoyed in the past three days: Carolina Chocolate Drops on Saturday, Echo Uganda on Sunday, and little bit of bagpipe music on Monday. :-)

a weather study

2010-09-07T16:52:00.001-05:00

In the past week, we've had...

Hazy.

This is my kids parasailing off of Cape Cod last Tuesday. Not a bad way to spend the first day of (not) school. ;-) Leah has since decided she'd like to check out the school scene this year, so off she'll go this Fri. Should be interesting for all of us.

Hot.

Me and two of my bestest friends from the past, chillin' in the shade, catching up, and having a blast. Which, BTW, means that we have visited with/heard from/talked to six of the eight people in our wedding party (19 years ago) within the past two weeks. Good friends, those.

Rain.

RainBOW, to be more precise. Pic snapped while at a stop light.

Perfection.

The past few days have been simply gorgeous. I cranked out a good bit of sock knitting during an outdoor zydeco concert last week and the rocket club's launch in NY on Saturday, and have otherwise been working on a Sipalu bag. I chose my own colors and it's not working out quite like I hoped, but I'm going to keep knitting and see what happens. I hope to finish the side band tonight and will take a pic once I make some progress on the front face of it.

But now, it's sunny and breezy and I'm heading for a good walk in the woods. Catch y'all later!

snapshots from Saturday

2010-08-29T08:17:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, yesterday felt good.

One stop along the way was an art museum

where I noticed a few
fibercrafty tidbits within the art.

(Yes, the spool is carved from the pencil's wood
and the needle from the graphite!)

A little raucous Shakespeare and
some good knitting in the sunshine
to round out a glorious day.

Ahh...

tweaks

2010-08-21T17:43:00.000-05:00

The Goob sewed herself yet another 18th century outfit, which she wore at the farmers' market last weekend.

Her junior docent job for the day was to take payment from people who wanted a horse drawn carriage ride, but in between tending customers, she did a good bit of spinning.

Each time she makes another outfit, she tries a little tweak -- changing the pleats, adding some tucks, inserting a ruffle. This time, she chose to do a pleated ribbon edge.

While at the market, I got a visit from a blog reader. Paintermom :::hi Susan!::: and her daughter popped down from Massachusetts because they know a fun time when they see pics of it.

Meanwhile, since knitting myself a sweater seems kind of silly right now, I got an itch to make something else. I didn't want to buy the 17 skeins of yarn it calls for, so I challenged myself to come up with a similar color scheme from my stash. I started with the recommended color names, matched them with skeins that I had, and then tweaked things a little bit (my camel/bark is more of a light and medium gray than browns, for instance).

Any guesses what this project will be?

With that, I'm off to knit for the remainder of the evening, as there are entirely too many WIPs on the needles for me to be comfortable with starting yet another project. Need to clear a few projects out before casting on for this new one. Luckily, a coral reef documentary awaits.

weight loss surgery

2010-08-17T10:27:00.001-05:00

ha ha. No, not for me. I'm losing weight the old fashioned way. This is weight loss surgery for my favorite bag!

I wear my everyday bag (which pretends to be a purse, but is really just a place to carry a sock WIP, phone, and wallet -- what else does anyone need?) with the strap diagonally across my body and have noticed recently that, since there's less of me to go around, the strap is now too long and the bag is hanging too low on my hip. The bag is commercially made by Faded Glory, but it's just basic single crochet, so I figured I could perform surgery and get more use out of it. It ends up that I didn't need my mad crochet skillz after all, but since I took pics of the process, I'm posting them here anyway. After 25 years of medical transcription, I can't help but think of it this way:

Preop. Evaluated risks and benefits of procedure.
Received informed consent.
Bag as it was, strap with a safety-pinned flap so I could try it on and see how much excess strap needed to go away before putting the scissors to use.

Incision, debridement, excision.
Picked apart the seam where the strap was sewn in place. 3" of strap was tucked between the bag and lining. Snipped the extra 6" of strap a couple of inches from my pin marker. Whip stitched around the raw edge to prevent unraveling.

Anastomosis performed without complications.
Wound and portals closed with interrupted 3-0 cotton mattress sutures.
Tucked the new end back in place. Secured it well down inside with doubled sewing thread, then stitched it securely in place along the top edge, then a row of stitches to secure the lining/zipper back in place.

