oh. now I remember.

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.

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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.

flounces

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. :-)

repurposing

Remember the fishies I knit in hopes of turning them into a hat? Well, as I thought might be the case, the hat thing didn't work out, so I turned my attention to Plan B. I didn't notice that the abandoned fishies disappeared and also didn't give much thought to the Goob scurrying around to gather supplies for some sort of project she was working on in her room, because she's always working on some sort of project and it often doesn't involve me.

The fisherguys were set to meet here between 10 a.m. and noon yesterday, just a wee bit excited to get their excursion underway. The first one arrived at 10:08. ;-)

What fun when Leah, fresh from the shower (that's why her hair is wet in this pic), presented them with the Camp Fish flag she stitched up and mounted on an extendable pole for their campsite!

time-space romp, part I

We've been zooming through time and space for the past three days and, boy, I'm tired. Before we get to the time romp, though, I wanted to show you a little project that's recently underway.

On the left below, you can see a nice big cone of variegated tencel that I got at Webs last winter. On the right is some burgundy cotton yarn harvested from a sweater from Goodwill.
I'm knitting 2 strands of the cotton with 1 strand of tencel, in the lace rib pattern (#79) in Stitchionary. I did some simple figuring per Jackie Fee's Sweater Workshop to come up with a planned cardigan for Leah. It's super soft and the effect of the blend is exactly what I hoped for: nice bit of sheen from the tencel and subtle variegation, enough to make this clearly not a solid color but not so much variegation that you lose sight of the lace rib pattern. I don't know if I'll have enough of the burgundy to do the whole sweater, but I have some options in mind if I need to go to Plan B.



The blue yarn at the bottom edge of the sleeve is the result of using a provisional cast-on. This is a new technique for me. It will allow me to knit up the sleeve from the cast-on and then go back and pick up those cast-on stitches that are being held temporarily by the blue yarn, remove the blue yarn, and then knit down to add a ruffled edge, without a seam between the two segments.

This weekend's time traveling began with Friday at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. Besides the rip-roaring nor'easter that passed through midday, we had a fantastic time. We knew lots of people there, so it was a really comfortable environment, seeing friends everywhere we turned.




Many of our friends were wearing costumes, and we were too. We had heard that the participants in the RenFaire really like the contribution to the fun when folks dress up, and I'd have to say that it does add to the experience to join in like that. Leah's fair maiden dress and Jesse's squire tunic began as a a woman's dress and a man's t-shirt at Goodwill, and they were morphed into Ren costumes with supplies from our stash while watching some travel videos earlier this week. Jesse smite a knight, Leah swooned over fancy finery, and a good time was had by all (once the weather stopped threatening to take us to Oz). 

a win-win weekend

This entire weekend was one rollicking moment of supreme awesomeness after another. I loved every second of it and I'm so glad it's over so I can get back to work and get some rest. ;-) There's sooo much more to it all, but highlights from the blog's yarny perspective follow:

We arrived home from celebrating Scott's b'day with another stellar Fire and Ice Day at Old Sturbridge Village to discover that the mailman had delivered our copy of the latest magazine they put out for members. Flipping through, on the last page, hey! There's Scott (holding coffee cup and wearing a handknit hat) and his mom (purple coat), getting warm by the fire when we were there for Christmas By Candlelight. And you see that handknit hat peeking in at the top right edge? That's Jesse wearing Habitat. Sunshine, fresh air, a day spent among living history in action -- win.

While the guys then headed out for ice fishing with a friend, Leah and I met up with other friends at a nearby yarn store for their second annual Stash Swap. We traded in some unused yarn from our stash (most of which was given to us and just wasn't in colors/fibers we'd use, but still perfectly fine stuff) and came away with yarns we are more likely to use, including that gorgeous 3-lb cone of navy blue tweed rescued from being unloved in our friend Jen's stash -- woot! -- sock yarn, superwash wools, handspun, handpaints, some good solid wooly worsteds, and yes, there's some ladder/ribbon/railroad "yarn" there. I have a plan for that stuff too. Just you wait and see. ;-) Traded in freebies/hand-me-downs we won't use for a big pile of yarn that we will use, and hung out with friends in a cozy place -- win.

Sunday morning, while the guys had friends over for a good time, Leah and I headed north w/ my mom and our friend Elizabeth, meeting up with lots of other friends and acquaintances there for the Webs Super Bowl Escape. This is the third year we've gone to this event, which is an excellent party. Leah is in her element from the moment we walk through the door. Just such a festive atmosphere. I have been itching to do another pair of stranded mittens, had actually just Favorited the Signe mittens pattern on Ravelry earlier in the morning, so I was delighted to win a door prize of the yarn, pattern, and needles for Floral Brocade Mittens. Win.

Back home in time to say a quick hello and goodbye to the friends who were visiting Scott and Jesse (the mom asked me to teach her to knit the next time we hook up!), scoop the guys, and head out for a Super Bowl party. This was a house full of folks I've know since we were about the age our kids are now. My kids wore their Steeler shirts. The house was decked out in its usual Steelers paraphernalia, and maybe a wee bit more. The guests mostly showed up in yellow and black, a few wearing some of my dad's vast collection of Steelers shirts (man, if I had a dollar for every time he was mentioned last night...), and I dug out my Steelers pins that have been around since we lived in the 'burgh.

Notice the little crocheted Steelers hat with its hand-drawn logo? Dozens of these were made by kid crocheter Debbie (that's me!), circa 1976, I'd guess. I didn't have any here, but my mom had 2 stashed. Moms are good like that. :-) One of the guests asked me to teach her to knit! We ate Steelers cookies sent by Gram, spun our Terrible Towels like lunatics, munched classic football food and yellow M&Ms printed with Go Steelers, rec'd a steady stream of phone calls from friends/fans also enjoying the game where they were, and basically whooped and hollered until we were hoarse. And happy.

Win!