A Contest

Hello readers... check out the new contest at Socks In The Cities KAL. Looks like it might be fun.

Yesterday

Shock of all shocks, my day started off getting mad at people. Thanks to the gawdy jewelry lady in the Hummer at Starbucks. FYI, lady, when you flick your cigarette ashes on a windy day they have to go somewhere. Thus, my ashes shower. Ick. I'm sure she is not a reader of mine, but in case she is? Doesn't that big ass Hummer of your come standard with an ashtray? Just checking.

But then my day got better and better. I got to work and was working with my gals (shout out ladies). I got to do a bunch of photography stuff which included posing yarn as an ice cream cone.
Don't you just want to slap a clown face on this and call it a day?

And then I was sitting at the table when a lovely woman came in to get some help on her Quick and Easy Baby Sweater (shout out M'Lou). As we sat there trying to get her past her little (and I do mean little) problem spot we started chatting. it started with the fact that she looked freakishly like my kids pediatrician. No relation, I asked. But ended with a conversation about knitting and crocheting history. Ours, to be exact. We laughed about Estee Lauder and what our mothers and grandmothers had taught us, oh so many years ago. I launched into my story about my Nana and how she crochet these wonderful and useful items. I made mention that one of her patterns (not hers exclusively, but one of the many she carried in her head) had been lost to me when she passed away. It was what seems to be a ridiculously simple pot holder. As seen here (excuse the good particles, it is a pot-holder after all).
She pulled from her pattern sleeve a carefully handwritten pattern. "Does this look something like it?" she asked.
I almost cried. It was it. So silly. I asked her if I could copy it and I know my co-workers thought I may have lost a marble or two because of how excited I was. But seriously, this was a thing that was a real memory moment. And for the woman - can you believe I forgot to get her name? She said that I had actually made her day by our similar memories and that her mother would be tickled that I would want a copy of this pattern. So I think it brought her memories closer for her as well.

And after this long post I am happy to report that I am about to break out the acrylic and crochet needles and try it out.

Thank you to the woman who was kind enough to let me copy her pattern. Thank you to Emily C who had the good sense to write it down and thanks to my Nana for giving me a love of everything handmade.

My Favorite Sweater

I have a favorite sweater. It is cozy. And although I wear it all the time it is still pretty. It was handmade. Not by me.

There is a good story behind this... at least good for me. This was a project that Jess made as a shop model. And when it came down off the wall she noticed that it was too big for her. Lucky for me, I am bigger than her. She asked if I wanted it. I tried it on and fell in love. I asked her how much she wanted for it (really thinking that I was willing to pay almost anything she asked). She said, "nothing." Wha?

I wish I could tell you that I argued with her for hours trying to get her to accept my money. I didn't. There was a bit of, "are you sure, really, I'm willing to pay for it. I must have it. Are you really, really really sure? This doesn't seem fair." And I'm sure she is looking back now and slapping herself in the forehead. But she said, "no, really."

Had you been with me that day you might have seen the silliest jig that I've ever done. I was so thrilled, and grateful and happy and, um, dare I say, cute!!

The point? Except to remind everyone that random acts of kindness do in fact exist... is that I threw it on as I went to Shepherd's Harvest. And because I didn't make it, I was not trying to show it off (although I have nothing against that because if I worked my ass off on a sweater and it was fantastic and I was proud of it I would sooo want to show it off. And I would).

But I became an instant celeb. No lie. I had people touching, staring, commenting. And I wish that I could have said that I made it, but I was honest. I said it was given to me. I believe that honesty is the best policy after all.

And as sad as I am that there are no pictures of me in said sweater in this post, I hope you all enjoyed the story.

Ah, The Weekend. Huh?

So, the weekend is here. Mother's Day, Shepherd's Harvest, fishing opener - you know, all that good stuff. I started my Friday with a real get-up-and-go attitude. I did some main level spring cleaning. Got down on my knees and scrubbed the floors. Did the windows. Made a very long-overdue dusting. And then the ultimate spring clean moment... when you really know it's spring? Aaaah,
first night of sleeping on the sheets after a line-dry is the best. Best.

And peeking out from behind the sheets in my yarn I spotted this.

A few more are ready to open and share the sunshine.

