Rhinebeck!

The Duchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York is home to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival on the third weekend of October, every year. This is always fun to attend -- Earthling and I went last year and had loads of fun, so we were looking forward to it this year. It's similar to Maryland's, but it's much more oriented towards families -- similar to a fall carnival. But regardless of how you look at it, it's still a lot of fun.



But really, the most important thing about Rhinebeck was that It. Was. COLD. Thursday afternoon, I left Virginia thinking, "It's October. How cold can it be, even if it is New York? I'll take my Rhinebeck cardigan (Ravelry link) and jacket, and I should be fine."

Little did I know. See this?



That's me INSIDE a barn. Yes, those are knitting needles I am holding. Yes, they really are about four feet tall. Note that I am wearing not just my sweater and jacket, but mittens and a hat as well (I'm also wearing wool socks, but you can't see those). The hat is one that I knit a couple of years ago and gave to Earthling for Christmas. The mittens, I cast on Thursday night and finished in the hotel room Friday evening, after Earthling commented that there was a chance of snow(!) for Rhinebeck on Saturday. (I don't normally knit that fast, even a pair a mittens, but this was on a deadline.)



There was no snow that day (although we did pass some on the ground on our way north), though, so we lucked out in that respect. Especially since the next day (which was the day we left, so we didn't go to the booths again), it rained, and was probably much more miserable for the attendees.



I went to Rhinebeck with a certain set of rules in my head. These rules were to help keep me from not spending too much.

Rule #1: I would use only cash. I would not pull out any of my cards or my checkbook, and I would not use the ATM at the fairgrounds.

Result: Bang on on this one. This has been my rule for pretty much every wool festival I've attended, and it's worked pretty well. When my cash is done, so am I. Earthling does the same.

Rule #2: I would not buy anything that I already owned, or that I could procure at any of my local yarn stores back home.

Result: Right. Well, I did pretty well on this one, too, except that I do know that I already own a couple of silk bells



(but not in that color. There's a difference.), and I'm pretty sure I can get one of these at With Yarn in Front:



Other than that, everything else was new. Honest.

Rule #3. I would not play with any of my new stuff until I made a sizeable dent in my current stash.

Result:



It was worth it though -- to entrance the Beasts.

There were bunnies:



There were goats:



I'm pretty sure this alpaca liked me:



Not so certain about the llama, though:



The sheep clearly couldn't care less:



Sheep Incognito was there:



We looked at the items that had been entered for judging and saw things that were beautiful:



Some things that were cute:



Some things that showed what I could aspire to:



And things that showed me that clearly, it is not my opinion that counts in anything:



I finished my Kindness Socks (in the hotel room):



It was a great time. I can't wait until next year.

Update

Lest ye think that I have been ignoring you and the house....



That, my friends, is a picture of one of my air ducts. You can't really tell, because I didn't take the vent off, but that vent right there has just been cleaned. I took no before picture, partly because I didn't think of it at the time, and partly also because I didn't want to frighten anyone with the image of my dirty air vent and thoughts of life forms living amidst my ducts (which, by the way, they were totally dirty enough to house. I kid you not).

However, last week, right before I went away to Rhinebeck, the Cardinal people came and cleaned my furnace, and the Steamatic people came and cleaned my air ducts. So now, there is no longer the possibilty of strange life forms living in my ducts, and (once I go out and procure the air filter), I can actually turn on the heat as well.

Also:



Paint. Evidence of it, although there is still considerable more to do. (Anyone who comes over to help will be fed. Please?)

Next post: Rhinebeck!

The Little Things

The other day, H and I were shopping in a bath and beauty type store, and H came across a container of hand cream that she thought smelled really nice. And she was thinking about buying some, until she looked at the price tag: $24. At which point, she turned to me and muttered that hand cream really isn't worth that much, even if it is really nicely scented.

This sparked a conversation with the clerks, because we wondered how popular the hand cream was (we didn't mention that we didn't think the cream worth the price). It turned out that the clerks sort of agreed with us: They didn't think it was worth the $24 either, but that enough of their patrons considered it their little luxuries, enough so to pay that much for the cream. One of them suggested to H that if she really liked it that much, perhaps it would become her little luxury -- the one thing she would be willing to splurge on.

That got me thinking as I drove into work the next day. I had stopped at a Starbucks for a venti caramel macchiato -- which, with taxes, cost around $4.30. I also had to wait in line for it for about ten minutes, which almost made me late for work.

I had stopped there, because Starbucks is on my way into work. But so is McDonalds, which sells caramel lattes for a lot less, and the line is much shorter. I could have stopped there instead of at Starbucks, spent $1.50 less, and waited 5 fewer minutes in line. But a caramel latte is not the same as a caramel macchiato.

I still don't know about the hand cream - to me $24 still seems like a lot to shell out. But I guess we all have our little things we feel the need to splurge on, whether it be a caramel macchiato, a jar of hand cream, a cute pair of shoes, or a tube of lipstick.

What's yours?

Before

So, as promised, here is "Before." We will start with the outside.



I spent Saturday afternoon pruning that blasted hedge. In the spring, I'm totally hiring a landscaper to come and get rid of it. I'm foreseeing it as more trouble than it's worth, and I want flowers there instead.

Here is the back of the house.



No deck, but both of my neighbors have one, so at least I know one is kosher. Maybe in a couple more years with a couple more dollars in my bank account, it will be something to think about.

The back yard.



There is foliage back here that I want gone too -- I spent considerable time back here on Saturday also.

The street out front:



Now, on to inside. Here is the foyer on the main level:



(That's my purse sitting on the floor there.)

