Linen Fix

August can seem sometimes a month of Sundays. I love the drama queen "forever" of the phrase "a month of Sundays."

August holds a long deliberate stretch of heat and rest. It wants quiet and a book and a cold glass that tinkles with ice and leaves condensed pools of liquid on the table.

August demands the attention of the last preparatory stretch before the big Monday of school.

August tells me to hustle with all the things I've not yet readied.

August tells me to slow down before the real hustle begins.

This August weekend I paused for a little linen fixation.

Feels like August. Needs a great brim, one that goes forever.

Classics

Can't put a date to the cartoon, but it has been clipped to this page for a long time.

Food on a stick.

Expanded - more food, more fun!

So it's true. I have both of these.
Yes there is some crossover. Perhaps a fair bit.

But hey, it was on sale.

And as I was no longer living in Minnesota, it was an extra fix of food writing fun.

Kathy's Uncle Al Has a Goofy Fan

Before there were food blogs, there was the lovely ritual of catching the Minneapolis Star Tribune food column by Mr. Al Sicherman.
I only lived in St. Paul for a year. I have a vague memory of reading it aloud: oh, those green days of being newly minted theatre grads trying to find jobs.

We'd read aloud, yes indeedy, at each other.

Socks, Blended

I MUST get batteries for the camera. Phone photos are lousy for color.

Yarn is Dyeabolical Alter Ego.
Colorway is Frogs IAB - that is, In A Blender.
Pattern is Wendy Johnson's Sunrise Socks.
Needle size 1.5, US.
Sock size, the smallest width, curiously.

Will be interested to see how the color holds and how the size holds.
As they are for me, there's no stress hidden behind that statement.

I forget when I started them, but they are done.

Time to get knitting sorted out for camp.

Starfall - Look for this book in the fall!

Lovely book coming out this fall. Starfall.

My dear friend Diana wrote the story and is the lovely clown in the hoopskirt.

I'd embed things, but the photos are ABSOLUTELY copyrighted, and I don't know if the trailer has limited access. Posting the link to the publisher and the trailer, this I can do.

It's charming. CHARMING. Plan ahead. Tell your indie bookseller.

Great towering cat blankets!

My mother and I compared notes about what we did on the 4th. "My usual," she said. She cleaned and did laundry, preparing for her sister's visit today.

I did much the same, though my company is further down the road. I continued my summer project of cleaning out the Andy Warhol boxes from various stories and stages. Filled up bags of paper recycling, found - at last! - the missing box of denim scraps. Washed up a bunch of fabric and sorted vintage sewing supplies, putting some in the freezer for quarantine, some into bags to donate to the shop, and the rest of it into the right places on the sewing shelves.

I gave myself a break by tackling the towel and sheet shelves of the closet. This extended to purging and tidying the storage of other household textiles in other closets, tubs, and bags. Packed up a bag for the Animal Care League. Towels are topped by a stack of 8 quick little cat quilts - pillow cases with stitched-in folded quarters of old mattress pads. None of the materials would have been suited for thrift, and it took no time at all to whomp them together.

Time to go drop them off at the shelter.

I know. None of this is particularly sexy blog posting. Still, the amusement of it all is keeping me on track.

Wonder what I want to get done tonight....?

Full

A Paltry Summer to Summer Count and other lists

What am I thinking?
Not only is this post late, the summer to summer tally is short, short, short. From Memorial Day to Memorial Day was the initial intent. An appropriate textile year - not calendar nor fiscal - June lets me start fresh. It's almost the end of June. You'd think I'd forgotten.

What did I knit?
This year was BUSY. The knitting was not so great. I completed knitting a grand total of:
Three Whole Scarves
One Cowl
One Pair of Socks

What, no more knitting?
Au contraire. True, much of the knitting in progress this year has drifted in and out of actual progress:
1. There was a variant of an 1860's "bosom friend" shawl destined for costume use. Sewing took priority, and so that is languishing.
2. There's some progress on the cotton blanket.
3. I stalled on a pair of gloves for my nephew, who will likely not be wanting them for cross country in fall. Stalled for questions of size, the glove has now had a fitting and should be fit to return to active knitting.
4. After a false start of a third of a foot, one of the socks from the wonderfully named Frogs in a Blender colorway is actually done, and the next is underway.
5. Knitting a Stephen West scarf for myself. I am doing the dance of no leftovers, hoping that I will gauge the knitting correctly so I have the perfect amount of yarn left for the finishing.

What DID I do?
A. A year long project involving Civil War era costumes. I have increased my lifetime count of making men's tailored jackets from two to well over a dozen.
B. Tenure and promotion.
C. Directed two shows.
D. Put on unnecessary weight. (See A, B, C, B, and B.)
E. Lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol, despite D.

