I’m enjoying the Suggest-a-Contest contest entries–keep them coming! Let’s put a cap of, oh, say, Wednesday at noon (EST) as the deadline. Some of the ideas have been really creative, which is what we’re shooting for! Again, don’t worry about practicality. It could be a contest to guess how much yardage of yarn you could get from a specific sheep–there’s no real way to ever put it into action–but it’s a clever idea! The idea is to come up with something fun!

I started plying my apple green singles last night. I thought the plying would go faster (it has in the past), but these singles are not only finer than previous ones, so that there’s more yardage per bobbin, but I’m sorely out of practice. Not to mention that this is the first time I’ve tried plying on my Lendrum and from a tensioned Lazy Kate. (Which, as an aside, sounds completely contradictory. Is Katy tense or is she lazy? You can’t be both!) It took a while to get the tension for both to where I needed it, and meantime, the singles had broken, so I unravelled, retied them on, then one of them broke, only I didn’t realize right away and Z-spun some singles onto my bobbin. Naturally, as soon as I realized and tried to pull them off, they broke because I had unwound some of the twist. We finally got things moving along, but by then it was 10:30 and I was completely wiped out. (You’ll remember, it was a busy day yesterday. The fact that I managed to sit in front of my wheel at all deserves extra points, I think. Not because spinning is a chore–in this century–but because I was tired enough that reading took some work! And normally, I can read indefinitely!)

On the bad news side, my tooth hurts today–the one the dentist worked on on Thursday and is wearing a temporary crown. It was mostly fine all weekend, and now it’s sore. (sigh) Hopefully it will be better tomorrow, but in the meantime–more Advil!

On the plus side, though, my ring is back! And it made a friend!

I know I mentioned (on the 19th) that I’d bought a ring as a souvenir, but ended up needing to take the runner-up in the choice sweepstakes because the glue holding the peridot in the setting had melted. Fine. I loved this ring, too. It’s a citrine–my birthstone–in a pineapple cut, which is just stunning for light-catching–and with tiny diamond chips on the side. Beautiful ring! But after we were home from vacation, I wore it to work–its first time out of the house–and by the time I was home from a day of, you know, typing, the stone was loose. (And, I type pretty well, but I’m not that fast!) So, I shipped it back to the store and they fixed the stone for me, and sent it back today. And look! A little Martha’s Vineyard charm snuck into the box for me! Wasn’t that nice of them? Moonstone Jewelers in Vineyard Haven, folks. Nice store. (And I checked; they don’t appear to have a website.)

Okay, I’m going to get some more plying done, take my shower, make some tea, take some more Advil, and then sit down with my knitting. I’ve reached the armhole shaping on the back of my NbaT. I think that when I’ve finished the back, I’ll pick up my Peacock again. She’s feeling a bit neglected.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Contest Counting Down // 6 Comments »

I mentioned the other day that I cleaned out my yarn stash, and so now I have some yarn looking for a good home.

Naturally, the first person I thought of was you, my blog-reader. Except . . . how to fairly distribute the goods?? I mean, I could anonymously send stuff to RAOK people, but then how do I know that they’d be getting something they’d really like?

Contests are fun, but frankly, I’ve been so busy today with more cleaning (that scary book-overflow corner of the office) and cooking (potatoes for potato salad, pound cake, the berry topping for the pound cake) doing laundry (the regular, weekly load, but also bedding–and if you think reassembling a feather-bed and a duvet-cover is easy, think again!) . . . anyway, the point is that I’m too tired to think of a cool contest.

So . . . that IS the contest!

Suggest something that would be fun as a contest–either something practical or something so far out in left field that could never, really, be put into effect. Whoever comes up with the best, most fun idea (the judges will be me and Mom) wins first prize:

  A pile of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in a nice, pale beige color (plus one almost-black skein of her Aran Tweed which got in there somehow . . . a good accent color, anyway!).

Second prize is a choice between:

  Ten skeins of this pretty, wool/silk/microfiber yarn I found at the bottom of my pile. Small gauge, somewhere around sport weight. The name on the label is “Setana” which I believe was discontinued quite some time ago. It’s in good shape, though and pretty dust-free, considering it’s been in there for at least 10 years now!

  Or a pile of Reynolds Lopi, which has also been in the closet for quite some time. My first two sweaters were Lopi and I had bought enough to make another and then got distracted to other things. I’ve tried to convince myself over the years that I would do something with it–I’ve heard that it felts beautifully–but finally decided I was just fooling myself! Again, even though these have been in my closet for years, they are in good shape (or, really, would I offer them as prizes??).

(Note: If the first-prize winner would prefer any of the other options, all she has to do is say so. These are very, very loose rules we’ve got here!)

Curious about some of the other stuff I want to get rid of? (This entry is turning more into a garage sale than a contest, but really . . . if you see anything you like, make me an offer . . . ! Anything!)

  A cone of enough Denim yarn for a sweater, which I got from Elann a few months ago, fully aware of the fact that I don’t like knitting with cotton. Really, I have no idea what I was thinking. It’s nice yarn, though, great color, and still in the plastic wrapping it came in! If it weren’t, you know, cotton, I would definitely be keeping this.

  Before I rolled these into three, very unequal-in-size balls, this was one huge skein of yarn from Uruguay which I bought thinking it would make a great shawl. I still think it would, but I’ve lost interest in in. The blue part is actually quite dark and actually photographed lighter than in looks in indoor lighting. It’s nice with a cool texture, just . . . I’m over it now.

  This is just nifty, I thought–pencil roving to be made into woolen bootliners. (Another cool idea I just never got around to.) It involves knitting, felting, trimming and the idea is that you end up with cushy liners for your winter boots.

  Three skeins of Red Heart acrylic, three skeins of Lion brand wool, in blue. Really, I have no idea what they’re doing here, but again–still in their shipping plastic!

  Miscellaneous embroidery things–a scroll-like embroidery frame, a tiny, unopened kit, and a larger, opened kit that I just never started.

Miscellaneous quilting kits, for small, picture-sized things.

• Tags: Knitting/Spinning, Uncategorized • Permalink:Suggest-A-Contest! // 22 Comments »

  So, today we partied! Here’s the birthday girl and birthday boy, my niece and nephew. Their birthdays are four years and four days apart, and so we’ve always had a combined family party on the Sunday of memorial Day weekend.

We had a nice time, though it was a long day. We left the house at 12:50 and didn’t get home until quarter after 8:00. For a kids’ birthday party, that’s long! My sister’s brother-in-law was there with his fiancee (they’re getting married in August), and my B-i-L’s aunt and cousin were there, too. It was nice, and the weather was great. A group ended up playing basketball in the driveway.

  My mother made these two, lovely, cross-stich maps of Martha’s Vineyard for her grandkids’ birthdays. Identical except for the color of the material and the frames. Wasn’t that great of her? And aren’t they beautiful?

  And here are the kids opening them. I think my niece–since she’s fond of decorating and all–liked hers just a little more than my 12-year old nephew, but I know he appreciated his, too. Or at least appreciated that his grandmother made it for him! (And sometimes, you know, true appreciation comes later, like, you know, when you grow up!)

  Here’s the obligatory cake-and-candles photo. (His is cheesecake, hers is chocolate, all chocolate.)

Chappy was good as gold all day, didn’t even bark when the other guests arrived. He was patient while we ate–which I know was hard for him because I only gave him half a breakfast this morning (since he does still have a tendency toward car-sickness and the last couple of miles to my sisters resemble an asphalt roller coaster). He was cute and charming and oh, so fluffy from yesterday’s bath!

I knitted on my sock while I was there–another inch or so of ribbing and sock number two will be done!

I also finished spinning up the apple green roving I got months ago into singles. I’m going to try to ply it tomorrow . . . and about time, too! That poor yarn has been waiting for ever for me to get to it.

Okay . . . tired. Going to bed!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Post-Party // Add Comment »

Just to back-up my claims to super-hood, here are some photos:

  My closet, with moving hangers. (Altogether now: “ooooh!”) And, okay, this is only half my closet; the other half is all pants and skirts. Mostly just blues, greys, browns, blacks–boring photograph. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s in good order, too. It is.

  The yarn closet. Note how there’s no yarn piled on top of the books! No magazines falling out! All the yarn is in bins on the top shelf, or politely hanging from hangers! (And, I lied down on the floor to take this picture–Chappy was VERY intrigued.)

  The kitchen–which actually looks like a real, working kitchen. Because it IS!

  The lovely new faucet.

  Tea or coffee, anyone? (Possibly my favorite of the newly-organized cabinets.)

  The pots. In a drawer. That rolls! Gotta love this!!

All my baking pans, miraculously not falling into one another.

Now, as to future organization projects? There is no question in my mind as to what needs to be addressed next. The Overflowing Book Collection:

Yikes!! Not only don’t the books fit on the cases anymore, they’re overflowing onto the floor, the chair, the table–which is full to overflowing itself with files and papers and stuff to mail as WELL as filled underneath with boxes of books (of course), luggage, the sewing machine . . . For a truly neat, organized, obsessively tidy person–which I really am–this is driving me insane. And should explain why I avoid that end of the house . . . (grin)

Now, today?? Birthday party! Because these two, cute little kids are growing up. Would you believe they’re now 16 and 12??

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Super-Saturday Photos // 1 Comment »

So let’s see . . . today I:

• Got up, got dressed, fed Chappy . . . normal morning stuff
• Started going through my closet, pulling out old shirts I no longer wear–space was getting tight!
• Stopped because Mom was ready to go run errands
• Fed my car
• Took Mom out for coffee
• Stopped at the post office to mail a few packages
• Ran into Michael’s for some beading things. (This is a little ridiculous because I haven’t done a single thing with the beads I already have, so buying more–if different–stuff is kind of jumping the gun, but . . .!)
• Went to Linens & Things to buy a whole bunch of organizing things for our now-functioning kitchen
• Stopped at the grocery store to pick up things for the salad we’re bringing to my niece-and-nephew’s birthday party tomorrow
• Came home, lugged in about 7 bags of stuff from the car
• Organized the silverware drawer with its new tray, set up some of the things for the kitchen (like the new cutting board, the on-counter paper towel holder), and put some stuff in the dishwasher for sanitizing (new colander because we threw away the old one, new knives, etc.)
• Wrapped birthday presents–my brother-in-law (birthday was the 11th), my nephew (the 20th), my niece (the 24th), and–in the spirit of planning ahead–my sister’s, whose birthday isn’t until the 7th
• Gave Chappy a bath so he’ll be particularly soft and fluffy for the birthday party
• Chased him around the bathroom with a towel
• Made a cup of tea and sat down for a whole ten minutes while Mom went across the street for “alarm” lessons for the neighbor heading out on vacation
• Came upstairs and continued emptying out “extras” from my closet.
• Interrupted by my parents’ going out to dinner. Paused to go cook some pasta
• Gosh, the water’s taking a long time . . . decided to move some of the stuff into the cabinets . . .
• Oops, water’s boiling! Dump in pasta, move in more stuff.
• “Stuff” in this circumstance can be defined as all the pots, all the serving bowls, all the mixing bowls, all the baking tins, the blender, the mini-food processor,the salad spinner, the bag of potatoes, the Kitchen Aid accessory box, the Atlas pasta roller, the cake box, the extra vitamins, the storage containers for leftovers, the “works” to the ice cream maker that lives in the freezer, the corkscrew, the marble pastry board, the marble rolling pin . . . Left some scattered odds & ends in the dining room
• Ate my supper. Fed Chappy. (I think he’s kind of bored.)
• Came upstairs, finished clearing out the closet
• Now have two full, plastic bags to take to donate, and the hangers actually MOVE on the closet rod!
• Moved some new clothing arrivals–who have been waiting patiently in the craft closet for a few weeks for room to open up–into the closet. Hangers still move
• Organized the beads and their accompanying tools
• Took shower
• Made a cup of tea. Sat for another 10 minutes. Got up to put mug in dishwasher
• Collapsed into comfy chair for an hour to read and to knit (!)
• Decided to bypass doing Chappy’s nails for the evening–the poor boy’s been through enough personal-beauty for one day!
• Came upstairs an hour early so Mom can watch a movie
• Decided to take advantage of the extra time by organizing my yarn stash, the knitting magazines, the overflowing knitting books
• Sat down to check e-mail
• Hmmm . . . am oddly tired. Can’t think why!

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Super-Sized Saturday! // Add Comment »

Okay, I answered my questionnaire for Secret Pal 5, and it follows below. It will probably be a bit boring for most of you, but, what can I say??