The living room:



That's V's air mattress that she kindly lent me so that I could spend my first night as a homeowner there.

The other end of the living room. I think it was supposed to be the formal eating area, but I'm going to turn it into my office area.



The kitchen.



That box I was using as a temporary trash can. The unlit candle on the counter is acting as an air freshener.

The other end of the kitchen, which is where I have since put the dining room table:



The upstairs hallway:



The master bedroom. This is one of the few rooms in the house that is actually close to being fully done (now). The only thing missing for an "after" picture are the drapes.



The room that will end up being my guest room:



The really tiny bedroom upstairs that is going to be my craft room. I did not pick that color blue, and am thinking it might be a little much for it (it's darker in real life).



The hall bathroom upstairs. There are three full bathrooms in this place, but this is the one I've been abluting in.



The really weird room off of the garage. The previous owners stuck a wall halfway through the garage and made it into an abbreviated garage (big enough for my bike, the soon-to-be lawn mower and gardening supplies, the trash cans, and not much else) and an office. There is no window in this room, so the color is a little off. The walls are really more of a light mustard shade. I think I will use it as a large closet for now.



The family room downstairs. The bathroom there has a shower in it that is filthy almost beyond belief. I will spare you the details. Use your imagination and know that it is worse than that.



And the other half of the family room, complete with back door. This is where the futon is going to be for the time being.



It's mostly cosmetic -- what needs to be done. I've moved in and (mostly) unpacked. There is now a refrigerator in the kitchen, and new locks on all the doors. Mostly, what needs to be done is cleaning -- I had the good sense to hire someone to come and steam clean the carpet -- and painting. Pretty much every room needs to be touched up, if not completely repainted, in some way. I'm almost done with the living room and my bedroom, but I'll wait until everything is done before presenting the "after" pictures.

(The green fluffiness is all spun up now, and is in the process of being knit. Pattern: Oblique. It's not as lofty as I would like, but it seems to be knitting up well.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Today's post was going to be about the house. I was going to post all my "before" pictures and explain what all I was planning on doing with it (and it's a lot, but mostly cosmetic), and then provide an update on all that I had done so far. That's what I had meant to do today. But this morning, when I woke up and heard a certain noise outside, I realized that there was something more important to write about.

What was that noise, you ask, that would be more important than my new house? A noise that makes me want to dance outside in the street, throwing pennies to anyone who walks by?

The noise outside was a bus shifting its gears. Which means that today, my friends, today is a most auspicous day. Today is....


THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!

Well

I stayed awake all Friday night, tossing and turning on the air mattress that V lent me -- partly because every time I shifted position, the mattress would shift with me, partly because there were no drapes in the windows, and the neighbor across the street had the outside light on, and partly because I was worrying about what I had just done.

Did they really fix the furnace? What if, come November, I go to turn it on, and it doesn't work?

What if something happens and I lose my job?

What if I can't afford to make the mortgage payments (please bear in mind that the fact that I have just plopped down a substantial downpayment on this sucker kind of mutes the worry about not affording the mortgage)?

What if I can't get the stove clean?

Did I pick the right paint colors?

When will I be able to go to a locksmith? What if something happens between now and then?

And then it hit me:

Good or bad, that house is mine now.

This Is not Going Well

Or maybe it is, depending on how you look at it. But either way, when someone e-mails you about something that is clearly time sensitive, it might behoove both of you to respond with a reasonable sense of alacrity, and not until FIVE DAYS have passed, when it might be too late for either one of you to do anything about it.

Moving on...

I have finished spinning up all the green fluffiness! Now for a pattern.

Packing, packing, I fear there is no end to the packing....

I am in desperate need of bleach. And moving boxes. And a decently working vacuum.

I finished the front of the Fireside Sweater (that's a Ravelry link) and have started on the back. This is my second go-round on it, and this one, unlike the first one, will have sleeves and will be in a different yarn.

Celtic Festival coming up!

Random

Summer Reading is over.

I've finished spinning up the singles on the green fluffiness. Now for plying.

Never play with scissors. Doing so will result in injury that impairs one's knitting and typing ability.

Peach cobbler is very good but never quite as good as when Mother makes it.

Random Musings

There are six volunteers at the library currently shelving the books. It doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, but if I tell myself that it has, then it won't counteract my running back and forth to the back room for more carts.

I have started on the second bobbin of the green fluffiness.

I finished my blue socks and am almost done with the green ones!

Apparently bananas are a "complete" food that one can live almost exclusively on. Along with honey and wild salmon. Who knew?

It is exactly this long before school starts.

Frogs, Flies, and Fun

They say that time flies when you're having fun, or (as a frog would say), time's fun when you're having flies. But sometimes time flies when you're so incredibly busing because you don't have the time to notice the fact that time is actually passing. In the words of Marina Sirtis, We haven't the time to worry about time.

On the up side...

I have finished my personal programs for SRP, which means that the only things I need to worry about right now are the Foundation programs and the volunteers.

I am over halfway done spinning up the green roving. I have one pound completely spun and plied, and almost a bobbin and a half spun up of the second pound. I'm going for a heavy worsted/chunky weight, and I think I have about 550 yards in one pound.

I can't believe there are people out there who didn't like The Little Engine that Could....

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

Six more weeks until school starts.

Three more weeks until the end of summer reading.

Watty Piper never said it so well.

I can too do it

Very busy month going on right now. Summer Reading has begun (Oh Joy), which means teen voluneers, school visits (now finished, thankfully), programs, and screaming hords inundating the library every day. Three more months....

The new library opens in about two weeks.