It was a good day. I felt productive. And then I went into the basement and saw this
and then I did the biggest hissy-fit dance I've ever done. Pretty sure the F-bomb was dropped. Living in this house has been one disaster after the other. Bleck. And this picture was taken at the beginning. It got about 2 to 3 inches deeper later and moved it's way from room to room. Water is a crazy, sneaky little thing, isn't it?

And after we thought we got it figured out and turned off the water to the house for the night we woke up to another 3 inches of water. Dare I say plumber.

So Hubby and I spent the morning sucking out water and doing the bucket brigade from basement to outdoor drain. Thank goodness the water that we found in our basement (our recently re-done basement after the grand flood of 2006, mind you) this morning was clear (as opposed to the yuck that found it's way in last night).

But he was good enough to give me reprieve so that I might meet my friends at the SH Festival where I was able to purchase one very lovely ball of roving so that I can try to teach myself to use the drop spindle. Good Luck, me.

And guess what my dear man gets to do tomorrow? Fix the alternator in the mini-van. God gosh someone up there hates us, I swear.

Happy Mother's Day to Mother's everywhere and remember in my opinion, every day should be mother's day.

I'm off to drop a spindle. Take Care, Peace Out.

It's Still In Our Hearts

As usual, this morning, I awoke and fed the kids then plopped my butt in front of the computer to read my favorite blogs. The first one I came to was Crazy Aunt Purl which made me laugh because I sooo am that cranky. I try hard not to be, but I am. I continued to read and then realized that one of the kidlets had changed the channel on the tv and it was on the ellen show. And there was a lot of cheering. So I went out to the living room to take a look.

What I found was a story about three girls who played softball. And even though, I too, have played softball in my youth this was not something I normally would have sat down for. I'm glad I did.

The story started with Sara Tucholsky's first home-run ever. And not just any home-run. An OVER THE FENCE homer. All she had to do was touch them all. But right around first base she tore her knee ligament and went down. Rules dictated that if her team touched her she would be out and if her team replaced her at the base it would only be considered a single. For those of you who are softball/baseball illiterate basically that SUCKS!! She hit that home-run and so deserved it. What made matters even worse, was this was her senior year. She would not have the opportunity to try for that goal again.

In comes Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace. Two girls from the other team. Yes, you heard me right, THE OTHER TEAM. Knowing the rules, they picked up Sara and carried her around the bases, stopping only long enough to set her down on her unhurt leg to touch all of the bases and complete her home-run. All of this perfectly "legal". And the crazy part. Mallory and Liz's team lost because of that home-run. But they did it anyway.

I know that I'm not telling the story as elegantly as ESPN, but it was a story I thought was worth telling - again and again. Teamwork and humanity are not reserved to only your team. They are for everyone, everywhere and these girls showed that it is still out there in us. We just have to remember where we hid it in our hearts and let it free. I'm going to try to do that today. Hope you join me.

Also, check out the link at ESPN for a video of the story, and I dare you not to cry.

By George, I Think I've Got It

As some may know I made this sweater for Emma some time ago. It is supposed to be a short swing-type short-sleeved jacket type thing. I designed it. I'm kind-of proud of it, because I think it is kind of cute and I think it might be something that someone else might think is kind of cute. So I'm writing up the pattern for what I hoped would be the missing 8-12 year old sizes. I am reknitting it in Cottontail by Reynolds and having a freakin' devil of a time trying to get the set-in sleeves to be just right. So I set it aside some time ago and decided I needed a break. And a break, I took. A long one. And I just couldn't wrap my mind around how to fix what I was doing wrong.

Last resort, I thought, I could change the sleeve to a raglan. I know I can do a raglan well. yes, that's what I would do. A raglan.

So it sat some more. And some more. Procrastination is my middle name. I picked it up the other day and was going to redo it with my second choice arm. And then I had a thought. A crazy, wild thought. Just so crazy it just might work. Know what I grabbed? My niece. And I put her in the sweater then grabbed my copy of Vogue Knitting.
Now I know that the sweater was originally made for my daughter who is 8 and my niece is only 18 months. So how does this help, you ask? Well it helps because seeing it on my niece made me realize that the problem in the sleeve wasn't at the set-it it was in the length of the sleeve and how it should look in the end. Confused? Me too.

