A good week

What makes a week good for you?

In this good week, I got up pretty early every day so I could do one thing I WANTED to do for myself. You know, a little variation of the "put your oxygen mask on first before you assist others with theirs" bit of airline safety instruction. Two mornings I went walking. A couple mornings I permitted myself a little time for knitting with the early morning news & entertainment programming. And I've tackled a couple of those daily or weekly household tasks that it's NICE to do with some degree of regularity.

In this good week, I've eaten some pretty healthy things, and on a regular, planned basis! While this should be standard, right now it feels remarkable, as it has been a week of packing lunches, dinners, and/or breakfasts to go go GO. Today's lunch included a really fragrant white peach with blueberries and a dollop of really thick, plain yogurt. 23 more days to make it a habit, right?

In this good week's knitting, I finished off the Juno Regina. It's modified - a few repeats fewer, a little less wide (in pattern if not in actuality), the yarn is a little heavier (Ancient Threads TRI - a sock weight fingering). It's also a little shorter - about 63 inches unblocked. I didn't run out of yarn, also good. While I have enough left that I wished briefly I had knit the center span longer before I started the detail of the end pattern, I'm much better off than if I'd run out of yarn before I was done.

This weekend I will block it. It'll be the last time knitting will have little to no competition for the cutting table! Picture time will happen then, too, as the camera and the scarf are at different ends of my commute!

And finally, in this good week, I've been remarkably productive. I have managed to clean up my desk daily, so as to keep the chaos at bay. And I've really been able to keep up a modest degree of some balance in my week.

Looking forward to a GOOD weekend.

Occupied Occupant

Classes begin soon, so blogging gets dumped in favor of knitting for the recreation time. I stopped in to do three things, so pictures, hastily:


Finished the Pomatomus sock. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Green Mountain Madness that was waiting patiently in the sock yarn bin.


Lousy close up, but there it is.



Among the several outings of the summer, I spent some time in Colorado.
Loved the mass of hiking markers here.



Nearing the end of a slightly scaled down Juno Regina for a gift. This photo is from the start. I've just that much left to go, or nearly. The yarn is a very pretty handpaint done in natural dyes - logwood grey and indigo. This will be a gift for one of my hosts in Colorado.


And while I did shop for yarn this summer (and I hope not to have been too indulgent an influence on Ms. Poetangel at Stitches MW), I curbed my purchased caffeine expenses mightily this sumer. This lovely, fragrant, and very thrifty bottle of Tea Masala has made some very nice chai. It's helping me through this box of loose tea I'd been neglecting.

There.
That's better.
I was starting to think it might look like I'd never again be an active blog resident.

Not a complete spendthrift, it seems

It could be worth mentioning that I am not a Luddite. I may look like one, but blogging should certainly fly in the face of that notion.

This weekend my VCR gave up the ghost. Something fried, as not only did it fail to power up, but the cable/antenna boost it gave my aged television also disappeared. Perfect for fall, I thought. Some of the flexibility of summer permits a little too much casual and accidental vegging viewing. More time for NPR and listening to music.

This resolve was hastily dismissed on Monday night as I made my way home along a less traveled route and past a major shopping center. I was in Big Gadget Purchase Box Store and out with a VCR with DVD player and recorder, not within spitting distance of the budget plan which had me listening to the radio, before I knew where my planning genes had gone. Worth mentioning here that I have not ever had a DVD player and had long since removed Blockomoviester from my holiday card list the day they swept all their stores of VCR tapes and replaced everything with discs. Again worth mentioning that I do not fear changes in technology, I just don't care to ditch working equipment due to this aggressive sort of planned obsolescence.

The television I have is a wee bit old. I have been fortunate enough in my adult life to have only owned two very cast off televisions, both of which were gifts in which I was gracious enough to dismiss the pity/incredulity of the giver. (First - You don't HAVE? Then - You only have that little black and white thing?) This my second television only has little screw heads to which to attach your antenna/e or cable - two sets, VHF and UHF. Lovely little adapters help the coaxial cables talk to the television through the VHF route. And while the dearly departed VCR was new enough to come equipped with lovely little yellow and red, audio and video, right and left plugs, the VCR was flexible enough to still talk to the television through the coaxial cables while the rest went idle. I used the VCR to access the cable channels, and was delighted to learn that even replacement universal remotes that ignored the television worked nicely with the VCR.

Turns out that something else has changed in the planned obsolescence schemes, however. Newly purchased machine requires connections through BOTH the coaxial and the little yellow, red, audio, video, left and right plugs. I read through everything three times and then packed up the whole business. I returned everything to the Best Return Treatment Ever counter. That was the end of my impulse purchase moment, and I escaped unscathed.