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I probably am a yarn snob–no, actually, I am. I like natural fibers (wool, silk, but not so much cotton), and I like fibers that are really soft. Which does make me kind of picky. It’s not that it needs to be expensive, and some microfiber added can make for a really nice yarn, but it’s a tactile thing–I like soft and lush, and I like great colors, and that usually brings me to Debbie Bliss or Rowan or Jo Sharp. Lorna’s Laces. Brooks Farm . . . not the more run of the mill stuff like you’d find at Walmart. But then, Knitpicks has some great yarn for fabulous prices, so . . . !

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I do spin, though I’m still pretty new at it. Again, I like the soft stuff, though I haven’t yet tried spinning angora or pure silk or any of those really soft but hard to spin things. I know how to crochet, but haven’t made anything that way since my nephew’s baby blanket 12 years ago–I like the less-stiff knitted fabric better. I embroider, too (cross-stitch, crewel work, I like playing with stitches). I also quilt–Amish quilts are my ideal because they’re simple, elegant, and use solid colors. I’m not a pattern-girl!

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Seasonal allergies, yes–some years good, some years bad, and some sensitivity to cats/dogs, (but not too bad). I’m sensitive to strong smells, though–I get more sinus-triggered headaches than any kind, so I try to stay away from things that are too strongly-scented–and that includes smoke.

4. How long have you been knitting?

Since college, about 1989. (Unless you count faltering squares of garter stitch, in which case you can go back to when I was about 7, but . . . 21 is a more accurate spot to mark!)

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

Yes, Amazon.com. There’s a link on my blog (over there, on the left).

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Subtle is the number one answer, there (see answer to number 3 above)! Fruity scents over flowers. Vanilla. Peppermint. Citrus. Not a big fan of scented candles, though, since I really don’t have any place that’s dog-proof to burn them.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Well, doesn’t everybody??

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

I think I answered this already. But in addition to the fiber things I mentioned, I read. Constantly. As in, reading is a bigger addiction than knitting (gasp!). I also love to cook–though I actually bake more than I cook (always from scratch).

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

No MP3s. I pretty much only listen to music in the car, so CDs are the way to go. I never really know how to answer this question, though–I’m kind of eclectic in my music, but at the same time I’m picky. (Yeah, I know, I seem to be picky about a lot of things!) Classical music. The Beatles. Harry Connick Jr. Barenaked Ladies. The Proclaimers. Light jazz/New Age. Ella Fitzgerald. Gershwin. Broadway shows. Savage Garden . . . I like music that has melody and I love music with good harmony. Nothing too weird or screechy. Not punk or anything too “country.” Almost anything with a good chorus with a strong soloist in front (kind of gospel-ish). Love good, strong, talented singers.

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?

I like rich, saturated colors that aren’t too bright. Tomato red rather than scarlet red. Medium apple green. Blues that aren’t too “baby” or “navy.” Golden yellows. Almost any autumn color. Coral/peach tones. Darker greys over lighter greys. Not a big fan of pastels, but I’m not afraid of (most) colors. I look best in autumn shades, though, and mostly wear reds, greens, golds . . . and blue jeans!

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

Single, living with my parents (something you don’t hear from just anyone past the age of 25), with my wonderful dog, Chappy (of course!)

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

Uh . . . happiness. Contentment rather than excitement. Fulfillment. Being useful to my family. Having time to relax (I’m pretty selfish about that, actually!).

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Right now? Rowan’s Calmer. Brooks Farm (anything). Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Knitpicks Shimmer. Koigu KPPPM. Zephyr.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Cotton . . . most of the time. Rowan’s Calmer is, so far, the only mostly-cotton yarn I’ve ever loved–because it’s got “spring.” Cotton usually only works for me in blends. I’m not a huge fan of chenille or most nubbly, novelty yarns.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Lace. I’m definitely on a lace kick! Cables, too.

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

Sweaters. Shawls. Socks. Rarely ever do scarves or mittens. Never do tank tops. (“Summer knits” don’t really do anything for me.)

17. What are you knitting right now?

Fiddlesticks Peacock Shawl. The Nothing But A T-Shirt. A pair of socks. And then there the UFO of Rowan Elfin, which I haven’t touched in months and don’t think I’ll ever actually finish.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

Don’t particularly like them. I’ve seen some that are pretty nice so I won’t say I hate them all, but . . . I’d rather wear/see a shawl than a poncho any day! Some capelets are nice, too.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Absolutely circular. No question at all! (I almost shouted this, but restrained myself.)

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Um . . . none of the above? Addi Turbos are #1. THEN comes bamboo. Plastic is just about doable in a pinch (the Denise set is nice), but I haven’t even tried an aluminum needle since I switched to circulars back around 1989.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Yes. Not madly passionate about them like some people, but I enjoy knitting them and have made 5 1/2 pairs since I knitted my first one about a year ago.

22. How did you learn to knit?

Pretty much book-taught. I love reading about and trying new techniques and I’ve got a pretty full library . . . though I’m always happy to get more knitting books! (The trick is finding books I don’t already have.)

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

About a year–that’s the Rowan Elfin–and it’s the only “inactive” project I’ve got. The others have all three been touched within the last week.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

I don’t know that I have one . . . loved Mickey Mouse when I was little, and still enjoy watching Disney and Pixar movies, but I don’t at all have a favorite animated character. And, I think it’s pretty obvious that my favorite animal is a dog–specifically a Boykin Spaniel.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas. I love to get all the “chores” done by Thanksgiving so I can just enjoy the Christmas feeling in December. To me, it’s a holiday about being with your family . . . with presents! My birthday’s nice, too, but for some reason, no-one outside the family seems to consider it anything special. Odd, huh?

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Not specifically. I accumulate books, but that’s just because I read (constantly; had I mentioned that??), but I don’t go out of my way to “collect” anything.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Knitters. Interweave Knits. Vogue Knitting. Spin Off. . . . I think that’s it. There are a couple others I’ve tried but didn’t like . . . I really have all that I want!

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

Principles of Knitting by June Hemmins Hiatt, and Spinning for Softness and Speed by Paula Simmons. . . both hard to find, rare, expensive books. Also Here be Wyverns by Nancie Spies. Most current books I pretty much buy when I see them . . . I have serious problems restraining myself in bookstores!

• Tags: Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:For my Secret Pal 5 // 2 Comments »

  Our kitchen counters were installed today. Hurray!

Except that . . . the group “coordinating” the cabinet refinishing projects never sent the faucet. The guys finished installing the counter tops and then asked for the faucet, so they could drill the hole for the plumbing.

Um . . . you’re supposed to have that!

  Mom called the company, they’re doing an 8:00 am Fedex delivery tomorrow so that it will be here before the plumber gets here to connect everything–about 8:30.

Assuming everything goes the way it’s supposed to, at least that will work out!

Here’s a closer look at the cabinets (though they don’t look quite so dark in person).

Then, I had to leave work 15 minutes early to go to the dentist for a temporary crown and a scolding from my dentist for not coming in so long. (Yes, I know. Please don’t lecture.) It’s not the dentist I avoid . . . he and his staff are all nice, friendly, sweet . . . some of the nicest people you want to meet. It’s not even the work in the chair that I dread. It’s the novocaine.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff while he’s drilling or whatever, but I’m sensitive to it. After a normal-size dose, I’ll feel ill and slightly feverish for the rest of the day, and it will take over two hours to wear off, instead of the usual one hour. For example, he gave me half of one dose for this work, where he usually gives people two doses. Since he had to drill so deeply (this is where the lecture occured), I did feel a twinge or two, especially toward the end, but it’s worth it to not feel so sick tonight.

  But then, things got better! Look what I found when I got home!

A box.

From my KR Secret Pal!

Here. Safely in the house!!

  A Burt’s Bees sampler pack. A nice, woodsy candle. A container of carob-dipped doggie biscotti for Chappy (which he loved). Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in a very nice colorway (the same kind of yarn I’m using on my current socks, and am loving, so I’m thrilled to have more of it). Cinnamon Altoids (because she somehow knew I would be dealing with Dentist Breath tonight). Handmade beaded stitch markers (which she must have chuckled about when she saw that I brought beads home from vacation with me). And a very nice note–including the information that she also loves Martha’s Vineyard. See how nice she is??

  Here’s a closer look at the stitch markers. Aren’t they pretty??

Thanks, pal!!

Now, I promised actual knitting content in this post. I actually worked on my sock at the dentist’s office, in the waiting room. There were periods I was sitting in the chair, waiting, when I would have liked having it handy, but unfortunately, by then it was tucked away in my purse. I turned the heel last night, though, and am working my way up the ribbing toward the cuff. I’ll be glad to finish–much as I love the yarn, I keep getting frustrated with the DPNs (and losing stitches off the ends in my purse). I’ve used DPNs before, and concede that they are valuable knitting tools . . . but Magic Loop is still my preferred sock method!

  Here’s a look at my NbaT . . . though it looks a lot pinker in the photo than it does in person. The color is called “Coral” and while I would actually have liked a touch more orange to it . . . still, it’s not really this pink. (Not that there’s anything wrong with pink, just . . . well . . . it’s not and I’m trying to be accurate in my reporting!)

And, lastly, I’m sure it won’t be a surprse to any one . . . I signed up for Secret Pal 5 today! Now, I’m going to go and get the button for my blog!

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Not such a bad day after all // 5 Comments »

(Warning: Non-knitting help needed; no knitting content in this post.)

Since my research skills obviously aren’t up to the task–are there any legal experts or history buffs out there who can tell me how hard/easy/complicated it would have been to adopt an orphaned child in 1912? The book I’m hung-up on writing is stuck at this point–I don’t know how much of a complication this needs to be for my main character. Is it a bump in the road, or a full-stop, major roadwork ahead kind of deal. To borrow the analogy I used in an e-mail earlier, the story is not willing to risk its suspension without knowing and refuses to move forward until I can provide a map.

The other sticking point–the child to be adopted has a nice inheritance coming his way (though probably tied up in a trust-fund); the woman doing the adopting is middle-class–she has a nice house and some money to live on, but is not wealthy herself. I can only assume that the money issue makes a difference–if it were a poor child from an orphanage, I doubt there would have been any trouble at all in 1912 for this woman to give the kid a home. It’s the fact that his recently-deceased father was rich that would cause complications . . . I just don’t know how big a complication, and without knowing, don’t know if I need to end the book with lawyers and judges and messy legal battles (about which I would have a hard time writing), or if it can be a simple sit-down meeting with a lawyer, a few papers to sign and boom, it’s done. I’d like it to be as historically appropriate as it can be, for fiction, and so . . .

I have looked, but I haven’t been able to find a resource out there that would give me details on the history of adoption, but of course, I know nothing about law or how to research legal precedents (or, you know, have a law library). So, on the off-chance that any of you can help figure out the answer for me–or know someone who could–please, let me know! If the answer is helpful enough, I’d be happy to send some yarn to whoever provides it!

(And, I promise, there will be some knitting content in my next post.)

• Tags: General • Permalink:Legal Advice? // 3 Comments »

Did anyone see today’s “Loose Parts” comic strip?

• Tags: Uncategorized • Permalink:Loose Parts // Add Comment »

I must be a far less secure person than I like to think I am. I’ve noticed a frightening mental trend as I troll through the knitting blog world . . . the first thing I seem to look for is whether my blog is listed on their list of “Blogs I Read.” I notice with envy the number of people subscribed to other blogs on Bloglines. And then, I try to think of ways to boost my readership when I think it’s “flagging.” (“What flashy, impressive thing can I post a picture of? Where can I post a link to my blog that will get people to stop by?”)

Is that just the silliest thing, or what?? When did I become so needy for praise or feedback? I’ve managed to knit for years with only the small, appreciative audience of my family and friends. They aren’t knitters themselves and so might not always understand the “craft,” but they are also therefore that much more impressed by the magic that is knitting. (“I can’t believe you made that!” followed by my modest scoff, “Oh, it was nothing. A few skeins of yarn, some twiddling with some sticks, and voila, a masterpiece. Really, it was no trouble.”)

I suppose part of it is that I want that Wow-Factor, now, from actual knitters. The old, simple fix isn’t enough; I’m moving into the harder stuff. Who knew that I had this hidden (?) need to be adored? And, wouldn’t you think I would get enough of that from my dog? (Really, Chappy’s quite good at the whole adoration thing, but then, he’s been studying my adoration technique since he was 7 weeks old.) It’s a nice little high, though, to be told that you do beautiful work by someone who really knows how much work and skill and effort went into a FO. But it’s a slippery slope, where you start wanting more and more Oohs and Aahs when you used to be content with just a few from the people physically closest to you!

