Yes, Virginia, There is Knitting

This last month or so has produced precious little in the way of knitting. The girl's sweaters are progressing oh so slowly, and it will be a miracle if I finish them before my nieces start producing grand-nieces and nephews (for the record, my nieces are four and five). This gives you some idea of just how slow I'm moving on the sweaters.

Tom's Divine scarf is finished, just in time for nice, warm weather.



I'm mostly pleased with the way it turned out, but I incorporated an extra stitch that sort of bothers me. However, I'm not going to rip it out. The ends need to woven in and the scarf blocked, but I'm considering it finished (for the most part).

I also finished one Spirit Trail sock.



Again, I'm mostly pleased with the way it turned out, but it has a couple of issues. The pattern is not centered on the instep and the sock doesn't fit as snugly as I would like it to. I was thinkingif I removed the "extra" stitches if the pattern would magically center on the instep and improve the fit. I think there's going to be some additional swatching in my future.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not really a knitter. If I were a real knitter, I'd have many more finished objects. I'm a wannabe knitter (and spinner). I buy yarn, patterns, and have all these grandiose schemes for designing my own sweaters and socks, but when it comes right down to it, I just can't seem to execute. I start projects, then cast them aside for the thrill of starting something new, which then is cast aside to start something else. Perhaps I suffer from a knitterly form of ADD.

And then there's this: I waste time (that's a big surprise, eh, Mom?). And I'm lazy. I can always find ways to stretch out a task, not because I want to prolong it, but because I get distracted. If I'm straightening a room, I'll pick up a book and and hour later, find myself still flipping through the pages. It's enough to drive a professional organizer crazy!

What I ought to do is set aside a little time every day to knit and spin. When the time is up, the time is up, and I move to the next task. I don't have a lot of hope for that actually happening, but I'll report back on my progress.

Room Renovations
Remember I mentioned that we decided to finally renovate the back bedroom? The plasterer finished up yesterday. Here are some before pictures:





Now you see them:



Now you don't!



The round copper plate covers a hole in the wall (which is actually a chimney). The two back rooms were most likely heated by coal stoves.

Ahhh...new plaster!







There's still a ton work left to do in this room. While the plaster cures over the next several weeks, Tom will scrape all the baseboards, replace the baseboard on the back wall, and refinish the floor. Then it's time to paint, install a new ceiling fan, and find someone to put in nice shelves in the chimney nook. We'll also need to purchase wardrobes. Ikea has some nice options. And then we can move everything back into that room. That will be good, because it's currently residing in my fiber room and it's almost impossible to move in there.

Happy knitting!

Recap

Well, it's been quite busy chez nous. Three weeks ago, we were in Charlottesville for the Charlottesville Half Marathon where Tom set yet another PR. We ate at some fabulous restaurants (particularly the The Shebeen; if you are in Charlottesville, you simply must give it a try!). I made the annual pilgrimage to The Needle Lady and bought one of Maggie Jackson's books, purely on whim because I just had to have one of the models knit up in Maggi's Linen. Sadly, I needed one more ball than the shop had in stock, so no yarn was purchased. Well, I take that back. Yarn was purchased, but you can't see it because it's for my secret pal.

Last weekend I was up at Kirkridge, cooking for a knitting retreat given by Y2Knit and sponsored by the fine ladies of Modern Yarn (be sure to check out their cool t-shirt designs). Despite being the kitchen pretty much from sunup to sundown, I managed to find some time to knit with the group. Of course, I was so tired from cooking that I had to rip out and start the sock about 80 billion times (it's the process). But the work was fun and I might get some additional catering gigs out of it.

The best part about last weekend? When I returned, Tom had delicious dinner prepared for me. Grilled shrimp escabeche, red cabbage and beet slaw, and a grilled fish with homemade caponata. I've got the best husband!

This weekend is the weekend of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I spent the day there yesterday and met up with Mia in the morning. It was great to finally meet her in person, after trading blog comments and emails. She's local and there's really no excuse for not having met her sooner. I also met up with Chris, Nanc, P-la (and the Squid), Jen, and Lillian, all from Texas. Well, sort of. Lillian came down from New Jersey, but she used to be in Texas. The Texas contingent graciously allowed me to trail along in their wake. Chris is now a spinner and I was being an enabler, especially when she said that she came to buy fiber (not just yarn). She showed amazing restraint, despite the fact that I kept shoving various bits of fluff in her hands and demanding "Feel this!"

So Chris, did you go back to Shadeyside Farm and get any of the yummy stuff they were selling?

What did I buy? Nothing, at least not for me. I did pick up a thing or two for my secret pal and some non-fiber items for Christmas and other gifts. Am I sick? Am I losing my passion for all things fiber? No, I was just so overwhelmed by the selection (never give a Libran too many choices unless you want to see her paralyzed by indecision) and the crush of the crowds that nothing really appealed. Plus the lighting in the main building was so poor that it was hard to see colors. All yarn vendors should have at least one Ott light so their customers can get a better idea of what the yarn looks like.

There was some confusion as to where the knit bloggers would meet. Once again, we were supposed to meet behind the pavilion, but there's music going on and that's where the muggles set up base camp. The grassy hill behind the main building is still the best spot and that seems to be where everyone migrated.

Pictures? You want pictures? As I was making my way north up Route 15, I realized that I left my camera behind. So no pics for you! Sorry!

As for the rest of the weekend, my time will be spend cleaning. The house is a bit on the filthy side as we're in the middle of some plaster work. Combine plaster dust with the pollen that's been blowing in, and the house is looking quite dusty. Tom is off running a trail marathon this morning, so there's some cooking in my future as well. He's going to be quite hungry this evening and a tasty dinner will be just what the doctor ordered.

Happy knitting!

Briefly

Of course, whenever I mean to post a short entry, I seem to end up going on forever. But this is to let my five loyal readers know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I just haven't had much to say.

Knitting is happening. I finished the first Spirit Trail sock (except for weaving in the ends). The Divine scarf is complete, except for blocking and weaving in the ends. The sweaters...well...I'm slogging along, at a pace slower than the snails. I'm reaching the conclusion that maybe I'm not cut out to knit sweaters, even wee ones. Of course, maybe I should start with easier patterns.

The second installment of Rockin' Sock Club arrived today. And boy, is it gorgeous! And it feels so yummy. The pattern that came along with it is intriguing and it looks like it will be fun to knit. Have I knit up the first pair of socks yet? No. But I'm guaranteed years of knitting enjoyment.

Sigh...

Next month the Wooly Wonka Exotic Fibers Club will start. It sounds like there will be both spinning and knitting involved. I'm beginning to get a little intimidated; I'm afraid my spinning isn't up to par and am thinking that I've bitten off more than I can chew.

I'm off to Kirkridge this weekend to cook for the Y2Knit retreat. I spent the day grocery shopping and all the supplies are laid in. I just hope I remember to pack everything. It would be a very bad thing if I forgot the lasagna.

A full report (at some point) of last weekend and this weekend when I return.

Enjoy the weekend!

Beyond Words

I woke up with a migraine today and given the weather (strong wind, spitting rain, chill temperatures), I decided to stay in bed and work from home in the afternoon.