Prognosis: Excellent.
Bag back to hip height, not bouncing off my thigh with every step!

(p.s., for those who have asked, 60 so far. WooHoo!)

calypso haiku

2010-08-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Park with steel drum band.
Rose and mixed flower gardens.
Walking path. Nice night.

Shakespeare, shots, and shrooms

2010-08-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

The weekend in pictures:

Friday, Shakespeare's The Tempest, performed on the pier in New London, shown with my current sock-in-progress, which I think is just about ready for casting off.

Saturday, Rebels to Redcoats at Old Sturbridge Village. One of my kids was there for the military history and one for the textiles/fashion history. Leah was in full costume and fit right in with the many, many reenactors who contribute to the weekend. She had just finished sewing a bag on commission for a reenactor friend, so she gave it a test run on Saturday and it worked out well.

It was also the biggest number of attendees I think I've ever seen at Old Sturbridge Village. This is a portion of the enormous crowd gathered for the battle (you can see gunsmoke to the left) on this spectacular day. It's like old home day for us too, running into people we know from high school, from being longtime members at OSV, from hanging out with reenactors, from participating in military history miniature gaming groups, from here, there, and everywhere. Interesting conversation about whitework embroidery and spent a good while chatting with the man who was the leader of the British troops x 16 years.

Sunday, Fungus Festival at the Coventry Farmers' Market, including all sorts of mushroomy foods, a surprisingly large group of mycologists offering and participating in lots of mushroom-related activities, and a steady stream of happy customers.

Today, back to work. So I can rest. ;-)

Paying it forward

2010-08-04T15:59:00.001-05:00

Donated to a children's knitting circle at a local library. I'm only using circs lately, so happy to pass these on to future knitters!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

girl+ hooks + needles

2010-08-02T14:57:00.000-05:00

The multicraftual kid is going in many directions lately. She sewed herself another top for wearing when she volunteers at the Nathan Hale Homestead. Since her reenactment wardrobe is outgrowing her current day wardrobe and she has been taking orders for reenactment clothing, there is talk of opening an Etsy store so she can make things to her heart's content.

She crocheted these thick yarn spirals and sewed them together in what she hopes will become a rug for her bedroom. No idea how this will hold up, but she's having fun with it and says it's a good experiment.

She's almost done knitting a neckwarmer/dickey type thing that spreads out to cover your shoulders, made from some super soft Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I remember seeing her winding the yarn into cakes, but otherwise knew nothing about this project until she was working on it while we watched a post-farmers'-market-tired-family documentary last night.

She just came home from errands w/ her dad, happily clutching a bag with new supplies from the fabric store and paint color cards for the walls of her bedroom. There has been much Ravelry browsing lately too, while she decides what sort of pillows/blankets/accessories she wants in her room. Totally cool: Fox's Peace Out 7x7" squares.

summer nights

2010-07-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

Knitting yet another mindless sock while enjoying a performance of Much Ado About Nothing on a beautiful summer evening (even though it doesn't look so nice, thanks to the hazy iPhone shot from pulling the phone out of my warm pocket into the cool evening air). Three cheers for assorted knitting projects to fit all occasions and levels of concentration!

you just never know

2010-07-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

You just never know where you're going to bump into a knitter or someone who is interested in knitting. I got a few rounds in on a sock while waiting for screening for a blood donation. When it was my turn for the million Red Cross questions, the phlebotomist was instead all about the knitting questions!

It ends up that she knows only the very basics, wants to learn much more. She asked about the circular needles I was using, what about the "little stick ones" (DPNs), how difficult it is to follow patterns, what age Leah was when she learned, etc. It was a totally fun discussion and could have gone on for much longer, but she was working and I was squeezing this appointment into a very full workday, so I referred her to Ravelry and knittinghelp.com, and continued on with an easy peasy donation.

You also just never know when a free concert is going to knock your socks off. Like last night's show, part of the summer concert series in my town, which was almost derailed by some seriously fierce weather. But then the skies cleared for a few evening hours, we set up our vendor booth, the people came out in droves as soon as the rain ended, and the band went on stage as planned. I wouldn't have known it from the name of the band, but it ended up being four of the original members of Santana, who played a killer show while we sold pizzas and cookies almost as fast as we could.