Anyway, sad to say, I don’t have anything worthy of “Wows” to post today. Nor am I looking for “Oh, but we love you, Deb” kinds of comments. (Really, I’m not.) I just think it’s an interesting state of affairs, this blog-world we’ve got going. It’s a community, like Annie says, with “cool kids” and the obviously not-so-cool-kids. I never aspired to be the cool cheerleader with an entourage of friends in high school; nor did I want to be part of the brown-nosing crowd. I was quite content to have just a handful of good, close friends, and I feel like I’ve gotten that here, too . . . Do I really need 800+ people reading my blog each day to feel secure? The answer, believe it or not, is absolutely no. I’m really frankly thrilled that I’m averaging 80 a day, and have even had days where I hit 350. That’s pretty impressive, I think!

But . . . I suppose I wouldn’t object if 800 people wanted to! Like I said, it’s a slippery slope, people! And all the pressure to perform comes from yourself–feeling like you need to do something “blog-worthy,” you need photos, you need to be funny, charming, smart, appealing, accessible.

Humph. Next thing you know, I’ll be trying to impress my yarn so it can admire me, too! (Not to compare those of you who read this to yarn, but, well you’re knitters . . . it’s not like you would be offended by that anyway, right?)

Now, to get away from this self-indulgent nonsense:

My Amazon order yesterday also included Teva Durham’s “Loop-d-Loop” book, which has some very nifty designs in it. The one I like best, though, is the “Bias Fair Isle,” which has such an interesting take on Fair Isle and which looks eminently wearable. As in, it’s entirely possible I’m going to make that one! (Actually, it’s the first pattern I’ve seen lately in a magazine or a book that I’m this tempted by. That’s good, right??) (And, thanks Andrea for taking the picture so I didn’t have to!)

And, lastly, let me ask your opinion–considering my recent history with, er, secret pal gifts, am I crazy to be thinking of joining SP5?? I just found out about it yesterday and the deadline for signing up is Monday . . .

• Tags: General • Permalink:Blog Envy // 13 Comments »

I actually did some spinning last night, for the first time in about three weeks. And I just realized–I’ve missed it!! I only spun (span?) for about half an hour, but it was nice, and I was delighted to see that my hands haven’t completely forgotten what to do. We’re still doing short-draw, mind you, but it was nice! It’s just unfortunate that I only really think of spinning at night when I watch TV in my room–which means at 10:00 or later, and about the only show I watch at 10:00 is “Medium” on Monday nights. Otherwise, I tend to come in and turn the computer on instead.

Knitting, you see, is easily portable in a bag, down to the family room for evening television viewing (8:00-10:00). My spinning wheel on the other hand . . . yes, it’s a Lendrum, and yes it’s technically portable, but it’s still a pain to carry up and down the stairs. So, basically, it sits in my bedroom, looking needy . . . though not as needy as my Kiwi, which has barely been touched since I got the Lendrum–poor thing!

I’ve decided I’m going to let my Peacock rest for a couple weeks–until the beginning of June–so that I can time finishing the shawl as closely as possible to the finishing of work in my bathroom, at which time I can move the stuff back where it belongs and have access to the guest room bed again! (Of course, I’m not altogether sure that the shawl is going to FIT on the bed and may end up using the floor . . . is it possible to pin into wall-to-wall carpeting??)

Hey, do you all know that June 11th is World Wide Knit in Public Day?? Be sure to get out there that Saturday and knit!!

I had a delivery from Amazon today: Sharon Miller’s “Heirloom Knitting,” which is supposed to be the bible for lace knitting. I’ve only had a chance to flip through it so far, but I’m impressed. I was amazed when I pulled up the link for all of you, though. This was a lot cheaper when I ordered it a month or so ago! This, by the way, brings my library up to 2,645 volumes.

Also, I must wish my niece a happy 16th birthday. I cannot believe she’s getting so grown-up. (Actually, let’s face it, she practically IS grown-up, I suppose I’m just still in denial.) The joint birthday party for her and my nephew (who you’ll remember turned 12 on Friday) is on Sunday. Can’t wait.

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:As the Wheel Turns // 4 Comments »

I’ve got that happy, post-book glow about me.

I just finished a just lovely book: “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss, and I loved it. Such a sweet and touching book. Leopold Gurzky is a man in his 80s, alone and lonely in New York, unknown to his son. Then there’s Alma, a teenager named for a character in her father’s favorite book, a book which her mother has just been paid to translate from Spanish. These two have very different stories, but there is such a wistfulness to this book, and a sweetness. I was enjoying it from the beginning, but the closer I got to the end, the more I loved it, and the ending was just . . . sweet. (I’m sorry for using that adjective so many times, but what can I say? It fits. It just was.)

I just love that warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you finish a book that was everything you hoped it would be–or even better–unexpectedly wonderful. I thought this looked good, but it turned out to be so much better than that. Literary serendipity, and easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I am just so happy I picked this up the other day!

Otherwise, let’s see . . . started the edging on my Peacock. I’ve got a little dilemma there, actually. I’ve got 12 more pattern rows, which means about 12 more nights of knitting, and then it’s done. Which is wonderful. The problem is that in two weeks, they’ll be here to start work on our bathrooms–still mostly emptied into the guest room–which means I don’t have any place to block it when it’s done. And I won’t for at least three weeks.

So, do I knit onward at my usual pace and then leave the poor thing a crumpled ball at the bottom of my knitting back for a week or two until I can block it? Or do I resolutely set it aside right now and work on something else for the next two weeks so as not to finish until the shawl can be finished properly?

If anything, I’m leaning toward the second option. I’m definitely at the point where I want to see this luscious bit of knitting done and looking grand in all its Peacock-glory. (Hey, I love the process as much as the next knitter, but there’s an indefinable line somewhere along the line when I’m close enough to being done that eagerness to see it finished takes over. Guess where I am with Peacock?) But as much as I can’t wait to see it in all its glory, I think I’d have a harder time having it finished and not being able to block it than I would just letting it sit in my bag for an extra week.

I guess I should pull out my NbaT!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:Book Glow // 3 Comments »

  So, one of the things I did buy this week was a selection of beads from Beadnicks in Vineyard Haven. I’m sure it’s not actually true, of course, but it seems like so many knit-bloggers have these lovely, beaded stitch markers and, well, I want some too! Except, I can’t, you know, ask for them, and the ones I’ve seen available to buy are uninspiring, so I thought I’d try making some. Which is quite a reach for me, mind you, because I haven’t done a thing with beads–any beads–since I was about 10 years old.

Even though I’ve been thinking of this for a couple months, I waited until now to buy the beads, because I figured getting them from MV would be more meaningful than if I’d just run to AC Moore or something. I’ve heard such nice things about this bead store from my mother, sister, and niece, I decided to wait. Now, I’ve never been to a bead store before, but they had some lovely things (although, also, a little too much incense or some kind of scent which through Mom’s nose into a tailspin). Here’s a closeup of the beads I bought. Ten each of the ones in the little packets, and the other vials, well, they just looked pretty!

The next thing to do, of course, is to figure out how on earth to assemble these things into stitch markers!! I bought wire, pliers, and a wire cutter . . . now I just need to figure out how to use them!

Really, any suggestions or advice you’d care to give would be appreciated. (grin)

Today, Mom and I reassembled the upper half of our kitchen–everything from counter-level down is waiting until, well, we have the counter. Already, though, it’s easier to find things in the dining room, so no complaints. I made pot roast and baked potatoes in the oven for dinner–everything wrapped in foil so as not to have any big things to require washing. We had bought pound cake yesterday, and fresh strawberries which I macerated this morning, so we had dessert, too. It was so nice, having a home-cooked dinner at our own table!! I can’t believe I have to go to work tomorrow….

• Tags: General • Permalink:The Bead Goes On // 3 Comments »

  In addition to having our entire kitchen piled in the dining room…

  …And to having the bathroom scattered about the guest room…

  …As of today, we no longer have a driveway.

  Our kitchen is looking great, you understand, except for the little detail of not having a counter or sink or plumbing of any kind. Which means that while we can technically cook, we more or less can’t wash a dish or a pot, unless it will fit in the bathroom sink. To make a cup of tea, it’s necessary to walk into the dining room, find the tea (card table in the corner), find a mug (dining room table, right side), and a spoon (dining room table, left corner). Carry those to the kitchen, put them–for lack of a better place–on the stove. Take the kettle, carry it to the bathroom, fill with water. The next bit, of course, is actually normal–stove, boil, pour–then find the sugar (kitchen table) and the cream (unbelievably in its usual spot in the fridge). Stir, then carry the spoon to the bathroom to rinse it off. You know, I really hadn’t appreciated how nice it was having everything for tea within a three-step distance, with only the refrigerator a couple extra steps!

We’re going to make a pot roast for Sunday dinner, though–in a foil bag in the oven. Baked potatoes. Mom and I figure we can handle washing three real dishes and sets of flatware (as opposed to the disposable stuff) instead of going out to eat–again! After a vacation’s worth of meals taken either in the car or out of styrofoam with plastic silverware, the idea of eating off of real dishes at the kitchen table almost makes me giddy!

So, let’s recap, shall we? Kitchen in chaos. Bathroom in chaos. Now, the driveway in chaos. This week, we’ll also be getting a watering system installed for the lawn–so that will be a mess. Our annual air-conditioning service is this week. I have to go to the dentist on Thursday for a temporary crown. And, oh yes, I consider myself lucky to be able to post tonight at all–while they were tearing up the driveway this morning, the pavers hit the cable–losing us both television and internet connections. (It wasn’t their fault–the cable WAS marked and they were being careful, but the cable was actually so close to the surface, there was no way they could have avoided it.) Mom and I were out, and the paving company called Optimum Cable for us, and it was repaired this afternoon–whew! With all the rest of everything in such a mess–a stressful situation for a household that’s usually so calm, quiet, organized, and neat!–if I couldn’t have gotten on to check my e-mail too . . . well, that would have been the end!

Ah well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs . . . or a working kitchen!

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Breaking Eggs // 2 Comments »

Much as I love going on vacation, and much as I really love going to Martha’s Vineyard in particular, I am always so glad to come home. Even to a home such as this, with all the kitchen contents strewn about the dining room, and all the bathroom’s in the guest room, and so on. The kitchen cabinets are done and look beautiful, but we’re waiting on the new countertops, which should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. Our bathrooms won’t be started, now, until June 6th. It seems silly to bring all the stuff back in, so for tonight I just moved in some of the absolute necessities. (You know, toothbrush, shampoo, a towel for my shower, the shower curtain….)

I promised you some photos, now that I’m home on my nice, wireless, cable connection. First, my knitting update (sans photos)–the sock is exactly at the heel-turning point. I worked on it on the ferry ride this morning, but stopped when I reached that point since I knew I wouldn’t have time to do the actual heel-turn before docking and didn’t want to get stuck midway. My peacock–I’m on the very last row of the pattern charts, and once that’s done tomorrow (I just really didn’t have the energy tonight!), I get to start the edging. I can’t even begin to estimate the amount of time that will take, but I do know that I am definitely closer to the end than to the beginning!

I did take a picture of my sock on the ferry. I’ve been jokingly calling this “Doing a Harlot” because, of course, Stephanie has been photographing her sock all over the country as she’s toured around on behalf of her bookbookbook. This was the “Martha’s Vineyard” ferry the other day, which holds about 6 dozen cars and trucks, and over 1,000 passengers. We would have taken the “Islander” home this morning, except we got an earlier ferry–meaning I’ve lost my last chance to ride on the Islander. It’s being retired this year, after 51 years in service. A lot of memories on that boat!

The Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, Mom’s favorite building on the island. (She used to go to Sunday School there when she was little!)

  This little group of statues is outside the Colonial Inn in Edgartown, and I can’t help but love it–a group of kids and their friendly, inquisitive dog. It’s fun (grin) to try to pose with your own dog nose-to-nose with the bronze one, but challenging, as you can imagine. (Especially if your dog–like mine–is freaked out by statues of dogs. “It’s not moving! It doesn’t smell right! Get me outta here!”) You can’t see Chappy in this picture, but it looks like he and the statue are greeting each other in traditional canine fashion, so…)

  Here’s the Sweet Life Cafe in Oak Bluffs. We didn’t eat here this trip, though, I recommend it. It’s expensive but really good. So why did I take its picture? Because this used to be my great-grandmother’s house, and is the one my grandmother grew up in. My Mom and I have only been there once, and sat outside on the patio for dinner, with candles, and . . . our candle would NOT stay lit. All the other tables around had no trouble; the waitress tried changing to a different candle; nothing any of us could do stopped our candle from winking out. We feel that it was the Grandmothers–Mom’s and mine–who were playing tricks on us that night. (Okay, maybe there’s a more scientific explanation, but what? And anyway, isn’t it nicer to think that they were happy to see us there and wanted us to know?)

