New Project Alert!

Well I've certainly been talking about it long enough, and I've had the yarn for a while. Can anyone guess? I've been waiting for the weather to cool down, and although August doesn't really qualify as cool, I DID see a tree today with red leaves among the green. That's good enough for me. Time for a sweater, right? No, not even. Time for a coat! Yes, I cast on the Janis Joplin Jacket by Jill Stover. The body of the coat is Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Chunky, and the collar might be Garden Party Homespun (anyone know for sure?) in Winter Solstice colorway. I think it might be a little early for me to comment on the BD Donegal Tweed. I've seen a couple of these coats completed and I love them. I think the yarn is great in the finished garments, but I'm not loving it as I knit with it. On the other hand, bulky yarn on size 10 needles does lend itself to immediate gratification. As you can see, I've chosen to go with lavender/purple for a change. If I cast on one more blue or turquoise project, I think even I won't be able to stand me anymore. Check out the darker ball that is going to be the collar - how awesome is THAT?? I've done at least another inch since I took this pic last night. Thankfully I had it with me this morning. I had to go for bloodwork, and I showed up half an hour before the lab opened. And, in my haste to get over to Brookline for 7:30, I left my Blackberry on my bedside table. What a pain - in this day and age to be unable to communicate for an entire day... can you imagine? Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that they were able to take three tubes without incident and unnecessary bloodshed.

It is just about dusk, and I just saw a few of my Herons fly off for the evening. Yesterday morning I was sitting here at my computer when they returned for the day. I have a flock (?) of Black Crowned Night Herons living in my biggest tree. This is the fourth summer I've been in my house, and they've been here every year. Saturday evening B was here when a few of them took off. They hang out in my tree during the day, and then they head over to the marsh to hunt at night. It's a huge tree, and I really have to look hard to find them. http://10000birds.com/nightherons.htm I found this link - hopefully it'll work. One day last year I counted 10 adults and a teenager. This morning I saw a teenager fly in for the day as I was getting in my car to go to work. They are really huge birds, and they make a BIG mess. I'll just leave it at that.

Not too much else. I need to pay some bills and do some chores. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I need to get my ass in gear and get a new camera. No pictures = no fun. Bye for now.

I finally finished my Everyone's Doing It Shrug...

...and I'll get to it in a minute. Happy Sunday! It is 9:30 AM, and I want to try cover a bunch of stuff as quickly as possible. That way I won't be chained to my desk all morning, and y'all won't fall asleep reading my blatherings. Today got off to a rocky start, so I'll begin by talking about yesterday. (Although this entry would've been WAY funnier if I began writing it a couple hours ago when I was really cranky...the cutting sarcasm was in overdrive.)

So yesterday. I'm back to the overscheduling again; even though it was Saturday, I was out of the house before 7:00. First I went from Winthrop to Rowley by way of Marblehead. Then I went from Rowley back to Winthrop by way of Beverly Farms. (If you looked at a map you would think was either totally lost or had absolutely no sense of direction. Neither of these are true.) On the way home, I wanted to stop in to see my friend Tink (aka Jill Stover) at Yarns in the Farms http://www.yarnsinthefarms.com/ I was only there a short time because I was rushing home to go on an adventure w/ my friend B. We were headed down to Dorchester because I needed 3 matching Cascade 220s in a light color and Stitch House has all the Cascade on sale this month at 40% off. http://stitchhousedorchester.com/ That means that I was in two out of three of my favorite yarn stores yesterday, which in itself makes it a pretty good day. (I want to mention that the "Best Of" issue of North Shore Magazine named Yarns in the Farms Editor's Choice for best yarn store on the North Shore while I was in Seattle. Big congrats to Tink and Wink!)
B and I then went to La Siesta for dinner. http://www.lasiestarestaurante.com/ The food is always awesome, and last night they had these two mariachi guys walking from table to table serenading the patrons. Sheesh. What a day. Since we were being serenaded and all, we opted to stay for (shared) flan and cappaccino. Probably a mistake, as I practically needed to lay on the floor when I got home. Go big or go home - there's nothing like a glutton.

