I'm a Frogger, Baby I'm a Frogger....

It is 5:47A on Wednesday, and I need to be out of this house by 6:20. I said I'd put up pics of my Everyone's Doing It Shrug, so here's the update. Last night with 19 rows of seed stitch to do before completion, I realized I was going to run short. D was here watching the Sox, and helped me to convince myself to frog the whole thing and start again w/ a 44 stitch cast on instead of 48. That would save enough yarn to finish the shrug even with the extra inches I added to make the "sleeves". D held it, and I frogged it right onto the winder. Yippee!! Here is the re-winded (or would that be re-wound? I don't think so) Blue Heron in Rain colorway. Lovely, isn't it?

So I have to be over at MGH for a 7:10 mammogram. The funniest description I ever read (of a mammogram) is as follows:

1. Lay down on the garage floor on your side.

2. Make sure your bottom breast is flush against the cement.

3. Have someone run it over with the car.

4. Don't move.

I'm just happy to be able to start my day with such a fun filled activity. (I know I'm being a smart ass, but on a serious note, my annual trip to the Breast Center gives me time to think about all the women close to me who have survived or been beaten by breast cancer; most notably my childhood best friend, Nancy.)

Tonight I'm going to an internet marketing thing - the guest speakers are two Google Analytics guys - really - all the way from Google. There I go again with the over scheduling...

Starving. Gotta scram. Bye.

Intermittent Blogger, That's Me

I can't get out of my own way lately. Somebody please get me an assistant; I feel like I'm burning my candle at five different ends. I tried all weekend to sit down and write this entry, but I just could not cram it in. I did some cool stuff over the weekend, but just once, I'd like to do nothing. Nah, I wouldn't do that; I'm an over-scheduler even on the weekends. Although - now that I think of it, Memorial Day weekend when I had the splint on my hand and couldn't knit for four or five days, I did nothing but watch movies for an entire Saturday. I think I'm the last person on the planet to see the movie Meet Joe Black...

So check out my radishes. How cute are they? These guys came out on Friday, and I've got about the same amount nearly ready that I haven't pulled yet. The only thing with having a gazillion radishes is that I have to eat a gazillion radishes. When I was picking just a few at a time, they were getting dehydrated in the fridge and I was tossing them before I could eat them. I discovered that if I put them in cold water (in the fridge) they stay hydrated and I get a couple extra days in which to eat them. Carrots, beets and swiss chard not ready yet. Many little tomatoes coming along, but they're still green. We were supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, but nothing yet. I might have to go out and water which is a drag b/c it is about 90 degrees with oppressing humidity. My pansies are looking really desperate - they've gone limp and fallen over. I'll feel guilty if it doesn't rain and they die overnight.

If I wasn't typing, I'd be finishing up my Everyone's Doing It shrug by Megyn. I tried to add the link, but I couldn't do it. Her photo is on Ravelry, w/ a link to the pattern, so y'all have to go to Ravelry yourselves. I've altered the pattern to make half sleeves - I decided to do 41 rows of seed stitch but feel free to do 40.

I'm not totally wacked in the head - I had a to change yarns, and I wanted the ends to be in the back so I had to end the seed stitch on a wrong side row. I'm using Blue Heron cotton/rayon seed in Rain colorway which is sadly discontinued. These are Holly colors if I've ever seen them. I might have to try to corner the market on this colorway before it disappears forever. Only the best for my stash, right? I've never used this yarn before, but I really like it.

Alright. I need to scoot. I'm going out to water the pansies, coming in to take a 9:30 conference call and then going to bed. The shrug should be done tomorrow and I'll post pics on Thurs or Friday b/c I'm taking extra days off for the holiday! Yippee! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sunday

I should probably say Happy Father's Day, right? Hmm. I don't think I have any fathers in the readership, but maybe. This is the 5th Father's Day that Hank, my late father, has missed. I'm terribly sad at this very instant, but I'm sure it will pass and I'll get back to my usual sarcastic, make-a-joke-out-of-everthing self before too long. Probably in the next sentence. Tubby is here with me, and she's rubbing against my hand making it difficult to type. I'm just warning all 'ya all - the upcoming typos are Tubby's. And now (so as not to be outdone) Munchie has jumped up in my lap and they are about to get into a fight. Psyched.