  Another beautiful old house. The Corbin-Norton House, right on Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs. The house dates back to 1891 and had become a terrible eyesore before it was completely renovated in 1994. (It even made an appearance on “This Old House” to show off the fabulous work they did restoring this beauty.) Then in 2001, the whole thing burned to the ground. And this is what it looks like today–as if it had never happened. It’s a beautiful Victorian house, and would be no matter what, but when you know the story, too . . . really phenomenal. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Who says they don’t do this kind of craftsmanship any more? Here it is, folks!

  Mom and Chappy, in Vineyard Haven, watching the ferry.

  The obligatory Edgartown Lighthouse shot (with Chappaquiddick in the background).

  The Islander, heading off into the sunset. (Well, so it was cloudy, you get the idea!)

You know, we didn’t get “up island” at all this trip–just kept circling around through the three main town centers (Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, Edgartown), stopping by the beach (to look, not to splash–too cold!), getting food from our favorite restaurants (Linda Jean’s, Espresso Love, The Wharf, The Newes, Among the Flowers), visiting our favorite shops (Claudia’s jewelry, Moonstone Jewelers, Sanctuary, the Black Dog). We seem to get caught up in that touristy “rut,” and we both feel kind of guilty about that. There’s so much more to MV than just eating and shopping! There’s some substantial family history, too, since my grandmother grew up there, and Mom spent all her childhood summers there–my genes have been going to the island since long before it became trendy (and my great-grandmother’s got the grave marker to prove it). So, it is too superficial of us to enjoy buying shirts that say “Martha’s Vineyard” or to look forward to getting coffee at Espresso Love in the morning? (Although, really, is it our fault that they serve one of our favorite cups of coffee, anywhere? Or that The Wharf has our favorite clam chowder and Linda Jean’s our favorite lobster roll? Where else are we going to get them??)

Although, I will say that travelling with Chappy does put a damper on what we can do. He used to get terribly carsick, so that a trip up island to look at scenery wasn’t exactly something he’d appreciate. (Even still, he’s so much better in the car, but he has a nervous stomach when he gets excited and, despite my care at diet and water-changes this trip, he spit up/threw up about four times this trip.) We can’t take him for a bike ride. It’s too cold this time of year to count on a day at the beach (and besides, I burn, no matter how much sunscreen I slather on). Meandering around town is just a pleasant way to spend some time!

Which we did. We all had a good time, and we are all glad to be home! We’re going to restock the upper kitchen cabinets tomorrow, but the lower ones have to wait until we’ve got a counter top . . . and in the meantime, we’re trying to figure out how we can manage even the most basic kitchen tasks without counters or–more importantly–plumbing! Mom and I are just grateful that this is only for a few days. How on earth do people manage with renovations that go on for months?? (grin) (My hat’s off to anyone who has. It would drive me nuts!)

Speaking of nuts–do you have any idea how many blog entries I have to catch up on, now I’m home? Sheesh!

And, of course, today is my nephew’s 12th birthday . . . so, happy birthday!!

(Not only that, I’ve been out of college 16 years today . . . wow.)

• Tags: Family, General, Martha's Vineyard, Uncategorized • Permalink:Home at last! // 4 Comments »

First thing to say about today is that the weather was beautiful. All day. None of this “only nice after you’ve had lunch” thing. It was perfect weather. (As in, why couldn’t it have been this great the other days?) But really, not complaining, because I said the most important thing was for it not to rain, and it didn’t. I even bought a baseball-style cap today, to keep the sun off my face. And I don’t even like baseball caps on me!

Chappy’s exhausted. Right now—quarter to six—is about the first chance he’s had to lie down and relax all day. We started by driving into Edgartown for breakfast (Espresso Love again—the best coffee, really), and then walked up to the lighthouse and then sat and admired the view for a while. (Insert perfect picture here—clean, white lighthouse, crystal blue sky, a fluffy cloud or two for effect, Chappaquiddick in the distance.) We walked back along the harbor, stopped to get a small snack, and then bumped into the woman who used to run the Stephen Huneck gallery, and then managed the Point Way Inn for a while (which is no longer an inn, but now a private residence). She’s the sweetest lady, and it was nice to see her.

Over lunchtime, we sat in the car by the beach, overlooking Vineyard Sound, and finished our “trip book.” (“The Witch of Blackbird Pond,” you’ll remember.) That was really nice. Perfect, again. We had the windows open and the salt breeze blowing through. There was a bank of clouds over the mainland (and, apparently, the smoke from a fire somewhere on Cape Cod), but again, nothing but cottonballs overhead.

We went into Vineyard Haven to pick up my ring. I mentioned this a couple days ago, how I’d bought a peridot ring and they were sizing it for me. Turns out, when we went to pick it up yesterday, there was a glitch. The stone had apparently been glued into the ring, which wasn’t necessarily a problem, but it didn’t take kindly to the heat of resizing, and when they reglued it in . . . you could see the bubbles in the glue, as if the stone were impure. Very disappointing, but when I picked it out, it had come down to a choice between that ring and the very first one that had caught my eye when we walked into the store. So, um, guess which one is coming back to New Jersey with me. (The good news is that it’s even the cheaper of the two rings; how often does that happen?)

We walked up the road to the “business” end of Vineyard Haven harbor (Owen Park) and sat there for a while, until Chappy got too antsy about being so close to the water without actually being allowed IN the water. We met a friendly, young, rambunctious, and wet golden retriever named Pilot, who came bounding up the hill after us and chose to completely ignore her owner (the Harbor Master) when he called her. Basically, she ignored him completely until he had walked all the way up the hill himself and actually had hold of her collar!

We’re back at the room now, for the night. Chappy is taking advantage of the peace and quiet to finally get his nap, and Mom and I are both sitting here, saying, “Gosh, I’m so tired!” We leave tomorrow on the 9:30 ferry and then have the 6-hour drive back home. From what Dad said on the phone yesterday, it’s possible we won’t have a driveway to pull into—we’re getting it repaved and they wanted to start today. (Mom freaked just a little at the news—I think she feels there’s a little too much going on at once!) I’m just as glad, though, that I’ll be able to give Chappy a bath tomorrow night—or maybe Saturday. He (and my car) are rather dirty!

And, lest you think I’ve been neglecting my knitting. I’ve got my sock just about to the heel-turning point. It’s not enjoying travelling, though. No matter how carefully I put it in my purse, I’m forever losing stitches off the end of one or the other DPNs (another reason to love Magic Loop, in my opinion). As to my Peacock, I’ve got three more rows of the pattern, and then I get to start the edging. Yay!

• Tags: Family, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:MV Day Five // 5 Comments »

It’s just after lunch on Wednesday, and we’re taking a break in the room. It’s been cold and misty all morning—not actually raining, not even wet, just . . . as you walk along the air feels wet, and there are little pinpricks of moisture on the windshield of the car. We did some shopping in Oak Bluffs—including in the “Good Dog Goods” store, which has (Chappy tells us) some of the nicest doggie treats around, especially the Cheese Stars and the Peanut Butter Hearts. Not only do they have good treats, but the people there remember him from year to year, and always make a fuss over him. You know, of course, that I hate having people gush over my dog.

Unfortunately, because the weather hasn’t been cooperating quite as much as it could be, Chappy has not yet gotten to the beach. It’s just too cold to let him get himself soaked with salt water, not to mention having to come back to the room to give him a bath.

Well, really, the salt water is bad for his skin, and bad for him to lick off. And anyway, after Katy’s first visit to the island, she was sick for a couple weeks after we got home—throwing up about every other day, until she was dehydrated and had to be admitted at the vet for three days—but we never quite figured out why. The best cause we ever came up with was a combination of the kibble (instead of the home-cooked moist food she was used to), the salt water, which can adversely affect the digestion, and the possibility of having swallowed sand and/or seaweed while romping in the ocean. But considering how expensive that 3-night stay at the vet was (plus the x-rays and the normal visits before she got to the point where hospitalization was necessary), it’s not something I care to risk again, and if that means giving Chappy a bath while on vacation, so be it!

We talked to Dad this morning—our kitchen and bath refacing is NOT going to be done by the time we get home. The kitchen should mostly be done except for this little thing called the counter. And therefore the sink and running water. They’ll be installed early next week. Okaaaaayyyy, but the bathrooms? Should have started on Monday, were delayed until today because their last job went long (well, okay), but apparently the fellow has had a family emergency, and now the bathroom work has been pushed back to June. Argh! We’re all being pretty accepting of this (Mom remarkably so), but . . . the one thing we said when we scheduled the work was that the bathrooms, more than anything, needed to be done the week Mom and Chappy were out of the house. HAD TO. And so this, of course, is the one thing that will actually NOT be done. (Sigh.)

Here’s a picture Mom took of Chappy and me, waiting in the car for the stores in Oak Bluffs to open this morning. (It was definitely too cold to wait outside!)

And, may I just say how upset I am that two of my favorite tv shows have not been renewed?? “Jack & Bobby” and “Joan of Arcadia.” Not fair!

• Tags: Family, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:MV Day Four // 3 Comments »

The weather today was much the same as yesterday—cloudy in the morning, with sun in the afternoon (although it didn’t last as long today, either). I don’t think I brought enough sweaters with me, though—it didn’t get above 63 today, and even that, I think, came and went pretty quickly!

I suppose most of the day was spent shopping, more than anything else. I bought a Chappy charm to put on my puppy’s collar, and a new ring for myself, as a treat. It’s actually my favorite kind of souvenir. Instead of just getting t-shirts, or mugs, or refrigerator magnets, or whatever—things that don’t last—I buy one, nice piece of jewelry. It’ll last pretty much forever, and will always remind me of where I bought it—and I’ve gotten some nice jewelry over the years, too! This year’s is a gold ring set with a cabochon peridot, which is being resized for me.

We did have a couple nice walks around Vineyard Haven, and Edgartown. We also had a front row seat for “Nature in Action” at breakfast. Mom and I bought breakfast and then parked down by the harbor to eat (“Café Volvo”). There, we got to watch a seagull catch and eat not one, but two crabs for its meal. (For some reason, I wasn’t particularly in the mood for crab salad at lunch!) That’s just a little too Animal Planet/Discovery channel for breakfast, don’t you think? A few people walking by just then were entranced, though, and took a picture of the seagull and [now-dead] crab. (There’s a memory you’ll always treasure—“Hey, Alice, remember that time on the Vineyard when we saw that gull eat a crab? Boy, those were the days!”)

At least we watched this little nature special on a good night’s sleep. Chappy won his argument and spent the night on my bed, blissfully snoozing, rather than having a pity-party in his crate. (Really, he’s not spoiled at all.) And, this after I found a tick on him earlier in the evening, too! (Herbal bug repellants can only do so much on this island that ticks thrive on. But my little “Ticked Off” removal spoon does wonders and that little parasite is history.)

Here’s my sock, doing a “Harlot” in Vineyard Haven last night. And, I picked up some Opal sock yarn today, too! Yay! (See? Knitting content!)

• Tags: Family, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:MV Day Three // 2 Comments »

It’s the second day of our trip, and boy, are we tired!

You would think that was because we’d been so busy, running around, doing the tourist kind of things. But no. In fact, we’re tired because somebody didn’t want to sleep last night. I said yesterday that we have two bedrooms, and Mom and I had decided that we’d use one to keep all our “stuff” and the other for actual sleeping, because Chappy would no doubt be happier about having us where he could see us. (He likes to keep a close eye on our whereabouts when we’re away from home—got to keep together!)

Apparently, that wasn’t quite good enough. He was reluctant to go to in his crate—kept looking up at the bed, hinting that he’d like to sleep up there—but he did . . . only, around midnight, he started to whimper and throw his towels around. Not constantly. Just a single whimper every few minutes, followed by a “They don’t love me! I can’t get comfortable in here!” toss of bedding. Because, I took him outside at 1:30 to go to the bathroom, on the off-chance that was his problem. (May I point out that it was raining, too? Always fun, getting out of a warm bed to stand in the rain! Although technically, there is a small roof just outside the door, so I wasn’t actually IN the rain.) He did take advantage of the opportunity, but still . . . we came back to the room and . . . same thing, all over again. He basically didn’t sleep until about 7:00 this morning. Of the three of us, I got the most sleep.