We came back to my house and B cast on the Swallowtail Shawl and I finished my Everyone's Doing it Shrug. Here's a pic, but it was taken w/ my BlackBerry so it's not great.  Check out Ravelry for a pic that shows the truer colors.  I should mention that I'm not a total mutant - I'm bringing my left shoulder across so that both the back and sleeve can be seen at the same time.  I really like how it turned out, so I'm planning to wear it over a black knit jumper this afternoon when I hit tea at the Taj.  http://www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/TAJ%20Boston,BOSTON/default.htm  Check out the tea menu if you're so inclined. My friend J and I go about three times a year - once for each of our birthdays and then once in the summer just because.   

I was going to bitch about all the police officers standing around doing nothing at the construction of the new Chelsea bridge this morning (nine of them), and about my miserable trip to Market Basket (getting there at 7:45AM is too late as the masses have already arrived) but I'm over it and it wouldn't be as funny now.  I was also going to talk about my Black Crowned Night Herons (some of you may remember them from last year) but I'm out of time and I want to post decent pictures (no camera remember?); so that will have to wait.  I'm going to squeeze in some chores before heading in to town.  Thanks for stopping by.

Mmmmm...Alpaca!

Today is every-other Wednesday. It's my favorite day of the every-other week. When I arrived home from work today, my house was clean. I've not raved about A. since March (when I had the norovirus and she offered to take me to the doctor) but she's awesome. If anyone in the area is looking for a cleaning lady, I'm more than happy to recommend her. We have an ongoing thing where she puts my stuff away (deliberately hides it perhaps?) and I drive myself crazy trying to find it. Tonight it was the strainer. I've been throwing veggies (including beets and carrots from my garden) in with the peperoncini to cheat-pickle it. After just a couple days the veggies are tart and spicy but still crunchy. Anyway, I needed the strainer to get the veggies out of the peperoncini brine, and had to check every hiding place in the kitchen...but you'll be pleased to know it all worked out okay.



I have one left over picture from my vacation that I wanted to post. Here is me (in Seattle) with my boyfriend V. visiting a...that's right...a local yarn store. This one is called So Much Yarn http://www.somuchyarn.com/ and it is right down the block from Pike Place Market.
I wanted my friend S. to pick out some yarn so that I can make her a thank you gift and she picked out some Cascade Eco Alpaca in a taupe-y chocolate brown. I know what I'm going to make, but I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm going to keep my lip zipped...or at least try.
The other yarn store I visited was Bad Woman Yarn http://www.badwomanyarn.com/ in Wallingford Center. I was looking for Washington State wool at both stores, but it turns out that I was asking the impossible. I would have to go to an actual farm to get local wool, and I really didn't have the time or inclination for that. Next time perhaps.

Before I left for vacation, I promised photos of the work I did while away. Since most of my time was spent on i-cord to make a rug for my little friend, I really didn't get too much of my own knitting done. Here's the progress on my wrap...not much. The seed stitch is kind of boring, but I'm diggin' the cable. Typical. Cable girl.

Alright, time for dinner. Thanks for stopping by.

Back from Vacation!

I have a lot to get to this evening, so I'm just going to dive right in. As per usual, my blatherings will come early in the post with plenty of visual aids. I'll finish up with the knitting close to the end.
I've spent the last week in the pacific northwest - specifically Seattle - with a four day vacation within a vacation in Union, Washington. There's not a whole lot going on in Union, Washington, but a very important person has a home right next door to where we were staying...but I'll get to that. One of my dearest friends, S lives in Seattle with her husband, J and son, V. S and I have been friends for about 20 years. She is one of VERY few people who knew me when I was married. In the summer of 1992, S was looking for a room mate, and I realized that I'd rather live with her than my husband, so I left my marriage. That's no joke.
When she picked me up, we headed to Pike Place Market which is a huge Seattle landmark. http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/ We had lunch at http://www.maximilienrestaurant.com/ which is a lovely french bistro w/ a great view. S had the most spectacular ham and cheese sandwich that I've even seen or tasted in my life. Technically, it was the Croque Madame without the eggs. Trust me - it's almost worth going to Seattle to get the sandwich.

