To Frog or Not to Frog...That is the Question.

How long do you wait before ripping something out? A week? Six months? Two years? Ten years?

While trying to finish up the 2010 Stash Organization Project, I'm taking a hard look at some of my old UFOs. Here's a good one: I love this scarf - it's a reversible cable, so it looks the same on both sides. The yarn is Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, which is a merino, microfiber, cashmere blend. I saw the scarf as a display up at Seed Stitch in Salem and got the pattern with yarn purchase. I started it right away and promptly lost the pattern...TWO YEARS AGO. Think I can frog it? I'm thinking probably.

Now here's another blast from the past. I made Flora by Margaux Pena for my sister in brown and multi Manos Silk Blend. Pretty right? (Oh - that's Lake Tahoe in the background. I'm going there for a visit in three weeks. Hey H - What's up?) I liked it so much that I bought at least six hanks of the Manos thinking I was going to bang out Flora's for everyone I knew and give them as holiday gifts.

Check out the purple and lavender one I was working on...LAST YEAR. I took it with me to Seattle (not my trip to Seattle two weeks ago, my trip to Seattle last July) and haven't touched it - except to photograph it - since I returned home. Think I'll miss it if I rip it out ? Neither do I.

So as I mentioned yesterday, I went to the SOWA open market in the South End with my former room mate, G. http://www.southendopenmarket.com/

The weather was awesome and there were tons of vendors - from produce to baked goods, to clothing I believe was manufactured at a correctional facility, to artists and all kinds of other stuff. Check out my new ring.

The band is a cool shape, and really comfortable. It is gorgeous - the picture doesn't do it justice (oh - and BTW, I'm completely over using my Blackberry as my primary camera).

http://www.lilianabead.com/ I've attached the link to the artist's site, but I'm warning you - I was just in there and I'm gonna be in big trouble if I go in there again. Check out this ring:

http://www.lilianabead.com/rings.html Those are little bubbles of sterling suspended in the glass. Beautiful.

One last thing and I'll wrap up. One of my orchids that has been asleep for two or three years has sprouted a new leaf. If this thing actually blooms, I will write about it every single day ...forever.

Janis, Gardening, Prokofiev and Repetitive Stress Injuries...

Sunday: I had a crazy day yesterday, and I have a full day on the docket today as well. It's 8AM and I've already been out watering and playing in the garden. I have to get out of here by 9:15, so I'm going to make this quick. I'm headed in to town to go to the SOWA open market w/ my old room mate, G. http://www.southendopenmarket.com/ The weather is really nice, so it's a good day to be poking around outside. I always run into problems when I see artisans selling their wares, so maybe I'll just take my Charlie Card (the card a Bostonian uses to get on and off the subway - not valid for any other purchases). Yeah, right.
Munchie is being incredibly annoying right now. She's jumped up on the desk about 10 times and won't leave me alone. After I get my new camera, I'll put up a movie of her talking. There is a quick video of Munch posted on Oct 18, '09 if you'd like to hear what she's like.



I was up pretty early, so I went out to water the garden and to see if there was anything that needed to be pulled or picked. From left, we have a couple radishes, some carrots, a couple beets I pulled too early and today's cherry tomatoes. Not bad. This will be the basis of my dinner tonight.



Have you ever really liked a piece of music but had no idea what it was or where you heard it? Then, it's on the radio and you HOPE that they say what it is so you can buy it off iTunes? That happened to me on Thursday. The piece Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite no 2, Op 64b: The Knight's Dance (aka Montagues and Capulets). I keep listening to it over and over. Awesome.

So I've been working on my Janis Joplin Jacket pretty much every spare minute, and so of course my carpal tunnel is acting up. I put on my brace last night and will wear it all day today and tomorrow if necessary. That should rest my hand and wrist enough to get back to it soon. In the meantime, here is what it looks like. I'm about 11" in.


I need to hop in the shower and be on my way. In the last 24 hours, I've had a hits to my blog from Turkey and Australia. I'm thrilled! Thanks for stopping by...

What do I have to do to see meteors around here?