I have just another hour and a half of work to go and then we're outta here for a fun little farmers' market on what is probably one of the most sparkling days of the year. You just never know what good stuff is out there, waiting to happen. I can't wait to see what's next!

textile design workshop

2010-07-21T11:39:00.001-05:00

Leah spent 3 days last week in a textile design for teens workshop. As expected, she was in her element! It was a small group with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher who had plenty of ideas and was open to experimentation. The fabric samples Leah made included techniques such as tie dyeing, shibori, block printing, and screen printing.

Each participant also got to make a tote bag using their favorite techniques. Leah was pretty fond of the sponge blocks she cut for block printing.

They also painted silk scarves, which were wrapped, scrunched, and tied around PVC pipes.

Hard to believe there are only two dye colors in this scarf!

Snazzy jazzy socks

2010-07-17T14:34:00.001-05:00

"Hey, I finished a pair of socks at the jazz festival! Gonna model 'em right here!"

"Mom, you're so embarrassing."

:-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

farmers' market party

2010-07-16T06:03:00.003-05:00

The more we are vendors at farmers' markets, the more fun it is. You get to know the customers and the other vendors, enjoy the live music and free samples out in the fresh air and (hopefully) sunshine. Relationships form and it begins to feel like a weekly party that just happens to include lots of the freshest locally grown/made food around. Watermelon salsa? Divine! And raw, so it's coming to today's music festival with me, along with a big salad made from the most enormous head of buttercrunch lettuce! Yum yum yum!

At last Sunday's market, Scott was loving the classical guitar music and the volunteer who built a big wooden train, powered by his tractor-with-locomotive-engine-makeover, to give kids rides around the field. At Wednesday's concert/market, there was a classic car show and fabulous rockabilly music.

At yesterday's market, we got a visit from my mom, back home after a few months of enjoying retirement in Florida. A customer actually squealed upon seeing the return of Scott's yummy pepperoni bread and another happy customer clutched her large special order of chocolate chip muffins that were going to the freezer of her summer home on Cape Cod so she could enjoy them for the remainder of her summer there.

Leah put her newly crocheted market bag to use, filling up on fruits and vegs that would be coming home with us.

The cotton is Valley Yarns brand from Webs. The bag pattern was improvised. Empty, this huge bag rolls up into fit-in-your-hand nothingness.

There was crocheting-for-charity going on at the booth of the radio station that was featuring the market for the day.

And we were delighted to see the woodblock print that a market volunteer made, depicting Scott and Jesse selling wood-fired pizzas and baked goods.

Isn't that awesome?!

It'll be part of a series of notecards to be sold by the local historical society. Love it!

Farmers' markets = goodness galore.

sweetness

2010-07-13T17:08:00.000-05:00

I'm commuting to Massachusetts x 6 hrs/day 3 days this wk and helping Scott with bakery/pizza oven events 5 days this week and working my regular job in between (and being surprised with long phone calls from old friends -- hey Boom! hey Lauren!), so that doesn't leave a lot of stitching time for me right now, but I wanted to share a pic of the work of another stitcher from long ago.

This sweet sweater and bonnet were crocheted for my mom when she was a baby. They were made by my grandfather's cousin, Sister Mary. (Yeah, a nunnish sort of sister. We have quite a few of those uber-religious folks in the family. To be clear, I am not one of them. ;-) They're crocheted with peach baby wool, trimmed with angora and the most precious little embroidered flowers at the yoke and front of the bonnet, above the ribbon rosette. My Gram must've forgotten she had it when Leah was born, but when we cleared out Gram's apartment, it was found in a box with a christening outfit and a note about who made it, for whom, and a question of whether my sister or I might like it someday when we have babies. Well, we missed that chance, I guess, so I have offered it to the next most likely relatives to be able to put it to use. If they don't want it, into another cedar chest (mine) it'll go for the next generation, a handmade gift for a future baby, from someone who was herself a baby almost a century ago, and appreciated by all the generations in between.

hot fun

2010-07-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

Edited to add: This post was written early this morning, then went kablooey when I tried to publish it. If the timing seems off, that's why.