What am I doing now?
Excellent question. That's for another post. Some evidence in the previous post.

Knitting Summer

Practicing slowing down.



Visiting friends.
Remembering I cook.
Walking.

Getting rid of stuff.

Thinking about blogs and letters.

Going to a few plays.

Oh. Look at the time. I better not slow down now. Curtain waits for no slowpoke.

On We Go

I wonder what I would draw today, were I to follow the steps Betty Edwards describes in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain for creating analog drawings of abstract ideas or emotions.

I might draw a crossroads, though that feels puzzling to have just typed. I foresee no change of job and am not organized enough at the moment for a house purchase. I don't have large questions hanging in front of me with audiences rapt for an answer. But then, I might not draw about me.

I might draw a blank, all puns intended. I am tired, that's for darned sure. I have had twelve months of crazypants, if I may borrow the clever term from the glamourblogs of knittinglore. I have a lot I want to do, wish to do, and still must do in this transition from spring to summer. Finding it hard to start today. And then, I might not draw about things to do.

I'd steer away from drawing the symbol or the icon: no sad face, no tear. Though an old friend of mine has died, a too-young friend, and I cried today at home as I needed, the stories to tell are not as simple as those symbols.

I'd draw, though, with purpose.

I'd draw lines full of energy. I'd draw a line which bursts into more lines, which gives new starts, which starts other tragectories. I'd draw a line which looks for new space, for new beginnings, for other fascinating and glorious lines to support, shape, embellish, and let go. I'd draw a line that let go.

I'd draw a line that would say go on: On we go!

In memoriam: Randall Wreghitt

With thanks for friendship, support, a bit of mentoring, and laughter that spanned almost 30 years.
You were a gift to many - and a great, great example to follow.
Your online status always closed with the phrase above, and it will be no surprise that your love for the theatre will go on in the work of so many you celebrated.

Sadly without you, happily for having known you, on we go.

Worn out but in awe

I consider myself quite fortunate.

I have had some amazing students. They work hard, they struggle uphill when they must, they challenge themselves, and they go extra miles.

I am exhausted right now. It has been a spring of madness on the heels of an endless winter and an overbusy fall.

I'm also looking forward to having them go away for a little while: I can't wait to have some knitting, sewing, and cleaning time for myself.

Still breathing. That is, when they don't take my breath away.

Awe, I tell you.

Oh Heck, it's up to my neck!

With apologies to Shel Silverstein, as I misappropriate and misquote "I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor."

Busy. More later.

Too much sewing. I have to scramble to the top of the pile.

Not to Decide is To Decide

I am working on gloves for my nephew but stopped on finger the second because I'm disatisfied. Can't decide my next step.

So I have a needle case of needles and four skeins of yarn, two unwound hanks of stash yarn for a pair of colorwork skeins, a cake of yarn long in the stash, and another cake of yarn I had wound up in the store because I was going to knit it THAT DAY. In October.

So I'm starting everything. Swatching. Starting. I have several days coming up where I have to arrive early and then sit and wait, so I want plenty of knitting options.

I decided I want to have several small knitting projects going right now so I'll have knitting to do when I can't decide what to do about one of them.

Socks, mini shawl, and more socks. And all for me, because that, I decided, was due.

It's a Holiday if I Say So

Made this for a dear friend and colleague who moved away. Should have made it earlier for the winter. Then again, she and her husband were purging household goods like mad for the move, so it's good not to have added to their worldly goods prior to the move.

They're in warmer climate now, but this is still a suitable spring gift for those greyer spring days.

The yarn is Mountain Colors River Twist. The color - Grasshopper, I think. Picked it up at String Theory in Glen Ellyn. Used a pattern developed by and for Knit 1 in Chicago. Bought this in the fall, so it expired “purchase for specific project” shelf life and moved into stash. I knit the yarn doubled and wanted something fast to move stash from storage to done. Use up the skein. Have a small ball about racquetball size - just enough for a garnish somewhere.

I loved the colors in the skein. This was a good lesson in color theory for spinning. The yarn twists have some sparkle. I doubled the yarn and effectively muddied the sparkle. So it goes. And so it goes away.

Happy Gift-Goes-In-The-Mail Day! I'm celebrating, no matter how quiet the party for this party of one.

This is where ultimatums lead.

Sure, I'm done counting. BIG TALK.
Never slap down ultimatums, I say.

I did have one more thing to toss into my list. I have a great birthday tradition.

