Don't Judge Me

Ten Television Guilty Pleasures

The Venture Bros
Home Movies
Robot Chicken
Days of Our Lives
The Young and the Restless
Futurama
Flight of the Conchords
My Name is Earl
Dexter
How It's Made

Keeping Kool

The summer heat is here, and I cannot change this. I suppose it is just as well that I am not in charge of the weather, because even the less-pleasant portions do good things. The garden is loving the hotter temperatures. However, I do not love them. In fact, I think they might be causing a wee bit of irritability in me. Yeah, pretending like that is not true does not make it so, but seeking out the positive might help improve the situation. Therefore, I decided that I might as well find a way to take advantage of the situation, too.

I have always thought about solar dyeing, but never got around to it. That all changed the other day. I filled up a pot of water, fluffed up eight ounces of Shetland, and let it soak. Then I carried it outside to a sunny spot and returned with the colors. I am still not quite ready to move beyond the Kool-Aid dyeing, so that is what I used. I mixed up and poured in one packet each of black cherry, orange, and pink lemonade, as well as two packets of lemonade. Then it was time to cover and wait. After the dye was exhausted, it was time to wait some more. I carried in the big pot just in case a pop-up thunderbumper came along, and to allow it to cool. After it was out of the pot and out of the water, it was looking nice, and there only remained one more waiting period. After it dried, I took the time to admire my work. I liked it. Then I decided to get fancy and braid it.

With success like that and the prediction of even hotter weather, another foray into solar dyeing seemed like the most logical decision. Alpaca seemed like a wonderful choice, and I just happened to have eight ounces waiting for action. For this attempt, I used one packet each of black cherry, grape, and blue raspberry lemonade. I wonder what the finished yarn will look like.

Master Gardener Bonus Quiz

Questions

Does your garden want the Kool-Aid dye-depleted wastewater from these dyeing efforts?
If so, which plants want this water?
Also, does it matter whether it is the water from the alpaca or the Shetland?
If you water your garden with the wastewater from solar Kool-Aid dyeing, is it still an organic garden?
Will watering the garden with the aforementioned liquid make the ants go away?

Answer

If you are looking to me for gardening wisdom, your garden is in tremendous peril.

Have a nice day!

Little Bits

At WWKIP Day, we all received little key chains, and got to choose a cute little knitting bag. I had to go for this one. I know it will be great for socks, but it keeps telling me that it needs to carry a new lace project. While WWSIP Day is not for months, there were still gifties for my drop spindles. They have new bags, too!

I never showed you what I got for my anniversary. It is pretty and sparkly, and it has very little VM. I want to spend extra time with it, so I am spindling. I have two, two-ounce bags of a Cheviot, Silk, and Angelina blend (color is way off). I have been spindling a bit nearly every day. I have been enjoying the experience so much that the wheel is beginning to feel neglected. Of course, the fact that I have been stalking auctions in the hope of finding a super bargain on a wheel is also contributing to Kiwi's hurt feelings. I hope Kiwi can be happy about what is coming next.

Milestones and Memories

We celebrated our wedding anniversary earlier this month. We tend to keep things relatively low-key. The important thing to us is spending time together. We went to see Up at the movie theater. I also gave him his anniversary present.

Pattern: Red Brick Road by Wendy Johnson from Fall/Winter 2008 knit.1
Yarn: Neveda Skol
Needles: US1
Time Spent: I drew this bag from the psc collection while Bruce was in the hospital in April, and then proceeded to carry it with me everywhere, unable to begin them for a bit. I do not recall just when I started and finished them, but I quite enjoyed knitting these.
Mods: Judy's Magic Cast-On, short-row heels, sewn bind-off, used left mock cable stitch pattern for all mock cabling

WWKIP Day 2009

I slept Friday night, so I made it out to knit with everyone Saturday morning for WWKIP Day. We had a great time, and even got a little knitting done.