After lunch, we poked around the market for a while. I know she's going to kill me for posting this photo, but I think it's beautiful. Hi S!

The next day we left for http://www.alderbrookresort.com/ which is an hour on the ferry and then an hour drive. It is incredibly beautiful there, and there's not a whole lot to do - which is perfect for me. I'm not one of those hike-up-the-side-of-a-mountain-for-kicks kind of people. I have a bad foot and a vestibular (middle ear/balance) issue that causes me to fall down all the time...but I'll get to that. Let's just say that I'd rather sit in a chaise and read or knit.

We rented a two bedroom cottage and this was basically our view for four days. We were on the Hood Canal looking at the Olympic Mountain Range across the way. Pretty, isn't it? Turns out that the philantropist founder of Microsoft has a summer place right next door. Seriously - right next door. Yes, I have a couple photos of the house but I'm not going to post them here. J said that the Nordstroms have a place up there also.

The first morning we were there we scurried off to yoga/pilates at 8:30, only to see 80's style aerobics when we got over there. We decided to sit near the fire and regroup. Here is the very instant I decided there was no possible way I was going to aerobics.

Obviously this is a photo of a hydrangea. They were all over the place, and the colors were unbelievable. Aren't these pictures great? I'm glad I took so many because I no longer have a camera...but I'll get to that too.

The second day we were there, J joined us, and this is my buddy V while we were waiting for his daddy to get there. Clearly, he's a cutie-patootie.

So this is "glamping" dinner. A lovely salad of mixed greens and chicken salad which S made supplemented by caprese salad and asparagus a la room service. (Yes, glamping is glamour camping.)

So the next day after not doing a whole lot, we decided to rent a pedal boat and go cruise around. S had taken V out the day before while I was at the spa, and I thought a little exercise might be a good thing after lunch. This is V running down the pier in search of our pedal boat.

Here he is with the pedal boat guy - picking out what they thought was a good one. I should mention that the photo of the vendor, V and the pedal boat was the last photo ever taken with my camera. You're thinking that the camera fell in the water, aren't you? No, because then how would I have the photos? Guess again. Anybody who talks to me even fairly often knows that I fall down all the time. Generally I fall down the stairs at home, but since I was on vacation, I thought I'd make a complete fool of myself by tripping over a gap in the dock and hitting the non-skid deck on all fours. Not only did I put the worst scape on my knees in 40 years, I also landed on my camera. S said she thought I was going to jump right back up until she saw my knees; I left plenty of DNA (in the form of skin) on the deck in case they decide to clone me.

About the time I climbed into the pedal boat I realized the camera was destroyed. That probably made me madder than anything, but the pedling experience in itself wasn't anything to write home about. J and V sat in the back facing out while S and I (with the banged up and bleeding knees) worked the pedals. Unfortunately there was more weight in the back than in the front, so the paddles weren't in the water...and our passengers were sitting in water nearly up to their waists. After about 20 minutes of a lot of pedaling without much reward, we headed back into the dock. If I could take back a half an hour, that's probably the one I would pick. We actually paid money to do that.

Now I try to be a glass-half-full kind of gal, so here's the upside: Munchie knocked my camera off my desk a couple days before I left for Seattle and broke it. The part that held the batteries and memory stick thing wouldn't stay closed, so I had to use half a roll of duct tape to make the camera even functional. I didn't have time to buy a new camera before I left, so it was the broken one that I fell on. Can you imagine if I had replaced it and then broke it four days later? There would NEVER have been another photo on this blog.

And finally...since this IS a knitting blog (for the most part) I will now present the knitting project I worked on from the day we got up to Alderwood 'till Saturday when I left to come home. I cut it close, but was able to finish. V has a Clover Wonder Knitter, which is a plastic four-peg knitting nancy. Using red solid and multi colored cotton yarns held together, I knit probably forty feet of i-cord and then turned it into a lovely rug which is a little larger than an average chair pad. It took what seemed like forever to sew the thing up, but V loved it! He's going to put it in his room and wipe his feet on it. Awesome.