The house hunt continues apace. I have come to the realization that, while I am quite capable of painting walls, cleaning counters, and calling Sears and Empire for a new refrigerator and carpet, the idea of dealing with an HVAC system as old as I am is well beyond my level of expertise. So that house is crossed off the list. I'm going out again tonight. Wish me luck.

But let it not be said that I cannot cope with the stress. I cope just fine. See?



These are the Ancient Oak socks, which I swore WOULD NOT GET THE BETTER OF ME (and they haven't). And you will be happy to know that in the light of finishing up the Purple People Eaters and the Ancient Oak, I have also worked on the next appropriate item in my queue:



Darn tootin. That there is a garter stitch Syrian Shawl (that's a Ravelry link) -- the best thing in the world to work on when the universe is plotting to drive you crazier than you already are. Even the edging was relatively simple.



I am happy to see that my blocking has come out much better on this one than it did with my previous shawls.

See? No problem coping.

This is the way you knit a sock

Or rather, this is the way one should knit a sock:

1) Choose pattern
2) Choose yarn (this may or may not be done prior to the completion of step 1)
3) Knit swatch to see if pattern and yarn are comparable to each other (or go wild and skip this step)
4) Knit sock 1. Try sock on recipient to ensure fit.
5) Knit sock 2. Give to recipient.

See? Not that hard. At all. Which is why I have been ready to tear my eyeballs out in seething rage in response to this last pair I've been working on. Because this is how I have been knitting a sock.

1) Choose yarn (Yummy, in colorway Truffle, which apparently isn't being made anymore)
2) Choose pattern (Ancient Oak -- that's a Ravelry link)
3) Knit swatch.
4) Realize that the pattern calls for a slightly thicker yarn and a bigger gauge than the yarn will knit up at. Employ language unbecoming a knitter.
5) Decide to work the pattern anway, changing the stitch count from 54 to 72.
6) Knit ribbing and first pattern repeat.
7) Realize that even after having increased by 18 stitches, the sock is still to small.
8) Rip out sock and cast on again, this time with 84 stitches.
9) Realize that the colorway changed when the stitch count increased and no longer looks as nice. Employ more language unbecoming a knitter, but decide to continue knitting.
10) Celebrate when, after ribbing and first pattern repeat, that this size will work. Continue onto heel.
11) Realize halfway through heel flap that the pattern called for standard stockinette rather than slipped stitch. Rip back again.
12) Reknit heel and celebrate after a successful turning that has included copious amounts of weird math in order to get the stitch count to come out right.
13) Realize after about five rounds of gussett decreases that the color is just turning out way too weird to continue knitting.
14) Call V and complain bitterly about sock
15) Rip back, using language unbecoming a knitter and sobbing knitterly sobs.
16) Go up a needle size and cast on the original 72 stitches.
17) Use more language unbecoming a knitter when the realization dawns that this is now working.
18) Realize that the copious weird math done the first time is not going to work the second time. Use more language unbecoming a knitter.
19) Rework weird math. Celebrate when the heel turns successfully.
20) Complete sock 1
21) Begin sock 2 and ask recipient to try on sock 1
22) Dance jig when sock fits recipient
23) Progress to heel of sock 2
24) Realize that you again forgot to write down the exact numbers of the complicated weird math when turning the heel. Refrain from using language unbecoming a knitter as in the presence of parents.
25) Begin working on garter stitch shawl in an effort to preserve sanity.

Finishing Up

I can't believe it's June already. Seriously? What happened to April and May? Time flies so quickly sometimes.

On the up side (speaking of which, I really want to see that movie)...

I HAVE FINISHED THE FLYING PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS!!!

Yes. It is true. Remember the shawl?



It is now this.



A closer look?



A thousand curses on the lighting in my bedroom. The first picture shows the color most accurately. V took pictures of it on me, but she has yet to send them to me, so you'll have to make do with the crappy ones I took. I'm very proud of this. It took forever, but it was so worth it.

I also finished spinning up the tussah:



There's about 750 yards of that gorgeousness right there (and the color is pretty accurate in this picture). I want to make a nice wrap or shawl with it. Unfortunatley, it's not spun evenly enough to make anything particularly lacy, but we shall see. Perhaps another Wool Peddlers.

Lest We Forget

"Love your country and live with pride
And don't forget those who died." -- Billy Ray Cyrus

That's a line from the song "Some Gave All" -- which I've never heard played on the radio, but I think is most appropriate today. And it made me realize that whatever profound, moving thoughts I was going to put down here would pale in comparison to what the collective mind of American humanity has already said. It also drove home the point that it doesn't really matter what I say here, because the important thing is, to quote Abraham Lincoln, "The world...can never forget."

So instead of me spouting off something trite and patt about the importance of this Monday, I think I'll just close with something that was said tonight during the Memorial Day concert by one of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

"Let us make their hope our own, and let us never, ever forget."

The Long Weekend

I'm so glad we're coming up on a long weekend, because I really need to get a lot done. I'm desperate to finish the Flying Purple People Eaters (which is bothersome, because the more rows I do on it, the longer they become, and the longer it is taking to finish it), but I'm hoping only two more pattern repeats, and it will be done except for the blocking. And now that my wheel has dried, and the little plastic dodad has been replaced, I can work on some spinning this weekend too (yeah!).

Green Valley Book Fair this weekend!

Sigh

Right outside the building from my desk, there are a bunch of construction workers (since I can hear and see them actually doing things, I won't qualify it anymore than that). They are (at least I think and hope that this is what they're doing) rebuilding the gazebo which burned down last summer. (I think it had help.)

