Thursday, June 23, 2005

Once again, I have a house full of teen-aged boys (which is a good thing), so I'm hiding in the back of the house so I can spy on them maintain my sanity get some work done.

I've been busy as a little bee, buzzing here and there, picking up and dropping off various children from/at various places all over town.  Two weeks of hoop camp are at an end (as of 2:00 this afternoon, not that I was keeping track or anything), which leaves three golf leagues, two baseball games, and a partridge in a pear tree band practice.  Per week.  Not to mention all the extra activities that keep popping up (swimming, movies, sleepovers, more golf . . .).  There's something going on every single weekday for the rest of the summer. 

Come September, when people ask me how I enjoyed my summer off, I'll be saying "WHAT summer off?"

I've been dragging the Serial Killer's sweater everywhere I go, and have been making mostly forward progress on it.  St. Brigid stays at home (I can't get away from the charts) and is also progressing nicely.  Every now and then, however, I find a cable that has taken a little detour.

For example:

Oops!

I'm unable to come up with a clever closing statement, since the noise from the television viewing area (aka, the chip eating, pop slurping, popcorn munching, basketball cheering area) is getting dangerously close to blowing the roof off.

So, 'bye.

Oh, and "Go Pistons!"

Sarah

Thursday, June 16, 2005

I talked to the Serial Killer today.

Talked.  Not e-mailed.  Talked.  On the phone.  For an hour.

She's not so bad.

But here's a strange thing.

When she all of a sudden, out of the blue, without any notice, e-mailed her phone-# to me last night, I panicked. 

Why?  I didn't know then, and I don't know now, but for whatever reason, it made me nervous.  I had to wait 24 hours before I could dial the number.  Mind you, the Serial Killer and I had already made plans via e-mail to meet face-to-face in a few weeks, and I didn't have a problem with that at all, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around talking to her on the phone, on the spur of the moment like that.  I think the problem is that I'm not really much of a phone person.  Never have been. 

So I waited a day, and then I called the Killer.

And it wasn't so bad.

I joke.  It was great.  We'll get along just fine. 

But for now, I'm off to Pittsburgh for the weekend.  My parents, who are about to move out of their home of forty years, are holding a garage sale on Saturday.  I'm going to Pittsburgh to load up my station wagon with my childhood memories.  And for Father's Day. 

My knitting has been packed and ready for two days.  I'll pack the clothes and stuff in the morning before I go.  Priorities, you know.

I wonder if my parents will charge me for what I haul away? 

Sarah

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Observe:

This picture shows (pick one):

1. What I've re-done after tearing out everything I had knit on St. Brigid up to this point, because I made such a huge, glaring error at the bottom that I had no other option but to rip it back to the beginning (see previous post for further explanation of my current inability to knit).

2. An entirely new and different project using the recycled yarn from St. Brigid.

3. The beginning of the FRONT of St. Brigid, since I finally got my act together and finished the BACK.

4. What the purple Opal Mosaic sock yarn looks like knit up on a 32" size 5 U.S. Addi turbo.

The answer is HERE.

Sarah

Monday, June 13, 2005

Revelation:

The uncomfortable silence that filled the room when I modeled the Revelation cardigan at the knit-in last week spoke volumes.  'Nuff said.

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Remember Bed and Breakfast from early 2004?  If you don't, you can check 2004's Finished Projects -- scroll down toward the bottom of the page (or is that scrolling "up"?  That always confuses me).

Remember how I cleverly added gusset-y things under the arms when it turned out narrower than I had hoped?  Did I mention that after I added the the gusset-y things and washed the sweater, it relaxed and grew about six inches around, rendering the clever gusset-y things excessive and useless?  It's been in the marination chamber (i.e., the scary room in the basement that used to be my office and is now a giant, blurry, pile of papers dating back to . . . whenever it was I stopped having a "real" job) ever since.

I removed the extra gusset thingies and sewed everything back together, only to discover when I tried the sweater on that it made me look very frumpy.  It's marinating again, and will probably end up being recycled.  Poop.