A little after noon, a friend sent me a message asking me if I had been following what was happening at Virginia Tech. I was horrified. My nephew and Tom's nephew both attend Tech and fortunately, both are not hurt. Daniel had just arrived at Norris Hall when everything was going on and by good fortune, decided to not take his normal bus to campus. If he had been 10 minutes earlier, who knows what might have happened? PJ (Tom's nephew) was in the building next to Norris when the shootings occurred. His next class was in Norris.

Others were not so lucky. 32 people, mostly students, perished today in the worst shooting rampage in U.S. history. It's beyond my ken. Our illustrious president, while professing to be horrified and deeply concerned, said through his publicist that the he believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. Additionally, the White House said that "certainly, bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting … is against the law and something someone should be held accountable for." (Credit: ABC News, Deb Riechmann, http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3045930)

The gunman is dead; he allegedly killed himself. So who do we hold accountable? Certainly not the gun manufacturers; the NRA would raise a stink over that. The president of Virginia Tech for not being prescient enough to know that the gunman didn't leave campus after the initial shootings? The owner of the gun store where the gun was bought? The owner of the gun if gunman borrowed or stole it?

Society, perhaps, for not doing enough to teach children that you can't always get everything you want and how to deal with the disappoints that life so often hands out.

I don't know the answer; perhaps there isn't one. What I do know is that over the last several decades, images on television, in movies, and in video games have become more violent and more graphic. Song lyrics have followed the same trend. We, as a nation, have become desensitized to violence. It's commonplace and perhaps the underlying message is that it's okay to kill to get what you want or to get even.

But it's so wrong.

I've been silently boycotting the entertainment industry for a while now. I don't go to movies if there's so much as a shred of violence in them. I don't listen to commercial radio. I don't watch television (except for the Food Network, PBS, and some shows on the War History Channel). As one person, I'm certainly not influencing Hollywood. And there will never be enough of us to make a difference because too many people are addicted to adrenalin (but that's a discussion for another day).

My apologies for a rambling and somewhat disjointed post; I needed to say something.

It Arrived!

Look at what arrived in the mail on Monday!



All sorts of goodies from my secret pal! There's a skein of Sockotta sock yarn, in very spring-ish colors (color 6 for those who have enquiring minds). Since this yarn is a cotton/wool blend, it will be perfect for the warmer months (if they ever arrive...more about that later). There's a ball of Chagall by Jackobsdals, a Swedish yarn. Even though it's named after (I presume) Marc Chagall, the colors remind me of Monet's Waterlilies. It's a mohair/wool/synthetic blend and is quite soft. There's also a ball of Candy FX in the most wonderful shade of blue. I think I've got the perfect color of Softwist to pair it with. To round out the gifts, my secret pal included a book of notepaper, always useful, a box of tea from England, and some Raspberry Tea Cookies. Yum! I'm going to have to find some time this weekend to sit down with a cuppa and cookies!

My secret pal also included a card which had a cute verse on it (I forgot to include in the photo). It said:

Mary had a little lamb...
It's fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere the lambie went,
that girl was sure to go.

She followed it for days and days,
'cuz Mary was no quitter.
"Give me your fleece you crazy lamb!"
"Can you see that I'm a knitter?"

The lamb said, "Wait 'til I'm grown up,
My fleece ain't ready yet...
Just skip on down to the yarn shop, girl...
And see what you can get!"

Thank you, Secret Pal! Your gift made Monday quite enjoyable. By the way, there was an extraneous pen at the bottom of the box. I'll save it and send back to you at the end of the exchange.

There hasn't been much knitting going on. I managed to knit two rows on the Jenna sweater, in between chasing Emma away from the plants in the living room. It never fails that as soon as I sit down to knit, she's doing something she wouldn't ordinarily be doing. I worked on Tom's scarf as well and it should be complete after about four more inches. Who knows? He might get to wear it yet this winter spring.

Perhaps some of the malaise I've been feeling this week is because of the weather. For April, it's been brutally cold (except for a couple of glorious 80-degree days, which I spent inside an office building). When I opened my office on Monday, a blast of cold air hit me. I didn't think anything of it; the office is usually a bit chilly after the weekend. However, it never warmed up. By the end of the day, I was wearing my coat and covered my head with my scarf, hijab-style. The ritual adjusting of the thermostats by Building Maintenance was ineffective. On Tuesday, I was prepared. The same blast of cold air greeted me upon my arrival, so I whipped out my handy-dandy digital thermometer and placed it on my desk. Slowly, ever so slowly, it crept up to 67.1. I called Building Maintenance and this time they sent a guy with a ladder. After poking around in the ceiling a bit, he announced that the heat was off and very kindly turned it back on. By the end of the day, the office was a reasonable 72 degrees. But I still haven't quite thawed out.

And it's not going to get much better. On Monday, the forecast for this weekend was calling for it to be in the mid- to upper-60s. Today, the weekend forecast is for snow. My biggest fear is that we'll skip spring entirely and head straight into August, which often happens in this neck of the woods.

So, what's on the agenda for this week? Probably very little knitting. This weekend, I'll start cooking for the Y2Knit and Modern Yarn Retreat at Kirkridge at the end of the month. Tom is also raring to strip the wallpaper in the back bedroom and demolishing the closets, in preparation for the plasterer. That means that we'll be emptying closets (yikes!) and moving all the furniture out of that room. Heaven knows where it's going to go.

Just thinking about it makes me want to curl up and go to sleep, like Emma. (I was going to include a picture of Emma curled up on the couch, but Blogger is being a bit recalcitrant and is refusing to accept the photo.)

Have a good week and stay warm!

Whew!

That was close! Here it is, almost mid-April and the forecast for last night and today was for two to three inches of snow! Fortunately, there was only a dusting of the white stuff on the roofs this morning. However, it's very windy and there's been a hard freeze warning since Thursday night. It's hard to believe that the temperatures earlier this week were in the 80s.

My parents' visit was very nice. They had a chance to relax and we had a chance to cook some good food. I made tiramisu and it was mostly a success this time. I used the savoiardi which are dry ladyfingers. The recipe was a test recipe from America's Test Kitchen (a couple of months ago they asked for recipe testers, so I volunteered). There are a couple of things I would change, like cutting the recipe in half and reducing the amount of rum used, but overall it was a very good recipe. We had chicken piccata, linguine fini, and spinach with caramelized onions and mascarpone cheese. It was a satisfying dinner, especially after we spent about four hours touring...

...The new Air and Space Museum. They did an excellent job with this museum. The Air and Space Museum in D.C. is very loud , being frequented by active, vocal children. The immensity of the museum (it's a gigantic hangar) dampened the sound of the active, vocal children, which is a nice benefit. The Concorde was on display, as was the space shuttle Enterprise. I would have liked to go inside both, but alas, the interiors of the aircraft were not on display. I was surprised at how the space shuttle looked small and large at the same time, and how fragile it looked.

If you get a chance to go to the new Air and Space Museum, I highly recommend taking in an IMAX film. They show every hour and provide a nice break to looking a hundreds of plane, missiles, airplane engines, airplane guns, airplane landing gear... After about three hours, all the planes started to blur. Yep, it's got wings, one or more engines, and landing gear. It's a plane. Next...

Knitting News
I still don't have much to report. I'm working on one of fronts of the Christine sweater after tinking two rows because I was about two rows over the 21cm length. Decreasing in pattern is proving to be more difficult than I thought. And I have a sinking feeling that I'm decreasing at a faster rate than the pattern calls for, which means I'll need to tink again. I'm supposed to decrease on the third row, then every third row after that. Decrease on row 3, then decrease again on row 6? Or row 5? Does row 3 count as row 1 in "every third row" or does row 4? Can anyone provide insight?