I told them I'd come back when the television died.

Yes I do know about the February converter box issues.

I'm not going to act in haste this time. I'm thinking.

PS. I did remember to try sending the coax from the VHF straight to the wall - great VHF antenna boost. I think I trashed the old antenna, though, so UHF will have to muddle along without my attention.

Fashion Circles

The 80's are returning with a vengeance. I'll step out of the fray of discussions on that subject, but I do have some evidence of fashion circles in my trunks and files. This 80's pattern from Elle Magazine (September 1985) led me to an early, wearable sweater. Please note that this is pattern #1. (I did make a couple of the other patterns from the back pages of that magazine.)


I was too impatient to make it as long in the body as recommended, and truth be told I was still learning about gauge. I wore the sweater a LOT. Very itchy, but I managed, and I wore it into the 90's, since it wasn't the full-on 80's tunic the pattern meant it to be.


The next fashion cycle is the one where it's now too small for me and too itchy for nieces who might be interested in fashion cycles. I think it may go enter the Reuse Cycle and turn into a fulled bag. It's been worn and washed enough that it could be an annoyance to frog, and frankly, I have enough on the to-knit list right now.

On another variant of the "everything old is new again" tune, I made a silly wrap skirt for summer wear. Perky, isn't it?

==========
Had a very lovely time last week, if brief, joining Elizabeth of SABLE and a group of really fine women at The Other Knitting Camp. Elizabeth was an amazing organizer and facilitator - really an excellent host. Fine and funny conversations, interesting people, great food, and a perfect break -- these things never go out of fashion!

Oh, yes --there was open air knitting and spinning. Heads turned.

Things change

Sent this off to my aunt and uncle. I enjoyed noting the difference between my grandmother's work and mine. I crochet quickly, and you can tell the tension suffers. Click through for bigger images.

Her work:


My work meets it, yarn thinned additionally by virtue of being a redone section.


I made up an edge, as the handwritten note said to repeat row two until yarn runs out. I thought a straighter line than the zig zag would be better.



Of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I have guests this week, I'm off to finish tidying, I have a gift to finish for the weekend, and I don't know what I'll wear to that wedding this weekend.....

To Do List Tidying

Great LONG weekend:
Finished up the afghan my grandmother had been making for my youngest aunt and her husband. (My mother had passed along the project for me to do after my grandmother passed away.)
Finished up a pair of socks.


Tended to several pieces of mending (buttons, pocket linings, split seams).
Finished up a skirt.
Got the landlord to organize fixing a bunch of minor plumbing concerns (done Thursday and Monday).
Took the car in for its emissions test.
Made a batch of chili from beans already cooked but hanging out in the freezer.
Made a vet appointment for Friday.
Cleaned things.
Had the first meeting for a costume project.

Oh, and I relaxed, recreated, socialized, and enjoyed some tasty treats.

More later. I have a productive morning ahead of me, but it's not at the computer.

Summer is here!

I started this habit a few years ago. Rather than leave all the tallies to the change in calendar year, I decided a Summer to Summer Knitting Count was better suited for me. I like the fresh start of a summer, and I like to believe that I have a bit more personal time during the summer.

This year of knitting had a lot of smaller projects and a fair bit of gift knitting:

3 pairs of socks
* Petrified Wood socks
* Elfine
* Yarrow Ribbed Trekking sock

6 hats
* Foliage
* Le Slouch, 2
* Twisted Rib chemo cap
* other hats, 2

8 scarf and scarf-like objects
* Cowls , 2
* Easter Swatch
* striped 1 x 1 ribbed scarf, of the ubiquitous Noro variety, 2
* a ribbed scarf
* Spanish Dancer
* Tuscany with Pastimes soysilk
* Cozy
* Argosy Wrap

2 garments
* Alpaca Drops 103-1 cardigan
* Niece shrug

3 bags
* Everlasting Bagstopper
* messenger bags, 2

Other things
* Fetching mitts
* dishcloths, 6

I usually post this sooner, but hey - I've been having some of that not-to-be-dismissed personal time.

Gone Fishing (so to speak)

I've limited my time at the computer this summer, and so my blogging (such as it ever is) is on a little hiatus.

I'm knitting, anyway: making progress on socks, nearly done with the body of a cardigan (Greenjeans).

Sewing, too - made a hasty wrap skirt out of some delightfully tacky and bright strangely-stiff single knit.

Reading. Walking. Tidying.

I have to work on conference registration, hotel and airline reservations for later this summer, and I'm supposed to leave town tomorrow for a week. No more blog today.

Back in July.

Focus

Took Friday for myself. Focused on small things.