Because When I Think of One

Perhaps you can ponder this sign while I try to finish a few things. I actually have one something done that is just waiting for photos, and am about halfway through with another something. As for the GVC, I froze up when it came time to add buttonholes. I finally relaxed, and am knitting away on it. I have also been spindling, and am ready to put something new on the wheel, too. With all of that going on, I might be a bit optimistic about finishing things.

Welcome Back, Helen!

I love when I have made something and am so pleased with what I have made that I can hardly wait until I can gift it to the recipient. Most of the time, I can at least share the finished product here on the blog. Then there are the times when I just have to wait.

One of our Skanky Knitters, Helen, had heart surgery several weeks ago. When I knew Helen was going to have surgery, I knew I would make something for her, but had a difficult time deciding just what it should be. When I finally made a decision, I was excited. When it was finished, I was on cloud nine. Then I had to wait. I had planned to bring her little present to the knit night she hosted in her home a few weeks back, but I still had remnants of the crud. So, the get-well gift waited. I thought of Helen every time I saw it.

Monday night was her return to getting out to knit with everyone, and we are glad to have her back. I was also excited to finally be able to give this to her. It is a skein of handspun yarn, with an accompanying, bonus, mill end, mini-skein.

Aunt Sarah is Tired

Children certainly can eat a lot of Cheerios, mac and cheese, chicken, and sandwiches. However, this is nothing compared to the way they devour time. What was meant to be one overnight and day with one child turned into three. Halfway through day two, we added another kiddo to the mix. It went pretty well, but I may never get the music from Mario Kart to leave my brain.

While this left little time for knitting, I have managed to get a little bit done. Twice I became caught up in the rhythm of my knitting and had to rip back a few inches each time. I could be close to done with the second front of my GVC if not for these setbacks, but I do not care. This is such an enjoyable knit, that the only thing on my mind is fit. Some of my clothes feel a bit tighter than they used to be, and I know they did not shrink o.O Anyway, at least now I am feeling more confident that I will have enough yarn to knit the sweater.

Things are going so well, that I feel like knitting socks. This is good, as it is time to draw another bag from the psc collection. No, we will not mention how woefully behind I am on this (or everything else). I have also begun a long term knitting odyssey that will either be one of the best ideas I have had this year, or never mentioned again. Either way, I may not know the answer for a few months.

Taking Chances

As I have been knitting mainly from stash lately, its contents influence what I decide to knit. Sometimes I come across a pattern I want to knit, but am not sure whether the stash will support it. If I clearly do not have the yarn, I evaluate whether I want to purchase yarn and knit it now, or if I will just wait for later. That is actually the easier situation. The stash is lovely and I enjoy knitting from it. I do not feel deprived when I decide to wait to buy yarn to knit something. It also makes it all the more enjoyable when I do buy yarn. I am not against buying more yarn, but right now, reducing the stash is the right decision for me. Why, yes, I do realize that all this going on and on about knitting from the stash means I am pushing myself closer and closer to a not insignificant yarn purchase, but I digress.

The anxiety enters when I think I might have the yarn to knit something, but the yarn situation could be tight. Having been burned by recent yarndage issues, I have become even more nervous. While I so dislike the idea of running out of yarn, I receive quite a thrill when it is close, but works. With this in mind, I began the swatching. I got gauge. I checked the pattern and checked the stash. The yardage matched, but I was not yet convinced. I know how those numbers can have quite the plus/minus range.

Still, the pattern looks like such a nice, pleasant knit, that forging forward is the right choice. If I do not have enough yarn to finish it and cannot get more of it, this is not a tragedy. I think I would enjoy knitting it again when I do have the necessary yarn. That being said, I am getting ahead of myself. This yarn could be enough and work out just fine. In fact, it looks like it will. I have already finished the back and am about one-third of the way up the front left of my Golden Vintage Cardigan.

Scarf?

Where did this week go? Perhaps part of it was eaten by those new allergy meds I recently started taking. I do know what stole some of it, and it is not worth mentioning. Still, I have kept busy amongst it all.