I have some sad news to report: All the blossoms fell off my orchid. I'm crushed. They lasted six months! And, two bloomed about two weeks before all of them fell off. I think it is the heat and humidity lately, but I don't know for sure. Now I've got three dormant orchids, and none of them will probably ever bloom again. I'll have to hope that A gets me another orchid this year for a holiday gift. I know I need to repot them, so maybe I'll give that a whirl when I have some free time. Their roots are all good. Anybody have any orchid tips?
Today I'm planning to take a yarn store field trip w/ my friend B. She has to exchange some yarn, and I'm always up for visiting a yarn store whether I need any or not. (Even I have to admit I'm in the NOT red zone at this point.) I'm just about done w/ the I-cord for my twirly skirt, and I'm trying to decide what to do next. I've got two things on the needles right now - a sweater and a lace scarf - but I want to start something new. I really want to start the Janis Joplin Jacket by Jill Stover, but I'm not sure I want to be buried under 900 grams of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky in the blazing heat of the summer. That one may have to wait until the fall...or at least the next rainy weekend. I think I'm leaning toward the Everyone's Doing it Shrug by Megyn. My friend D banged one out in less than a week and it looks great. I'm going to do mine in Blue Heron Beaded Cotton/Rayon. If I like it, I might make one for each of my sisters. OOPS! Not much of surprise, is it H & H? HA!
I was going to put up a picture of what I look like in my new glasses, but between the bedhead, the no make up, and trying to capture my own image it didn't go so well and I've opted to keep you all in suspense. Another time perhaps. I have a headache and I think I need some caffeine so I'm going to scoot. Thanks for reading, and say hi to your fathers for me!

Woo Hoo! Twirly is done...Finally!

I'm leaving a couple minutes to go pick up my friend (and former room mate) G but I wanted to get a pic of the finished twirly skirt up pronto. I just have to weave in the ends and put the i-cord drawstring through the eyelet at the waist. I didn't think I'd ever get this thing done, so I'm so psyched to get it out of it's beat-up ziploc bag and off the needles. I should be able to get my Cinquefoil hat done next. I found a backwards stitch about seven rows back that I have to fix. See it? Probably not, but this is the kind of thing that would drive me insane. The stitch is right between my middle and ring fingers. Hey - check out my nails that I bit down on Thursday. My nails have been pretty long lately but Thursdays do me in and this past Thursday was especially harsh.

Okay - gotta scoot, but I'll check back in later if I have a sec. Tonight is the season premier of TrueBlood. Psyched. Hoping as always to hear Swedish spoken in this episode...

Yes, I'm back.

It has been a while since my last post. I've been back from vacation for a couple weeks, but it hasn't really been a calm, peaceful two weeks. The two temporary crowns I had done the day I left on vacation pretty much fell out and I glued them back in every day while I was away. When I got home from vacation, the dentist cemented them back in and then a couple days later when they fell out (again), I bit down on them and broke them in five pieces. Thankfully, the permanent crowns came in quickly and the nubs were only bare from Friday night until the following Tuesday. I'm happy to say that the perm ones have been in for six days now without issue. About the same time I was dealing with the teeth, I finally had to come to terms with the fact that I can't see, and had to get glasses. The night before the glasses were ready, I misjudged where I was walking and slammed my left hand into the moulding at the top of my banister post. Luckily it was only a contusion, but I was in a splint to immobilize my left hand for five days. I'm left handed.
That pretty much takes us up to today. I did one of the things on my bucket list today. I've always wanted to have my hands painted with henna. My friends D and V just moved to a new home in Winchester, MA, and they had birthday party for D at their new house. She brought in a henna artist http://www.hennabyheather.com/ who was awesome. She did D's forearms, the tops and palms of both her hands, and both her feet. I had one of my hands done. I'm so psyched to see what it will look like tomorrow, I can hardly stand it (I still have most of the henna paste on). I had a chance to see some friends I haven't seen lately, and my friend Dominic http://www.dominicchavez.com/ said, if you've wanted to do this for like 20 years, why didn't you just go to Morocco and have it done? I didn't have an answer. Why not indeed? I should really start looking at the big picture, man. I'm stuck in the details. Anyway, for a start, I'm going to have at least both hands and feet done before my next vacation.
So check out the beginning of the 2010 harvest...yup, radishes. They're little, but I was so excited to see them that I yanked them early. I was under the impression that if you grew them at the very beginning or end of the season they would be mild, and if you grew them during the blazing heat of the summer they would be spicy. That's not really true because these guys were planted in april, survived a mild frost, and still turned out spicy. Oh well. I'm still very proud of them. They're so cute. My beets, carrots and chard are moving pretty slowly. Last year I transplanted chard, and I might go get some pre-started containers. I think the chard I started from seed is going to be too puny to do much of anything.
Okay, and now on to the knitting. I know I promised to finish my twirly skirt while I was away, but I didn't. Slacker. I have the attention span of a mosquito when it comes to knitting. I've been meaning to start the Cinquefoil hat (using Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere as suggested) by MaryJane Mucklestone for a while. I'm on the top of the hat, but the photos here are of the sides. The inside of the hat looks so awesome that I might wear it inside out. Ha!
I took so many projects with me on vacation that I actually went to the post office in Indiana and sent the yarn for one project back to my house in Mass. It was waiting for me when I got home from Las Vegas. Why not start another one, right? So yesterday I started a rectangular shawl using Schaefer Anne in a purple/gray variegated. The shawl is a very easy lace pattern. My next post will have the pattern author and photos. That's pretty much it I think. I literally have about seven projects going. My goal is to get SOMETHING off the needles this week. Probably Cinquefoil. It is an easy one and goes really fast. Sorry if this post was all over the map. Thanks for reading anyway.