Made sure I was eating foods I picked up at the Farmer's market as well as pantry/freezer food on hand. Made lovely avgolemono soup for lunch. Prepared a nice salad for supper and a quick pasta sauce of young onions, cilantro, and some lemon zest from the soup making to go with some local cheese ravioli in the freezer.

Decided my day off needed to focus on some knitting in progress. Finished the cowl I'd started on Wednesday.




I've been itching to tackle some yet-to-decide projects, and the patterns have been out and about. Put away patterns that could stand to return to their file drawer and figured I'd focus on other knitting in progress. Attacked the Pomatomus only to find I didn't have that pattern with the knitting. Must have migrated to work. Got as far as I could. Will look for the pattern a few days before printing it up again.


Picked up the spring striped socks which had already been cast on. Made fair progress. Paused at this point to tackle the other, as I'd decided these socks might manage to match, and if I tackle the same stretch twice, I'll retain the progress & choices more easily.

I have commencement duties this weekend. Decided not to go to the farmer's market today as I would have little cooking opportunity this weekend. Besides, there's enough at home. I can focus.

This is the weekend I flip my summer-to-summer list of finished knitting. Really want to cast on for something sizeable, and I don't know if my weekend will have enough time to finish much else that's currently on the needles. Still, for now I'll just stick with the focus plan.

Spring, if we squint

I made it to our first farmer's market day - a limited market, naturally. With a little Memorial Day domesticity, I found I had a nice little spring collection on my counter. The maple syrup is from Trader Joe's - the "lesser grade" deemed good for cooking is just the thing, I think. I rather like it as a standard table syrup. Reminds me of homemade: my uncle has a tradition of making his own maple syrup when the spring works for him. (He has quite the setup. I wish I lived near enough or were flexible with my schedule enough to go up and do the maple thing with him.)


At the farmer's market I picked up rhubarb and made a crumble straight away. This is now an ex crumble. It was particularly good. The 3 bunches of asparagus are now down to one. It's cool, today, and I think I'll be using up the rest in a small batch of asparagus avgolemono from the Moosewood Simple Suppers. I think that's the book in which I saw the recipe.

Spring cooking is a good break from reading mountains of papers.


So is startitis.


Dishcloths from yarn remnants.

Not sexy knitting, but I really needed breaks.


Yes, that many papers.

Elizabeth at Sable will soon despair of endless blog images of cowls, the next ubiquitous fingerless mitt. I promise to tackle something challenging soon.

This is Nova Seal's Birthday Cowl.

The yarn has more blue than I captured. I didn't permit myself time for better photography during my breaks from paper reading.

And on that note, with grades in, I go home to unplug for a day.
I hear it may rain - a perfect spring stay-in-and-knit day.
(Perhaps not a good day for more squinty photography.)

I may have the key to a warmer spring -

-- as I have just finished the at-home shawl for better desk-sitting comfort. You know how this goes. It's bound to turn warm, too warm for sitting around with a shawl. I'll get one night of use all the same: I do believe it will still be pretty cool here tonight.

Pattern was from Knitty - Spanish Dancer. I inadvertently skipped the first row of knitting after picking up stitches from the provisional cast off. Turns out to have been a fine thing after all.

RAN OUT of the Schoeller & Stahl Hobby Kids yarn in the last stretch of the ruffle. This is not any sort of a problem for a project that was supposed to be a stash buster. 10 skeins, zip, done. Used a strand of leftover Lanett red and a strand of Baby Ull pink to finish the last row, and then I cast off with just the pink. Both of these were conveniently also in the stash, so I'm feeling fairly smug about some successful use of yarn that's been sitting at home.



Never did get a photo of the Dream Swatch done back in March. Here it is, although the photo is perhaps a little darker. Clouds kept coming and going this morning - witness the two tones of pink above.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

I'm busy reading papers and exams.

In the spirit of these, I cheerfully cut and paste from the Internet, The Source of All Knowledge Inaccurately Quoted and Frequently Uncredited, a few quotes attributed to a notable playwright, poet, and wit.

The fact that several quotes appear in multiple versions either indicates that the man liked his material enough to use it often, or that we are soon to be subject to nothing but the vaguest degrees of accuracy in anything verbal.