I finally caved and bought the Shingle Creek Trail Socks kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers. Anne sent the package out quickly and it arrived this week. The Sagebrush and Cedars colorway is very pretty with the different shades of blue and green. It will make a very pretty pair of socks. But alas, they won't be knitted for some time, at least not until I finish the Never-Ending Sweaters, of which I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Yarn Shop News
I looked at a building last Saturday that's almost perfect for my vision of my yarn shop. The only problem is that it is too expensive. All the retail space in Leesburg is too expensive, and if it isn't, it has issues, like zero parking, not even street parking. I'm wondering if it's going to be financially feasible to open a shop. Should I start online as a friend recommended? There are a scads of online yarn shops and I'm dubious as to how much business I'd actually get. I'll continue to research and think on it, but I'm beginning to get a little discouraged.

Secret Pal
My secret pal left a message in the comments saying that she mailed my package today! Yippee! I've got something to look forward to this week. I'm in the process of slowly pulling together the package for my secret pal and will indulge in some stash diving to see if I've got some yummy yarn in her favorite colors. I haven't been too successful in finding the yarn I wanted to send her so her first package might be a little sparse, but good.

Well, it's time to go. Emma is insisting that we play a rousing game of Fetch the Mouse.

Good Eats

This will be a quick post, since the parents are up visiting for the weekend. Suffice it to say, there will be a lot of eating happening chez Libran.

We had Brunswick stew, kale, and homemade buttermilk biscuits for dinner last night, with chocolate tapioca pudding for dessert. Tonight's dinner will be black bean soup, pork tenderloin with a blackberry-ancho chili sauce, and assorted roasted root vegetables, with flan for dessert.

Tomorrow I'll once again try making tiramisu. I found the right kind of ladyfingers; they are harder than the ones in grocery store. The grocery store ladyfingers are more like sponge cake and tend to fall apart when dipped in coffee. I'll give a full report later.

Knitting News
Not much knitting has transpired this week. I haven't had the will to get up at 5:30 in the morning and that is my prime knitting time. I need to get back to it, though. Mom says the girls are getting tall, so if the sweaters aren't finished soon, Jenna and Christine will be wearing cropped, 3/4 length sleeve sweaters instead of regular sweaters.

I got home yesterday to find a package on the front porch. What could it be? A surprise from my secret pal? Yarn that I forgot that I ordered? No, it was a copy of the Yarn Harlot's new book! I started reading and was not disappointed. It's a good, easy read.

Spring Has Sprung!
Spring has finally arrived. Our backyard is now looking quite green.



The plum blossomed this week and I fear the blossom time is going to be short. Plum blossoms against the morning sky:



Emma swears there's nothing better than a nap in the afternoon sun:



Eagle Cam
Ever wonder what life is like high atop a tree in an eagle's nest? Take a look. You won't be able to see anything at night, however. It gets a bit dark.
Happy knitting!

Images

Yesterday I drove up to Baltimore to meet with some distant cousins to discuss the geneology of the O'Connor branch of the family. It was a very informative meeting, although it got a little disorienting at times because there were a few Henrys, Evas, Catherines, and Edwards. Is that Henry my Uncle Henny or someone else? People kept referring to Aunt Kate, who I call "old grandma" (my great-grandmother). But we solved a few mysteries (who did Charles marry and were there children?) and I was even able to produce photographic evidence to put faces to names.

My family (on both sides, actually) saved everything and one boon of that is that we have a ton of photographs dating from the mid-1800s. I've ended up as the trustee of them. We also had the good fortune that despite all of my grandmother's health problems, her long-term memory was very sharp. Mom sat down with Grandma several years ago and they were able to put names and dates to the sometimes ghostly images.

At the end of the gathering, Linda gave everyone a listing of the family tree in its current state. Names, birth and and death dates, wedding dates...it's all there. We need to keep it current. And we also need to start digging deeper to solve the mystery of which O'Connors left Ireland and when.

As I was looking at this record of our family, it occurred to me that it wasn't anything but a list of statistics. If you look at the dates closely enough, you can conclude that my great-grandmother's life was filled with tragedy, grief, and hardship. But those stories are missing. We're fortunate that our family is relatively long-lived because the eyewitnesses to those early days are still around and we can capture the stories, at least for some of the family. It will be much more difficult (and probably impossible) to get the stories from the branches of the family that left Baltimore.

I drove home in the early evening. A fine mist was falling and as I drove westward, it became foggier and foggier. The bridge over the Potomac at Point of Rocks was shrouded in fog. Geese emerged the from mist, flying low. The image was primitive and one that has occurred countless times over the millennia. I found it both comforting and heart-wrenching. The mist will continue to rise and shroud and soften the landscape and the geese will continue their flight. Soon, though, this beautiful rural landscape will be populated with developments of McMansions and eventually, the geese will leave. And that will truly be a sad time.

Knitting Progress
Not a lot. I slept crooked or perhaps the bad desk chair at work has finally gotten to me as I've been plagued with headaches all this week. I managed to make some progress on Tom's scarf and have starting working the third ball. The lack of loft doesn't seem to have a negative effect, so I'm knitting on and I will finish it! I think I'll have an extra ball, and that just might turn into a pair of fingerless mitts for me.

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a "wannabe" knitter, one who dreams more about beautiful handknit items instead of actually knitting them. I think the list of UFOs stands as a testament to that. Perhaps it's the fear of failure with the finished garment. What if I finish it and I don't like it? Or it doesn't fit? Or it shrinks? Or I can't figure out a technique? If I don't finish it, then the beautiful handknit garment can continue to live, unchallenged, in my mind.

Does anyone else struggle with this?

Nothing

Even though I have nothing in particular to blog about today, I thought I would, given that I seem to be blogging only on the weekend. Fortunately, we didn't get anymore snow yesterday, but it remained cold and windy. A prodigious amount of sunshine has melted most of the snow as well. So maybe, just maybe, the second half of the month will see us cruising into Spring.

The snow and cold weather hasn't daunted the birds. They are very active and very vocal, especially the starlings. Even though I find these birds to be rather despicable, they have amazing vocalizations. They like to perch on the chimney and their calls echo down into the fireplace in the mornings when I've got a fire going. Emma finds that to be very interesting and a bit disconcerting.

Our little town is blessed with a very fine Italian store, Galletta's. Yesterday they had a wine tasting, so Tom and I met our friend Leigh there. The wines were imported by Michael R. Downey Selections, Inc. and they were very good. I knew Mike a long time ago. Sadly, he died from lung cancer a couple of years ago. It's good to know that his children have taken over and grown the business. Galletta's also had a variety of their food selections out for tasting as well. I'm not a big fan of cold cuts, but they have a porchetta with rosemary that was heavenly. Their tiramisu is to die for. The cheeses are excellent. Yum!

After the tasting, we walked over to our favorite watering hole for a pint of Guinness to select St. Patrick's Day. Strangely enough, we were the only ones drinking Guinness. Everyone else was drinking wine or spirits. I rarely drink beer; it tends to fill me up and suppress my appetite (although there are times when my appetite could stand to be suppressed), so by the time we finished, I wasn't so hungry for dinner.