Let me see. It is now the middle of May. The gazebo burned down in early August. That is over nine months in which there has been a barren space of land outside. Children have been conceived, carried, and delivered.

Now that the Monkey socks are done, there is room in the queue for the Ancient Oak ones. Except that these spent almost two days in time out, thinking about what they did after I totally arsed up the gauge on them. Grumble.

Thank God it's Friday.

Well

I feel like I really want to rant right now. There are certain things that are really starting to TICK ME OFF ROYALLY -- like computers, and cleaning staff, and staff at stores that don't seem to know anything about what they're selling, and...

Never mind. Here, look at knitting:



That's the October Frost cardigan, finally done. Although I have no idea what is up with the color. Here's a much better image:



Pattern from A Fine Fleece, made with the rest of the Cascade Eco that I had leftover from making the Holiday Vest.

And here are the water lilly socks, which were finished on Thursday and promptly pressed into service on Friday:



(My own standard sock pattern, made with yarn from one of the vendors at Pittsburgh whose name escapes me at the moment.)

There. I feel so much better now. Don't you?

Update

Just a quicky, because I have no time.

The candle flame socks are done -- except for weaving in the ends, but really ends, schmends.

The OF cardigan is blocking. On my bed. Hopefully by the time I get home this evening, it will have finished drying, and I will be able to use my bed. When I move into my my own digs, I really need to get a blocking table.

The lily pond socks are almost half way done.

There has been no further progress on the flying purple people eaters.

This past week has given new meaning to the phrase "April Showers."

Stitches in Your Home -- what a great idea! Heather is a genius.

On behalf of Mason-Dixon Knitting, please consider donating to Afghans for Afghans if you have a chance.

Random on a Tuesday

It's raining right now. We need the rain, but it makes for some dreary scenery outside. The sky is gray, and from my desk at work I cannot see any of the pear or magnolia trees that are in bloom nearby. Blah.

I really, really need to finish up a whole bunch of projects before I start working on any more. Like the candle flame socks I've been working on (they're almost done. I should have them done by tomorrow.), and the OF cardigan (needs sleeves. Should be done by the end of the week).

Also on the needles that needs to be finished is this shawl.



I have more done than the picture actually shows -- I'm about halfway done with the repeats (note that I did not say that I am halfway done with the shawl -- just the number of pattern repeats). It's done with Jojoland Harmony, which is cobweb weight, and so fine that every time I pick it up to work on it, I get all bleary eyed. It's going a lot better now that it is on straight needles rather than circulars, but I don't know how long that's going to last, since by the time I'm done, I'm going to be working with twice the number of stitches than I am now.

Yesterday was the birthday of Marguerite Henry. I have no idea how old she was, but it makes me want to go out to the beach, even though I know it's way too cold right now.

Since it is no longer Lent, I'm thinking about some sort of berry pie. I wonder what good ones my new book has...

That reminds me -- I need to go grocery shopping.

Whatever happened to Ordinary?

First, some prompts:

1.One blue Nissan sedan, a plot of daffodils, two wild rabbits, and a three year old.
2. Robert Sean Leonard has knocked on your door, carrying a jar of tomato sauce and a violin bow. What happens next?

Whatever happened to the day when you could go into a place of business and perform a simple transaction? The other day, I was at the post office, mailing off a book. I pick up the envelope, address it, and walk up to the teller, at which point, I open the envelope, stick the book in, and seal it. I then hand the envelope to the teller, who says,

"Do you have anything liquid, fragile, or perishable in here?"

I stared at her. I mean, she just saw me put the book (and only the book) into the envelope. What on earth did she think could be liquid, fragile, or perishable about it? The only possible way to ruin it would be if someone along the way spilled something liquid on it, and if that were the case, I don't think mine would be the only thing ruined. I realize she's required to ask that, but I'm a little baffled at how policy flies in the face of common sense sometimes.

Then she asks, "Do you want it insured or certified in case anything were to happen to it?"

Hadn't I just said it wasn't fragile or perishable? What on earth could happen to it? "No," I say. "It's just a book. I don't need it insured. And I don't need to know when the recipient receives it."

"Would you like it to go priority or express so that it will arrive within a certain time, like before tomorrow at 3?"

A vague headache begins behind my eyes, and I stare at her (because really the only reason I was at the Post Office at all was because I didn't know how much postage it would need -- I really didn't foresee it being this big of an issue for her). "NO. It doesn't need to get there before a certain time. There's nothing special about it. IT'S JUST A BOOK. Send it in regular mail."

At which point, she stares at me, like I cannot possibly understand the importance of the decision I am making -- the decision which clearly signifies life or death for myriads of innocents, and (most importantly) denies the USPS a chance to make more money and says, "There is no regular mail. You have to pick which way you want it sent." A pause. "Would you like me to send it First Class?"

No regular mail. This is complete news to me. A complete and utter surprise. I have always considered First Class to be synonymous with "regular mail." Ummm, ok. Whatever. I nod, and she rings me up. "That will be $2.75, please." (I had to buy the envelope too.)

As long as it gets to Florida. But seriously, whatever happened to regular and ordinary?

Once a Classic, Always a Classic

"people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham."

This past Monday was the anniversary of the birthday of Anna Sewell, the author of the above quote. In light of that auspicious day, I suggest you check out this place.

Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty in an effort to educate the public regarding cruelty to animals, and it is still today refered to as a novel that helped ignite the animal rights and welfare movements. It was also used by some people as a manual for the care of horses. In fact, the book has been so influential, one SPCA founder was known to give out free copies to cab drivers.