Ah well! It was foggy and a little chilly this morning, but it’s cleared up pretty well for the afternoon. We went into Edgartown this morning, and I bought Mom a blueberry scone from Espresso Love for her “Mother’s Day” breakfast. (I know, of course, that Mother’s Day was last week, but the last several years, we’ve been here on M.V. on that day, and . . . you’d be amazed at how quickly these things can become tradition!) We walked around and did a little shopping, and right now, are back at the room. We brought our lunch back from “Among the Flowers” and now Chappy is snoozing on the couch, and Mom is reading–which I’ll be doing myself just as soon as I’m done posting!

What did we buy? Well, one thing I can tell you is that—even though I’m really not that much of a stuffed-animal kind of person—we bought a little Boykin Spaniel “puppy” yesterday. Really, crimpy, dark brown fur, docked tail, spaniel ears–this is so obviously a Boykin, how could I, I mean, really, tell me how I could have resisted! Besides, really, I bought it for Chappy. (Yeah, that’s it!) We–I mean he–has decided to name him “Quiddick.” Yes, I know that sounds remarkably like the Harry Potter game, but in fact, it pairs with Chappy’s name: Chappy-Quiddick. I guess maybe you have to be a Vineyard person to really appreciate the silliness of it . . . (grin).

Pictures, incidentally, are taking forever to upload through dial-up, so don’t expect many for the next few days! At least I got you a couple.

• Tags: Family, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:MV Day Two // 3 Comments »

So, we left this morning. As you can see, the trunk of the car is quite full. I love my car, but my one complaint is lack of trunk space. I mean, the issue only comes up about once or twice a year, but . . . this is two small suitcases, two totebags, a folding crate, some towels for Chappy’s bedding, and jackets. Not a whole lot of stuff!

I did a “Harlot” while we took our lunch stop in Mystic, Connecticut, and took a picture of my sock at Olde Mystic Village. We strolled around there for about an hour–Chappy was VERY glad to get out of the car–and we were all glad to stretch our legs. I worked on my sock in the car, and we started our “trip” book: “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” by Elizabeth George Speare. (I’ve been taking advantage of these shared-reading experiences to make sure that Mom gets a chance to read some of the classics she somehow missed as a child.)

We were lucky, and got on an earlier ferry to the island–the 2:30 instead of the 3:45 we had tickets before. Earlier is always better! Chappy finally fell asleep in the car during the ferry ride. He doesn’t get [that] carsick anymore, but he wouldn’t quite let himself go to sleep, either. I consider it an accomplishment for him that he was willing to lie down and relax for so much of the drive.

As soon as we got to the island, instead of checking directly into the inn, we stopped first in Vineyard Haven for a snack–we were all hungry, and tired, and figured that refueling was a good idea before we had to lug all the stuff into the room.

Did I say room? Try more like an efficiency apartment. We’ve got a living room, a small kitchen, and two bedrooms. Wow! I’m just excited about being able to sit on real furniture tonight instead of perching on the end of a bed. Chappy, right now, is sprawled out on the hearth (yes, we have a fireplace), and we’re catching our breath before going out to pick up something for supper.

Have a good night, everyone!

• Tags: Family, General, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:On Vacation! // 4 Comments »

I did get all my packing done last night, chose a few books to bring, finished emptying the kitchen and bathroom–and still had time to watch an old, silly movie with Mom. “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” Have any of you seen it? From 1965. Brian Keith, Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Jonathan Winters. A Russian submarine–at the height of the Cold War–runs aground on a fictional, New England island and sends a party ashore to find a boat to tow the sub off the sandbar. Crazy, hilarious panic ensues. Mom’s favorite part is poor Muriel hanging on the wall with her clueless husband eating breakfast right in front of her. I love the group of sailors saying “Emergency. Everybody to get from street,” in unison, in thick Russian accents, to a little boy . . . like that was going to work! And of course, the stirring ending, the kid on the church steeple (an idea stolen by the TV show “Early Edition” a few years ago).

For that matter, we watched a 1966 movie the night before: “Yours, Mine and Ours” with Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Van Johnson, and a young Tim Mathieson as the oldest son. Henry has 10 children, Lucille has 8, so of course they get married! Love the shopping trip–four, fully-heaped shopping carts of groceries for a total of $126. (Wow!) Sweet little movie.

Chappy, I think, is just glad this day is over. He looks confused and worried–the kitchen is in the dining room, the bathroom is in the guest room, I’ve got a suitcase . . . I’m afraid he thinks we’re moving, or evacuating, or something, but he’s been wandering out, checking out everything and NOT letting me out of his sight!

Anyway, as Mom, Chappy and I are driving up to the Vineyard, today, Sunday, I don’t want any of you to be completely bored so, here–even though it’s not knitting related, at least it’s something! I picked it up off somebody’s blog–I’ve seen it on so many of them lately, I don’t specifically remember whose I took it from, but I couldn’t resist it. It is, after all, about books!

Total number of books in your house

Well, let’s see. I have 2,635 books. My parents have about 200, so . . . That’s about 2, 835!Last book bought

Well, I don’t buy them singly, but in groups. In the last week or so I’ve bought:

Lapsing into a Comma by Walsh, Bill

Sanctuary by Lackey, Mercedes

Paris 1919 by MacMillan, Margaret

Blind Lake by Wilson, Robert Charles

Slight Trick of the Mind by Cullin, Mitch

Never Let me Go by Ishiguro, Kazuo

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Foer, Jonathan Safran

Saturday by McEwan, Ian

Books you often read or that mean a lot to youI re-read my favorites over and over again, so it’s hard to pinpoint specific books. I’ll name some authors that I revisit, though: Jane Austen, Sharon Shinn, Anne McCaffrey, Sean Russell, Diana Wynne Jones, Elizabeth Peters, Robertson Davies, L.M. Montgomery, Mary Stewart, John Myers Myers, Jasper Ffordes, Dorothy Dunnett . . . (stopping. getting tired now.)

Who are you going to pass this on to and whyI’m not going to actually pass this to anybody, but anyone who wants to join in, please do!

• Tags: Reading • Permalink:Book Meme // Add Comment »

Well, I suppose that I’m officially “on” vacation, even though I’m still at home and haven’t strayed more than a couple miles from my house all day. But I’m leaving for Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow morning, with Mom and Chappy, and I don’t have to go back to work for a week, so this is, technically, vacation time.

Except that, so far, it hasn’t been very vacation-like. I took my car out to feed her for the drive, and to get all the green tree mold washed off so that she looks silver again and not green (blech). (Don’t get me wrong, I like green as a color, but I don’t like the gritty layer of green dust clinging to my windshield, my doors, and basically every outdoor surface. My car is meant to be silver!). I went to the bank to get some cash for the trip and to make a deposit of–honestly–three different checks that add up to a total of $13.72 (and that includes my NJ state tax refund!). Mom and I stopped to get coffee at Starbucks–and saw that “Martha’s Poncho” woman from last week stroll by!–and then we came home . . .

  . . . And started moving even more things from the kitchen to the dining room, and from the bathroom to the guest room. About the only thing left in the kitchen is 2 dishes, 2 bowls, a mug, and the tv and coffee-maker on the counter. Almost every drawer and cabinet is empty. Ditto for the bathrooms–a single bottle of shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush/toothpaste, a roll of t.p., and a towel for tonight’s shower. It’s very bizarre. And at this point, finding anything is challenging. Not only has everything been moved willy-nilly as time and energy levels permit, but there’s no rhyme or reason as to where each item or box of items has ended up . . . and some boxes have contents from more than one cabinet.

I tell you, reassembling the kitchen next weekend has me scared!

It turned out to be a pretty day, though, and some time has been spent sitting out on the (green-tinted) deck with Chappy. A thing that’s very bad for allergies, but very good for the soul, you know? I’m going out to eat with my parents because, well, I can’t very well cook, can I? (Not only are all the utensils and pots and such–the “hardware” as Alton Brown calls it–scattered throughout the dining room, but we taped plastic inside the pantry door to keep out dust and . . . well . . . basically, if it’s not in the refrigerator, it’s not really accessible.

  And, oh yes, tonight ,I really do need to start packing! Except, of course, I need to run a load of laundry first . . . and can’t do that until after I’ve taken my shower. (Because, well, we are going to have workmen in the bathroom next week, and they will be laying floor into the linen closet, and well, I just don’t want to leave any dirty laundry in there . . . it may be silly, but . . . !) Anyway, I suppose I could start assembling clothing and such on the bed, but don’t really see the point. Toiletries are always packed and ready to go (I topped off the shampoo bottle the other day). Underwear is a no-brainer, and anyway, needs to wait for the laundry, and why start folding shirts and sweaters now? I just sincerely hope the weather cooperates and is DRY (or even mostly dry) because otherwise, Chappy and I are going to get awfully wet waiting outside on sidewalks for Mom!

The hardest part of packing, anyway, is choosing which books to bring. Not only do I need an assortment for myself . . . usually about five. I may only get through 2 or 3 of them, but there’s no way to know in advance which ones I’ll be in the mood to read. And while the Bunch of Grapes bookstore is wonderful, there have been times I haven’t found anything to buy, so . . . I travel with my own little library annex. (It’s just a crying shame that “1776″ by David McCullough isn’t out until next week–I would LOVE to get a signed copy from him, and I’m so looking forward to reading that one!)

There’s our shared book to pick out, too. Every trip, Mom and I bring along a book to read together–while the other is driving, or in the room at night instead of watching TV. We carry it around with us and, when there’s a likely spot in the day, will read a chapter. I’ve got it narrowed down to a choice of three, but haven’t quite settled on the choice for the year. (Next year, though, I’ve already got covered–Harry Potter #6!) In the past, we’ve covered all the Harry Potter books, “Archangel” by Sharon Shinn, “The Best of Enemies” by Nancy Bond, “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett (which Mom had never read, and, sorry, it’s a must), “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” was a good one, too–I always loved that run-away-to-the-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art story! For whatever reason, Young Adult books seem to work best–they’re usually just about the right length for the trip. It’s great, though, because that way we’re still doing something together, instead of sitting near each other, but reading our own, separate things. Mom doesn’t like audio books, either, but we both enjoy both reading out loud as well as the listening, so . . . it’s fun.

Knitting-wise, I’ve decided to bring my Peacock and the sock I’m working on. My NbaT will stay at home (to make room for, you know, books).

  On the plus side, Chappy’s packed. That’s food in individual ziploc bags (Flint River Ranch Dry Water food–one of the only dog foods I’m willing to let him eat). Two plastic dishes, a zoom-groom brush (wonderful for loose fur!), and a couple of toys. Pick-up bags are in the front, Mom’s got some treats in her purse . . . all I need to do is remember his crate and towels for his bedding, and we’re set! Or at least, he is . . .

• Tags: Family, General, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Pre-Vacation // 2 Comments »

  So, I was here in New Jersey for the last several weeks–I really was–and yet, I have some wool from Maryland after all, thanks to Liz. Wasn’t that great of her? Such pretty, Martha’s Vineyard-inspired colors, too . . . not to mention the sweet, hand-written note.

See? You toss something nice out into the Internet waters, and look at the pleasant ripples you get floating back toward you!

Of course, this forces me to admit that I’ve been sadly neglectful of my spinning wheel, though–do you know I still haven’t even taken the plying head out of the plastic yet? And it’s been a week since I spun anything. I’m a terrible person! But now, somehow, I’m feeling newly inspired. . . . (just in time to go on vacation and well, I know the Lendrum is a portable wheel but trust me, there will not be room in the trunk!)

Okay, maybe I’m not really terrible . . . I’ve just been focusing on my knitting. I’m pretty close to that magical, invisible line in a project where I’m ready to move from “enjoying the process” to “wanting the product.” I’m on row 204 of my Peacock,and look! I’ve got proof:

  I wanted to try to get a picture of the status of my shawl, so I cleared off one of the bookcases in my room and caaaaarefully stretched my shawl-in-progress across the top, so you can more or less see the progression from the tiny neckline pattern (to the right) to the “eye” section (middle) to the “tail” section at the left.

  A closer look at the end–where the pattern’s more interesting. I think that the variegation in the yarn is going to work just fine with this. I was worried that it would take away from the lace pattern, but . . . just looking at the way this shows up, laid out over my bookcase, I think once this is blocked, the colors aren’t going to take anything away at all!

  One more, closer view of some of the stitches. It’s interesting to me, because when you look at this in close-up, it doesn’t look like much of anything, but from a little distance (like this thumbnail), you can see the “eye” of the feather pattern quite clearly!

