UM...Skew May

I think this month needs to be over. Skew it, I say. Oh, well, I do have a nifty new pair of socks.

Cream :: Whipped
Be with you :: Always
Pancakes :: Eggs
Believe :: In You
45 :: RPM
Eat :: Chocolate
Background :: Check
Pane :: Window
Aim :: Fire
Collapse :: Exhaustion

Ten on Tuesday: Telephone Trouble Edition

I could surely go for some of those Ten Favorite Cookout Foods today.

Watermelon
Bratwurst
Corn on the Cob
Homemade Ice Cream
Cheeseburgers
Potato Salad
Picnic Eggs (old joke from church--you might know these as deviled eggs)
Potato Chips and French Onion Dip
Pistachio Salad
Coconut Cake
Strawberries and Pound Cake (maybe with a little whipped cream, too)

I am ready to rip the phone out of the wall and throw it out the door. It is quite close to voting day for the primaries. That means about six computerized messages and polls daily. They fill our answering machine when we are gone and disrupt whatever we are doing while at home. Today, however, has had an added bonus. It is a sweepstakes scam. The claim is that I am the third price winner of 2010 for paying my monthly bills on time. No fewer than five times did the same individual called within about a 90-minute period. The attempts were laughable, and if they were not so numerous, I would be laughing right now. I did chuckle on the inside picturing Hermes Conrad as the person on the other end. No, I am not going to my local mega-mart to wire money to the islands where an agent will take care of my percentages so I can get my claim receipt which I would give to a waiting UPS car that would deliver my bonus prize basket and check for 1.5 million, nor will I be attempting to cash a check at a banking establishment that has no branches in this area. My telephone service provider's response was an attempt to sell me additional features.

I think I might refuse to answer the phone for at least the rest of today, or possibly the week. For now, I am going to relax to the soothing aroma of baking bread, drink some nice tea, and maybe even finish a pair of socks.

Kneadless to Say

I have been having fun playing with my new book, Kneadlessly Simple by Nancy Baggett. I have already tried out the Country Fair White and Great Granola Breakfast breads from it. Since a few other people were interested to try the new bread, the once fresh, full loaves are now sad and small. I guess it is time to get another batch of dough going.

In between batches of bread, I finished knitting Bitterroot. All that remains is the blocking, and that has to wait for now. We have The Conjunctivitis Cowboy staying with us for a little bit. He hopes to be well enough to return to school in time for Fun Friday.

Not Quite One Year Later

When last we saw our Azalea Vintage Cardigan, its fate was in question. Would it go to live with someone else? Could I find a solution to make it work for me? Would it return to stash form? Would it really be cut into pieces and then burned? Since I was much closer to cutting and burning, I set it aside. When I put it a few days later, it fit. How? That is a mystery, but a happy one.

While I wondered whether it might turn back into an odd, unwearable piece within a week, I decided to believe I had a victory, and worked on it a bit more. I was not super-pleased with the neckline. I had worked crocheted slip stitches around, but it needed more. I considered adding a picot finish, but rejected that idea after a bit of experimentation. Then I thought about the rolled stockinette others had done, but I just was not feeling that, either. The pattern calls for working i-cord and then sewing it to the cardigan, and just thinking about doing that was draining my will to live. Still, i-cord is a nice finish, so I decided to do applied i-cord. I did not even have to think about the rate of picking up stitches because of the crochet finish I had already worked. A little while later, it was finished with the exception of buttons.

I got out my button stash and tried out styles. The coconut shell ones would have been perfect if they were smaller. Then there were the pearly ones that looked so nice, but were too small. The wooden ones really called to me, but would not fit, either. I found another set of pearly buttons that seemed perfect, but I did not have enough. So, it seemed it would need to wait for a trip to the store.

The next time I went out and found myself near a Hancock Fabrics, I did not have the cardigan with me, but I did not let that stop me. The wall of buttons mesmerized me, and it took me a while to notice that they were on sale for 50% off the regular price. It did not take long to find several styles that I wanted for future knitting, as well as some possibilities for my GVC.

Then it was time to repeat the process of trying to make a match between the nearly finished cardigan and the new buttons. If I were really into having a bunch of kitty faces on my sweater, I could have stopped looking almost immediately. They actually looked nice, but it is not the look I was going for with this project, and those were purchased for future knitting. Anyway, as I worked to find just the right buttons to work with this, I picked up the wooden set from the stash again, and now they fit. I really do not know how to explain any of it.