On many of my recent birthdays I've been able to see a really good play. It's usually a really dark play. Uncle Vanya. A really dark Little Eyolf - seen in London, even. This pleases me.

This year I was even treated to the play.
I went to Steppenwolf to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Chris Jones says this. Sometimes I think he's too fussy, but he gets to be. It's his job. It's still a treat for me. Even if it is part of my job.

I liked the play even more than Mr. Jones did. I heard Amy Morton's Martha and Tracy Lett's George say things I'd forgotten and find notes I'd never heard before, and I love the play.

Okay. 18. I fibbed. and 19. LOVELY dinner with great people before the play.

What's a line in the sand worth if you don't sometimes push it?

DONE

Done. Done with counting things for celebrating.
Other blogs will have the clever cutesy. Here, not so much.
Done gets to mean not torturing myself for being behind with made up deadlines.

Done with Navy Diagonal Socks. Done dawdling.
This was hard. Started them for my aunt who passed away at the end of that same autumn. Resumed a couple times to make them for my younger aunt, who'd also requested navy. Made a sizing error. More dawdling. Done now. NOT BLOCKING.
Mailing later this week, though. Not waiting until birthday or Christmas.
Done gets to mean gone.


Done means end of this day's/week's/month's blog update, even if it HAS been a month.

Because I'm not done with the blog.
I wasn't trendy to begin with.....

A present from the past

17. Family - past and present



My dear cousin found this sweet little photo and shared it with me yesterday.

I am this old.

16. It is not always a curse to live in interesting times.



This was on in the waiting room, I understand.

Darkest before the dawn OR Quit whining, already....

I had a rough day on Wednesday. It was hard to count good things during a countdown to a decade change. I worked hard. I got a bunch done, but so what...

And then I had to shut up, because:

13) I have work.
14) I have shelter and food.
15) I have health, and where I am imperfect I can regroup.

Fortunately, Thursday was better.

Taking and Marking a Holiday

I'll cut to the chase. It was a Holiday. I took it. I marked it.

11. Watched a rerun of the six hour series King while I knit. I am just, just old enough to have been alive for the full, brief term of Kennedy's presidency. I have heard the stories of my aunt's bus ride to an interview during the grief-filled riots that burned down areas of Chicago when Martin Luther King was assassinated. But I was little, too little to know. I like to hear the stories, to watch the retellings, to see where we've been, to recognize where we still are, to see where we might go.

12. I stayed home. I wanted to go in to do some work. I didn't want to go in to do some work. Was kind of in a stay-in-pyjamas funk. BUT. I stayed home. Cat was pleased. In the end, I expect this was a good thing.

I packed up the blanket knitting for a little while. Cross training. Cotton knitting works the wrist a bit, it does. Will return to the navy sock.

At Home

9. I am very much at home in my city. And I enjoy being a traveler at home.

I really like living in the Chicago area, for all its flaws.
It has complexity. It has down-to-earth and over-the-moon.

I grew up learning about neighborhoods through a lot of bus and el riding. I continue to work my way through all KINDS of neighborhoods. The city is on a grid and there are a few diagonals derived from old OLD stage coach and trading routes as well as more recent modes of travel. However, most places you go, you have to turn a corner somewhere. This allows for all kinds of interesting paths, if a body is inclined to seek them out. I typically do. For example, there's an excellent fabric resource near Little Village and Pilssen, where there are also excellent taquerias -- and more.

I drove to church Sunday and failed to get there. I was really late, and then I realized I NEEDED gas well before I WOULD get there. I jumped off the highway, found some place manageable, and found a new plan for the rest of my morning. Went instead in search of a Ukrainian bakery and deli I hadn't been to in awhile. Came away with a great loaf of still warm rye bread.

Spent the rest of my Sunday enjoying the comforts of home AT home.





10. Soup and tea and cat and blankets

With the amount of washing I currently need to do for the house of cat, cotton is just the thing. And as I shook my fist at my too-large quantity of yarn one weekend in summer, I am more than sure I have enough to make a cotton blanket. Worked for a bit on this while thinking about what I might want to knit next for more portable and wearable knitting.

While the cat watched me,


I watched the home team.




Next week also at home? Go Bears.

Time on Saturday

I wasn't free for all of my Saturday, but I did get to treat myself to some good use of my time.

5. I had very wisely taken a few moments earlier in the week, while cooking some oatmeal, to assemble a weekend breakfast. call it what you will - Cheese strata, company eggs, breakfast casserole, savory bread pudding - it was ready to go, thrifty yet indulgent. Even though I had to go to a workish thing, I had time for a bit of weekend breakfast. Once in awhile, I get the domestic goddess timing right.