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m very much enjoying this pattern. It’s interesting with something new going on all the time. The Knitpicks “Shimmer” is a lovely yarn. 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk. It’s soft, it’s lovely, it’s reasonably strong for its thickness. I haven’t (so far) found a single knot, the color is really lovely, and you simply cannot beat the price. I’m just about at the end of my second skein and will definitely be using at least some of a third, but considering the yarn was only $4.99 each . . . such a bargain. Like I said above, I’m really happy with the way the colors are working out–the variation is subtle enough, I think, that it works . . . not bold, stark changes that would stand out like a sore thumb. Just blue to green to blue to green . . . soothing, and very “peacock.”

Yep, I’m definitely moving quickly toward impatience at seeing this done . . . and being able to wear it!!

We learned about a glitch in our remodeling scenario for next week. We had coordinated having the bathrooms and the kitchen refaced the week that Mom, Chappy and I were away–so save on wear and tear on their nerves. We made sure the company new this and everything was on track . . . until today, when they called and said the job they’re working on is going to take just a little bit longer and while they’ll be starting the kitchen on Monday, they won’t be here to start the bathrooms until Wednesday. Yikes! This is going to create a serious logistical problem–not only for the weekend we’re back (when, really, we need at least one functioning bathroom/shower), but also for the following week when I’m back at work and my parents will have to figure out some baby gate configuration that will keep Chappy out of the way while the workmen troop up and down the stairs . . . Uh-oh!

My 10 Favorite things:

Liz tagged me for this meme (well, she hinted). So here are my ten favorite things (although I’m sure you could have deduced at least part of the list by now!)

1. Chappy. I mean, of course, I named my entire blog after him. The sweetest Boykin Spaniel you’d ever want to meet. I just love spending time with him–sitting, playing, going for walks–he’s great company. He takes good care of his mom, too–and is especially sweet if I’m stuffy or coughing from allergies. He’ll come over and quite seriously sniff at my breath, making sure my lungs are doing okay. Really. Without meaning to anthropomorphize this too much, I’m sure that’s exactly what he’s doing–he started when I had bronchitis in December, and coughing very deeply, and he would sit and stare at me with such concern. He’s a good boy! I would expand this to include our other, gone-on pets, too. Katy. Jilly. Muppy.

2. My family. I have the best parents in the world. Sure, you might think that you do, but–while they might be wonderful–you’d be wrong. I’ve got the top pair. Why else, I ask you, would I still be living with them in my late thirties? They’re good company; they’re fun; they’re loving and generous; they adore my dog . . . we three people (plus dog) get along really well and the tempo of the house is just suited to all of us. And of course, there’s my sister, BIL, niece and nephew. They live an hour away so I don’t get to see them quite so often as I’d like, but they’re all pretty much wonderful, too!

3. Reading. Yes, it comes in above knitting because it was my first love. I’ve been reading since I was 3, and cannot live without it. I seriously cannot go to sleep at night without reading first, and if I finish the book, must get a “fresh” one so I have it to pick up first thing the next morning, and then carry with me all the rest of the day. I actually remember the exact moment that “reading” made sense to me–I was looking out of the car window, up (up, up) at a sign, when suddenly the alphabet Mom had been teaching me made sense. I distinctly remember the realization that all I had to do was learn the words, and I could read absolutely anything . . . and the family joke is that I’ve been trying ever since.

4. Knitting. Well, sure. I had about a five year hiatus from when I brought puppy-Katy home, but have otherwise been knitting pretty regularly since college (about my junior year, 1988). I love trying new things and am not afraid to challenge myself. In fact, that’s part of the fun. And even better, I end up with soft, warm, cozy things at the end.

5. Other fiber arts. I’m going to lump all the others together, because I haven’t done nearly as much of them in the last several years as of knitting, but I also quilt, spin, and embroider. I’ve been known to use a sewing machine, though have never been thrilled with the way my finished products look “homemade” (good for cake, bad for clothing). I’ve made at least 5 quilts, all by hand, and I’ve got a slew of embroidered pictures around the house–I’ll do counted cross stitch, but also like to stitch in different stitches. I like the variety and the challenge. Spinning, of course, is new. I only started that in December.

6. My job. I love my job. I’ve worked at the same place–a magazine fulfillment company–since 1991. Fourteen years. I’ve hit almost every department we have and am in exactly the right spot, in a position that was basically created just for me. Love it.

7. Movies. I haven’t regularly gone to the movies since I got my dogs . . . frankly, I’d rather be home with them, my books, and my knitting, than spending several hours in a dark room . . . but I love watching movies. Ones with a brain, or that assume I have one; ones with a sense of humor and a sense of drama–preferably at the same time; light and amusing, like a good romantic comedy (“When Harry Met Sally” is about perfect); old musicals; Disney cartoons–the good ones.

8. Television. You can say what you want about the lack of quality programming–and believe me, I have (and I won’t even go near the way they program shows these days with crazy schedules of repeats, no repeats, etc)–but there is something satisfying about knitting in front of a decent television program. West Wing in its heyday was sheer perfection. This season of Veronica Mars was great. Gilmore Girls. Jack & Bobby. Desperate Housewives. Joan of Arcadia. American Dreams. Quantum Leap. Due South. I don’t like to turn it on just to turn it on, and I don’t like reality shows at all (have never watched a single one unless the PBS “Colonial House”-type series or Extreme Home Makeover count). I don’t like stupid comedy, and I really have no interest in the several dozen versions of CSI or Law & Order, but there is some television programming that’s enjoyable, well-written, and makes for a darn good hour in front of the tube. And, you know, so long as you’re knitting or sewing or reading, it’s not like your brain is going to turn to mush that quickly!

9. Sitting over tea or coffee. It’s silly, perhaps, but there’s something very satisfying about just relaxing with a beverage and a small snack. On the couch, on the deck, even in the kitchen . . . it makes for such a nice interlude. Mom and I used to do a regular, Sunday “tea” with the brown pot, Grandma’s china, homemade scones . . . just the two of us, and Jilly, the mini-dachshund (who liked her tea with milk, no sugar, thank you very much). And still, now, we often end up on Saturday mornings, sitting in a coffee shop over a drink (she likes the iced, frappucino kind; I like mine hot).

10. Martha’s Vineyard. It pretty much had to be on this list somewhere. My grandmother grew up on the island and graduated from high school there, before moving to NJ. My mother spent ALL her summers there, as she grew up, and then there was a long hiatus of over 20 years, until she dragged me and my Dad up there, the summer I was 15. My sister was just out of high school and didn’t want to “do” a family vacation that year. I, of course, being 15 was mortified by everything my parents did normally, but that trip? My mother’s first time back on the island in two decades? My clearest memory of the trip was of her having Dad stop the car so she could take a photo, stepping one foot on the street and standing to take the picture, and then asking him to move up a little and promptly falling [luckily] into the car while I sank lower and lower in the back seat, hiding behind my book (Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz). Despite that, I don’t think I’ve missed a year since. Usually, it’s Mom and I who go together–now with Chappy–and I can’t see us stopping any time soon!

The second part to this meme is to list 5 Things that I may or may not have done before that I’d like to learn or try again.

1. Get my book published. I’ve got one, complete manuscript that I’ve been trying, on and off, to get published for years now. I would love, love, love to see it in print. (And no, the print-out from the computer does not count.) And then there’s the half-written one I’ve been sort of working on, though not since I started blogging… (hmmm!)

2. Drive a stick shift. A friend taught me about 8 years ago, but I haven’t touched one since and would like to reassure myself that I haven’t completely forgotten.

3. Swim. Also, technically, something I learned about 8 years ago. (There were things I decided to try when I turned 30, what can I tell you?) I never learned as a kid, and wanted to know that if I ever fell into a pool, at least, that I could get safely back out again!

4. Go up in a hot-air balloon. Something I’ve never done, but would like to–and it seems a lot safer than sky diving, which, thanks, I’ll pass on!

5. Go back to school. Not for anything particular, but it would be nice to get my Master’s degree in . . . something. Writing, maybe. I don’t really see it happening, but I like learning new things and I loved going to college and stretching my mind. It would be fun to do it again . . . you know, if time and money and laziness weren’t an issue!

And, in theory, it would be nice to meet someone and get married so I don’t spend my old age alone, surrounded by books and wool and dogs, but . . . it’s not something I’m counting on!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Ripples // 7 Comments »

Had things gone differently four years ago today, chances are the blog you’re reading would have been called “Katy’s Mom” instead of Chappy’s.

(Stop reading here if you don’t care about dogs or pets or too much sentiment; you’ll just be bored. It’s okay. Just come back tomorrow, when there’ll be knitting content again. Otherwise, brace yourself for some bittersweet nostalgia, and read on!)

That was the day–May 12, 2001–I threw her tennis ball, and it bounced off a tree (the only one in our entire yard) and into the street, right in front of a car that I didn’t see until it was too late. Katy adored chasing her ball and, when she did, focused only on that. The week before, her shoulder collided with that same tree as she chased the ball past; a month or so earlier, she went head-first, full-speed into a bush, without even a pause, just because that’s where her tennis ball went.

May I gush about her for a few minutes? She was my first dog. Not the family’s first, mind you, but mine. We got her nine months after we lost our miniature dachshund, Jilly, who we’d had since I was 17. I still joke that it was like being 12 again, trying to convince my Mommy to let me have a dog. Her name was just one of my ploys–her full name was Katama, the South Beach section of Martha’s Vineyard. (The joke was that my mother can’t say no to anything connected to M.V.)

She was born September 7, 1999, and very bravely flew up alone from North Carolina to New Jersey on her very first day away from her mother and siblings. I think she was pretty terrified about the whole experience, too, but she relaxed in my lap in the car. (That drive being the sole exception to the puppy-safely-seatbelted-in-the-back rule–that day, comfort and warmth were far more important than the risk of an accident.)

She was smart–she was the first of our dogs we ever trained to sit, lie down, etcetera. In fact, she had “sit” down cold by the third day I had her. (I tell you, clicker training is just wonderful!). She also shook hands, twirled in a circle, and curtseyed (a play bow). She went to school and thus became the first family dog with a diploma. She was also the first we ever took on vacation–to, you guessed, it Martha’s Vineyard–and she was also the first dog my sister ever welcomed into her house.

We had a lot in common–we looked rather alike, with wavy, dark brown hair–reasonably smart, funny, but we both liked things the way we like them and don’t like to be bothered when we’re trying to relax. In fact, that brings me to Mondays. Katy was a cranky little girl on Monday mornings, when I headed back to work after a weekend of togetherness. My parents still joke about how they would walk past her pillow and she would growl at them, “Leave me alone; it’s Monday.” Not in a mean way, you understand, but just as a warning (It’s Monday, don’t mess with me). I always rather loved that she had a little bit of a temper, and that she learned to control it. Which she did. When she chased that tennis ball, she hadn’t growled at anything for a month; before that, it had been three weeks. I was so darn proud of her for that! I know myself how hard it is to learn to control that.

Really, we were a lot alike!

Katy was 20-months old when I lost her. She had been acting like a nice, adult dog for about two months, like she had flicked a switch at 18-months, so I got to see what a wonderful dog she had become. Since she was practically perfect in so many ways, she timed her exit perfectly, too. She plotted a perfect collision course with that car coming up the street–the driver never had a chance to see her. Her neck was broken, and she was gone by the time I reached her (not that I was willing to admit that). No unnecessary suffering, thank God. Really. If it had to happen, she did it perfectly.

The driver couldn’t have been nicer. She drove us to the vet, where I said good-bye. The vet himself was wonderful–he trimmed off some of her fur for a keepsake and later, made me a clay imprint of her paw (something I had planned to do, but ran out of time). While I was at the vet, my next-door neighbors scrubbed the blood off the street for me so I wouldn’t have to face it when I got home. (Possibly the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.)

I wouldn’t, of course, give Chappy up for anything in the world–you all know that. And I know that if I hadn’t lost Katy, I would never have been lucky enough to bring him home, and that’s unthinkable. But still. I do wish I had waited to throw that ball.

Katy was a wonderful dog. She had to be. If she hadn’t been so loving and smart and beautiful, I wouldn’t have Chappy. She helped show us how great having an actually trained dog could be.

So in a way, I owe Chappy to her.

She would have been an excellent big sister, too . . . just as long as he didn’t mess with her on Monday mornings.

Katy.

September 7, 1999 – May 12, 2001.

We were silly together, but we sure had fun.