After I sewed on the buttons, it was time for the photo shoot. After about fifty pictures I decided that if none of them were good, it was not likely I would ever get a nice photo. Once I had them all loaded to the computer, it was interesting to see how really dreadful this nice sweater could look. Then there were the shots where the sweater looked fine, but I had a horribly pained (or irritated, angry, annoyed, bored, confused, or out-of-touch) expression on my face, or a ray of sun was shining on me in an unfortunate way, or the body-image-issues-gremlins tried to ruin everything.

While just short of a year is a rather sorry start-to-finish time for a cardigan, I am pleased that it is finished, and that it fits. We even had some of that cooler-than-average weather over the weekend, which gave me several opportunities to wear my new sweater. I still have mixed feelings about it after some of the ups-and-downs I had with it, but I am thinking about calling it a win.

I Love the Sounds of Random on a Wednesday

Like dried peas in a goose windpipe within a ball of yarn (see Folk Mittens for details), so are the Randoms of Our Wednesdays.

I remember Cookie got the idea from someone else to show off a purchase of the week. When we were out-of-town over the weekend, I found this on clearance and felt compelled to buy it. Yes, it is Bacon Floss. The package states that it effectively removes plaque and leaves breath bacon fresh. For some reason, I feel that I ought to use a picture of this product as my Ravatar.

There is a certain amount of spinach one ought not exceed consuming within a short period of time. I do not know the exact amount, but it is something less than what I have eaten lately. Also, purchasing spinach from Costco is probably better suited to larger households.

I occasionally feel great anxiety over Facebook, and thus resisted signing up for an account. It is all rather odd and difficult to describe. I have worked my way through most of the issues that held me back, and decided to let it be to keep from the time-suck aspect. On the other hand, that Farmville sounds fun, so last week I registered under the pseudonym, Insaknitty Gumbo. It is the name I think I should have chosen for my blog, but I did not think of it then. Anyway, it would seem that Farmville requires neighbors, and that does not thrill me, so I decided to see how much I would like playing on my own. I was about over it when I got a friend request from someone I do not know. She is a knitter. I do not know what prompted her to FBfriend me, but she did, and I accepted. Well, I was about to be done with it when I received a friend request from someone I actually know and with whom I want to stay in contact. My experiences confirm that it is all a bit creepy and I am not sure what I will do. I could sign up with my actual name and play FB for real, I could dump it all and walk away, or I could just keep going on as Insaknitty Gumbo.

We are gardening again, and Bruce feels a bit more hopeful about it this year. There is so much we would like to grow, space and conditions do not allow for all of it, but we are trying. Also, at some point, we could cross the line where we have made more work for ourselves than we can handle, and that balance can be difficult to find. I have been putting out marigolds, and usually one of two songs run through my head when I do though I doubt anyone will be able to guess. After all, no one figured out that knitting Ice Queen made "Rocket Queen" by Guns 'n' Roses or "50ft Queenie" by PJ Harvey go wild in my brain, though there were some good guesses. Anyway, as for the marigold songs, for one I mentally replace the correct word with "marigold," thus making it something of a parody, I suppose. As for the other, it is not an upbeat, encouraging song. Perhaps if you know these answers, Bitterroot belongs to you, as she has been telling me that she is probably not mine, but is unsure whose she is.

Bursting Box

Recently, Marcia had a contest over at The Attic, and I was the winner. She put together a wonderfully generous package, and I am already enjoying the contents. There was not enough room in the photo to show all of the lovely Shetland fiber. I cannot wait to start spinning it. The colors of the sock yarns are so bright and fun. Since my Skew socks are going so well, it gives me hope that I might knit more socks in the not-too-distant future. The purple Border Leicester/Angelina yarn has been whispering that it is going to become a new scarf for me, and that I should start looking at patterns right away.

Starting the lovely Shetland fiber has waited patiently while I finished spinning the alpaca for Bitterroot. I went ahead and spun the rest of the pile of alpaca fiber, and it gave me a chance to use the fancy new orifice hook that was also in the prize package. Right now, the hook is resting in that cute little basket and hanging from my wheel, just waiting for me push everything aside to spin some more.

Mailbox Mania

Trips to the mailbox have been very rewarding this week. The beads for Bitterroot showed up, and I have already been working with them, although they are very difficult to see in this photo. With only twenty-five rows remaining, I have answers about the yarndage. Yeah, I am going to need to spin some more yarn for this shawl, but I view that as more good news.


Speaking of beads, look what Our Opal sent to me. This is such a cute book, with so many different patterns. We have both been noticing how many books we have that we are yet to create from yet. Still, there's always tomorrow, and the inspiration for today, right? Did you know that Opal has a new place? Remember to update your bookmarks and feedreaders accordingly. To celebrate the move, she is having an excellent contest you will want to enter.