Last night's dinner was a brown rice pilaf with carmelized onions and toasted pine nuts, steamed broccoli with lemon, and a pan-roasted fillet of rockfish. It was late by the time we ate, so I had just a small portion. Emma was very interested in my dinner, particularly the rice and the fish. Of course, we don't feed her anything but her cat food (and a little bit of vanilla ice cream for dessert). But she still manages to eat some people food.

Like pine nuts.

I woke up around 2:00 this morning, to the sound of Emma bathing. But something didn't sound quite right. She wasn't bathing, she was playing with a balled-up piece of paper. No, that doesn't sound right either. It sounds too...wet. I rolled out of bed to see what it was she had. Imagine my surprise to see that she had the baggie of pine nuts that I had left on the counter last night. One side was chewed away and there were only a couple of pine nuts left. We found some of the others ground up on the kitchen floor this morning. We're learning that we can't leave any food out because Emma will try to eat it. I was surprised that she got the pine nuts because they were in a sealed bag. That cat has one sensitive nose!

Knitting News
I actually managed to get some knitting in this morning and got to the point where I can start working the front of the Christine sweater. Woo hoo! But, I might have to rip back two rows. The pattern calls for knitting 21 cm. and I actually knit 21.5 cm. I need to measure again and decide if that half a centimeter is going to hurt me.

Have you visited Anne's blog lately? She has posted pictures of the sock she's been designing and the colorways intended for it. They're very nice. I can't decide which I like better: River or Sagebrush and Cedars. You can see all of her fine wares at Wooly Wonka Fibers.

There's Nothing Like a Warm Radiator

Sucker Punch

This week has been full of contrasts. The weather progressively warmed up, reaching close to 80 degrees by mid-week. Once again it was so nice to not have to wear a coat. The crocuses are still blooming and they are now joined by the daffodils. Yes, Spring is here at last! So what if there's a little bit lot of rain in the forecast for the end of the week?

When I left for work on Friday, it was raining. Then the rain started to splat on the windshield. The wet stuff kept up all day. A friend in Front Royal reported that it was snowing like mad there. At 3:30, Tom called me at work to tell me that I might want to leave, since it was sleeting heavily. By 5:00, our backyard looked like this:



After all was said and done, we got about three inches of sleet and snow. Our backyard is once again a winter wonderland. Technically it's still winter, I guess, but I'm finally ready for warmer weather.

Knitting Progress
None. Seriously. I might have knit two rows on the Christine sweater this week. I've been truly slug-like. In addition to continuing my non-exercise program, I've also neglected my 5:30 a.m. knitting sessions. Even though I'm enjoying what I'm knitting (mostly), I get overwhelmed when I think about how much more I have to knit on each of the projects. And then there's the finishing, which when I think about it makes me want to crawl into a hole, whimpering at the potential mind-numbingness of it all. The sweaters are knit with fingering (maybe sport weight at best) cotton. That's pretty fine and makes for a lot of sewing up.

In order to keep from being overwhelmed (which isn't working so well), I'm setting little goals. Knit four rows; knit an entire color band; knit another inch. Don't think about all of the other unfinished projects laying around that are beginning to clamor to be finished. Don't think about all of the yummy yarn in the stash, which is also making itself heard. Add to that the techniques that I want to learn. Where's a Libran to start?

Here's the current state of the Christine sweater:



And here is the state of our daffodils:





Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring Forward!

Spring is on its way in! The weather is getting warmer; I actually went out yesterday without having to put on a coat, scarf, gloves, and hat. In fact, I didn't wear any outwear! That was quite refreshing. Leaving the house goes a lot faster when you don't have layer on clothes.

The birds also know that winter is almost over. For the last couple of weeks, the birdsong in the morning has changed from the winter calls to actual song. The birds are beginning to stake out their territories and it won't be too much longer before we have birds starting to make their nests around the yard.

The bulbs are coming up, as well. They actually started coming up in January and were stopped in their tracks when the weather finally (thankfully) turned cold. Last week I noticed that the crocuses were blooming...little bits of color in an otherwise brown bed. The daffodils are beginning to bud as well.

And since the weather was fine, Tom persuaded Emma to make her first foray onto the deck. She was very, very cautious, keeping her belly close to the ground. I missed her maiden journey because I was helping a friend move. Emma didn't go out today because we were over at our friend's new house during the warmest part of the day. As the days get warmer, Emma will go out more. Hopefully she'll stay on the deck or in the back garden. The county animal shelter microchips all of the animals that come in for adoption, so if she wanders and gets picked up by Animal Control or someone else, we'll get her back quickly. We need to get her used to wearing a collar, though.

Knitting News
There's not much to report. I'm resisting the siren call of the Socks That Rock yarn. I've completed two repeats of the Fair Isle bands on the Christine sweater. I finally frogged Tom's original scarf and skeined the yarn. When I soaked it to get the kinks out, it lost a lot of the original loft. I'm a bit worried about that, but what's a girl to do? If worse comes to worse, one half of the scarf will be at a slightly different gauge. And maybe the new yarn will flatten out to match the original yarn after I wash and block it. At the very least, I'll learn something new. Hopefully I won't be learning that I messed up yet again.

The knitting group at work is still meeting and mostly everyone is showing up if they are in the office that day. It feels so good to sit and knit with other people. The conversation sort of meanders around in the way that conversation does with knitting groups. Anne is knitting an intarsia sweater for her nephew and she's done a wonderful job. Stephanie is working a sweater. Laura is just getting back to knitting and is using up all of her old yarn trying out different techniques; her next projects will be a sleeveless shell for her daughter and a little coat for a young niece. Jackie decided she didn't like knitting a scarf and is working on a little purse made out of one of yarns that looks and feels like suede. My knitting group projects will be Tom's scarf and then various unfinished sock projects. Everyone's work is very good.

That's about it for now. Time to check on the foccacia dough. Tom's going to make chicken parmigiana for dinner. My contribution will be foccacia with carmelized onions and roasted red peppers, fettucine, and some sort of spinach dish. I can't decide between spinach sauteed with olive oil and garlic or spinach with lemon. Hmmm...maybe creamed spinach... Time to consult my Marcella Hazan cookbooks.

Buon appetito! Have a great week!

Secret Pal 10

I joined SP 10 a while back. I just read the rules again and discovered that I should have posted the answers by the end of February. Oops...

So without further ado, here are the questions and my answers.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I absolutely do not like to knit with acrylic. I find that I like all natural fibers. My most favorite yarn ever was Adrienne Vitadini Martina, which was a combination of merino and silk. Yum!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I use the Ashland Sky needle sacks. They're great and actually hold more needles than you'd think.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting seriously for the last 4 or 5 years and would consider my skill level to be intermediate. My mother originally taught me when I was about 9, which was a feat because I'm left-handed and she's right-handed. Unfortunately, it didn't stick and many decades went by before I picked up the needles again. My knitting really took off when I learned how to knit Continental.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I have a wish list on Amazon; you might be able to access it here.