6. I'm starting to get the hang (again) of a simpler, decent looking professional "uniform". I can stand. Please note the uniform permits unfinte variety of socks and scarves. I dressed without drama and felt okay about how I was dressed for the afternoon thing. I am slowly managing to keep just enough ahead with laundry, and a very little bit of post holiday sale shopping increased the success rate odds.

7. With my large pocket of morning time saved with these two schemes, I took time to mop my bedroom floor. Moved furniture. Flipped mattress and springs. Changed bedding. Unpacked new white-sale pillows. Time WELL spent.

8. Left the afternoon event without staying later to do things and without bringing a slug of things home to do. I never really respect my personal time as I should. Gave myself permission to pick up a small bit of indulgent takeout, and knit that evening. Not too long, though. I went to bed early - an excellent use of my time.

(I type this, of course, to remind myself that I ought to take this kind of time for myelf more often. These are not remarkable things, and perhaps I could hit them a bit more often.)

This Thing About Counting

Three days in. Last things first: unsurprisingly, I should never have given myself this kind of challenge. Not my bag, neither the track-keeping part of counting nor the other part, which is really the first thing, but I'm starting ... Well, you know.

So this counting thing is perhaps crazy making. Counting for activity, fine. I can sing the bottles of whatever songs. I will count like objects in a physical space if I am stuck there and bored. This lovely tendency was reinforced in early grade school when learning that there were significant numbers of objects in church: 12 of these, seven of those, etc., each corresponded to significant songs or groupings of names or sayings or prayers. You get the drift. So I counted instead of fidgeting. It wasn't to remember, though. For remembering numbers, I have to fidget. Rotary dial. Touch tone. I remember those. Bake something repeatedly, and I'll remember proportions. Retain measurements in my head? Only if I'm using them. Remembering a just-taken measurement only long enough to right them down? Three is my limit.

So I may bail on this aspect of the activity. It may just get me down

As for the first part - enjoying or doing or indulging or remarking or taking in a bunch of good things? I may not have enough Pollyanna left in me. We'll see. Stories may trump counted lists. If, of course, there are actual stories.

Will this count?

Fujiyamamama is right. I will need more chocolate.

Remarkable gifts - Tucson Tribute on NPR

4. Woke up in time to hear NPR Weekend Edition's Scott Simon share a touching and remarkable tribute to the people of Tucson.

Will try to link it here later, if I can find it.

Remarkable gift, that Scott has.

Remarkable gifts in Tucson, those who are mourned, those who sacrificed or gave aid, those who continue to give, and the community that gathers itself in support.

10 Days, 50 Good Things (sorry, Martha, you'll have to share)

So here's the thing: I got my first piece of AARP junk mail just before the New Year.
Responses are mixed: a choreographer friend said "Mazel Tov"; I recycled the junk mail.

This is the week I've dreaded and rehearsed for months. As it happens, it would typically be something I would try to ignore. I wasn't going to entirely hide from it, but I could easily have given it the cold shoulder. Then over dinner with my cousin and a friend a suggestion of a weekend trip to mark the occasion surfaced. While it was an entertaining thought, logistics and timing didn't line up, but we're going to do a nice theatre evening instead. Looking forward to that.

Then tonight I thought of something. I need to treat myself better. In fact, I could do a lot better at that.

I'm giving myself 10 days, wrapping both weekends into the package.
I'm challenging myself to 50 good things. Do them, enjoy them, something.

Tonight begins it. I'm giving myself a proper cozy "early night" Friday night.

1) A somewhat decent spinach pizza

2) A glass or two of Cabernet

3) Knitting time - enough to finish a gift scarf.



Day one begins. Three good things.
I might have a piece of chocolate, but I'll throw that in for free.

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

Happy New Year!

I enjoyed a quiet and relaxed holiday break. I steered clear of obsessing about making ten million things - no Santa's workshop for me this year! Didn't travel - until yesterday, that is - and completely by choice. Stayed away from the workplace for a few days here and a couple days there. Also kept myself away from working, giving myself time to rest and nest a bit. Shopped very little but effectively - a few gifts bought, wrapped, and mailed. Did a little rare wardrobe shopping for myself: walking boots, sale trousers and shirts to replace unwearables which leave home this week. I cleaned a little, mended a little, cooked a little, knit a little, read a little, and socialized a little.

This weekend proved a thoughtful one, notions swirling about beginnings, middles, and ends. I liked reading about mittenfarce's challenge to finish projects and to cast on a fresh start to the year. I read several references to cleaning the decks, the house, the slate. Couldn't find the steam to do the full clean sweep of any particular realm, though, not the home, not the project queue, not the office, the closet, or the slate. At the same time I found myself fascinated by the notion of "starting as you mean to end" - or perhaps to start as I mean to carry on.