Speaking of winning contests, well, that will have to wait for another day.

Yo, Dough, and Double Doh!

I made yogurt, and that was pretty much the coolest thing I have done this month. I know that I made it more work than it needed to be, and that next time will be easier and better. I am perhaps more excited about this than I should be, but I like yogurt.

I tried a new-to-me method of making bread. I had a free booklet with a few recipes from Kneadlessly Simple by Nancy Baggett. It was fine, but perhaps needs more exploration and experimentation. This is one of those long, cool rise methods. I started on a Saturday and was baking the dough on Monday.

I finished knitting the Golden Vintage Cardigan. There really was not much left, and it did not take long. It is so cute, but it does not fit me. I kind of want to take my scissors to it and then burn it. This is how it looks right now. Note that I used tape to close the front, as sewing on buttons right now would be even more ridiculous. As far as I can tell, the problem, like others of mine, is in the armpits. It is really quite horrible. I know that the trouble must be with me, as others have knit this cardigan and had it fit nicely. I have a few ideas of what I will do with this. One of them would be to undo the seaming, rip back some, and fix it. However, I think that if I take the time to pick it back apart, I will not be fixing the sweater, but rather, I will be ripping, re-skeining, washing, and returning the yarn to stash.

The Bitterroot Shawl is coming along nicely. I have reached the first row of the beads, but they are not yet here. I think they should arrive early this week, but I am not too concerned. What does concern me is how light my remaining cake of yarn feels, so I weighed it. The next step was a quick check in with the Shawl Progress Calculator (it's in the sidebar). Yeah, so those numbers gave me useful information, but not the answers I hoped to find. At least I have more of the fiber, and a reason to get spinning right now.

I Might Need to Borrow a Stronger Cup of, "No."

Actually, I just need to be alright with having said that I will not be able to do something for someone, and let the other person be responsible for understanding that my saying, "No, I will not be able to do that. I'm sorry; I cannot take on that commitment," means just that. Having someone disregard that threw me for a bit of a loop.

When the phone rang Monday morning, I learned that someone out in the family is having a new baby this year, and that the great-grandmother would like me to knit a blanket for the occasion. Twice in the past, I have knit baby blankets on her behalf. Once again, she ordered the kit, and then asked me to knit. I feel a little bit bad about turning her down, but I think that this is the right decision for me. After I had told her that I would not be knitting the blanket, I went on to explain that I am very busy right now and briefly touched on some other things going on in our life. I thought I had been polite and firm, and as we were wrapping up the conversation, her response caught me completely off-guard. She told me that I could just stop by her place and pick up the thread (her word for yarn). I am quite sure that she ignored me turning her down again as I hurried off the phone. I could hardly believe it. I was glad to have the garden to work in after that exchange.

Forward, Backward, and Several Other Directions at the Same Time

That applies to so many things, but we will start with the knitting. There is a sock on the needles, and it is growing. Skew has been keeping Bitterroot and me company. So far, I like the pattern, and how the sock is fitting my foot. Of course, I have not yet reached the heel and its "origami moment," so I may feel differently later. Being able to knit a round or two on the sock is nice for the times I want to knit, but do not have the time for Bitterroot, and the past few days have had plenty of moments for both projects.

On Friday, the plan was to meet family for lunch and then go to the hospital. We did that, but not in the way we expected. While we stood in line at Jason's Deli, Bruce began to feel unwell, uncomfortable, and then in terrible pain, and then was in an ambulance. We spent the rest of the day in the ER, and then Bruce got to take another ambulance ride to the Birmingham VA. The first concern was his heart, but it was his gall bladder that was the trouble. It was a bit of a rough weekend, and it felt very long, but hearing Katie tell us, "Happy Easter," over the phone made all the difference.

We still have a long way to go. Today, Katie went to rehab in Birmingham, and then has outpatient therapy to follow, but she has already made so much progress. Bruce has to have his gall bladder removed next week. There is so much to do, so many people to help, some real concerns that are out of my control, and it can feel overwhelming. Putting my name in the list of people I need to take care of is one step I have taken, and I am going to make my way through this. I know I have a wonderful group of friends and some great family members who will help me if I will just let them. Thank you, again, everyone, for all of your prayers, thoughts, love, and support.

Easter Miracle

She's awake!

In Pattern Name Only

Taking Opal's suggestion, I am knitting Bitterroot with my alpaca yarn. I calculated yardage two more times to be sure before I began. It actually took me a few days to get started, but am already nearly finished with the second chart. At this point, it really does not look too lovely, but I stretched out a section to get a bit of a blocking preview, and I think this might be a winner. Even if it is not, fear of the frog is not here. I am glad to have this lace on the needles now. It is nice, simple, and almost mindless. I can keep knitting along without paying much attention at all.