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So since I obviously shouldn't be knitting any more, I . . . um . . . went out and bought more yarn (yay!):

This is for a Kimono class I'm taking at Woven Art starting this Thursday.  No, it's not purple.  Yes, I'm feeling all right.  This is two hanks of Sea Breeze topped with one hank of Calypso II.  Or vice versa.  Or it's something else entirely.  Regardless, the yarn was beautifully hand dyed by Nancy McRay.  Swatching will commence shortly.

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I've just joined the Knit the Classics knit-along, but I'm already seriously lagging behind.  June's book is the enormous Middlemarch (although I'm starting it in Middlejune), and I'll be knitting the Flared Lace Smoke Ring from Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer of HeartStrings Fiber Arts.  In purple (of course!) Silky Wool from Elsebeth Lavold, which I purchased at Little Red Schoolhouse Yarn Shop months ago. 

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My kids are assigned chores every weekday of summer vacation (I'm a slave driver).  One of their chores is to be on call to "help Mom".  Today's "help Mom" activity for Son Number Two?

You can call him "Swifty".  (get it?)

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"Mom?  What's an eee-wee?" Son Number Two asked while playing a handheld, electronic version of Hangman yesterday. 

"Eee-wee?"  I asked.  "Can you spell it for me?"

"E-W-E.  Eee-wee!"

"Oh honey!  That's ewe!"

"You?"

"Yes!  Ewe!  A female sheep!"

silence

"Mom?"

"What, sweetie?"

"What does G-N-U spell?"

pause

"That's gnu."

"New?"

"Yes, honey bunny.  Gnu.  It's kind of like a yak."

silence

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"This is a dumb game."

"Put it away, honey bunny.  Let's go get some ice cream."

"Yay!"

Sarah

Friday, June 10, 2005

It's all Michelle's fault.  She dangled purple sock yarn in front of me, and then led me to its source.  They were out of the purple, which led me on a hunt for more purple sock yarn (more more more!), which caused me to discover THIS.

That's what my Opal Mosaic socks are SUPPOSED to look like.  Please (if you like) direct your attention to my previous post.  My Opal Mosaic sock does NOT look like that.  But I want it to.  So it's been torn back to the toe, and I'm trying to find the perfect number of stitches to make the Mosaic-y thing happen.  But the question arises:  Do I sacrifice fit for Mosaic-i-ness?  Or do I forgo the cool Mosaic-y look for socks that fit?  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion, coming soon to a blog near you.

In other Handknitter news:

Loll progresses, but it's still just pieces of black knitting, so not very exciting to look at.  Almost up to the armhole shaping of the last body piece, though!

The Serial Killer's sweater enjoyed the sun on the patio this afternoon, and then kept me company for three hours at Caesarland this evening.  If you aren't familiar with Caesarland, perhaps it will help to tell you that it's similar to Chuck E. Cheese's, but without the animatronic rats.  The sweater and I found a seat in an area where the noise level wasn't quite so deafening, and where the sweaty, screaming kids ran past only occasionally.  Lots of knitting was accomplished while my children and their friends made fools of themselves way over there in the play structure.

I've had a revelation about the Revelation Cardigan, but you'll have to wait to see how it turns out.

And I'm getting antsy to start a bunch of new projects, but I'm trying to be disciplined about finishing a few outstanding ones first.

How long will THAT last?

Sarah

Monday, June 6, 2005

Deja vu!

No, it's not the same photo I posted in Wednesday's entry.  It's MORE hats from ANOTHER class full of newly minted Continental knitters!  Hooray!

I taught my final class of the season tonight, and am now officially ON VACATION!!!  No more classes until after Labor Day. 

(I had a big "WOO HOO!" here, but took it out when I realized my students might think I was glad to be rid of them for the summer.  Not true at all!  But WOO HOO anyway!)

Whatever shall I do?

I sat down with a notepad and pencil this afternoon and started a list of things I'd like to accomplish during my time "off".  The list currently consists of three closely-written pages, and that's after one fifteen minute brainstorming session.  I guess I'm not gonna get bored!