Since its publication in 1877, the book has sold more than 30 million copies and has never been out of print. It is, according to some sources, the sixth bestselling novel written in English. If you've never read this book (and if that's true, I am profoundly sorry for the shallow husk of the empty and depraved life you have obviously led), or if it's been a while since you've read it, I highly encourage you to pick it up. It is, regardless of what you think of Victorian writing (I find it incredibly wordy sometimes), still a wonderful story, for children and adults alike.

A good thing to do tomorrow, as there is a 70% chance of rain.

Pie

My friend H and I were at the local Borders on Thursday, and while wondering around in the cooking section, I discovered this book.

Pie is one of my favorite desserts. I like Pie better than cake or cookies or pudding, and there are so many different kinds that I don't know as I could ever get bored with eating it. But even I didn't realize, until I picked up this book and started flipping through it, that there were this many different kinds. Seriously, 300 different kinds of pie? Wow.

Dudes. My next baking endeavor has just gotten way more interesting.

Ideas

So my parents have recently gotten back from a cruise around Cape Horn and the Antarctic peninsula. Before they left, my mother asked me if I wanted her to get me anything while they were down there (aside from, you know, a postcard that depicts a penguin or two). I said that if she could find some locally raised alpaca or llama yarn to bring back, that would be pretty cool.

She said she'd look, and off the two of them went. They came back a couple of weeks ago and said they had a grand time (They saw lots of penguins). They had also managed to procure some yarn for my sister and me. Something called vicuna.

None of us had ever heard of vicuna before, but my mother was concerned whether or not it was good yarn, so when I was home over this past weekend, we looked it up online. Retail price for vicuna yarn is (are you ready?) $300 per ounce.

My mother said that if she had known it was so valuable, she would probably have bought more than she did. As it was, she came back with 5 75-gram balls. That converts to a little more than 13 oz, or about 6.6 oz each for me and my sister.

Here is my half (or rather, it's my sister's half, because she's the one who took the picture of hers, but mine looks pretty much the same. Trust me.):



That's about $2000 worth of yarn right there. I'm thinking about making this shawl with it. Anyone have any other ideas for it?

Announcement

I am now Twittering (you might think I've been doing this regularly for years -- now it's official). Check out the link under my feeds to keep up with me on this. And if you happen to be twittering too, let me know, so I can follow you!

Gauge, and other things

The problems I've been having really don't have anything to do with Gauge, but I feel like I have to blame something about it, and Gauge (it is capitalized to give it the respect it deserves) will work. I've been working on this cardigan off and on for about a month. This one to be precise. (I've been obsessing over it ever since I saw the movie.) So I look at the pattern and realize that because I have these accessories out the front that the designer of the pattern perhaps doesn't have that I will have to make the large. I cast on, read what the pattern says about upsizing and start. After about three rows, I decide that I don't like the look of all those purl stitches inbetween the different cable panels required to upsize the pattern and decide to change the cabling. So I do. I change the cabling, work the entire front (conveniently ignoring the fact that I miscross three of the cables in the process), kitchener the two fronts together as the pattern calls for,

Then realize that the way I have changed the cabling changes the way the whole cardigan hangs, and it doesn't look right at all. I have now ripped out the two fronts, have re-knit one of the sides with a larger version of the original cable the pattern calls for, and am in the midst of the second half. There may have been some alcohol, tears, and language unbecoming a knitter in the process.

There's GOT to be another way to adjust for porch sizes.

The Things You Never Knew

So I was at this knitting convention in Pittsburgh this past weekend. Sunday morning I was taking this class on color, and there KL, the teacher, was explaining all about proportion -- that darker, brighter colors make more of an impact than lighter, matter ones. And she gave an example of Argyles: that if the colors were black, red, and white, then the main color would be red, the diamonds white, and the lines would be black if one wanted a balanced look between the colors. Someone else mentioned that you could then switch the colors up if you wanted a different look too, and then I commented that that was the cool thing about making Argyles, at least with socks, anyway: that once you bought the yarn for one pair, you had yarn for three more pairs.

The teacher then said that was fine and dandy and all that, but that she could only knit socks for pirates, because she just never got around to knitting that second sock. I don't know quite why she felt she had to limit herself to the idea that socks had to match, but since she brought up the pirate idea, I just couldn't resist, and said, "Well Argyle socks should be perfect for you then, since they're Arrrgyles."

The whole room cracked up, our teacher most of all. Totally flipped. She was practically rolling on the floor, she was laughing so hard. Apparently she had never heard the joke before. I laughed a little with her, all the while thinking, I can't believe she's never heard that before. That wasn't even an original on my part. There's even a pattern on Ravelry for Arrrgyle socks, for crying out loud. But clearly, this was the funniest thing she had heard in a while, and she kept coming back to it, laughing every time anyone mentioned Argyles.

I never knew I could be so amusing.

Random Saturday

Some prompts:

The endless blue.

White on red.

Abuma books (interpret that as you will).

Mother Goose is having a dinner party. In addition to Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Moffet, Bo Peep, Simple Simon, and Little Boy Blue, name five more people who are invited and why.

A three year old is sitting in the grass. Near him is one large button, a hockey stick, a packet of wintergreen Altoids, a glue stick, a copy of Where the Wild Things Are, and three catnip joints. What happens next?

That's really all I have right now, because I've been tearing my hair out trying to find my flash drive, which I have misplaced for the second time this week, and because I'm too infatuated with my current knitting project right now to think much on anything else.

And because it's my birthday this weekend, which really has nothing to do with my creativity or lack thereof, but I just thought I'd put it in there.