The truth is I like all three places. I like the fresh energy of a start. I love the mess, focus, and process of the middle - even if that sometimes gets bogged down by despairing of progress. I'm silly enough to be amused by counting or measuring productive progress and distractable enough to keep from obsessing over the numbers. And like any properly inconsistent human, I love, hate, rejoice, sigh, celebrate, mourn, and mark endings of various stripes.

A good story, it is said, has a clear beginning, middle, and end, however it is packaged.

I confess, I'm not always a linear beginning, middle, and end person. And this is where I find myself at this turn of a year. I rather enjoy that there are so many stories underway. I have beginngs, middles, and ends to tend to. There will be more to come.

Done is good

This got done.



Exams are done.


I'm wearing this without buttons. Done enough.

Oops

Need a copy of Interweave Knits Fall 2010?

I find I've purchased two.

In the spirit of the previous post, one needs to go.

A Sure-Fire Antidote to the Shopping Impulse

Help someone move and downsize. That will keep you out of the stores.

A few years ago we were grateful recipients of donations of sewing supplies from a community member who was downsizing. Recently she moved into an assisted living center. She's given us scads of things again.

I had a phone call for help today as her support team members worked to empty out the last loads which were moved into a garage. Since I didn't leave home AT ALL yesterday, I was glad I was up and showered and could head out.

So. I will tell you no tales. Our donor was not extreme. She just had a lot of stuff because, over the years, she DID a lot of stuff.

Still, it makes me ready to head back home to do some work with my stuff.

One day of knitting away from finishing the soft black wrap. That's yarn from the stash. I have gloves to get cracking on for my nephew. Have a sale skein of some solid sock yarn wound up. Did I mention that once I was done with some big projects I might knit again? Started this one for portable and easily repetitive knitting, an inexpensive gift for a recent grad.



Startitis, of a sort. Stashitis. Not shopping. I think I might be in the mood for holding Santa's Workshop again. Still, it will be on my terms. This holiday season I'm not shopping much and I'm not traveling much. I need my impulses to focus at home.

Time for some stuff-reduction.

JK

WYSIG. OMG. JK.


What Yarn? Sale is Good.
Off My Giftlist.
Just Knitting.

Don't ask. I'm tired. Had to stay up way too late on Saturday, and Sunday and Monday are too, too full. Fortunately, I scored some knitting time during those full weekend days and will again tonight. If I can't go home, at least I can knit.

This yarn is Pemaquid - it's soy and alpaca and merino. Very soft. Will probably pill like mad. Colorway is Starry Night; despite the greyness of the photo, it's a nice soft black.

But it is yarn I tried to put into a sweater. That failed. I would like to use this yarn before it becomes a permanent stash resident. It was a pretty good sale.

It's not on my gift list. It's for me. I'm just knitting something to toss on when my office gets cold, like it does right now. Or to be one of those great big puffy swallow your head trendy eternity scarf things. Or to button. A Quickie Lacy Ribby Buttony Wrap Thingy.

It's just knitting. It's a repeatable stitch pattern - from f.pea's quickie cowl. The needles are size US 11.

Just knitting.

Good Golly, Miss Gaenor

Thanks again to Ms. Picnicknits for her lovely and generous offer of a pattern for a Knittyboard KAL. I sort of fell off the face of the knitting planet for a bit there.

Yarn is a cotton and silk blend from Great Adirondacks Yarn Co. - Nassau - in a colorway called Cappuccino. Used most of one skein, just a bit left. This was merciful, as I worked past the middle and ripped it back twice, as it was clear I'd be running out of yarn. Third time was the charm. Used size US7 needles. Pattern is Gaenor.

Finished this tonight. Two ends woven in. Photos taken and loaded up.

PS. New male figure mannequin. Very exciting upgrade.

Reaching for Ends

I went to California this summer for a conference. As is my new habit, I try to take a little time for some vacation time for myself. One day I journeyed out to Santa Monica.



People I don't know, the only photographable landscape moment, with a bonus lamppost.

I have pictures of lamposts in a variety of locations. I don't know the end purpose of those, but there will be one. Eventually.

Went in to see the art museum another day. Had a lovely little meal at one of the trendy little foodie trucks which parked that day at the art museum.


In addition to the lovely mini burger with local goat cheese and other tasties, I particularly enjoyed that their dining counters were repurposed ironing boards.