I consulted Dr. Google for a bit of information, as it would seem that nearly everything I have learned about comas from soap operas, movies, and other television programming is wildly inaccurate. Who knew? Anyway, I gained a better understanding of some things, but the brain is still something of a mystery, and we are all trying to not get ahead of ourselves. Katie is still comatose, but she does open her eyes sometimes. We like to think that she is looking at us and seeing us. The type of brain injury she sustained is serious; however, the degree of injury is not yet known. Passing the 72-hour mark was an important milestone, and they will re-assess again next week, around 10-14 days past the accident. Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers for Katie and the rest of our family. If you want to follow her progress, my brother is posting updates here.

UM...Love Your Head

This week we will start with a glimpse into my brain.

Burrito :: Bean
Spike :: Watermelon
Tougher :: Than She Seems
Mock :: Mercilessly
Slurp :: Slap
Knock :: Try
Conference :: Call
Madness :: Sock
Minds :: Alike
Connection :: Missed

I went in search of a different pattern to use for a chemo cap, and when I came across the Hermione Hearts Ron, it seemed like a good choice. I used Plymouth Dreambaby DK because it is so soft and is an easy-care yarn. I was able to finish this one pretty quickly, and think I will start another tomorrow. Either that or maybe an Odessa will be up next.

Speaking of heads and brains and the love they need, please keep my five-year-old niece, Katie, and family in prayer. She is still not awake following a car crash Friday afternoon. They were able to take her of the vent this afternoon. I have not been able to get up to the hospital to see her as I have been taking care of my nephew.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere

Well, not so much, but I know of one that just made her grand entrance one week ago, and another that still has several months to go. Anyway, like birthdays and holidays, I do not usually do much planning for the babies until shortly before they are here. That is why I was casting on for a little something earlier this month.

I chose the Bella Baby Sweater from The Knitter's Book of Wool. Then, to make it extra-special, I chose discontinued yarn, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Sportweight, in purple. This brings me to my mini-complaint about Lion Brand keeping Wool-Ease Chunky and Thick & Quick along with the regular worsted weight version, but dumping their Sportweight. Ah, but that is not the topic of the day, so we now return to the regularly scheduled sweater discussion.

This was a fun, quick knit. The beautiful, bright color was a joy for the eyes. After I finished the individual sweater pieces, I pinned them out, blasted with steam (this pic has the right color), and got out another book. I like The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques, and was glad to receive this reference last year. It seems that at the very least, I need to have the book open to start the seaming process, as it has usually been more than a little while since my previous seaming adventure.

Anyway, while I knit the sweater, I kept thinking about cute ways to embellish it. I considered little bugs, flowers, hearts, stars or butterflies. I thought about careful embroidery, or bold, i-cord additions. However, when the time came, I found two perfect buttons, and could see that the sweater was finished.

Since I did not knit the smallest size, it will be a little while before I can beg for modeled shots, so the fabulous living room floor photography has to suffice for now.

UM...Electricity

Taking a bath by candlelight is so nice when it is a choice. Yeah, we have electricity problems, and like us, they are odd, and puzzling to solve. No power in the bathroom and half of the bedroom means I look even more attractive than ever. I am not much of a mirror-gazer, but now I am doing none. It has certainly altered our week more than a little bit. Still, we have done pretty well, especially considering we had a nephew here for part of his Spring Break. Anyway, we hope to have things fixed soon and back to what passes for normal around here.

UM
Children :: Loud
Saddlebags :: Giant
Restraint :: 5-point
Awake :: Barely
Blood :: Type
Shutter :: Speed
Posted :: No Trespassing
Corn cob :: Latrine
Flagrant :: Abuse
Fart :: Smelly

Wednesday?

How did I miss so much of the week already? Wait, I think it is that magical time of year when The Groundhog rises from The Watermelon Patch, gnaws on alarm clock cords, startles the sun, pees on couches, and leaves prizes in closets. Well, that probably is not right either, but it calls to mind some words from the Tree of Wisdom. It says something like, "When you've been around as long as I have, you sleep less and hallucinate more."

The secret knitting does not make for very good blog material until later. However, the last two have been so nice to make. Actually, one just has the last of the finishing details until it is complete. Then all that remains is getting these packages in the post. Oh, and speaking of the post, I just received a disappointing shipping update of one item that could be quite late by the time it reaches its destination.