I decided to lengthen the sleeve to a 3/4 so that there is a little "swing" in the sleeve as well as the body of the garment. I also decided to make it to be a size garment rather than an age garment. Because as you see the very same sized sweater looks cute on dd E AND on tcfw (too cute for words) niece M. So I think that this is a versatile sweater that can be worn for years if done right.

And the doing right part is what I'm working on. Because I believe that if your going to do something, you should at least strive for "right", whatever that may be. Wish me luck, I'm back at it and by george, I think I've got it. The back and sides are done. I just need to get the sleeves knit up and the pattern written. So pictures of the Cottontail sweater will be coming soon.

Knit in peace.

Ive Been Tagged

Using the top 100 yarns on Ravelry (by number of projects):
Bold the ones you’ve used and would use again;
Cross out the ones you’ve used and would not use again;
and Italicize the ones you’ve never tried, but would like to.

Add comments as desired, and then pass the meme along to 5 knitters/crocheters. Link back to this post and to the person who tagged you.

1. Cascade 220 Wool
2. Patons Classic Wool Merino
3. Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted
4. Noro Kureyon
5. Caron Simply Soft
6. Lily Sugar’n Cream Solid
7. Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted
8. Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Solids
9. Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid
10. Noro Silk Garden
11. Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM)
12. Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
13. Lion Brand Homespun
14. Lion Brand Cotton-Ease
15. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi
16. Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool
17. Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky
18. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
19. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Lightweight
20. Plymouth Encore Worsted
21. Cascade 220 Heathers
22. Lily Sugar’n Cream Ombres & Prints
23. Zitron Trekking (XXL)
24. Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes)
25. Rowan Kidsilk Haze
26. Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
27. Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc. Peaches & Creme Ombres
28. Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
29. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Mediumweight
30. Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
31. Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc. Peaches & Creme Solids
32. Cascade 220 Superwash
33. Berroco Ultra Alpaca
34. Knit Picks Swish Superwash
35. Knit Picks Essential
36. Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice Solid
37. Colinette Jitterbug
38. Lion Brand Lion Wool Solid
39. Knit Picks Shine Sport
40. Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull
41. Lion Brand Microspun
42. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino
43. Knit Picks Palette
44. South West Trading Company TOFUtsies
45. Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
46. Mission Falls 1824 Wool
47. Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK
48. Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Multis/Ombres
49. Rowan Felted Tweed
50. Rowan Calmer
51. Lion Brand Wool-Ease Heather
52. Knit Picks Merino Style
53. Garnstudio Drops Alpaca
54. Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering
55. Knit Picks Andean Silk
56. Red Heart Ltd. Soft Yarn Solids
57. Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
58. Tahki Cotton Classic
59. Dream in Color Smooshy
60. Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton
61. Dream in Color Classy
62. Rowan Big Wool
63. Peace Fleece Worsted
64. Caron Simply Soft Brites
65. Plymouth Galway Worsted
66. Karabella Aurora 8
67. Rowan Wool Cotton
68. Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton
69. Knit Picks Shine Worsted
70. Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock
71. Lion Brand Fun Fur Solid
72. Misti International Misti Alpaca Chunky
73. Handmaiden Fine Yarn Sea Silk
74. Mountain Colors Bearfoot
75. Lion Brand Jiffy Solid
76. Knit Picks Shadow
77. Bernat Softee Chunky Solids & Marls
78. Austermann Step
79. Bernat Cottontots Solid
80. Cascade Ecological Wool
81. Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud
82. Patons Shetland Chunky
83. Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky
84. Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted
85. Malabrigo Yarn Lace
86. Bernat Satin Solids
87. Lily Sugar’n Cream Stripes
88. Knit Picks Gloss
89. Lion Brand Magic Stripes
90. Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk
91. Cascade 220 Quatro
92. Rowan All Seasons Cotton
93. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Solid
94. JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18
95. Novita 7 Veljestä
96. Rowan Kid Classic
97. Mission Falls 1824 Cotton
98. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted Multi
99. Cascade Fixation Spray Dyed/Effects
100. Patons Kroy Socks 4-Ply

I'd like to say that there are a ton of yarns I would like to try. Truth be told if I had the money I'd try everything once.

Thanks so much to the meema files for including me.

And now to tag my peeps:
M'Lou
Knittin' Kninja
A Good Yarn
Imagine Knit
Sokk Girl
The Heathen Housewife


Oh well, that was six. I don't think that will be a problem, do you? Have fun all.

knit in peace.