5. What's your favorite scent?

Vanilla, patchouli, or citrus. I tend to be sensitive to most scents. A lot of scents react poorly with my body chemistry, so I rarely wear perfumes. Patchouli is an exception.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Dark chocolate and the darker the better! I find that ginger and dark chocolate go really well together.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I spin, but not as much as I'd like. I used to do counted cross stitch and dabbled with crochet for a while. I made a mosaic once and that was a lot of fun. And I'd love to try beading. Oh, and weave. I have a small 4-harness Harrisville loom that's been neglected for decades.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

My music tastes are pretty eclectic. I like most everything from baroque to rap, with the exception of pop country music. I do like bluegrass, however. I suspect my laptop can play MP3s, but have no clue about the stereo.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

I tend towards blues, greens, and reds. I have colors that aren't my favorites, but try to keep an open mind about them. I keep hoping that working with other colors will improve my color sense.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married, no children. One young cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I wear scarves, hats if I can find any that looks good on me, and mittens. I'm not a big poncho fan, but again, I'm willing to change my mind.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Hmmm...that's hard, since I tend to be a process knitter. Socks are fun and so are mittens and hats. I have a love/hate relationship with sweaters, baby blankets, and scarves.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Far too many things! Two sweaters for my nieces, a scarf for my husband, a shell for my sister-in-law, and a couple pairs of socks for me. See the WIPS section in my sidebar for the complete list (and also for the list of UFOs).

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Absolutely! Those are my favorite kinds of gifts.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

It depends on the project. I find that I rarely knit with straights these days. I knit socks on DPNs. I use metal or wood/bamboo needles depending on the yarn. My favorite needles are Brittany and Addi turbos, although I've heard good things about Lantern Moon and the Knit Picks Options.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I own both; I don't think I'd be able to survive without them.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

You don't want to know. Several years old.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Sad to say, but I don't really have one. I'd say Christmas, if it weren't for the commercialism and the pressure of buying (and receiving) tons of gifts.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Yarn? Although my stash is relatively small.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I subscribe to Interweave Knits, Knitters, and Knitty. See my wish list for other books. I'm particularly enamored with Elizabeth Zimmerman and Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I recently learned Swedish twined knitting. I want to work on more lace. I seem to be drawn to ethnic knitting.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I do knit socks. Measurements are roughly 9" long, 9" around the ball of the foot, and 8" right above the ankle.

23. When is your birthday?

October 14

So, there you have it. I think this exchange is going to be fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the One Skein exchange, even though my secret pal's final package was stolen. (Heidi, if you're reading this, I haven't forgotten about you. I've got new yarn so I can recreate the scarf!)

Now, excuse me. I hear a business plan calling me. (And Emma just placed one of her furry mice on my leg. Clearly she's not hearing the call of the business plan!)

In Like a Lion

The weather these last two days has been incredible. The saying for March In like a lion, out like a lamb seems to be true, at least the first part. The wind has been roaring like mad. I went out to lunch yesterday to celebrate a coworker's birthday and could barely close the car door! The wind finally subsided this afternoon, and a look at the weather forecast shows no more wind, but about one to two inches of snow tomorrow. Yep, it's definitely March in northern Virginia!

A Surprise!
When I pulled into the driveway last night, I noticed a package snuggled up against the door, desperately trying to get out of the wind and cold. I let it in, thinking I recognized it, but was disappointed to see that it was addressed to Tom. I thought I knew what it was. I quickly scanned the return address. Yes! I was right! The package was mine! I took it to the kitchen and carefully placed it on the counter, and proceeded to complete a few chores, glancing at it longingly. (I like to prolong the feeling of anticipation.)

Finally, I picked it up and ripped it open and pulled out...



Presenting the first shipment of the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club! I opened the binder and inside was a 10% discount card, a welcome letter, an NSK (Notorious Sock Knitter) bumper sticker, a Rockin' Sock Club pin, a skein of sock yarn as well a little tiny skein of emergency sock yarn in what appears to be the same colorway, and a sock pattern. Woo hoo!

The women at Blue Moon Fibers must be super women. After the little debacle with their bank thinking the sock club was fraudulent and changing banks, the sock club membership jumped to 2000! I was pleased when my membership was activated, but now I feel really bad for making these fine women work around the clock to get 2000 notebooks, swag, and skeins of yarn out the door. It boggles my mind (which is pretty easily boggled at this point). I bow before their tenacity and strength. All hail the women from Blue Moon Fiber Arts!

Needless to say, I've been gazing longingly at the yarn and fondling it every now and then. But, these socks cannot, must not, be cast on until I finish knitting (note I did not say "finish") the Jenna and Christine sweaters!

Productive

It's been a rather productive weekend. I spent yesterday cleaning the downstairs, looking at candidates for the yarn shop, grocery shopping, and cooking dinner for some friends. We had a pork loin roasted with herbs, onions, and apples, accompanied by red cabbage with juniper berries and sweet potatoes. Tom made a spicy black bean soup for starters. The soup was followed by a salad of bitter greens with apples, stilton, and pecans, dressed with a sherry-shallot vinaigrette. To finish off the meal, I served a wheat-free apple cranberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. And of course, there was the usual assortment of fine libations. A good time was had by all!

One of our friends has a wheat or gluten allergy, so I'm always looking for wheat-free recipes, especially desserts. With the crisp, I found that substituting 1/2 cup of white rice flour and 1/2 cup of rolled oats whirled in the food processor makes quite an acceptable substitute for the flour measure. In fact, I actually preferred it. Maybe it's my imagination, but the substitution produces a lighter textured topping. Of course, the substitution wouldn't work if gluten was needed.

And I was truly decadent for lunch today. While Tom was munching popcorn and watching Monster's Ball, I whipped up an omelette aux ciboulettes. Along with a little bit of salad left over from dinner last night, some baguette, a small glass of Chardonnay, and listening to Vivaldi's opera, Orlando, I could almost imagine that I was back in gay Paris.

What? You want to know how the yarn shop search went? It too was very productive. I bought a lamp that was marked down almost 50%! No, seriously, it went well. I got a much better sense of what size space I'd like. There are two potential contenders, but one place is for sale and terribly overpriced. If we bought a shop, I wouldn't have any money for inventory. But maybe this place won't sell and the owners would be willing to rent with an option to buy. I think this space would offer the most options for me and support my vision of the shop becoming a place for the knitting community to gather. The other place I looked at was also nice and definitely affordable. A bonus is the that current tenant's wife runs a little day spa in the back. So my clients could not only buy yarn, but they could also get a facial as well! The downside is that the shop is on a small side street with zero parking. So the search will continue.

Joinings
If you check my sidebar, you'll notice that there are several knit alongs that I joined. I'm notoriously bad at knit alongs, because mostly I never finish anything, despite starting off with good intentions. The most recent along is the Twisted Knitters. I joined in the hopes that I'd force myself to spin more, maybe get a crash course in dyeing, and then knit up the results of my labors. Ha! Other than buying The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, a drop spindle and some yummy roving (and trying to learn how to spin with a spindle again), I made zero progress, despite having close to six months to do the work.

So, you'd think I'd learn, eh? Nope. I joined the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club. I have no idea what to expect, other than fabulous yarn that gets shipped to me every other month or so. How great is that?! I think I'm actually supposed to knit the socks, but we'll see. I still have three sweaters and scarf to complete.

And if that isn't enough, I also joined Secret Pal 10. Other than the One Skein Secret Pal exchange, I've never been able to find the "official" secret pal information. (Hint: Do a Google search on "Secret Pal 10." Duh. I'm a computer professional; you'd think that I would have thought of that sooner.) I'm looking forward to this exchange. And after my final One Skein gifts that I sent went missing, you can be quite sure that I'm going to send everything insured and with a tracking number and maybe with return receipt requested!

