Camping On Tuesday

While it has been a number of years since I went camping, (we are conveniently forgetting that fiasco 2 1/2 years ago) it used to be a regular happening through my childhood, and I do remember some of the necessities.

1. Toilet Paper--You cannot leave this to chance

2. Marshmallows--Toasted over the campfire, and hopefully part of s'mores

3. Hershey Bars--Chocolate is a necessity, and s'mores cannot go on without it

4. Graham Crackers--Third component for s'mores, and a good on-the-go snack, too
5. Insect Repellent--Mosquitoes and ticks can really ruin a camping trip
6. Sense of Humor--Things will go wrong, and you need to be able to laugh
7. Wet Weather Gear--Sogginess is not fun
8. Sunscreen--Neither is a sunburn
9. Matches--Fire Good
10. Sleeping Gear--Because lack of sleep drives away a sense of humor

Felted Friday FO--Finally

I am not quite sure what the start-to-finish time is in on this, but I sure am glad it is done. My niece begged to make a felted purse a few years ago, so I bought the yarn for her and helped her with the pattern and some of the knitting. From time to time, she would knit it at our home or during family gatherings, but it has mainly been in a state of hibernation. Occasionally, she felt that the burden of knitting it was just too great, but felt great anguish over not having a finished purse. After Thanksgiving dinner last year, she tried to teach others to knit in an attempt to get someone else to finish the last twelve inches of i-cord. Everything went back in the bag and waited for her. Sometimes she would ask to come over to work on her purse, and then forget about it twenty minutes later. One day last week she asked again, and again, we told her that would be fine. You could have knocked us over with a feather when she called the following day. In short order, she finished those last stitches, I attached the handle, and it was in the washing machine felting away. She happily posed for the photo and then took her new purse home, and the next part of the journey belongs to her.

Oh, Land Legs, Where Are You?

We are back from our travels, and it was something else. Nearly everything has been put away, and most of the laundry is done (from the trip, that is), the grass is cut ( we will not mention the weeds), and beginnings of bread are in progress. While waiting for the swimmy head to stop, how about some Ten on Tuesday?This time it is the things we like about where we live, and I do not need a list of ten to describe just why I am glad to have found this place.

This is where I found my Bruce!

I will be back later with tales of spinning and knitting.

4th, 60th, 80th

It has been very busy over the past week. My grandparents were in town to visit and celebrate. We had the big gathering on the 4th of July. Food, fun, family, and fireworks made it a great day. The celebration began a bit shakily, as in an effort to be accommodating and not be bossy, we can be a bit vague about the details, but we quickly got on track and had a wonderful time.

While getting together with far-away family is already a reason to party, we had other occasions to commemorate. This year marked my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, and my grandfather's 80th birthday.

Of course, it was not all about the big party. Quieter times spent with just a few of us at a time gave us special moments. Grandma knits and spins, so we spent more than a little time discussing those topics. We had a fiber acquisition adventure and discussed patterns and techniques. Grandpa remains perplexed as to why one would knit socks two-at-a-time, and I remain perplexed as to why he feels the need to keep questioning us about it.

It was busy, intense, fun, and occasionally stressful, but we managed to relax enough to enjoy our time together. We even got over ourselves enough to pose for a group photo without hysterics or drama.

Wednesday Whirlwind

The summer heat is in full swing, so we say goodbye to the snow peas. We had about 3/4 pound of them, and they were so tasty. Briefly, I felt like a successful gardener. Really, twelve ounces of snow peas is a big pile. They are our best harvest so far. The stray cats have also declared the end of snow peas in the garden to be tragic. They quite enjoyed spending time amongst them. Sometimes they best loved to nap under the snow peas' cool shade. Other times, they played jungle cat--hiding and then pouncing. I think we will plant more when cooler weather returns. No, not more stray cats, thankyouverymuch.

Speaking of exciting gardening news, I have seen baby watermelons! We planted many more seeds this year in hopes of increasing our success. If you recall, one softball-sized watermelon is our current record. Bruce is very pleased to have found seeds for a variety he remembers fondly from years past called Sun and Moon. I will not even ask anyone to guess the song that runs through my head when I think of this type of watermelon. It is "The Only Time" by Nine Inch Nails.

I think I might need a yellow shirt. The Tour de Fleece is almost here, and I have ideas. Some of it involves spindling. The wheels cannot follow me everywhere I might be next month. If all goes according to plan, there is a small Las Vegas adventure happening soon. One of the travel days might need some extra knitting, but I have not yet made any decisions. Probably it will not be this, though lately, I have had an inexplicable urge to knit it. Yeah, we have conditions in the nineties for temperature and humidity, and I feel the need to knit a stranded vest.

As it has been a number of years since I last flew, I have been reading a little bit about how the rules have changed. No, I am not posting a question about bringing knitting needles on the Big Six, but I would like to be aware and prepare accordingly. Once again, the innerwebs have varied information--clearly, not all of it to be trusted. What I have determined, is that perhaps the quickest, easiest way to make it through security is to have a service monkey. Of course, I did read a lot of advice, and it is possible that some bad tips filtered through with the good.