To that end, I give you, without checking my sources:
Thoughts Suited For the End of a Term
- out of context -
from
Oscar Wilde.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
````````
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
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I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
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I am not young enough to know everything.
````````
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
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All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
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Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
````````
Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.
````````
Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
````````
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
````````
I am not young enough to know everything.
````````
I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
````````
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
````````
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.
````````
It is always the unreadable that occurs.
````````
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

(Knitting progress shall resurface when I give myself permission to sneak knitting, photography, AND blogging into my breaks from reading papers.)

Suburban Park Cowl

It was still a little cold.
I had a day off.
I wanted a quick knit.
I don't live in Dolores Park.

Tuscany blocked, at last..............

This sat for months awaiting blocking.

Had to wait for other projects to be done so I could have a clear and guilt-free cutting table.

Conjoined Pastimes Soy silk:


The dress form shot:


The recipient was delighted.

What was I thinking?

I thought the yarn was red, in the packaging, in the late evening, in the shop.


In the light of day, this yarn is clearly pink.

I have a sock in progress and two other socks cast on ready to knit.


Clearly, I have the startitis.

I had barely a moment to catch a photo.


Clearly a call for the photographer's little helper.



However you look at it, one thing is clear:



Resistance Is Futile.

Creeping Startitis

I've been infected.

Spitting Yarn pondered giving the credit or blame to the season.

I stayed up late (and I got home LATE) casting on 401 provisional stitches for a shawl snuggle to wear at home. Naturally I had to do a couple rows.

And there are two pairs of socks underway. And I wanted to start something else, but maybe this is enough.

I'm always happy when really skilled knitters like Elizabeth include garter in their inventories of ongoing projects. Validation, you know. Because yarn knows I don't always give myself enough credit to know that I know my own knitting mind and really DO want garter stitch or stockinette for soothing knitting, little projects for travel, projects to think about and projects to puzzle out....

P.S. I'm a dork

Thought about adding that last night:
P.S. I am just a big dork.
Naive.
Pollyanna.
Big old donkey girl scout.
(a phrase that is not my own but I remember hearing it and identifying...)

And the news anchor phrase is right: that's the way it is.

P.S. Also dork worthy:
I've been staying up too, too late so that I can get more day in my day. For example, P.S. - the Pomatomus Sock.



This is my third Cookie A pattern. Enjoying.
Wonder if there's a book on the horizon.

A Thank You Note

I don't have enough time to catch up on all the reading, but, oh, my, Magknits.

My heart goes out to the designers and site developers of Knitty and Magknits and Ravelry -- and to the independent bloggers who post their patterns at home. And here I've been sloppy, and just when exactly was the last time I said thank you! So.

I'm always a little amazed by those who put their patterns forward in the first place.

I'm duly impressed by the time it takes to put together the texts and the photos and sizes and what have you, errata or no -- just as my friends and family who don't knit are occasionally impressed by what I knit at all (or that I knit as much as I manage to do).

I'm in awe of those who capably wrestle with computer publishing and forum building and deft digital photography. I am happy bumbling along with my modest computer use. (See how I blog so as to pretend I'm computer savvy?)

I'm astounded by the knit designers who've deftly and generously made gifts of their patterns in new surroundings or in wonderful variations.

I have nothing but sympathy for and empathy with those who don't have access to their original digital information. I'm not going to think about what I've lost on occasion - and what can get lost on our many computers.

I'm fully in support of those who will move their patterns into other formats, forums, or media and will have a new opportunity to be reimbursed for a fragment of their time and efforts.

Whatever degree of business and income and love and business-building is part of these processes, I've had at the ready some WONDERFUL creativity to access, to change, to make my own, and to bring into my life.

I'm not going to mourn the things that go missing. Paper can age. Tastes can change. Art can be ephemeral.

I'll just be thankful.


I want to be the kind of person that sends everyone a thank you note every time I think it ought to be done. As it is, I don't take all the action I should, and I'm woefully behind. Perhaps this will be serve as one thank you note, done.

Not the worst thing

These are my February challenge socks. I finished them in April. It's chilly enough to wear them.



It could be worse. We didn't have 25 inches of snow in one snowfall.
(I'll shut up now. It might snow this weekend.)

Still ticking

Life is very busy. I'm regretting my plan to get regular amounts of sleep. I'm still not getting things done, and I still got zapped by some kind of crazy thing yesterday. (Lost a whole day to bedroom and bathroom, nothing beyond.)

I can afford myself very little time to knit, but I'm trying to take it when I can. Almost ALMOST finished with the Petrified Wood socks. Started a Pomatomus for my 15 minutes of knitting in the morning and evening. Also cast on some plain jane ribbed socks to replace the Petrified socks in my to-go knitting bag as soon as that last sock is finished.

Zipped up a dream swatch one Saturday for the next day's little bit of Easter flair.

I thought I had a picture of it in the camera, but I guess not. Seems all I captured were these bits of very vintage yarn.




I keep considering a nice dye project for them. That, too will have to keep.

I may be still ticking, but so's the clock. I can't stay to play today.