• Tags: Family, Katy, Jilly, Muppy • Permalink:Katysmom // 16 Comments »

  I’m sure you’ll all be thrilled to know that we saved our “Way Out” sign when our new door was installed today. Mom managed to peel it off the old door in one piece, and then stuck it onto a flexible magnet sheet (my suggestion, stated modestly), so that it can sit proudly and firmly–and yet temporarily and without marring in any way–on the brand new, steel door.

How cool is that?

I took the afternoon off from work to help “supervise” the installation of our new doors (three in all). Mom had to go get her haircut, too, which left me the only adult, human family member around to answer questions. (And, just a word to the wise, if you see her, don’t ask Mom about the haircut–the cut itself is fine, but it was supposed to happen at 10:30, but her friend and hairdresser forgot the time and went out, and Mom is stressed enough this week, and . . . really, it’s safer not to mention it at all.)

  Poor Chappy had to spend the entire afternoon out on the deck, out of the way. (Thank heaven it was sunny!) But isn’t it nice? He was rewarded with a brand new door all his very own. It’s more or less impossible to tell in the picture, but the door is blue, and that’s a brand-new doggie door down at the bottom. The installer–who had a sense of humor–teased that they didn’t have the doggie door, didn’t we? When I had ordered it myself and the company picked it up at our house so that the hole in the door would be the right size . . . What did they mean, where was it?? Except of course, he was teasing. (My poor mother almost had a heart attack. Really, I’m telling you. Don’t mess with her this week!)

  I got a treat, too (as if spending the afternoon at home instead of at work wasn’t treat enough). A delivery from Amazon of four brand-new books. Hopefully a couple of them will be tempting enough to bring along on vacation on Sunday. (They are hardcovers after all. Naturally, they all look appealing or I wouldn’t have bought them, but to be schlepped from New Jersey to Massachusetts, they need to look really good.)

I don’t have anything of a fiber nature to discuss tonight. Nothing. I spent the afternoon–between watching doors being hung, calming Mom and Chappy, and cooking dinner (for good measure) catching up on magazines. I think I’m the only person I know who finds most magazines more of a chore than a pleasure–they really only take away reading time that could be spent on real books. I mean, I wouldn’t subscribe if I weren’t interested in what the periodical had to say, but . . . they so seldom have anything resembling character development or interesting plot twists, why bother?

I also feel like I’ve been neglectful of leaving comments at other people’s blogs lately. I’m reading just as many (if not more) as usual, and am just as interested, but . . . does making a comment really take that long? Of course not! So how am I justifying this by telling myself that I’m busy?? Sheesh.

Of course, I’m dreading the whole, after-vacation, catch-up-on-blog reading thing next week. Like I said earlier, any internet access next week will be through the hotel phone line and, well, while I’m going to try to post, I can’t promise how many blogs I’ll be reading! At least it will be more fun than catching up to the hundreds of e-mails that will be in my mailbox at work the following week . . .

Can anybody else tell, I’m looking forward to my vacation?? (grin) All I have to do between now and then is finish emptying every scrap of everything from the kitchen, ditto the bathroom, remove everything hanging from my bedroom walls for safety’s sake, try to keep my mother from winding herself so tightly she springs off into the atmosphere, and, oh yeah . . . pack! (Actually, packing the clothes is the easy part; the hard part is figuring which books to bring . . . because naturally, one is never enough!)

Oops! I almost forgot–happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Mike, today!!

• Tags: Reading, Uncategorized • Permalink:Way Out! // 3 Comments »

This is just a test to see if I can compose my posts off-line on my vacation–hotel phone time is expensive!!

• Tags: General • Permalink:Just a Test // 2 Comments »

  So, this is the eyelash yarn I picked up on Saturday, to make a scarf for Mom. Anyone have any pattern suggestions? I could just do a drop stitch, or I could do something a little more interesting. I don’t usually do much with novelty yarns and haven’t knitted with eyelash before, so I feel like I could use a little guidance, suggestions, input and such.

We had another beautiful day today, but it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. I’m on row number 200 of my Peacock shawl. There’s 223 rows on the pattern chart, and then the edging. The end is sort of in sight, but not exactly nearby!

I can never exactly pinpoint if I’m a process or product knitter. I think more process, because I love the act of knitting, the creativity, the way of passing time, but the closer I get to the end of a project, the antsier I get about seeing it done. I’m not about to rush through to the end of this shawl, but it’s far enough along, and still looking like a big, old messy pile of yarn. I know that blocking it (you know, about a month from now!) will perform the usual magic, but . . . I want to see! (Is that wrong?)

The book I’m currently reading is “Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin. It’s an odd, interesting kind of book, not quite a fantasy, but not exactly mainstream fiction, either. It came out in 1983 and I’ve read it several times since then, but it’s a hard book to “match” to my mood–I have to be looking for just the right kind of read to be able to work my way through it. It’s got whimsy and wonder–never a bad thing in a book–some interesting characters, and it’s certainly an ode to winter . . . especially winter in New York City. (And I’d still like to know what kind of hot drink an Antwerp Flinder is!) And yet, it’s hard to pin it down. For example, take a look at this excerpt:

Though Mrs. Gamely was by all measures prescientific and illiterate, she did know words. Where she got them was anyone’s guess, but she certainly had them…. Mrs. Gamely’s vocabulary was enormous. She knew words no one had ever heard of, and she used words every day that had been mainly dead or sleeping for hundreds of years. Virginia checked them in the Oxford dictionary, and found that (almost without exception) Mrs. Gamely’s usage was flawlessly accurate. For instance, she spoke of certain kinds of dogs as Leviners. She called the areas near Quebec march-lands. She referred to diclesiums, liripoops, rapparees, dagswains, bronstrops, caroteels, opuntias, and soughs. She might describe something as patibulary, fremescent, pharisaic, Roxburghe, or glockamoid, and words like mormal, jeropigia, endosmic, mage, palmerin, thos, vituline, Turonian, galingale, comprodor, nox, gaskin, secotine, ogdoad, and pintuary fled from her lips in Pierian saltarellos. Their dictionary looked like a sow’s ear, because Virginia spent inordinate proportions of her days racing through it, though when Mrs. Gamely was angry a staff of ten could not have kept pace with her, and a dozen linguaphologists would have collapsed from hypercardia.

“Where did you learn all those words, Mother?” Virginia might ask.

Mrs. Gamely would shrug her shoulders. “We were raised with them, I suppose.” She didn’t always speak incomprehensibly, in fact, she sometimes went for months at a time strapped down firmly to a strong and worthy matrix of Anglo-Saxon derivatives. Then, Virginia breathed easy, and the rooster was so happy that had he been a chicken he would have laid three eggs a day. Or was he a chicken? Who knows? The point is, he thought he was a cat.

How can you not love an author who can construct a segment like that?

Oh, I was asked to provide that bread recipe, which I’m doing with the understanding that it’s not my recipe but that it’s not under any copyright restrictions of which I am aware. It’s in the extended post, if you’re interested.

Four days until my vacation!!

[Read more →]

• Tags: Baking, General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:Tuesday Musings // 7 Comments »

What a beautiful day we had today! Blue skies, a bare handful of white, puffy clouds, 70-degrees (Farenheit, of course) . . . scents of lilac and all sorts of other flowers on the air . . . just really beautiful.

Except, of course, on our street, which is still being torn up by the electric company, filling the air with dust and dirt and really excessive noise. At least Chappy isn’t too bothered by the big, orange, square “Work Ahead” sign they stood on our front lawn today!

  I got a lovely little RAOK card from Maryellen today. Plus an origami camel!

She asked how Chappy got his name. It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who knows my family, but it’s a Martha’s Vineyard-related name. Chappaquiddick, in fact, and it says so on his registration papers with the Boykin Spaniel Society. Conveniently, though, “Chappy” adapts quite nicely to “Chapter,” too–which, along with Martha’s Vineyard is one of the favorite things of this Biblioholic. Isn’t is nice when a name is that versatile? I even sometimes sing that little Gershwin ditty at him: “I’m the Chappy to make you happy. I’ll tie your shoesies and chase your blue-sies, oh lady, tell me, oh would you, could you use me?” (Except, of course, I change the “I” to “You’re” and it’s “UN-tie” the shoesies, though really, he hasn’t done that since he was a puppy!)

Knitting news . . . well, I didn’t gain any ground last night, but I didn’t lose any, either. I knitted half a row on my Peacock, but the count was off and I had to tink it, and by the time I’d done that and made sure all the stitch markers were in the right place, I’d pretty much had enough peacocking for one night, so I moved on my to my NbaT and frogged the whole thing (since you’ll remember, it was too large despite my efforts at pairing gauge to yarn to needles. I’m just going to have to try to remember to knit tightly!). I managed to get back to the place I’d left off, though–with both sides of the hem knitted, just not yet joined.

Really, it was a rather unsatisfying knitting night! And, I’m sure you’ll understand, neither of those projects deserves a photo today. They really need to behave better than that.

Hey, do you know, my blog had its 9,000th visitor today? Not bad for a blog that’s only been around since January!

• Tags: Chappy, Family, General • Permalink:Merry Month of May Monday // 4 Comments »

Except for a stroll around the neighborhood with Mom and Chappy, I’ve been home, puttering, all day.

  I started by making Blueberry Corn muffins for Mom. It was going to be either that or blueberry pancakes . . . her choice. (Blueberry scones were off the list because she’s “saving” that for Espresso Love on MV next week. She adores their scones, even more than mine.)

  I also baked some bread. This is the Grapenut Bread recipe from the old Daggett House B&B on Martha’s Vineyard, which makes some of the best toast ever. (So good, in fact, it’s almost a crime to eat this bread any other way.) The Daggett House, of course, is no longer an inn, but is now a private residence once again, but at least the bread recipe lives on.

  Then, we started emptying the kitchen. We’ve got one week to get it totally empty, but needed to get at least some of the cabinets clear now. (If it were solely up to Mom, we would have emptied everything today except perhaps a single saucepan and a couple dishes and forks, but, really, there’s still 5 days that we need to be able to use the kitchen! I think we’ve emptied out enough for right now, don’t you? The table is 3/4 full and the one wall is lined with filled boxes.

Who knew a kitchen could hold so much??

Speaking of food and kitchens and mothers, check out this hilarious excerpt from “More” magazine: an essay by Ruth Reichl called “Becoming Your Mother.” Very funny!

  There is one sad thing in the kitchen, though. Back in 1987, when I was in college, my parents visited me on my semester abroad in London. Mom was captivated by the exit signs in the Tube (or, subway, as we Americans would call it). And so, she bought this sticker, and it’s been on our kitchen door ever since. Only now, the door is being replaced, and the sticker will be history. She doesn’t know that she would have wanted to put a new sticker on the new door, but she’s kind of sad about having to see it go.

So, really, it’s kind of a somber Mother’s Day in our household. Let’s all have a moment of silence for the near-empty kitchen cabinets and the “Way Out” sticker, shall we?

(pause)

Thank you.

As to knitting, I did the hem on my “Nothing but a Shirt” last night, only now I’m not so sure . . . I’m thinking the gauge is still a little too big. Especially if it’s going to expand when I wash it! This, for me, is the frustrating thing about sweaters–they have to fit. Mathematically speaking, that shouldn’t be a problem. Number of stitches divided by gauge per inch equals size. Should be simple! In fact, I even enjoy figuring out the math for that. And yet . . .

. . . And yet, I’ve had problems fitting the last few sweaters I’ve knitted. Either my gauge has been off as I knitted (despite test swatches at the beginning) or worse, the gauge changed when I washed the sweater to block it–extraordinarily aggravating! And how can you plan for that kind of irregularity? Even the Calmer swatch the other night–it was exactly right, then I washed it, and it bloomed and stretched a quarter inch. If my sweater’s going to do that, how do I account for that? What if it only expands a quarter inch over 8″ instead of the 4″ I swatched? Or if it doesn’t stretch at all? How can I know?? And if the Back on my needles right now is looking like it might be just a little too large (despite having checked the gauge and picked the mathematically-appropriate size to knit) . . . what do I do if it stretches, too?

How does one adjust for variables beyond one’s control? I can only pass so many sweaters on to my niece! (She is the current owner of my Audrey sweater, which looked beautiful, but was just a little too clingy for my waistline and looks much better on my niece’s trim figure.) Planning–much as I hate to admit it–can only take you so far.

• Tags: Baking, General • Permalink:Sunday in the Kitchen with Debbie // 4 Comments »

  First, here’s a picture of me (the “sexy model” shot) in my lovely new shawl. (Pity there was no sun.)