Gauge Matters
I checked the gauge on the Christine sweater this morning. Alas, it's a little off. The pattern calls for 26 stitches over four inches and I'm counting 27. So, there you have it. My niece is a wee slip of a thing and this sweater is supposed to be a whopping 28-3/4 inches across the chest, so with a gauge of 27 stitches, the final chest measurement would be 27.4. (Of course, that's assuming that I'm doing the math correctly and that's a big assumption.)

Despite the evidence that I'm not getting gauge, I'm going to knit blithely on. The knitting goddess may smite me yet.

Emma is also feeling laissez-faire about gauge.

Eureka!

Looky here!



It's the Sweater of Frustration Christine sweater! Here's a closer view:



That's one of the reasons I didn't post over the weekend. I finally unlocked the Secret of the Chart. The edge stitches are for the entire width of the garment. The size parts of the chart are (I think) for the repeats and edge stitches when working the left and right fronts. There are no side seams. My tension isn't the greatest, but it's passable and I think some of the unevenness will block out. I need to knit a few more rows and then I'll check...gauge. At this point, gauge could become the deal breaker because I didn't knit a gauge swatch. And yes, if the gauge is off, I deserve every bit of the pain and agony of starting over yet again.

There was another reason why I didn't post this weekend:



Snow!

It was a total surprise. We were supposed to get maybe an inch of snow, followed by a wintry mix of snow and freezing rain, turning to all freezing rain Sunday night and Monday morning. It started snowing early Sunday morning, stopped for a little freezing rain break, then started snowing hard. It didn't stop until about 1:30. Since we haven't been getting that much snow these past few years, I took the opportunity to walk to a friend's house about a mile from here. The walk there was pretty good. The walk back was great because hardly anyone was out. The normal sounds were muted and you could hear the whisper of snow falling. I do so love me a good snowfall!

And Emma does love her new Cosmic Catnip Alpine Scratcher. That's a little bit of catnip on her head. She particularly loves trying to extricate the mouse that's attached to the inside of the scratcher.

Misery

I just can't win with the Sweater of Frustration Christine sweater. Maybe it's me, but I'm finding the chart for this pattern to be ambiguous at best. It has two markings for the five sizes and markings indicating sleeves, edge stitches, and a 10-stitch pattern repeat. But what does one do with the different size markings and the edge stitches? The number of stitches cast on is a multiple of 10, plus 5. But the marking for the size I'm knitting seem to suggest no right side edge stitch and a single wrong side edge stitch, and that does not work out to a multiple of 10, plus 5. This morning I knit the blue and beige band and after it was all said and done, tinked it. Tomorrow I'll knit the five edge stitches and the pattern repeat and see what that does.

I seem to be approaching this process by trial and error. Try it, see if it works, if it doesn't, rip it out and try something else. When it finally clicks, I know it will stay with me forever. Getting to that point is a painful process.

But as Margene says, it's the process. I'm just ready for this process to work.

Just Shoot Me

Last night we went out to Samurai in Ashburn for some great sushi and sashimi. The chef owner used to work at Kobe in Leesburg and dreamed about opening his own restaurant. He did and he makes some amazing sushi and sashimi. My favorite is the white tuna. It's very buttery and tender and oh so tasty! The white tuna has displaced regular tuna as my favorite.

I returned home fortified and ready to tackle the Christine sweater. I read through the instructions a couple of times, circled the stitch counts for the size I'm making and proceeded to cast on, going for 195 stitches. Long tail cast on, of course. I reached 70 stitches and realized the long tail was not nearly long enough. I ripped it out and started over. I counted my stitches twice, getting the same count each time. Excellent! Maybe this time the sweater isn't going to whip my butt. The lower edge consists of four rows of seed stitch. I knit three of them and then went to bed, feeling pretty pleased. Of course, the seed stitch edge has always gone well.

Except this time.

This morning I opted to knit the Christine sweater instead of the Jenna sweater. I started the fourth row, moved the button band stitches to a pin, knit the remainder of the row, moved the other button band stitches to a pin, glanced at the pattern and it said "185 stitches remaining." Suspicion grew and my heart sank. 185 stitches remaining. I counted, then counted again. I have 175 stitches left. I hadn't cast on enough stitches! Resignedly, I slipped the work off the needles and started to rip back. I really hate casting on hundreds of stitches. I looked at the cast on tail and decided that I had enough tail left for the remaining 10 stitches. So carefully, oh so carefully, I removed the last row and placed the cast on row back on the needles and cast on the remaining stitches, with yarn to spare.

Tom came in while I undertaking this operation. "I hate this sweater," I said. He replied "Don't knit it."

He's got a point. But I cannot let a mere sweater get the best of me. I will prevail.

Here's a picture of the Sweater of Frustration:



Emma, however, is not fazed by any of this.

90 Rows

This is what 90 rows of cable-y, bobble-y sweater looks like:



That's about 10 inches. There are just over three inches left to knit before I start the shoulder and neck shaping and then I can move on to a front or another sleeve. There's hope that the Jenna sweater will be completed before my niece enters high school.

However, the Christine sweater? Sigh...it has been relegated to the basket of unfinished work. I'm going to rip out the sleeve (again) and start on the body of the sweater (there's minimal shaping). If I can make progress there and feel good about it, I'll continue on and get help with the sleeve later. If it isn't happening for me, I'm going to give it up and find another sweater to knit.

Several weeks ago, I ordered a copy of Victorian Lace Today. Of course, I want to knit everything in it. But I chose a simple diamond lace rectangle and purchased the yarn the other day. See?



Kidsilk Haze, in color Drab (588). It's not the prettiest color, but it's sort of neutral. I've never knit with this yarn but everyone who has seems to think it's wonderful. I'm a bit concerned about the mohair-y part, given my tendency to have to rip over and over again before I get things right, but hey...everyone needs a little challenge, right? It's very tempting to open up one of those balls and cast on and start knitting. But I don't need another work in progress at this point.

Weather Update
We actually got some winter weather on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, about four inches of snow and some ice, causing school and government closing and prompting me to work from home. (It's nice to have the technology to work from home, but it also means that there's no reason to take a snow day.) The temperature hasn't moved above the freezing point, so the snow (and ice) is going to be around for a while. In fact, I can walk on it and not sink in. Our driveway is a mess; Tom cleared only tire tracks and only for the part of the driveway closest to the street. I should have cleared the rest, because now it's near impossible to shovel. And it makes for getting in and out of the driveway very interesting.

Sheer Joy
Remember a few weeks ago when I thought my iron stopped working but it turned out that the outlet had stopped delivering electricity? Well, the iron actually did stop working later on and the outlet works just fine. After extensively researching the ironing options, we bought a Black and Decker Digital Advantage. It isn't the holy grail of irons, but ironing with it is sheer joy! The steam power is amazing and makes short work of wrinkles in cotton and linen. I can't wait to block something with it!

Emma Update
Our little cat seems to have gotten over whatever drove her into the deep, dark recesses of the basement. And once again, we learned that we cannot leave food or food scraps out. Tom cooked a stuffed turkey breast for Valentine's Day and put the pan with the drippings in the sink before bed. Interestingly, Emma did not sleep with us that night and when I got up in the morning to feed her, I discovered why. She spent the night lapping up the turkey fat. It's cute, but annoying. She's very interested in whatever it is I'm eating and would very much like to share what's on my plate. I don't let her, of course. Jez was not interested in people food at all, except for vanilla ice cream. Emma also loves vanilla ice cream and comes running whenever she hears the freezer door open. Now that is cute!