It was on the bus back, at the end of my outing, that I noticed something as I was knitting. Naturally when you are knitting...,

...you notice other textiles. I saw a young woman wearing, as a shawl, what was absolutely without any doubt a lovely piece of lace that had its first life as a bureau scarf. A table runner.

Decided I HAD to photograph but decided to be coy in the way of some knitters, and pretend I'm photographing my knitting.



The sock was a helpful tool in my photographic pretense.I had to try to catch the lace trim on the petticoats and the longer lace trimmed pantelets.


It's good to know a household dainty does not have to end its life because household decor tastes change. Here's another shot wherein I simply hide behind the young man who took up the set in front of me. There are proper terms for this "was-trendy-in-Japan" fashion style which blends Victoriana and baby doll into a style for young women. The name escapes me, but the extended life of lace objects I applaud.


In other news, I have almost reached the end of my part of the tenure and promotion application process.
I wrote the 25 page portfolio.
I assembled the binder chock full of support evidence.
I met with the tenure board.
I have one more closing meeting with the Academic Dean.
Other steps will occur without needing my attention or input, so the rest will be out of my hands. I'll have to wait for the end. One way or another, there's an end to that mountain of work and stress.

Where one thing ends, another begins. Tonight, I will have sociable dinner with friends, and I will go home and knit. I might reach the end of the Gaenor shawlette I began in summer. I'd like to see that project reach a successful end, too.

Phew.

I finished my homework yesterday. Work portfolio.

Big stuff, Maynard.

Phew.

I slept for 12 hours last night. Too many almost-allnighters lately.

I now get to do all the two hundred and eleventy-five things I've pushed to the back burner.

What a relief. Tackled a bunch of things today with gusto, I was so relieved to be doing anything BUT what I'd been doing.

I may now get to knit. I made the hair appointment.

I may even stop writing inane un-posts. (Who's kidding whom?)

Seriously. I may even have a glass of wine this weekend. AND KNIT KNIT KNIT!

Phew.
===========
Cryptic note to Julia: New email? Old? Guess I ought to try it out. Lovely article in the late spring newspaper, though I only just read it now. Thinking of you both in Idaho!

Promises, Promises

I'm swamped. I'm not knitting.

I promise myself to be able to knit in November.

I'm not rescheduling my haircut, the one I had to cancel, until November. I should make the new appointment, I suppose, so as to give myself the promise of a haircut.

I'm that swamped.

I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I promise.

No drama. Except for the theatre parts.

Meanwhile this summer

Second sock. Bus in Los Angeles.

I took a series of photos which require story telling. Another day.

After all, the world might implode if I get three postings in on one day.

Spring is neither February nor July

Thanks for the kind words about the scarf glimpse I posted the other day.

I am a bit over tired.


Turns out I didn't knit this in the spring at all, as I guessed in making my last post.

Turns out I did actually finish knitting in the winter, and the blocking happened in the summer, with shipping just into fall.



No spring about it.

==========
The yarn is Ancient Threads Tri - dyed with natural dyes, which in this case is a logwood purple. Mostly soft brown, taupe colors, hinting toward purple.

The pattern is Luscious Lace Scarf. While available on Ravelry, I thought it might be appropriate to direct you to the pattern creator's blog.

Please disregard the green tint across the photos. Or better yet, witness the magic of color theory as displayed by phone photos and shadows on a rainy day. At least, I think it was cloudy.

Who knows. I also thought it was spring.

Last Spring's Knitting

(Interesting greenish band. Must have been something about the phone camera and the shadow of the windowsill.... The original does not have the greenish swath.)

Wanted: Elves for third shift

Following the shoemaker's successful recommendation, will knit hats and other smart knitwear in exchange for help.

===========

Meanwhile, no knitting for the last two and a half weeks. Blech.

Taking Elizabeth's sage comment about walking lifestyle to heart, though. Have been walking most mornings.

Something, anyway. But boy oh boy could I use some elves. Or a good doppelgänger.

Driving by

Hi.

Been knitting.

Been walking. Been taking trains and buses and airplanes.

Been doing some cooking of healthy things.

Been losing weight slowly.

Been going to museums and libraries.

Been doing family things, like nephew visits with auntie jpknits and cousin wedding-related events.

Been to the doctor, so will be continuing to walk and to cook healthy foods.

So that would be enough for a drive-by blog post.

Bought a car yesterday. A new car.
Feel a little guilty but not remorseful (as in buyer's remorse).
So I won't be taking the trains home late tonight. I'll be driving.

Going for a walk now, so I keep that in my day and keep up the progress on the measures-for-better-health front.