(The Argyles are done!)

Something to Consider

It's snowing right now outside my window at work. Real snow that actually sticks to the ground, in contrast to the flurries that has been all we've been getting here this winter. Not that it hasn't been cold enough, it's just been too darn dry most of the time that everytime it dips below freezing here in northern VA, it never does anything. Annoying, really.

The other night on the news, when the weatherman was talking about the precip that is currently coming down outside my window, he mentioned that we had been lucky so far in terms of winter weather. Which got me to thinking (I know. it's a dangerous habit). What, exactly, is "bad" or "lucky" or "good" weather and what makes it so?

Last year ('07 actually), in November, it rained for about four days straight -- a gentle, soaking rain that was absorbed (almost) completely into the ground. In addition, during those four days, the thermometer dropped about ten degrees, and we got about four inches of rain. And everyone complained about it. They complained that it was too cold and that it was too wet, and when was the sun going to come out again?

The reason that it was so baffling, though, was that the temperatures during those four days weren't all that cold. They were normal, average temps for November. What made them different was that it had been unusually warm throughout September and October. In addition, it had also been very dry. From June through September, we had approximately 3.5 inches of rain (Total. In Four Months.), ten inches below the average for that time of the year, and October wasn't any different. During that time, everyone grumbled that it was too dry. So why, when it finally rained and cooled down, were people complaining?

The same is true for right now. It's JANUARY, for crying out loud. That means that, in northern VA, it's SUPPOSED to be cold and snowy outside. If a person does not enjoy cold wintery weather, then that person can go and live in an area of the world that does not have cold snowy weather in the winter. Why in the world is snow (or rain or any form of precip, really) considered bad, simply for doing what it was made to do, which was fall to the ground? Don't we need precipitation as much as we do sunlight? And why, especially in the light of global warming, is cold weather considered horrible, particularly in January, when it's supposed to be cold?

Thoughts?

Another Review

First -- some prompts:

One orange button

Glittering golden in the west

Blowing through the vents

And now, a review:
Today I realized that I'm not reviewing nearly enough books that I really should be. As a librarian and a writer, I think it kind of necessary that I keep on top of this, and it appears that I am woefully negligent on it. So this afternoon, instead of my boring musings, here's a review on a book I read today:

Our Country's Presidents, by Ann Bausum, published by the National Geographic Society.

What's good about it:
It covers all 44 of them, including Obama, and gives at least one full page of information on each one, as well as a full page, full color illustration of each one.

In addition to the highlights (and lowlights) of their terms, it also provides some interesting trivia about each President. William Howard Taft, for instance, enjoyed playing golf. James Garfield was left-handed. William McKinley liked to wear a red carnation in his jacket and would often give it away to strangers to whom he was introduced.

The lineage is often "interrupted" with information on the presidency in general, usually info that has to do with the president previous. Following Teddy Roosevelt is content on First Children. John Tyler precedes information on the Vice Presidency. Facts on the White House follows John Adams (the first one to live there). And after JFK comes content on the supposed Twenty Year Curse.

An appendix in the back provides information on the different election results -- all 44 of them, and includes info on who won, who lost, who belonged to which party, who the vice president became, how much of the popular vote each candidate received, as well as how many electoral votes each one received. It also includes the seven men who became president without an election.

What I didn't like about it:
Some of the trivia, particularly that in regards to First Offspring, lacks consistency. For George Washington, it mentions his wife's two children from her previous marriage, but it doesn't do the same for James Madison (Dolley Madison had a son from her first marriage). It also mentions that Willie Lincoln was the only child to die in the White House, but doesn't mention Cal Coolidge at all. And several children were listed as having "died young," with no real indication of what this means (none of Pierce's three children, and only half of Lincoln's four lived past age 11, but only two of them are mentioned as having "died young").

It includes the signature of each President. While this is a cool feature, I might point out that for Lincoln, the copy of his signature includes his full name, which he very rarely wrote out.

The amount of information on each president is extremely varied. I admit that it makes since to dedicate several pages to men such as Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, and not as much on the lesser known ones of Pierce or Hayes, However, the majority of the four pages on Grant is on his war-time conquests -- info on his actual presidency is limited to two paragraphs, the same amount, oddly enough, that was given to William Henry Harrison's time in office.

General conclusion:
The book is very comprehensive, has wonderful illustrations, and is full of unique, interesting facts on all the presidents. Most of the discrepancies are on the tiniest details. If someone is looking for general information on a particular president, or on the presidency in general, this would be a good source.

Really Quickly

Because I don't have a whole lot here, just some prompts. Have fun.

The lonely purple.

Abstract on a spoon.

A pair of fuzzy green slippers.

Just because...

The blue woolen hat.

Oh, and a picture of the partially finished argyles:



P.S. The cotton candy is half done. Although oddly enough, now that it is spun and plied, it looks more like bubblegum than cotton candy...

Eight Maids A-Milking

Yes, in fact, today still is actually Christmas. So on this beautiful sunny first day of 2009, I give you....

The Christmas Knitting.

First up?



The Doctor Who mitts, which I knit for H as a belated birthday/early Christmas gift back in November. These are the Rose's Wrist Warmers on Ravelry, and they were so much fun to knit



that I did another pair. This one was for my sister, and is out of the dark blue handspun, and after that, I still wasn't quite over my infatuation with the pattern



that I finegled the pattern into one for a hat, also out of the dark blue handspun. The wonderful V at my Wednesday Knit Night has told me that my sister had better appreciate these, because if she doesn't, V will come and take them away from her.