The current pair of socks is so close to finishing, and I do not want it to end. I have enjoyed the knitting, and they have been perfect companions for the stop-and-go pace of this week. While I am looking forward to starting the next pair, and hope it is as compatible as this pair has been.

While I have not spun as much as I like, I have been in a fiber-y mode. I played with some leftover fluffy bits and some angelina. As soon as I had spun up the singles, I Navajo-plied them to end up with this itty-bitty skein. I can see making some yarn with a wee bit of the shiny, and then turning that yarn into a lovely lace piece. However, that is not likely to be my next spinning adventure.

I finished this lace at the beginning of the month, but just now got around to the blocking. This is Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style. I knit it with Misti Alpaca Lace. This is a graduation present for a great-niece. It is larger than I had expected. In fact, I do believe that at nearly six feet across and nearly four feet deep, it moves from scarf to shawl classification. I like the pattern, enjoyed knitting it, and might knit it again one day. Next time, I will cast on with larger needles, as this area was a bit tighter than I would prefer.

We still have not made decisions about our weekend plans. Since we grilled on Thursday, it felt as if the weekend has already begun. Personally, I am hoping for quiet relaxation, and the kind of weather the garden needs. Whatever happens, I will bring knitting.

Blue-Grey Days

I spun and finished four ounces of some combed top from Little Barn in Brite Blue this week. I had thought about getting out there this weekend, but that did not happen. It will probably be next month before I have a chance to make my way out there. I like the little Saturday fiber group they have, but just do not make it very regularly. It is even less frequent that I bring my wheel. I think I may prefer spinning alone at home, but I do admit I have not given public/social spinning much of a chance.

Anyway, this is a two-ply somewhere in the neighborhood of 370 yards. I have not made plans for it, but it has sat next to my Walker Treasury for inspiration. It is still a bit damp, so I am not completely sure about the finished yarn, but I think I might like it. I definitely enjoy gazing at the color. Its brightness (though not quite as bright as this picture) is quite a change from the current socks.

The knitting of the psc socks on the needles (we will not mention to which month they belong) is quite nice. They are modified Red Brick Road socks from the Fall/Winter 2008 knit.1 magazine. They do not look very good on the needles, but on the feet, the little mock cables show up quite nicely. This pair is for Brucie. He does not mind that the color is a bit on the plain side. I think I have a more colorful pair for him waiting to be knit in one of those psc bags.

A partial sock and a new skein of handspun is not much to show for the week. However, I have been sifting through the stash and swatching. I may have something meaningful to show for my efforts soon. Perhaps meaningful is a stronger word than I should use, but I am trying to be optimistic. I am also excited about the potential new project.

Making Mom Proud

No, I am not posting a video of me taking my vitamins, eating my veggies, flossing, brushing, and making my bed. Instead, I offer a nupp-flash.

I finished the Swallowtail Shawl just in time for Mother's Day. I added a couple of extra stitches to the garter-edge, and I think that looks nice. I also added some glass pearl beads to the last charted row. Other than that, I knit it as written. As it really was down to the wire on finishing, I did not take measurements, but I believe it was close to six feet across and nearly four feet deep. I used nearly every bit of three skeins of Knit Picks Imagination in the Pixie Dust colorway.

I hope Mom likes it. It was hard to tell, as Sunday had many bumps. It had its good moments too. I received a very sweet card and flowers from the kids. My niece doubted my credentials to receive a Mother's Day gift. She thought that she had settled the matter when she told me that Taki is not a girl. It would seem she is a bit confused about the day. I wish I had captured video of her singing and dancing, "Boogie-Woogie-Piggy," but I saw her performance after she had been playing outside in her ballet outfit. Did I mention it has rained every day this month? Yeah. She was a vision of the boogie-woogie, as well as the piggy.

Too Close for Comfort

There was a tornado on our street yesterday. If it had turned a few hundred yards further, it would have gotten us. That is about more than I can wrap my mind around. I feel grateful to have been spared, but feel for the people whose property was damaged.