Anyway, with those other knits finished, (yes, yes, little details) now is the time to pick my next project. I think I want to use my handspun alpaca, and have narrowed down the choices to the Lilac Leaf Shawl or Bitterroot. What do you think?

UM...Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Across the miles, I am sending super-magic birthday wishes to my Lizzie!

While I am in such a super-great mood, how about some love?

Near-fo status on a secret knit, and it is different from the one I had been knitting. That one is done.

Dark Cherry Mocha Nonfat No Whip. I've tried it hot; now to try it iced.

We are home

Clean ceiling fans

Twiddydinkies are priced to move

Now, to peer deep into my mind:

Detective :: Uncover
Bangs :: Drums
Consultant :: Color
Puzzle :: Mystery
Learn :: More
Necklace :: Bauble
184 :: WaysToDie
Stimulation :: Mental
Layered :: Lasagna
Police :: State

Experimental

Last night I spent some time with the fluffy stuff and the Kiwi. I treadled and drafted, and did not have much fun. I spent a bit of time examining the fiber more carefully. It is possible that it could have problems. It is also possible that it just wants to be spun in a way that is not my default spinning style. What is probable is that both of these things are true. However, instead of just forcing myself to make my way through a significant portion of the fiber, I did something different. I stopped spinning the singles, wound them off the bobbin with the ball winder, and plied. Then it went into the water followed by a small bit of thwacking. The result is this 11.7g skein of about 48 yards of two-ply fingering-ish weight yarn (yes, I'm too lazy to check wpi). It is not fabulous yarn, and it is not as horrible as I thought it would be. I plan to swatch with it later to learn more about what I have done.

Fairy Tale Mittens

Spring is likely to be here at any moment. In fact, it could sproing right past us all and directly into summer. How did I reach this conclusion? I finished my mittens. This has been a difficult winter for many, and for them, I should have completed these weeks ago. However, there are those of us who feel a little less-than joyous about Spring, and waiting until August seems like a better time to finish. It has been an awesome responsibility and enormous pressure, and the closer I got to the end, the more the obstacles popped up around me.

When we last left the mittens, they were finished except for thumbs. Then, they needed to wait while I did not medal in the Ravelympics with the giant lace. At my next knitting opportunity, I brought the pair back out, and spent most of my time socializing. It was important. Then the needle disappeared. As in, I am holding it to slip the stitches from the waste yarn, and the needle is gone. I cannot find it anywhere. It is not in my hair, around my neck, in my knitting bag, on the floor, in my knitting already, in the book, under the chair cushion, tangled in the yarn, or shoved between the pattern and the notebook. I looked up, down, all around, and even enlisted the aid of a fellow knitter. I crawled around on the floor once again, lifted the flap of the chair, reached into its scary coils and swiveling parts, grabbed what felt like it could be the needle, and coaxed it out carefully. I thought that I was either breaking the chair, or destroying my needle. It felt like it was going to be a bad outcome, but I was wrong. I retrieved the needle, and it was fine. Then I managed not quite two rounds on the thumb before the coffee shop closed. I figured I would finish the pair before bedtime. I made it as far as the end of the thumb, and my eyes and hands were too tired to kitchener.

The next day, we are about to head out the door, and I figure that the bright sunshine would be a perfect time to complete the first mitten and get a nice start on thumb of the second. We make our way to the interstate, and I reach into the knitting bag and cannot find my tapestry needle. If only it were in a cute purple pouch with other knitting notions. Oh, wait--it was! I just did not see it at the time, and ended up leaning my seat back and closing my eyes for a bit. I discovered that it had been there all along when I was getting things out of the bag to sit and knit for the evening. I felt special, but moved on from the experience. Then, I make it about a half-dozen rounds into the thumb when the skunk makes its presence known. It had to have been just a few feet from the front door, but I did not open it to investigate. I have already learned that lesson. Anywho, either the air cleared enough, or I just got used to the stench, and I finally was able to sit down and finish.

Despite the possible meteorological implications, I am glad to have my new mittens, and plan to wear them as much as possible.

Pattern: Mitten 28 from Mostly Mittens: Ethnic Knitting Designs from Russia by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette Black and Fairy Tale (I had trouble capturing Fairy Tale's true color with the camera)
Needles: US0/2.0mm

UM...Broken-ish

Yep, the comments are broken for now. I am working on fixing it.

UM
Harm :: Self
If :: Then
On my own :: Again
She said :: That's What
Illegal :: Sick Bird
Broke :: FixIt
It’s a :: Long Story
Chatting :: Gabbing
Cottage :: Cheese
Podcast :: Not So Much

If you read this far, you get to know that it is time to crawl around in the living room to pin out a giant something and let it dry.