Tis the season when we're just floating along from fun summer concert to performance to other outdoor event. Too many great options; can't keep up with them all, but we're sure trying! This week started off with jazz on Monday and blues on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Leah mentioned that she wanted to sew a bag for a reenactor friend whose current bag is too small for his daily gear. Next thing I know, she has hand sewn this fully lined bag from stuff in our stash (fabric was a freebie, also used in a dress Leah sewed for herself a few years ago; button snipped off something trash-bound).

At the Thursday farmers' market, she ran into another reenactor who agreed to model it. Just happened to match his cap perfectly!

Hey, when did she learn how to make buttonholes?!

Friday included a barbershop chorus performance and the beginning of outdoor Shakespeare season! Ooh, how we loves us some summer Shakespeare!

Midsummer Night's Dream last night, possibly will go to a diff. show this evening (after taekwondo this morning and a folk music festival in the afternoon), and then we'll have the option of 1-2 performances a week through August. Only a short bit of knitting time before the sun goes down, but such good fun!

outdoor concert season

2010-07-06T05:57:00.000-05:00

Hot night.

Cool jazz.

Crocheted blanket.

Knitter in the shade.

eleventy bajillion Xs

2010-07-05T13:48:00.001-05:00

Way back when, I was a hard core cross stitcher. Then I showed Scott how to do it and he got bit by the stitching bug. When his stitching won Best of Show in the Big E's competition many moons ago, he won hundreds of skeins of DMC embroidery floss. A few years later, an elderly lady we knew passed away and we inherited her cross stitch supplies. Then, this spring, my grandma passed away and we came home with her floss boxes and cross stitch stash. So when my friend Jean mentioned a cross stitch project she'll be doing as a cancer research fundraiser, using the Aida fabric I gave her from that first stash we inherited, I jumped at the chance to pass some more supplies to her. She sent a list of color #s she'd need.

Those are the pile to the left.

I'm passing the mini-mountain of skeins on the right to her too, just because I think Jean and her stitching friends will put them to use faster than we will. It might not look like much in the picture, but let me tell you, that's enough to make a whole lotta little Xs and keep a stitcher's fingers busy for many happy hours!

hey, I made something!

2010-07-02T06:11:00.000-05:00

Lookie, I made a happy knitter!

Another Deb, who just happens to be a knitter and a homeschooling mom, stopped by our booth at the farmers' market on Sunday for a quick try-on of my sweaters that were up for grabs. And believe me, it was a hot day, so it was a quick try-on.

They fit, she likes 'em, and they went home with their new owner. Yahoo!

NERRF

2010-06-30T06:06:00.000-05:00

Um, Toto? I don't think we're in ~~Kansas~~ Connecticut anymore. Nope. On Saturday, we were in NY, surrounded by hundreds of people carrying rockets of all shapes and sizes, some big enough to need special equipment to maneuver, including golf carts to shuttle them out to the launch pad and quads to go on retrieval missions.

You learn to be careful where you step so as not to break a rocket fin when at the NorthEast Regional Rocketry Festival! Some of Jesse's rocket club pals earned certification of varying levels, including two Level 3 cert rocket launches that were awesome and gave me goosebumps. Jesse was hoping to get his Level 1 certification while we were there, but there was a glitch in the registration process, so he'll go back to try again later this summer.

Even at a rocketry festival, knitters find knitters. I found two on this day.

A size 1 circular needle comes in handy for undoing a tight knot during a rocket repair. This is Crazy Jim, friend of Wildman Rocketry, who was incredibly helpful when one of Jesse's launches burned through the Kevlar shock cord (yes, burned through Kevlar, the stuff they make fire blankets out of!) and needed a clever repair on the spot.

Big rockets. Sunny day. Loud booms.
Good laughs. Happy boy.
Sock cast-off. Happy mom.

the Goob does improv

2010-06-23T08:35:00.000-05:00

stripey, slouchy hat #1

stripey, slouchy hat #2

crocheted vest with
interesting construction

all made without a pattern
but with joy

time to fess up

2010-06-19T13:59:00.001-05:00

I guess it was bound to happen eventually. People are noticing. I've been kind of absent from my own blog. (Really, Deb, nothing but an afghan square since the baby sweater in April? What is WRONG with you?!)