I decided to try to move forward by working out my tensions on some bread dough. I mostly followed this recipe, and gave the second loaf away. I like it pretty well, and look forward to the next loaves I bake. I would give you a picture, but the pretty loaf is the one I gave away, and the less pretty one has been subjected to my very un-pretty slicing. I think my next loaf will come from a booklet I recently received. They are all no-knead bread recipes, and I have wanted to try out this method for a while now.

Paw is out-of-town, so we have been over visiting Mom a bit more. This is usually fine, but I am on the deadline to finish her shawl for Sunday. I guess it is good that she requested a simple dessert for the day. Mmmm...dessert. I am hungry. I had better make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and get knitting. Oh, but the spinning wheel is crying only slightly less loudly than the fiber stash, which is absolutely wailing for attention.

Funny Full Circle

Yes, the piggy scarefest (h1n1) is officially here. They closed many schools for Thursday and Friday last week. Wednesday night my sister told her son that if he was very good and went to bed without another word he could stay home the next day, and if he kept to excellent behavior he would not have to go to school Friday, either. On our way home from picking him up Thursday, a big board from an even bigger truck bit our car. Bruce's excellent driving saved us from the worst of it, but the incident ate the following 36 hours. After being on the verge of a breakdown Wednesday evening, that nearly put us over the edge. Maybe it meant that I cracked up a bit more than I am willing to admit, but I finally settled on laughing as the appropriate response to all of this. The new mirror should be here soon.

I think I solved the dilemma of who should receive Ene's Scarf. A great niece graduates from high school later this month, and I believe this will be right for her. I finished grafting it Sunday night (maybe it had become Monday at that point), and now it just needs the weaving in of ends and blocking. With one lace off the needles, I cast on for new as soon as possible. It is a Mother's Day Swallowtail. I have a good start on it, but it could be that it will be a Graduation Swallowtail, and Ene will be Mom's.

Monday was a wonderful night with my Skanky Knitter friends. For too long, we have been missing each other, and we finally caught up last night. We stayed until they closed the store (10 p.m.), and talked a little longer out in the parking lot. We finally dispersed after random dude pulled his car up next to us and inquired as to whether we were experiencing any flu symptoms.

Housework Can Be Good

I do believe that the laundry mated while we were away. I would complain, but I am just grateful that the dishes behaved themselves. Actually, the housework is helping me get back on track. I find that I am a bit more emotionally fragile than I would have expected. In fact, the 10 on Tuesday topic left me overwhelmed. This stuff just takes time, and I will even out again soon.

Lest you think I do not realize that our absence affected others, I share this picture with you all. This was the stray cat greeting us on our front porch when we got home. It was actually quite loose, but maybe not something the cat could get rid of on its own. I was able to remove the ground beef wrapper so long as I promised to refrain from threatening actions such as petting. By this evening, the cat had recovered enough to resume its assistant gardener activities.

Now it is time to get out the wheel and ply like the wind. Actually, I will enjoy taking my time and enjoying each treadle. Getting those dishes out of the way earlier today means I will be able to soak the new skein tonight. Yay, Doing Chores First!

Back Home

We are home from the hospital, and being home is so good. After extensive testing, poking, prodding, analyzing, imaging, injecting, and observing, all doctors are in agreement with a high level of confidence, that the problem which brought Brucie to the hospital is not going to cause him to expire in the immediate future. Beyond that, they have differing opinions. Although we do not have all the answers, we did gain important information, and some of it is even positive. It was a real roller coaster of an adventure and emotion. We are keeping the focus on thankfulness for being home and doing well.

Only three doctors annoyed me, and of those, just one is on my avoidance list. The three other doctors were great. All of the nurses and patient care techs were beyond fabulous, and they took quite a liking to him. When it was time to leave, the charge nurse was the one to bring him downstairs in the wheelchair.

I have had such a wonderful outpouring of support and love during this ordeal, and I cannot begin to express how much it helped. It means so much to me, and I am so very grateful. All of this powerful love is almost overwhelming. I learned much more over these past few days then I thought possible. Thank you.