But before I dive into that list of Things To Do, I've got a day and a half to myself before . . . (insert lightening strike and thunder crash here) . . . my kids get out of school for the summer (insert one more lightening strike and thunder boomer here).

I'm actually looking forward to it this year!  I gotta tell ya -- a little dose of estrogen goes a l-o-o-o-o-n-g way!

I whipped up some quick cotton facecloths to give as gifts to Son Number Two's teachers:

Notice that they're actually the ever-popular garter-stitch-on-the-bias dishcloth pattern, disguised with a little lace border!  Easy as pie with the Heavenly Cotton Facecloths pattern from the Heirloom Knitter, and homemade soap purchased from Kim at The Yarn Garden!

I've got my newest sock yarn on the needles -- here's what I accomplished during last week's ice cream social and this weekend's baseball scrimmage:

There are a lot of baseball games scheduled this summer, and I've got a lot of sock yarn in the line up.

St. Brigid got some attention this week . . .

. . . which means it's time for me to get back to work on Abby's sweater, since I told her she could gauge my progress on her sweater by watching my progress on St. Brigid -- and no, St. Brigid is NOT for Abby the serial killer, but that plastic bag in the top left corner of the photo IS.

I think I'll pull Loll out again, too.  Air conditioning can get downright chilly, so I can put it to use NOW!  Besides, I can't justify starting my black Summer Braids cardigan until I finish my black Loll cardigan.  Can I?

I'll leave you with some very closely edited photos from my very overgrown garden.  Maybe I'll have a chance to clear some of it out now that I'm ON VACATION!

(WOO HOO!!!)

Sarah

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Here are some cool color combos from last week's Continental Knitting class:

The middle one gets extra credit for being two shades of purple!

Speaking of two shades of purple, lookie what I found at ThreadBear's sale:

I went there intending to totally ignore the yarn and just shop for notions, patterns, books, etc.  You can see how well that worked.

The black Svale from Dale (Svah-lah from Dah-lah) is for the Summer Braids Cardigan from Cabin Fever.  Wendy S. just finished one in icy blue Svale, and the sheen and drape are exquisite.  I want to be just like Wendy S! 

The purple and white sock yarn is Mosaic from Opal, and is for . . . well . . . socks, of course!  One can never have too many pairs of purple socks, I always say!

The two piles of purple hanks are Denim Silk from Berroco, for a summer project that will hopefully double as a sample for a new class this fall.

And THEN I focused on non-yarn items, and found cute knitting themed note cards (knote cards?) and a handy bottle of hand cream (ooh!  I made a pun!  I didn't notice until I was editing my post!).  I wonder if they sell "Socks in a Bottle?"  My feet could use some help (a footy bottle of foot cream?).

This is a fairly yucky picture, but I wanted to show you that some knitting has been accomplished:

The sleeves are done!  The sleeves are done!

I washed my Entrelac Jacket and it's hanging on Dummy Sheila to dry.  I didn't weave the ends in yet because I was worried about how the fit would change after washing.  Looks like it'll be just fine, although I haven't tried it on yet (who wants to walk around in a wet sweater?).

Today's end-of-the-school-year hoopla found us at Crossroads Village in Flint.  There were spinning wheels in every home.  This house had a loom, too:

Tomorrow's end-of-the-school-year hoopla includes an assembly at 8:friggin':30 in the morning to thank all of the parent volunteers (that would include moi), a picnic at Lake Lansing, and the annual Ice Cream Social, where Son Number Two is due on stage at 6:45, Husband Number One is serving something or other (ice cream, maybe?) from 7:15 to 8:15, and Son Number One's band is performing sometime between 8:30 and 9:30.  My job is to make sure everyone in my family gets where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there.  I'll be taking my knitting along for the ordeal event.

I'll leave you with this arty self-portrait taken on Memorial Day, when thunderstorms were predicted for the whole day (ha!), and I spent way too long trying to figure out why I couldn't get the camera to turn off . . .

. . . maybe because I kept pressing the "take a picture" button instead of the "turn the camera off" button. 

You think?

Sarah

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