Way, way, way behind on my summer to summer tally

I post late, but the count is valid. Memorial Day to Memorial Day, pics linked as available:

Hats, 9 of them
Socks, one pair
Cardigan,one
Mittens, 2 pair
Neckwarmers, one and an ambiguous scarf/neckwarmer
Two shawls, if small
Scarves, 6 of them for gifts

And of course:
Dishcloths, 2

Kept one hat and the scarf/neckwarmer, as the yarn was a gift.
All the rest were gifts and, as such, moved on.
This is not bad.
In fact, this being the case, I'd almost wish the list were longer.

Gone fishing. Walking. Camping.

Two months? Really? I guess I really have been focusing.

The first month was just survival: head down, move forward. The second month included work on two massive projects for work, trying to maintain healthy schedules, getting in some family time, cleaning - and a whole lot more sleep, more walking, and even some actual cooking at home. This was part of the plan.

I liked June. July promises to be more of the same. I can deal with that.

Going to knitting camp, the alternate, plain old camping knitting camp.
I thought I'd make marshmallows for s'mores, but it may be too hot and humid for that.

Plan B, then. I'm not going to fret. That's not on my July plan.

Done and Done!

This was a good time to be knitting only one thing.

It was good to focus on the sock made to specs, a sock without a particular pattern. I learned I needed to write things down.

I've learned I can take photos on the phone on the train and post them - though not yet directly to the blog. That'll be next.

I'm sure I learned other things, but for right now I'll just be done.

Threes aren't always charming

Honestly I will have knit three socks in the end.

Twice round on the heel flap. Got to the turning and realized I'd done a slip knit slip across the flap, whereas the first was knit slip knit. Heel turning didn't look the same. I knew it was subtle and I knew it was under the heel. Still I ripped back.

Got through the second gusset and realized it was short. The heel flap was short, I'd picked up fewer stitches. It was more prononced than the aforementioned sins of the heel. Ripped back.

Almost done with the gusset. I hope to see my way cleanly through to the end. The intended wearer has a smaller foot than I, so that should go quickly. And I have already done the third major do and redo, way back at the multiple starts on the first sock.

My, but it's a good thing I am trying to focus on just one thing. I'd have a lot more trouble if I were juggling multiple knitting at the moment.

Sheesh.

Two Words

Heel Flap.

Grinning and Bearing, not grinning and baring

Thanks for the patience and the boost yesterday. Truly had at least a bit of intention to find some laugh in the morning, but it probably looked more like I was baring my teeth, growling like the bear I was pretty close to becoming.

Truth is days don't come apart just because ends come loose. People came together to get things done, I survived a student really melting down and turning somewhat feral. I got smacked down at a meeting and took it with grace, because it wasn't really about me. And when I missed the last train last night I was in such an improved spot that I decided I could roll with it. I got some things done in my office, have lovely clean spots in some of the tackier zones in there, and went home with the birds and the dawn's early train.

I'm happy to report that I made a proper omelette for my homecoming, seeing as I never quite have that time in most mornings. Washed a half week's worth of dishes, and tried to squeeze in a catnap. There's the silly that not enough sleep sets up. Woke up and knew I'd be late for my grade school gig. I volunteer but I really had this schedule worked out to avoid this kind of disappointment. Scurried to the train, called from the platform, and was advised to go home and sleep. Since the rest of the day won't permit it, I took the train the other way to work. Watch the silly turn smart.

I am still not expected at work, but I have completed the dicier part of any commute. I strolled into the nearby yarn shop for a needle replacement. Size was odd. So that will wait another errand, but I picked up a skein of yarn to taste when I'm done with the sock knitting. Stopped into posh sandwich shop and am having lunch At A Table. Definitely enjoying the escape. And so, So SO glad I got a grip yesterday.

After all, none of this is the stuff of drama. It's a lot easier to ease back in when you grin and bear it.

************

....do I lose points for sappiness and dorkery if I point out that just as I finished typing, Michael Buble started singing "No People Like Show People," right at the smile part....?

This Day Needs Frogging

Honestly. In the space of less than two hours ...

I have three usual transit options. They come in rapid fire succession compared to the times they get me to me destination. Still, it's usually a nice set of backup plans- miss the early one that gets me there plenty early, and I still have two more options that get me there later but still on time. Guess who missed what.

Mind you, I left pulled together, breakfasted, coffee from home, a host of props I was supposed to cart in today.

I've spilled coffee while standing at a park bench, checking to see how empty the cup was since I now had time to warrant a coffee shop refill and a little outlet mooching. Need I mention white socks, tan pants? Windblown, carrying enough stuff to outfit a thriftshop window.... I tried to play remote office in an effort to regroup and have found twenty-eleven things that are today's problems.