Yup, it's true. I haven't been knitting so much. Instead, I've been trekking miles a day, eating raw foods (which, btw, is not just nibbling rabbit food. for instance, father's day dinner tomorrow is falafel wraps w/ key lime pie for dessert -- all raw, all healthy), learning how to live an entirely different lifestyle, and loving every minute of it.

The up side? There's less of me. Quite a bit less. Enough less that when I walked into a client's office yesterday for the first time in a few months, there were gasps and everybody gathered around to compliment the changes. And my joints don't ache anymore, and my lifelong headaches and migraines have gone *poof*, and my skin is softer, and I don't need lip balm ever, and my energy level is through the roof. And I'm not done yet. Only about halfway there, but even half is a big improvement.

The down side? Well, the handknits, um...

They need a new home. Not this green one, nope. This one is going directly into the trash because I can't be bothered to finish it, even though all that's left to do is attach the sleeves, cut the steek, and knit the button band and collar. I butchered this project since the beginning. I was already losing weight when I started knitting it and even hinted that it was probably doomed from the start when I said it'll be a miracle if it ever gets finished. So into the trash it'll go. No problem.

But I have two other sweaters that are available to anybody who can put them to use: the Garden Patch cardigan (chest 54", length 24") and the Watercolors cardigan (chest 56", length 28"). Both have pretty, pretty glass buttons made by you know who. If you'd like one or both, or know somebody who would, please get in touch (email in my profile). All the other clothes and even some shoes (who knew I could lose enough weight in my feet to change how my shoes fit?) have already gone to Goodwill, but I'd really like to find the handknits a good home directly.

With that, I'm off to pull on my walking shoes and head out on this glorious day. Even though I'm not doing so much making of stuff lately, check back in soon because I just took pics of three of Leah's most recenty finished objects. She's a crafter on fire!

18th century girl

2010-06-15T06:42:00.000-05:00

Wearing yet another new top, sewn by hand,

volunteering at the Nathan Hale Homestead,

playing a mountain dulcimer in the Homestead's kitchen,

and working with other junior docents
to tend the kitchen garden.

She is loving every minute of this experience
and so am I.

knitted bacon

2010-06-13T19:48:00.000-05:00

Reason #8,203,759 why I love the Internet:

An entire blog post about
knitted bacon
WITH cables!

soccer mom

2010-06-13T05:20:00.000-05:00

This week, I was as close to being a soccer mom from the 'burbs as I'll ever be. Except it was lacrosse, not soccer, and I'm the uncle, not the mom. (Yes, uncle. My nephew Zach has other uncles, but I'm his only aunt. When he was a wee little dude, he called me Uncle Debbie and it stuck.) Z's team is undefeated this season and lacrosse is a hella fun sport to watch, so we were out for a playoff game earlier this week and then to Mass. for a big playoff tourney yesterday. In the rain. Still fun! And they won! Championship game today, but we'll have to miss that one because of a farmers' market.

It was chilly as the sun was going down at the game earlier this week, so Leah wore her favorite slouchy hat, knit from the yarn leftovers bag with alternating sections of stockinette and reverse stockinette. Cozy, scrunchy, funky.

On the rare occasions when we turn on the tube lately, we're enjoying a series of Miss Marple DVDs. I showed her knitterly hands here last week, but here's a shot from another show where she's knitting and sleuthing again.

Otherwise, there's a whole lot of farmers' market and brick oven stuff going on 'round here. Crappy phone pic of Most Excellent honey whole wheat bread. New recipes, new signs, new displays, new containers, new health dept. hoops through which we have to jump. It's all good, though, and will get easier as we settle into the new season. The scent of garlic Parmesan bread in the oven is wafting up to my office right now and we're off to a market in a couple of hours, so I better get hopping to help load up. Happy weekend, everybody!

favorite customer quotes

2010-06-06T14:47:00.000-05:00

"I have had dreams about these butter rolls!"

And so begins the Coventry Farmers' Market season, where we completely, entirely sold out today. I knit not a stitch but, along with Scott, enjoyed a steady stream of visits with knitters, old friends, customers who have become friends, and new folks who have "heard about your cookies/muffins/breads."

Ahh...so delightful when there is no line between work and play.