News flash: Meteor showers tonight. If you're the kind of person that appreciates that kind of thing, go outside after midnight - but the best viewing is 3ish - and look up at the sky. Tonight, after Boston Medical ended at 11PM, I watched the news. Listening to the weatherman talk about the meteors made me think that maybe I should go out and try to find some. The last time I went out looking for meteors was either 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 years ago when I lived in Malden. That shower occurred in the dead of winter, but I'd never seen one before, so I thought I'd make the effort. I set my alarm for either 3 or 4 in the morning, put on my coat and boots then went outside to stand in my driveway and hope for the best. I saw them flashing across the sky as soon as I got out there, and since I'd never seen a meteor shower before, I thought it was pretty cool. So how long do you stand there looking up at the sky if it's the middle of the night in the dead of winter and you're freezing your ass off? 100 meteors, that's how long. I decided that I would count them until I saw 100, and then go inside and return to the comfort of my bed. I think it took about half an hour give or take.
That brings me back to tonight. I'd had enough caffeine late in the day to not be asleep when the news ended at 11:30. I live less than a mile from the ocean, so I thought it would be nice and dark over there - which would lend itself to meteor viewing. So off I went. Drove over to the beach and realized that there are street lights like every 50 feet. When I looked at the sky, I could see the light bouncing off the low cloud cover. Hmm. Maybe Deer Island? I headed across town (my entire town is one square mile - not a booming metropolis) and although it was darker over there, there were still no stars to be seen. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to see any meteors tonight. Plus, I was starving. I'm not usually out driving around town at midnight. I'm usually not up at midnight period. Turns out that I'm hungry at midnight when I eat dinner at 5:15. Thankfully I don't have any crap in the house. I gave up all hope of viewing the meteors flashing across the sky, and came home to a healthy bowl of chocolate caramel granola cereal. Even with the nectarine it came in under 200 calories, with 15 grams of protein. I hate to eat so late, but what can you do?
One last thing and I'm off to bed. This morning I was eating my breakfast out on the deck while checking out my birds. There were only two of them - an adult and a teenager - and they were sitting within about 4 feet of each other, so I bet one was the mom. Anyway, there was some rustling way out at the very edge of one of the branches. I thought it was another Heron settling in, but as I looked closer it was a couple squirrels. A smaller squirrel was chasing a larger squirrel toward the center part of the tree. The larger squirrel was running like such a spaz that he ran right off the tree. He literally fell at LEAST 30 feet and hit the ground with a THUD. I was stunned...and so was he. So I said to him, "How'd that feel?" He didn't move at all except to twitch his tail for about 45 seconds. Then he shook it off and bounded across my yard to a different tree, where he disappeared. How do you like that? Squirrels bounce when dropped from a height of 30 feet. Don't try that at home.
My Janis jacket is at 7 inches right now. I'll try to put up a picture once I knit a couple more inches.
I have to get up in five and a half hours and it's a long one tomorrow. G'night.

Quick post tonight...

I think I'm losing it. Totally. I had dinner with friends this evening, and didn't get home until nearly 9PM. I brought the mail in and began the mail opening ritual by selecting the letter from my insurance company. Open it up and there is a check for $62. Odd. The stub said the reason for the check was dwelling fire premium overpayment. Really? Okay, if you say so. Thanks for the check. I then move on to the bill from nationalgrid. Nationalgrid = gas company. Seems I overpaid them as well, because I've got a credit balance of $134.51. Wow. It's days like these that I wish there was more mail to open. But seriously - am I in such a fog that I'm just sending payments out willy-nilly? I've been thinking that I need a part time assistant or organizer or something; I am spread way too thin. This is just whacky - even for me. I've always been meticulous about my finances, so this is troubling. But I don't want to spend too much time thinking about it, so I'll move on to my Janis update. When you look at the terrible color, keep in mind that I'm still taking pictures with my phone and imagine that it's a good shot. I'm on the back and have about 4" done. It is 9:30 now, and my goal is to get to 5" so the I can do another decrease row before I go to bed.
My last update relates to the scraped knees I acquired while on vacation. Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I fell on them, and they're still not healed. Knees like a six-year-old. That's me.
Later.

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.