I think my sister will enjoy these. Although it did take an incredible amount of gumption to actually wrap them up. I was sooo tempted to keep them for myself. I may just have to knit myself a pair.

(Oh, and because my sister's birthday is in December, I thought I'd show you her birthday gift too:



The yarn for which I procured at Stitches and desperately need to buy more, as it is 80% angora.)

Then it was on to my mother, who was the recipient of this lovely cap made out of the green handspun...



The Narragansett Bay Cap, from Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece, the pattern of which I enjoyed enough to transpose into another pair of fingerless mitts (also out of the green handspun).



And then there was enough of the green handspun left for her to receive another pair of mittens -- these with fingers.



See how nice and big and poofy they are? Well, maybe you can't, because of the angle of the camera. Maybe you can in this picture, which is a pair made for Little One (made with Cascade 220, not because my brother is not worth handspun, but because I don't know as he would actually care whether the yarn was some that I made or not -- he's weird that way).



They are nice and big and poofy because inside, they look like this:



(The ones for my mother look like that too, only, they're, you know, pink.)

These are thrums. Little bits of unspun wool that I knit into the mitten for extra lining. My mother has given her stamp of approval on hers. I think my brother will do so as well.

Oh, and there was also Big Green and Big Blue which you already saw when I showed off my Ravelympics projects. (Actually, I just realized that I haven't posted a picture of Big Blue yet, so here it is, seen posing at Rhinebeck. Complete with buttons.)



*whew*. Christmas knitting done. Now, it's just off to whip up a pair of Argyles (those should be interesting) and finish the cotton candy (one skein plied, three more to go...).

Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays

Whatever holiday anyone happens to celebrate, I hope you all have great ones! I'm off to PA to celebrate with family. Safe travels!

Prompts

Because I haven't quite recovered from the bear of a cold that bowled me over and really took the snot out of me (both literally and figuratively) -- so much so that I could barely knit (I know. Get your jaws off the floor. It was pretty bad.), I don't really have anything for the blog right now, except for some prompts (I'm feeling much better, but I'm still a little congested. Thankfully, the brunt of it took place over the weekend, so I didn't miss work.)

So, here, have fun. (A, remember that the meeting is THIS FRIDAY if you're planning on coming.)


Knocking on a metal desk

Two missing front teeth

A silver pen

Three fat snowflakes on a window pane

Dancing in the rain

Under the moon...

News

To all my Canuk friends: WOW Can you BELIEVE what is going ON right now?

Two Cents

With the movie coming out, there's been a lot of hype about the Twilight series. The first book came out in 2005, but the books are still quite the rage with teenage girls. I tried the first book, got halfway through, said to myself, "Oh my giddy aunt, can this girl become any more pathetic?" and returned the book to the library. My general opinion is that it's a lot like cotton candy -- which looks and sounds pretty, but has no nutritional value whatsoever.

There are some sections (that don't necessarily have anything to do with the whole vampire thing) in the books that I feel rather uncomfortable reading, and, without giving away any spoilers to anyone who is really enjoying them, let me just say that I wouldn't necessarily want just any young teenager (assuming I had access to any to whom I could dictate what they were allowed to read, which I don't) reading them.

But the hype, as well as the big to-do last year when The Golden Compass hit the theaters, has got me thinking: How much does an author's religious or moral beliefs affect your desire to read a book by that person? Even if the author claims he or she isn't trying to preach (or, for that matter, even if they are)?

I asked a Morman friend of mine about Twilight, and she answered that the fact that Stephanie Meyer was Morman was an added bonus, and that it was great to see a Morman author go mainstream, but that she didn't see it as a big deal to the books, and that there were other Morman authors out there popular with young adults (like Shannon Hale, for instance, or Orson Scott Card -- but then neither Enchantment nor The Goose Girl deals with half the controversial things that Twilight does).

So I'll pose the question to the blog and see if I get anything back: How much does it matter? Even if the author claims that there is no preaching, does the fact that Stephanie Meyer, Shannon Hale, and Orson Scott Card are Morman affect whether you would read Twilight, The Goose Girl, or Enchantment (or anything else they've written)? What about The Dark Materials Trilogy and Philip Pullman's atheism? Or The Lord of the Rings and JRR Tolkien's Catholicism?

Thoughts???

Just Another

I usually don't post on Mondays, but I'm so proud of myself, I can barely stand it. Because I can't believe how productive I was yesterday afternoon.

I did three loads of laundry -- and it almost was four. This is not because I have been extremely dirty in the past week or two, but rather because I decided to change the sheets on my bed. Note to anyone who doesn't already know: sheets take up a LOT of space in the washer. The pillow cases will be done tomorrow.

Also, (insert drumroll please...)

I finished spinning the green yarn.



(I swear it's greener in real life.) Wool top of undetermined species bought at one of the LYS. With flecks of red and blue and yellow. Luscious. 8 oz, somewhere around (calculated to the best of my approximate abilities, which means counting the number of times it was wound around the niddy-noddy) 718 yards.

I also finished spinnning the dark blue yarn.



Merino, bought at Rhinebeck. Dark navy blue, with streaks of red and a little green. Absolutely yummy. 4 oz, somewhere around 350 yards.

The really interesting thing about it though is that even though there is twice the amount of green yarn as blue, both in terms of weight and yardage, the green is slightly bulkier than the blue. Weird.

Oh, and the first person who asks what they're going to be given out of either one of these yarns gets banned from the blog for life.

Prompts

Because I have nothing else right now (other than progress on the Dr. Who mitts, but I haven't taken a picture of them, yet), here a few prompts. A, have fun.

The red leaves of an oak tree.