Firsts

I didn't freeze to death on Tuesday while walking to the gym. For the record, the low Monday night and Tuesday morning was not 1F, as predicted. It 7. I still walked to the gym, but I wore my down jacket instead of the usual fleece jacket with a sweatshirt underneath. It wasn't too bad, but the walk home was a little more unpleasant since the wind picked up. After the unseasonably warm weather we've had this winter, I'm relishing the cold.

My parents ' anniversary dinner went off very well. The dining room at Smithfield Inn was quite nice. The service was very attentive and I thought the food was good, although not quite as good as it should have been for the price. My parents seemed to enjoy themselves and all the kids were on their best behavior and fairly quiet. When the family gathers at my parents' house, it's typically pretty loud, which was another reason why I thought a private room was a good idea. I didn't want to disturb the other diners with loud conversation and potentially crying infants. My brother's girls wore their best party dresses and acted quite grown up. All in all, there were 18 of us. Daniel wasn't able to make it back from college, as he's got a pretty heavy schedule this semester (organic chemistry and lab, physics and lab, genetics, microbiology and lab). A good time was had by all.

Mouse!
For several weeks now, we've been hearing suspicious scratching sounds inside our dining room wall. It could be one of two things: either a bird flew down the unused chimney or a mouse (or several of them) has taken up residence in our walls. Since Emma was very interested in the goings-on behind the walls, we suspected a mouse. The mouse theory proved to be correct (I think the bird theory is also true, but short of breaking into the chimney, we'll never know).

When Tom got home from work the other day, he discovered Emma following around a very tired mouse. It had left its cozy home in the walls by way of the pocket doors and immediately became a cat toy. Emma didn't kill it, but did a good job of wearing it out. Tom scooped it and put it outside. I don't think that's going to be the last of the mice, though. As I was backing out of the driveway yesterday, I saw at least two mice scurry towards the house. I just hope Emma doesn't catch one in the middle of the night and bring it to us in bed. That would be quite the rude awakening!

Bath!
Recently we've been noticing that Emma's fur has not been feeling quite as clean and soft as it normally does. She's also been disappearing for long periods of time and has been impossible to find. She enjoys going into the basement; it's her refuge when there are guests in the house.

Our basement is not the cleanest place in the house. It's an old-fashioned, unfinished basement, with pipes and wires running through the joists. Since there isn't a ceiling, dust filters down from the first floor through the floor boards. And there are cobwebs...lots and lots of cobwebs. In the early days of the house, the house was heated by a coal furnace, then by an oil furnace before we made the switch to natural gas several years ago.

Well, it turned out that Emma discovered a way to get up on the pipes and into the joists. Our pretty, soft, stripy kitty has turned into the Pigpen of cats. She emerged from some hiding place Friday morning, looking pretty pleased with herself, with huge cobwebs hanging from her tail and whiskers. After I touched her, my hands came away tinged with black. I wiped her down with a wet paper towel and it came away black. A second wipe down produced the same results. There was only one thing left to do.

Give her a bath.

Cats don't like to get wet. A bath involves getting the cat wet, immersing it, if you will. Cats have claws, often very sharp, pointy claws. They can inflict a lot of damage. Emma's claws are of the very sharp, pointy variety, making a pedicure a prerequisite to the bath. Hoo boy. It was going to be a fun day.

I haven't quite mastered the art of claw-clipping by myself. And whenever I'm ready to clip claws, Tom isn't. So I've developed the stealth method, clipping only a couple of claws while Emma is sleeping. It takes a while, but it's effective.

Emma's first bath took place in the clawfoot tub, since the high sides would make it a little more difficult for her to escape. I strategically positioned the baby shampoo and towel. I grabbed the poor little kitty, took her into the bathroom, shut the door and plopped her in the tub. Emma didn't like it, but she didn't fight it. Mostly she stood there looking like a drowned rat, shivering. When I rinsed her, the water ran black. I think she must have found a mother lode of ancient coal dust.

I'd like to say we now have a clean kitty, but darned if she didn't go up into joists yesterday. Fortunately, she's not quite as dirty, but she leaves black smears wherever she lays. I think another bath is in the future for her.

Gymnastics Competition
My sister-in-law and her daughter were in Leesburg this weekend for a regional gymnastics competition and stayed with us. The gymnastics team from Poquoson High School is small, only three girls, although there were a couple of schools that had even smaller teams. There are four events: floor, vault, beam, and uneven parallel bars. Holly competed in the floor event, while her teammate Caitlin participated in all four. As it happened, Holly didn't place, but Caitlin placed 8th in vault, 3rd in floor, 1st in both beam and bars, and 1st in the all-around, barely beating out a girl from Goochland. Caitlin qualified for the State competition next weekend.

It was interesting to watch these young women compete. Not all of them were good and some were clearly struggling with their chosen apparatus (I had a major flashback to junior high and high school gym classes). But they still competed and seemed to be supportive of their competitors. Even the parents cheered on their daughters' competitors. I never had the opportunity to learn gymnastics or ballet as a child but like to think I would have been good at it. Of course, that would have meant having to practice and be focused, and about the only thing I was good at focusing on was reading.

Knitting Progress
Two words: not much.

The Divine scarf continues to be my travel project. One ball is almost gone, which means I'm about a quarter or a third complete, depending on how long I want to make it. If there's leftover yarn, I think I'll make some wrist warmers or fingerless mitts. They'll be simply divine in Divine!

The Jenna sweater back is about nine inches, leaving three inches to knit. We aren't even going to mention the Christine sweater, although I'm rethinking the wisdom of knitting the sleeves first. There don't appear to be any increases in the body, so I might rip the sleeve one more time and start on the body. Anything, anything to make some progress!

That's about it. They are calling for a significant weather event starting tomorrow, although now it looks like we might be getting freezing rain instead of snow. I'm mightily unhappy about that. I'm hoping beyond hope they'll be wrong and we'll get a couple of feet of snow. What could be better than having a snow day and sitting in front of the fire, knitting and spinning and drinking hot chocolate?

Happy knitting!

1

That's the low for tonight. That translates to -18C. Add the wind chill and we're talking about -8F or -22C. For Virginia, which is a "southern" state (although it's really the mid-Atlantic), it's a mite chilly.

I'm reconsidering walking to the gym tomorrow morning.

Happy Anniversary!

Fifty years ago today, in Baltimore, Maryland, my parents married. They had known each other for only six months when my father discovered he was going to be transferred to California and wanted my mother to join him. He proposed, she accepted. She recounts that she went home and asked her family what they were doing in two weeks and if would they like to attend a wedding. Two weeks later they were married and off to California. And so began fifty years of what I can only describe as an interesting (in a good way) partnership.

Mom and Dad had four children in the next seven years and lived all over the country. My father's job transferred him far more often than the military transfers its personnel. We lived in California, Washington, Utah, New York, Maine, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, and West Virginia before finally settling in Virginia in 1964. We drove from place to place, with at least two kids in diapers. Imagine driving cross-country with several children, in diapers, without the benefit of disposable diapers or any of the electronic gadgets that keep the kiddies amused. Looking back on it, I've come to the realization that my parents had incredible fortitude to survive that experience.