I passed a shop window, and instead of seeing a woman who could manage to look like A Professional, the woman looking back at mesas the Wreck of the Hesperus.

If you see a whacko with a picnic basket today, it's me. Don't poke the crazy.

Turns out I could post on the train.

Except that I can't post pictures.

Progress on the sock. Pics on Rav. Have taken to taking them on the phone while on the el - at times when there's not a crowd, of course.

I am more than half done with the second leg.

I can see the heel from here.

Someone on the train or the bus will see it soon enough.

Pictures aren't everything.

Here's the complex look of a SWATCH in a very busy colorway.

Here's the point where I describe the picture that wasn't taken of the cuff I frogged:

Pink column next to a mustard column next to a navy column....

You get the picture.

I stayed up late obsessing. Frogged, switched needles, and am now getting a spiral stripe.



Picture of me tired, and too stupid to have gone to bed when I've had a cold this week? Not worth the bandwidth on which it would be posted.

Happy to be Wrong

Finished dimensions 8" X 68"
One skein Interlacements Tiny Toes
Needles US 11
Pattern: One Row Lace Scarf

If It Looks Like A Duck

It looked too small. It knit really fast. I no sooner took this poor picture than I'd finished.



It is too small.
Short scarf. Too short.

You know the moral: If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well .. it's clearly a duck wearing a really short scarf.

Man, did I want that off my to-do list. I'm not sure it will do.

But hey, it's knitting.

Seasons

This has been a snowy winter season, no question.
I've been absent here for a bit, but I've been taking care.
Took note of a rarity: the neglect of an asparagus fern yielded some fruit.



There have been a few more, interestingly enough.

Took care to focus on some simple things over the holiday season.




There was loss this winter - in my community at work and in my family. January involved a lot of work with my cousin as she packed up her mother's place. Also worked with my colleague's friends as they packed up her belongings. We helped dispatch a bunch of stuff (library donations and other things) in one day. It's been interesting for me to note how my family's processes have been very healing, sad to observe that the circle of close friends who mourn the loss of my colleague were still in a very raw state. Very difficult.

As for me, I've been trying to deal with some things simply. Just trying to get things done, things put away. I have added things from my aunt's home into mine, so I'm trying to move OUT some things at the same time. My work zone has been the recipient of a lot of donation.

Very little knitting. A neck warmer not worth a photo session, some mittens,


a gift that's in stealth mode still, and a no-thinking scarf underway.

Today there's more snow in the forecast. But it's just a little.
It's winter, and it will pass.

Three hats, two photos, one year nearly over

Finished the last two of the hats for my actors. Had a lot of Thanksgiving weekend hospital time to knit. One zipped away pre-photo.




Traveled for a family funeral and decided not to risk trying to finish that one on the plane (inox coated metal needles), so took this wool along. It was enough for a hat on nice pencilly bamboo needles.



Fall of 2009 has been hard work. Hasn't been well-suited to living aloud online. The year is nearly over. There are sunny mornings ahead.

AFK

Back in awhile.

Two more hats to go

I don't know when it was that I moved from figuring out that I would be the only one making these seven hats to the place where I decided I WOULD be the one to knit seven hats.





The stuff of stubbornness.

In memory of a good friend and colleague

Remember
by Christina Rosetti


Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Because they shaved their heads

I'm making 7 camo hats.
Missed a photo of the 1st.
Took a photo of the next two.
These colors aren't perfectly true, as I had the desk lamp on in a fluorescent light filled room. Blech.

Keeping up

Things I can't keep up drift away. Things I won't keep up are sometimes lifestyle and sometimes casualties. Things I should keep up? Oy.

Mostly, I'm not keeping up.

Keeping up appearances --
I don't, much. Could improve, but the reasons would not be for sake of appearance.

Keeping up with work demands --
Sometimes I wonder who does, really. You get some things done, and you make progress on others. I got a couple things done today. That list should be longer.

Keeping up the home --
Yurgh. In one weekend, a weekend in which I was at work twice, I managed three loads of laundry, some desk and table clutter clearing, and a little food-prep for a week of packing along all my meals to work. Gah. Bah.

Keeping up with the Joneses --
More distant than the appearance issue, mostly.

Keep your chin up --
Trying to support others who are trying, trying to model the tactic myself.
Having a hard time.

I'm certainly not keeping up with the blogging. I manage only to peer at blogs and knitty and ravelry. I'm knitting a second of the pile of hats I really wanted to crank out.

And I'm not ready for my evening of work. I'm going to do that now. I just wanted to feel like I could use a few minutes of the week to keep up something purely for myself.

Someone else would probably opt for the pedicure.