The last thing I want to talk about is how pleased I am that people are actually following this blog. I thought the same four people were reading it each week, but it turns out that there are actually five! Ha! Just kidding. There are REALLY more than five people. Who knew?? Blogger knew, that's who! They just started publishing analytics, so I can see how many people read me and the countries in which they live. Welcome! Stop by anytime and I'll try not to bore you to death. Bye for now!

New Project Alert and Product Review

After discussing my Xenocryst hat w/ D & B yesterday, I've decided to not use the Cascade 220 in the Dark Teal Heather colorway. I still plan to do the hat and matching Bella's Mittens, but I need to use a lighter color so that the work in the cables can be seen. The hat has been frogged and put away as if it never existed, but I'll come back to it. I might still grab a lighter shade of 220 or louet Riverstone and take the Xenocryst on my trip. I can probably bang out most, if not of it, on the plane ride to and from Seattle.


The bigger project that I started last night and will take with me is the Stay-Put Wrap by Mags Kandis shown here on the left. Anyone who has seen even a glimpse of me knows I couldn't pull off that horrible shade of toasted pumpkin if my life depended on it. That shade tried to get into my "I'm-a-cool-Summer" color palette, but it was run out of town.

It should come as no surprise that my wrap is going to be blue. I chose Lamb's Pride worsted in M-57, Brite Blue colorway. I just cast on last night, but I was able to do 3 or 4 inches. I need to track down the errata on this pattern before I get too far along. I've read online that there is/are errata, and I'm not ripping and re-doing this thing. By the time I get done, I'll never want to do another row of seed stitch so I'll get it right the first time. And speaking of which, I figured out how I made the error on the Everyone's Doing it Shrug.


Here is the culprit: The Clover brand piece-of-crap counter. Last night I was counting rows while memorizing the Stay-Put Wrap cable pattern and one click added 11 to the number on the counter. Uh huh. That's right. This counter caused my shrug sleeve to be exactly 10 rows short.

Here is the counter after being whacked w/ a hammer. For what it's worth, I would suggest that you either buy a better clicker or use a piece of paper and pencil before investing in this particular piece of junk.

Okay. I'm signing off now. I can't put off the packing any longer. I'll have pictures of my projects when I return from my trip. Bye!

I'd Rather Blog Than Pack...

Since I ended yesterday's post talking about tomatoes, that's where I'll start today. But don't worry...I have a bunch of knitting stuff to get to.

Check out these guys! I can't even say how awesome they are. I love the fact that for the rest of the summer I don't have to pay outrageously expensive fees for tomatoes that taste like...nothing. (Hey Ma, there's no tomato in my tomato!)
Did I mention I'm on vacation? Kidding. Of course I did. The first thing I did last night was get my hair done. (Backstreet Salon in Medford, MA) I love having my hair done. It's really peaceful there. The ladies all talking...the trashy magazines...the smell of the bleach...the feel of the wax ripping the unwanted hair off my face (Yes, my eyebrows are rocking the house right now...Mustache? What mustache?).
I wanted to post some pictures of the Xenocryst Hat (by Linda Shelhamer) that I'm making. It calls for the Estonian Double Cast-on, which I'd never even heard of so of course I didn't know how to do it. There's a great tutorial video on You Tube: It's stretchy, it's decorative and it's Estonian - or so I've heard. I was able to get it without too much difficulty and here it is on the left. It's basically a regular continental long-tail cast on with an extra step and a double tail. Sorry if I'm getting too technical for you non-knitters. I'll knock it off. You can see that I'm about two inches in, and I've got a couple issues. First of all, there is no way this this is going to fit on the head of an adult. It's not the fault of the pattern, but the fault of the knitter (me). I'm an extremely tight knitter, so I need to switch to a bigger needle. At least I didn't get too far into it, because it's getting frogged (translation: ripped out) this afternoon. The other issue is the color. The cables are really beautiful, and they are hard to see b/c the teal is so dark. I'm trying to knit from my stash and I've got a ton of this colorway (1500 grams) so I figured I could use one hank on this hat and four or so on Bella's Mittens I'll do to go with. I'll ask D & B to opine when they get here later.
That takes me to the "Is Everybody REALLY Doing It? Shrug". That's the Holly version of the Everyone's Doing It Shrug by Megyn. What a complete nightmare. Here's the recap: D made and was wearing the shrug in less than a week. Holly thought, Cool! I'm looking for a quick project, but I'm going to add extra rows of seed stitch for sleeves and make it a bit longer down the back. Right HERE is where someone should've stopped me. I was 19 rows from completion and I knew I wasn't going to have enough yarn. D was here and held it while I frogged it directly onto the winder. I then cast on again with 44 instead of 48 stitches so it wouldn't be as long down the back. I blew through it and here it is. I sewed up the first "sleeve", tried it on and I loved it.