We also camped for our vacations, in a tent. Mom was a city girl, born and bred in Baltimore, so camping was a new experience for her. Dad was raised in a more rural setting, and fished and hunted and trapped. In the early days, the campgrounds we went to had no running water or indoor toilets. We had to pump the water and use outhouses. For us kids, it was an grand adventure! I recall arguing over who got to pump the water. After we returned to the east coast, we camped at Cowan's Gap State Park in Pennsylvania most years. It was these early experiences that instilled my love of the outdoors and to this day, my best vacations have been camping vacations, not luxury vacations.

So, to my parents I say: I love you more than you can ever know and thank you for sticking out the early days. I hope my marriage grows and strengthens over the years as your has.

Happy 50th Anniversary!



Happy 11th Anniversary!
To my wonderful husband, I say: Thanks for putting up with me and all my foibles for the past 11 years. Even though I don't always say it, I deeply appreciate all you do and your support for my endeavors. I love you and still look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

Happy anniversary, my love!

Still Cold

It seems that winter has finally settled in. As I write this post, the wind is howling outside, making the windows rattle in their frames. We got a dusting of snow tonight, with more on the way Thursday and Friday. Usually, I'd be ecstatic that there's a chance of snow. But not this weekend. This weekend we're traveling to my parents to celebrate...

(Drumroll, please!)

...their 50th wedding anniversary!

It would be fitting, however, for us to have seriously inclement weather on Friday. The day before our wedding (also on February 3rd), the northern Virginia area had 12 inches of snow dumped on it. Regions south of here got ice. Nonetheless, my intrepid parents were undaunted, tossed my grandmother in the car, and braved the wintry weather to attend our wedding. By the time they arrived, their car was coated in ice, making the locals wonder where they were from. The weather was just the beginning of the wedding adventures. But that's a story for another day.

Tvåändsstickning
The Swedish twined knitting (also known as two end knitting) class was excellent. If you ever have a chance to take a class by Beth Brown-Reinsel, do so. She explains techniques well and is very patient with knitters who are literally all thumbs (that would be me!). Her handouts are very well written. Beth provided various samples of the twined knitting, as well as a blouse from the 19th century (the knitting was impressive).

We learned how to cast on using three yarns, making the cast-on edge twined as well. The cast on method is the same as Old Norwegian (or German) cast on and makes for a nice stretchy cuff. We then moved on to the basic knit and purl stitches. If you think regular purling is awkward, you ain't seen nothin'! All twined purling is beyond awkward. The tendency, for me, was to purl using my thumb. I was beginning to despair that I would get beyond the first row. However, the twined knit stitch was a breeze in comparison, and the stitch patterns that alternated purls and knits were also easy. I (the world's slowest knitter) actually kept up with the majority of the class.

Beth introduced us to the work of Anne-Maj Ling, showing slides of her work. In addition to the usual hats, mittens, socks, and sweaters, Anne-Maj also knit dresses, skirts, dickeys, and (get this!) slacks! The slacks were stunning...very tailored and not saggy at the back end at all. Warning: Anne-Maj's web site is in Swedish, but browse through it anyway. Click the links in the left navigation panel below the phrase Bilder på några av mina: to see examples of her work. (Alas, there isn't a picture of the slacks.)

Knitting Progress
I haven't made much progress lately. The Jenna sweater grows by about three rows a day. The Christine sweater still languishes. I think I'm going to take the rather desperate measure of redoing the chart, this time including all the repeats. It's probably unnecessary, but it will give me a good sense of how the Fair Isle pattern is behaving. Of course, if I don't understand the marking for each of the pieces of the sweater, I'll get nowhere, other than having another colorful chart.

The knitting group at work met again today, since we can't meet Friday. Attendance was much better and everyone was very enthusiastic. I love the feeling of walking into a group of knitters and knitting with everyone else. It feels like coming home. The Divine scarf will be the primary knitting group project, since it's rather simple.

I'll have pictures of my twined knitting sampler, as well as scarf and sweater pictures later this week or early next week. I probably won't post again until Sunday, depending on what time we get back.

Have a great week and happy knitting!

Brrrrr!

It's cold! Admittedly, it's early in the morning, but still, 18.5 degrees is cold. Here I sit, laptop on my lap (sans the laptop cat), in my cozy place in front of the fire. Tom, on the other hand, left a little before 6:00 this morning to go on a 15-mile, hilly run. He wasn't looking too happy as he headed out the door into the cold and dark.

Buddha,on the other hand, is perfectly happy no matter what the weather:



I'll spend the remainder of the morning trying to get the house clean. Every weekend, I've got the same list of tasks I want to accomplish and every weekend, I find reasons to put them off. Now that we've got another cat, the amount of dust, fur, and other detritus has increased. She has a propensity for disemboweling her toys and there are little mouse chunks scattered about.

Emma is definitely challenging. Mostly she's well-behaved, although active, but sometimes she just gets it in her head to do things she's not supposed to do. She'll use the corner of the couch as a scratching post, but only if I'm in the room, even though I've moved the scratching post to the living room. Last night, she was determined to play with the cords on the venetian blinds in the kitchen. I very carefully tucked them behind the slats. Did that stop her? Not at all. She worked her way under the blind and proceeded to climb the window screen. It makes me think that we need to get another cat to keep her amused, but I'm afraid we'll be plucking two cats off the screens and drapes.

Knitting Progress
I finished charting out the sleeve increases for the Christine sweater last weekend. I checked and double-checked my chart against the original. When I started knitting, however, the chart and the knitting didn't match. I counted and calculated. I stared at the chart and the knitting, perplexed. Then I ripped the sleeve out, again. I'm going to give it one more go, then I'm going to call in the reinforcements. This chart has me totally flummoxed. I finally figured out there is a total of five edge stitches and the pattern is a 10-stitch repeat. But the number of stitches on the needles doesn't work out to a multiple of 10 plus 5. Grrrr!

The Jenna sweater is slowly growing and I'm feeling optimistic that I'll be able to finish this sweater before Jenna graduates from college. I've completed 68 rows, which is one row short of three and a half repeats and the back now measures about 7-1/2 inches. The pattern has finally etched itself into my brain, which should make the knitting go faster.

The Divine scarf is also coming along quite nicely. I've worked out the problems with the transition from the border to the main stitch pattern. Going down a needle size also helped improve how the scarf looks. This project will be my lunchtime knitting project, assuming that I get around to actually taking a lunch at work.

I haven't quite worked up the nerve to bring my knitting to meetings at work yet, although I do knit if I'm on a conference call in my office. I've started a knitting group at work. There are four women who are interested in knitting and we'll be meeting every Friday. Unfortunately, only one person was able to attend yesterday, so it's getting off to slow start, despite everyone's enthusiasm.

Tomorrow I head to Old Town Alexandria to attend a class on Swedish twined knitting at Springwater Fiber Workshop. I have a suspicion it's going to be a bit challenging. I'm also afraid that I'm going to forget to go or take the supplies (flashback to the nightmares about showing up for class totally unprepared for the final exam). I need to stash dive sometime today to see if I've got the appropriate yarn. I've got the needles, so no worries there. Springwater is relatively close to Knit Happens. If there's time after class and if it's within walking distance, I'll wander over. I've heard nothing but good things about the store and all the yummy yarns they carry. Of course, Springwater also has yarns and such for sale, so the temptation will be great!

Emma says "I don't care about any of that. Just throw the mouse again!"