The empty gray sky.

A blue bench.

Running down the street...

It had better be cute

The Obamas' are getting a dog.

This is not (I am sure) news to any of you -- the President-elect promised his two daughters that they would buy a dog to accompany them to the White House, and regardless of the general opinion of politicians and promises, I'm pretty sure that this is going to be one he's going to keep. And owning an animal is sort of an unofficial requirement for growing up in the White House (every First Child in US history has owned at least one pet) But a dog? Their father is going to be the most powerful person in the world, and they want a dog?

Tad Lincoln had two goats, two ponies, a pig, a turkey, and a rabbit. The dog the family had owned was given away prior to coming to Washington.

Jessie Grant had a parrot and a couple of gamecocks. His sisters had ponies.

Russell Harrison had goats.

Quentin Roosevelt had snakes and a macaw. His sister Alice also owned a snake, and brother Archie had a pony. The family also had five guinea pigs, five bears, an assortment of lizards, rats, and roosters, a badger, a hyena, a wildcat, a coyote, a zebra, and a raccoon.

Cal and John Coolidge had raccoons, lion cubs, a wallaby, a bear, a bobcat, a donkey, and a pygmy hippopotamus.

Caroline and John Kennedy had two hamsters, three birds, a rabbit, and three ponies.

And Malia and Sasha Obama want a dog.

Now, there's certainly nothing against owning a dog (I myself would not own one, but some people like them). If that's what the girls want, and it's ok with the parents, it's certainly all right by me. But given the long history of such a colorful menagerie of animals owned and cared for by the country's First Children, and the fact that the care and upkeep of this animal is probably going to be funded in part by a certain percentage of my tax dollars...

It had better be a cute one.

It's Over! At Last!

Before I begin, I would just like to say that I sincerely hope that every single one of my American friends voted yesterday. (You did, right? Yes?)

On one of the listserves I read, there has been talk this morning regarding the outcome of yesterday's election, and someone said that she was glad she could now say to children that they could grow up to be whatever they wanted and it would be true. Someone else responded by asking if they would still say that to a little girl if McCain had won, and the answer was an immediate yes -- that a female VP was still a crack in the glass ceiling.

Regardless of how anyone voted yesterday (I am not going to use this posting to spout politics -- there's already been enough of that), or how anyone may feel about either of the candidates, yesterday truly was history in the making. For the first time in US history, the country will have as her leader someone of African descent. No matter of how you may feel of Obama, it is wonderfully amazing to see that we, as Americans have come this far in racial equality. That we can elect someone whose race had been for centuries considered second class or worse says a lot about where we have come as a people. We have come an incredibly long way since 1619, when the first group of African slaves set foot on American soil. On behalf of Crispus Attucks, Dred Scott, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Bessie Coleman, Marian Anderson, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr and so many many others I am feeling very proud to be an American today.

But I'm proud for another reason too, and it goes back to the listserve comments. A female VP is still a crack in the glass ceiling. If McCain had won last night, we would have had, for the first time in US history, a female vice president (and yes, if I had been old enough to care about politics 24 years ago, I would have said the same thing). We would have had as First Mate someone whose gender had been for centuries considered second class or worse, and the fact that we came as close as we did to electing one also says a lot about where we as Americans have come as a people. Sarah Palin (regardless of how you feel about her) has proven that we have come a long way regarding gender equality since the first women of European descent came to America, and on behalf of Virginia Dare, Pocahontas, Abigail Adams, Sacagewea, Mary Lincoln, Elizabeth Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Bloomer, and many many others, I am feeling wonderfully proud and inspired to be an American woman today.

I'd also like to second a lot of the sentiments that were being expressed last night. This is all America, and we are all Americans. So let's put aside our differences and be proud of our country. Because, as President Bush said (I have never really been a fan of the man, but he has expressed the main idea of this posting admirably, and I don't want to get into a debate regarding him or his administration right now because he's still the President for the next two months), "No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday."

Well said.

And now (thankfully) the election is over.

Update

So, as promised, here is the Rhinebeck. It was actually done several weeks ago, and I've worn it a bunch of times, but you ever have those moments when all you need to do is do something that will only take about five minutes (in this case snap a photo and download it onto the computer), but you have about a million and a half other things that will also only take about five minutes, and on top of that you're going out of town where you won't have access to your computer, and then you get back and you've been away for so long that everything at work is so hectic and it takes you about a week to catch up, and then right when you get all caught up you go out of town again, so the task that is only going to take five minutes never gets done?

My middle school grammar teacher would be absolutely appalled by that run-on sentence. *whew* Moving on now.

The Rhinebeck:



Want a closer look?



Don't you just love the buttons? For anyone who is interested, this is from Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece. The yarn is Cascade 220. I love it. It fits perfectly.

But, remember a couple of posts back when I said that I was almost finished and wondered if I could get anything else done before the festival?



The Victorian Wool Peddler's Shawl, from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls, made from Plymouth Sockotta. I really like how it turned out, though clearly I need some practice with the blocking. I even had leftovers with the yarn, which I totally wasn't expecting, since the model in the book said it would use somewhere from 708-826 yards of yarn, and I had exactly 828. But I finished it with well over 100 yards to spare. I think it even blocked out bigger than what Cheryl said, which is good, because I like shawls big and drapy. This was a lot of fun to do, because after the incredibly mind-numbing rows of garter stitch, the lace pattern at the end was just complicated enough to keep me entertained, while still being relatively simple and easy to work.

*Deep Breath* Ok. Back to finishing up some socks.

I can't believe the Yarn Harlot quoted me in her latest posting...