Last post before vacation...

I should be packing - or at least pulling my knitting projects together for the trip. It is Friday evening and I'm not flying out until Monday so I still have a couple days. Unfortunately I have more than a couple days worth of stuff to do. I should begin with a list. Yeah, that might help to point me in the right direction, so I probably won't make one.

Today's topics: My garden, my current WIP, and I'll finish up with the projects that are probably going to get the nod to accompany me across this great land of ours.

This first picture was taken from my back deck the first time I noticed that my radishes had sprouted.

The second photo is the radishes close up. If there is a reader out there who is a true gardener, please feel free to comment - something like "Hols - your radishes need to be thinned out", would be appropriate.
This third photo shows my beet sprouts! I didn't even see them until I put my nose about six inches from the dirt. See the red in the lower right corner?? That's BEET! It is actually kind of funny that I'm growing beets. I haven't had one since I was a child because they literally made me gag. The only ones I ever had growing up came in a can, and they were so completely disgusting that I could hardly bear it. I've heard from people that fresh beets are awesome, and if I succeed at growing them myself, I'll be so proud that I'll eat them even if I hate them (which I don't think I will). The swiss chard is also coming up and the sprouts look just like the beets. The seeds looked similar too. Maybe they're related.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've started the Jubilee Scarf, which is a Berroco pattern by Norah Gaughan. The first photo was taken with a flash and the yarn color is truer, but the lace detail isn't visible. I shut the flash off for the second shot so the detail can be seen but the color is washed out. Apparently, I can't have it both ways.

I decided to use Louisa Harding Mulberry in Silver (02) but when I finished my first 50 grams, I realized that I was not going to have nearly enough. Yes, it's the first time in history that I didn't buy the entire stock of a yarn I liked just to be on the safe side. It won't happen again. I asked Annissa at the Stitch House in Dorchester (MA) if she had any more, and then my friend B actually ran in there tonight on her way home from work to check for me. No such luck. I was sure this scarf-in-progress was going to be getting the frog treatment, but B GENEROUSLY offered to let me have some of the 02 from her personal stash. Looks like this one is coming with me on vacation.

And speaking of projects that get to go on vacation, here is hopefully the last photo of Twirly in its unfinished state.

The next time you see this albatross it will be off the needles and hanging from my waist. For those of you who have never seen this before, it is Tink's Twirly Skirt by Jill Stover, knit in Louet Euroflax. This skirt lives in Mass, but has visited Maine, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and will be going to Indiana and Nevada next week. Can you imagine the exciting life it will have when it's actually finished?? I can't even think about it. I'm thinking I might take the Cinquefoil hat by Mary Jane Mucklestone in elann peruvian baby cashmere.

http://twistcollective.com/2009/autumn/magazinepage_07.php

And then there's always the Bella's mittens by Marielle Henault. So many choices. So many yarns and needles to pack. I went up to the attic to get the BIG suitcase. Look out!

So Monday I'm having the drill work to make crowns for my two most rear lower right teeth. I am then immediately getting on a plane to Indianapolis (How do you think that flight will be??) I'm staying in Selma, Indiana until Thursday afternoon when I fly to Las Vegas until Sunday. I'll take tons of pictures and share the most interesting, however I won't take the camera to the dentist. I'll let you imagine the dental work. See you when I get back!

New Project Alert!

I don't have a whole lot of time today, but I started a new scarf last night, and I wanted to get a couple shots of it up here and on Ravelry before I have to be in Arlington for 1PM lunch.

I'm guessing all of my readership resides in the US, so you've probably heard that Boston and the surrounding areas had a catastrophic water emergency yesterday. I'm in one of the communities that has to boil water. I saw on the news that people were storming the stores to buy up all the bottled water, but I didn't even hear about it until 10:30 last night, and by then all the storming had happened 10 hours prior. My friends D and B were over for a knitting-while-watching-Dexter marathon, and we didn't hear anything about the gazillion gallons of drinking water that were lost. My friend D drank some of my water while she was here, so I hope she's okay. It really isn't that big of an inconvenience b/c it's just me and the cats. If I had a family I suppose it would be more problematic. The biggest annoyance I had last night was brushing my teeth with Polar Triple Berry seltzer water.

So here's my scarf: Jubilee by Berroco. http://berroco.com/exclusives/jubilee/jubilee.html

I'm using Louisa Harding Mulberry (100% silk) in shade 02, which is silver/gray. I cruised through my first 16 rows of the pattern then looked at what was supposed to be a 2 stitch garter stitch border, and had botched on row six. Loser. I don't screw up the lace pattern, I can't remember to knit two stitches are the end

of each row. Duh. So I had to frog the 16 rows and start again. Sadly, I have only an inch to show, but I'll have a decent amount done the next time I post pics.

Gotta scram, but I'd like to welcome L to my readership. Thanks for stopping by!

I need to hop in a shower of bathable but not drinkable water...