I then lined up the second sleeve and I realized I had a problem. It's a good one, too: The problem is that even though I used a row counter for the second sleeve, I still somehow managed to skip 1 1/4 inches of seed stitch. What the hell? If someone finds my brain, could you please return it? So it's not that big a deal. I can just undo the bind off, do another 10 rows of seed stitch, bind off and sew up the sleeve, right? No... I'm out of yarn. I need about 5 grams of yarn and it comes in 200 gram hanks (200 grams is enough to knit a whole 'nother shrug). So given the choice of A) Frogging it AGAIN, B) taking it out to the driveway and setting it on fire, C) buying another hank of which I need a fraction, or D) throwing it in the closet with the other dead UFOs to never be seen again, what did I do? That's right; I bought another hank. I'm not knitting this thing a third time. I can barely stand the sight of it now.

I'm still trying to finish up the organization of my stash. I'm at the point of winding half skeins and random bits - primarily Lamb's Pride and Cascade 220. I make a lot of felted bags, so I have tons of worsted weight laying around. The spaghetti looking yarn in the foreground was the stranded part of a lovely mitten that has been mostly done for a year and a half. B says finish it or frog it. Indeed.
Gotta scoot. Thanks for stopping by...

No Pictures Today...

I'm being bad. I'm at work, but I only have an hour and a half until my vacation begins. I've pretty much wrapped everything up and I'm in a holding pattern until I leave to have my hair done at 4PM.
You probably think it's been 10 days since my last post, but there was an extra one in there from Sunday that I pulled after the fact. I needed to do a MAJOR edit after posting (generally I'll go in and fix a typo or misspell if I find any) but blogger wouldn't let me. I got so tangled up and frustrated that I just deleted the entire post. AND sadly for all of you, it was loaded w/ all kinds of fun knitting pictures. Speaking of pictures, you'll never guess who knocked my camera off my desk and broke it. (Hint: Spoiled, obnoxious, siamese who feels compelled to break things if I'm not giving her enough attention.) I'm going to Seattle Monday, so if I can't get the duct tape to work its magic on the Nikon, I'll have to get a new one over the weekend. I'm being a little more realistic this trip in terms of what I'll actually knit, so I'm only taking two projects. Maybe three. I'm working on the Xenocryst Hat by Linda Shelhamer that's in the Knitscene that just came out. I'm using Cascade 220 in a heathered dark teal and I'm going to make a pair of Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault (in the 220 doubled) to match. Both items are holiday gifts for my sister-in-law. She lives in NC, but it must be cold enough for mittens and a hat at least some of the time. The other project that I may or may not take with me is the Jubilee Scarf by Norah Gaughan. I started it May 1st, and it has been resting since I got home from Las Vegas on May 16th. Seriously. I took the baggie out of my suitcase, put it on the table in my bedroom and have not touched it since. Nice follow-though Hols. Anyway, I'm using Louisa Harding Mulberry for the Jubilee. (Sorry about the lack of links, but I'm being lazy.)
I'm very excited about my trip on Monday. Last year when I was out in Seattle, my friend S and I took a mini holiday up to Victoria, BC. This year we're taking a mini holiday here: http://www.alderbrookresort.com/ I've been practically dreaming about it...the peace...the quiet...the spa treatments...and no access to healthcare quality data! I couldn't analyze anything - even if I wanted to. YIPPEE!!
I'll try to get a post w/ pictures up before I leave. I have a bunch of lovely, yellow cherry tomatoes that I'd like to show off. After last year's blight, I only put in a couple tomato plants, but they're going crazy. I'll blather on more about the veggies at a later date. Bye for now.