Monday's Got a Little Love Around

Maybe I did not get completely caught up, but I made progress. I weeded in the garden and the feedreader. Clearing out what needs to be gone from the garden is continual, but in some ways, easier. It is simpler to know what should be removed. The long list from the feedreader is a bit more of a challenge. This go around, I just removed those where the blogger has ceased blogging for a year or more. The next round will be more of a challenge, but it needs to be done because I cannot keep up with it all, and the weight of trying has taken its toll. I reflected and evaluated, and was sometimes surprised at what I discovered, but will wait to decide for another day, but not for too long. I suppose it just reminds me of another situation, and that is what is makes this more difficult than it might normally be.

Anyway, I have been knitting, and the knitting has been good. I am nearing completion on another Hermione Hearts Ron. It is much further along than when I was taking photos last week. I need to finish it and get it in the mail this week, as we are reaching the end of another round over at Caps for a Cure.

I also finished knitting a shawl, but more about that later. You can see it unblocked underneath this pile of love. Fabulous friends attending Estes Park Wool Market saw these amazing Pygora/Firestar batts and thought of me. The loving gift brought tears to my eyes and brightened a dark day. I get choked up thinking about it every time.

Sweetness

The gardening is coming along. Not only did the lavender plant produce its first bloom, but kept growing enough so that I could make a lavender wand. I could not find ribbon, so I used crochet cotton to weave it instead. The wonderful fragrance has filled the living room as it has dried. After cutting the stems to make the first wand, the plant shot out some more, so I think I will be able to make another this week.

Speaking of sweetness, Sara chose me for a Beautiful Blogger Award. I am humbled and speechless. Thank you, Sara. Now, I am supposed to list ten things about me that you do not know, but I am not going to because I cannot think of any. Instead, I will try to catch up on reading, commenting, and email.

Never Let Bitterness Take Root

The name, Bitterroot, has always bothered me. In fact, I almost would not knit it because of the name. Bitterness is such an unfortunate condition, and once it takes root it is even more difficult to remove. Still, it is such a pretty shawl, it did inspire me to reflect on the condition of my heart, and that is good. Also, it was an enjoyable knit, and the experience increased my confidence in my spinning. While I was a bit disappointed to run out of yarn, I was quite pleased to be able to spin more and have it match what I had done months ago.


So, I am sure you are all wondering who will get this shawl. Well, since no one guessed that planting marigolds makes either, "All I Need is a Miracle" (just substitute marigold for miracle) by Mike + the Mechanics, or "Marigolds" by Glen Phillips play in my head, I needed to find someone else. Then, on Mother's Day, I was talking to my grandma, and when I described what I had been knitting, she asked that I not give it away before she can see it when she visits next month. Clearly, this means that the shawl should be for her. If I had known that it was going to be hers, I would have knit the smaller version, as she is tiny, and this shawl is huge. Still, it will keep her warm, and I am so excited to give it to her.

UM...Becoming Gentler...or Art-ier...or...

Maybe I will learn to ply my trade more gently or artfully. I suppose those are all improvements I need to make, but for now, I am going to sit back and relax with my new dvd set, The Gentle Art of Plying. I will finally be doing something for the Tour de Fleece Training Camp. Yay, me!

Fresh air :: Breath

Bodyguard :: Protect

Wedding :: Bells

Remind :: Me

Wicked :: Game

Crawling :: Creeping

Gasoline :: Alley

Anyone :: Mind?

Dancing :: Dark

Wall :: Head

Jumping Around in June

We will just pretend that my jumping was so joyous that I sprung right past the first. Of course, after a month where I rarely knew the day of the week, missing just one day seems like I am doing great. June is sure to be better. So far, my niece, Kaitlyn, has been released from PT, and all of the other therapists have given the green light for her to go to kindergarten this year. We could see she was ready, but I can tell my sister-in-law needed to hear it from them.

Anyway, new month, new lace, right? It may or may not be the answer, but it is definitely a good idea. I am knitting another Swallowtail Shawl, and it is coming along nicely. Once again, this is not for me. This shawl will go to a friend I have recently reconnected with after many years. While seeing each other in person is not likely to happen anytime soon, it is still quite nice to be in touch again after all this time.

The beginning of what we hope will be sourdough made its way to me this week. My sister has been raving about the bread that her co-worker bakes, so she pushed my name to the top of the starter waiting list. It requires another feeding before it is ready to go, but there are already claims on the first loaves.

The weather people are predicting lots of random rain, thunder, and hot for this week. The good part is that it means we do not need to water the garden. However, it also means outside time does not always happen when I would like it, and I am still trying for a photo shoot for Bitterroot. I need to put out some food for the wandering cats, clean out my gills, and get out there and do my best at the next opportunity.

Speaking of the garden, check out my first lavender bloom ever.

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.