Winging It

If I compete in Sock Madness next year, I think I might become quite nervous at round three. Last year, it was the daughter's turn for a trip to the hospital. This year, it is the husband in the hospital. He is doing fine. They are running tests. This happens sometimes. He has cardiovascular troubles. We try our best to take it easy as the waiting game does its thing. It is good to have knitting.

I was glad to have knitting when my coughing would not let me sleep last night. Knitting kept me company in the ER this morning. That was where I finished the latest Sock Madness socks (Talia's Wings). Now it is time for lace to be my companion.

Spinning My Wheels

It has been a high fiber week, but there is not much to show for it. I have reached the halfway point on spinning some singles. I do not know what kind of wool this is, but I like it. The bundle of fiber was more than a little compacted, and I was concerned this would not be an enjoyable spinning experienced. However, once I spent a bit more time with it, the fiber agreed to be friendly. After that, it seemed like it did not take long before I had finished spinning the first half.

I suppose the wheel got a bit more time because my knitting takes so long per row. Ene's Scarf starts with 375 stitches, and then the rows get shorter. With all the stitches bunched together, it took a little more effort to read the lace. The long rows have also made me think before picking up the piece. If there was not time to knit at least a full row, I just let it sit. Now that I have made my way through the first chart, I feel like my speed is going to pick up considerably. Someone did the math, and according to her, I am already 25% done. The second chart looks to be quite light, with most rows being mainly plain.

Now that I have spinning and lace underway, perhaps I should open April's psc package. I had better hurry, as the second round of SM3 is over.

It Sounds Worse Than It Really Is

For today, that is in reference to my voice. Seriously, I unintentionally scared someone on the phone.

OT: What's going on?
me: Not much, how are you?
OT: What is happening?
me: Easter is tomorrow. Be at Nana's at one.
OT: Sarah, what is wrong?!?!
me: Oh, I have the crud.
OT: You scared the #%$@ out of me.

We will skip a physician rant and just say that I am having difficulty feeling the love for them. I probably just need to suck it up and find a different one. Also, my regular doctor was not even the one I saw on Friday. I still find myself a bit annoyed when I think back on it. It makes me hope even more that I am recovering because I just do not want to see any of them.

The answer to the dessert question was coconut cake, and it was wonderful. It had been a long time since I had baked a cake not from a mix. I mostly followed this recipe, with a little tweaking. Additionally, I substituted her frosting with stabilized whipped cream. I baked and filled the cake Friday evening, and then frosted it Sunday morning. It all worked so much better than I had expected. The secret was timing the doses of medications just right so I could be in a state to bake.

As for my tale of knitting fail, it was, of course, my most recent attempt at a Swallowtail shawl. I ran out of yarn. Again. I ripped and re-skeined the yarn. I took the opportunity to re-check my yardage. It would seem my initial calculation was off by about 150 yards. That would explain why none of the three attempts with this yarn has worked. I still do not have an explanation on how I made such a serious miscalculation. Once I found my error, it was so obvious that the initial yardage estimation was way off, and I can only suppose denial wishful thinking is what kept me believing the lie.

Token(a) Madness

Reaching amongst the collection of brown paper bags for the psc intimidates me right now. I just finished the second round of SM3, and that was an involved pair of socks. Please, do not misunderstand. I like my new socks. They were worth the effort. It just took me a while to find my rhythm. My niece helped me pick out the colors, and now I have the perfect pair for Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, I have been assigned the dessert. So far, the suggestions have been Red Velvet Cake, Boston Cream Pie, and Coconut Cake. I still have not decided. The menu for the day has been changed around so many times, and I am not even sure where we are getting together. I only know that it will not be at my home.

Pattern: Tokena
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette Lilac & Blush
Needles: US0 & US1
Knit When: April 4-8

Speaking of home, that is where I stayed Monday night. I wanted to get out to knit with people, but I am a bit under the weather. One of the Skanks is scheduled for heart surgery next Monday, and I decided to play it safe. I miss knitting with everyone.

Next time, perhaps I will share a tale of knitting fail.