Now, I wore it into town this morning and . . . I don’t want to offend anybody who liked it, but as Mom and I were waiting for traffic at a crosswalk, a woman came over and asked, “Is that a Martha Poncho?” And, I’m sorry, but . . . what? That was a gray, crocheted poncho with fringe (note the restraint in regard to derogatory adjectives); mine is a triangular, knitted shawl in corals and blues, with lace along the edge. I don’t see any resemblance whatsoever. In my shock at the question, I said, “This is a shawl.” Her reply? “Oh, it looks just like it.” And, well, I’m just completely offended at that (grin). (Especially since she didn’t even start with something like, “That’s so nice. Is it a Martha poncho?” No, no. She never actually said she liked it, just that she thought it looked like that . . . {pause, while self-editing is in progress} poncho.

Sigh.

Ah well, I know it’s nicer than that! (I will say, though, that it does shed–which I knew it would. Its one flaw.)

I went to our closing LYS this morning, and really scored, as you can see by the two bags of yarn I brought home. (And really, I showed what I think was admirable restraint.) As of right now, everything is 30% off. I’m sure the discount will increase between now and the end of the month as the inventory gets smaller. I might go back in a couple weeks, just to see, but am working on the assumption that this was probably my last visit.

  I picked up a couple things for my KR Secret Pal, so I can’t show you those, but for me, I got 19 balls of Calmer, with which I have just renewed my love affair. There’s a couple skeins of an eyelash yarn for a little scarf for Mom (which we decided will be her Mother’s Day present–though obviously it won’t be done by tomorrow!). Some stitch protectors, a Chibi, another row counter, some hand lotion . . .

  And, oh yes. Two skeins of novelty yarn which Mom will be using–not to knit (she cross-stitches, but does not knit or crochet). No, these are to be used for gift-wrapping purposes. She worries that the yarn it too expensive to use as ribbon, and yet, considering the yardage (not to mention the 30% off), I think they are great deals. Heaven knows the fancy, ribbony, sparkly yarns are a lot more impressive than the gift-wrap ribbon you find at your local Hallmark store. Personally, I think she was brilliant to think of it. (And by all means, feel free to borrow the idea.)

Who says you have to be in Maryland this weekend to get good fiber deals??

(Naturally, of course, today was one of the days when everyone in the store was helpful and friendly–and all kind of sad at the shop closing (though they’ll still have the online store). It just figures, though, that this would be the time when they’re nice so that I’m forced to regret their closing more than I would otherwise have done.)

1. How? How do you find books to read? Reviews? Recommendations? Favorite Authors? Other?

All of the above. I look for authors I love and genres I love, willingly accept recommendations from friends, and just plain old browse–either online or in a store.

2. Where? Where do you get your books? Independent bookstores? Chain stores? Online? Library?

More than anywhere else, Amazon.com. After that, mostly chain stores like Barnes & Noble or Borders. I’d love to patronize independent stores but there are so few good ones anywhere near me (as in, any that are near aren’t that good, and if they’re good, they’re not that near). I can’t remember the last time I checked a book out of the library, though. Given a choice, I’d rather adopt a book and give it a good home than to “foster” and end up giving it back to the system. Books need love, too!

3. When? Or more accurately, how often? How many books on average do you get or buy each month?

Um, er, I’m almost ashamed to admit that my book-buying habits are worse than my yarn-buying habits. Got to have them; can’t live without them; must have new ones. Every couple of weeks, usually, at least once a month, and rarely ever fewer than three at a time . . . more specific than that, I’m not going!

For those of you in the never-ending search for the perfect knitting bag, here is your opportunity to voice your opinion. I received the email below from an SnB mailing list.

A Chicago area knitter, Julie Grusin, has launched a business designing and manufacturing knitting bags and cases for hip knitters. Julie is a passionate knitter who knows the challenges of carrying multiple projects, needles, etc while “on the go” as well as keeping everything clean, organized and accessible while at home. Her line is being designed using sophisticated colors and fabrics that look great and wear well. In addition the products will have the functionality that knitters need.

Julie is currently conducting customer research to ensure her designs are “on-point” (and what better way to do that then to ask knitters!) Please take a moment to take her survey, it is on-line, very easy and takes just a minute to complete. She will be sending out special previews and discounts to anyone who completes the survey prior to the product line debut in the Fall.

Finally, please pass this link along to any knitters you know…the more responses from knitters the better!

Here is the link…simply click on-it or cut and paste into your browser and it will take you directly to the survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=4328857819

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

• Tags: Finished Knitting, General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:For Those Not at MDS&W // 10 Comments »

I definitely recommend Brooks Farm Yarn. No question about it.

If you’re going to MDS&W this weekend and you see their booth, by all means, run don’t walk over there. (Though, please, try not to run over any small children. I’d hate to feel responsible.)

Obviously, here’s my shawl, pinned out to the guest room bed. (The points don’t quite fit–they’re curved over the edge.) In an interesting little bit of serendipity, I had exactly the right number of T-pins in my container. Not one too few or one too many. Exactly what I needed. (I do have other pins, but that would have required getting another container. How lucky is it for it to come out just right?)

And, here’s a close-up of the edging, properly pinned out this time. I love how the color variations give the edging an alternate, vertical “stripe.”

I can’t tell you how happy I am with the way this came out! How delighted I am that I splurged on this yarn. It was worth absolutely every penny. It’s incredibly soft; the colors are amazing and the two rather different colors I picked blended so well together. The closest thing I have to a complaint is that it sheds, but well, it’s mostly mohair. Of course it’s going to shed at least a little. I can’t wait intil it’s dry and I can try it on.

I made a swatch for Alison’s NbaT and miraculously came up with 4″ exactly with my 19 stitches. On my first try. That’s practically unheard of! The pattern calls for a US size 8 needle, and I used a size 6, knowing that I knit loosely and that the 8 would be nowhere near what I needed. I’m being SO good, though, because I’m actually washing the swatch so I can verify the actual, real gauge for later on.

  This is a rare, rare step for me. Usually I’m so anxious to get into the actual knitting, I just skim past the swatch process as quickly as possible. That is, until I knitted my last sweater, and when I washed it for blocking, it streeeeetttccccchhhhhhhheeeeeeeed. Badly. I ended up putting the poor thing in the dryer to shrink/felt it enough to be able to wear it. It had fit pretty much perfectly right off the needles, and I found out later that the yarn (Jo Sharp’s Silkroad Aran) was notorious for expanding. I’ve never had such a drastic difference before, but I don’t want it to happen again, and so, I’m washing this swatch.

That said, it’s still nothing like the nice, large, formal swatches I see on some other blogs. I frankly don’t worry too much about row gauge, except around armholes and necklines. All I really want to confirm is that the width of my knitted garment is going to be the size I need it to be. Length, I can handle as I go.

You know, I’d forgotten how much I liked using Rowan’s Calmer! A cotton yarn with stretch, a real delight to work with. Not only that, as I was watching my swatch, I was thinking what a great washcloth it would make . . . well, if I have extra, I guess I know what I’ll do with it!

Edited to add: I measured my now-dry Calmer swatch at lunch time, and it’s grown. What was exactly 4 inches is now 4 and a quarter. How weird is that!

For those of you not Maryland-bound this weekend, we need to stick together! Julia and Margene had a great idea. Why should the festivizing people have all the fun? We can have a nice, internet part of our own!

• Tags: Finished Knitting, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Brooks Farm Rules! // 6 Comments »

  I got an RAOK from Lu, today. Wasn’t that sweet of her? She felt badly that my KRSP package hadn’t arrived, and sent me a missing-package-sympathy gift. (I just hope she doesn’t regret it now that it appears that we may have thrown the poor package away ourselves! All that excessive cleaning in preparation for the kitchen refacing this week . . . )

The yarns are both lovely, orange-y shades–a little washed-out in the picture, but beautiful in person–and the little box in the middle is a candle.

Thanks, Lu!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Thanks, Lu! // 2 Comments »

I can’t believe it’s May 5th already. May is a red letter month in my family. My brother-in-law’s birthday is the 11th. My niece’s 16th birthday is on the 24th. My nephew’s 12th birthday is on the 20th.

Naturally, I graduated college (Drew University) in May–on the 20th, 1989–on, in fact, my niece’s due date. She very thoughtfully waited four more days before being born, and thus timed her arrival exactly halfway between my brother-in-law’s and my sister’s birthdays (June 7th). Not bad timing, considering she didn’t have access to a calendar, but then, she’s always been pretty thoughtful. And my nephew obviously thought that date sounded so nice, he used it for his own arrival. (We’re a very close family.)

May also ties in with almost all of our family dogs.

  We lost Muppy (on the left), our very first dog on May 5th, 22 years ago, when she was exactly 5 1/2 years old. (It was a rare form of anemia; nothing we could do.) Almost exactly a year later, on the day after Mother’s Day, we adopted Jilly (to the right). They were both miniature dachshunds; Muppy was a wire-haired; Jilly was smooth. Poor Muppy (whose name is short for “Mustard,” since she was a hot dog and we were kids). She was here for such a short time, and none of us had really decent cameras, so this professional shot is one of the only good pictures of her. Her fur was beautiful–she was more silver than tan, but had some of just about every possible hair color in there somewhere. It’s just such a shame she was so often sick.

Jilly had more classic dachshund coloring, and we were lucky enough to have her for a long, full life–almost 15 1/2 years! For my Boykins, I also lost Katy in May (on the 12th), four years ago . . . (Right around the time Chappy was being conceived, actually, so I suppose he’s got some connection to May, too!)

Mom and I always go on vacation together in May–have been since I was in college. In fact, in two weeks, I’ll be on Martha’s Vineyard. (Can’t wait!) We’ll have Chappy with us, too, and I’m sure a good time will be had by all. We’re timing this trip to overlap the refacing of our kitchen and bathrooms, too, so Mom and Chappy won’t be stressed by the household chaos. (My father actually volunteered to give up golf for a week, which, if you knew my father, would tell you exactly how stressed my mother would have been.)

Which reminds me, I need to find some good reading material to bring with me. Usually, I’ll have at least one, looked-forward-to book to bring along. (A relic of the days when Mom would buy one “Vacation Book,” which I wasn’t allowed to start until we were actually on vacation. Waiting to start it was agony.) This year, though . . . nothing special. I’m sure I’ll find something decent to bring along, but . . . nothing that’s got me champing at the bit.

And, we may be the only family that bothers to keep track of these things, but my half-birthday is in May. Tomorrow, in fact. Yes, I know it sounds silly. Who bothers to know when their half-birthday is? Except that, when you’re a kid, those halves are important! Four-and-a-half is much older than just plain, old four. (Everyone knows that!) We never did anything elaborate, of course, but Mom would say, “Happy Half-Birthday,” and might make a point of not making anything particularly disliked for dinner. One year, honest to goodness, she gave me half of a birthday card. (I really do come by these eccentricities honestly.)

May has Mother’s Day (U.S.) and Memorial Day, too . . . that includes a nationally-mandated 3-day weekend from work.

Really, except for the allergy thing, who could have anything against the Merry Month of May?

Oh! And I finished my shawl last night! I’ll get some pictures when I block it . . .

• Tags: Family, General, Katy, Jilly, Muppy • Permalink:May Days // 8 Comments »

First, an update on my KR Secret Pal package. My pal has contacted UPS and they’ve called me twice, and . . . I’m starting to worry that somehow, this is our fault, that the package may somehow have ended up being (gulp) recycled. The sad part is that nobody remembers doing so or not doing so, but my local UPS driver (who’s at our house at least once or twice a week) distinctly remembers dropping off two packages on Friday, at the same time, and with the same time stamps on their tracking system. Since I definitely have one of them, I have a hard time believing the other one got up and walked away!

The problem, assuming it comes down to this, is that we far-too-frequently get sent unsolicited catalogs from both Office Depot and from Staples–big, thick ones in cardboard boxes–and since my secret pal shipped the package from Staples, it’s possible . . . just absurdly possible enough! . . . that the box was tossed without really looking at it–which would explain why none of us remember it. (Who remembers junk mail once it’s out of your hands? Not that this would have been junk mail, but assuming this is what happened, we didn’t know that! And if this is what happened, I feel even worse about it than I did yesterday! Believe me, if one of us accidentally recycled my gift package, nobody feels worse about it than I do!!)

Sigh. That would be just my luck, wouldn’t it?? Talk about stupidity!

On the plus side, I got an e-mail from Woodland Woolworks and they’re sending me a check for the amount they accidentally overcharged me. Edited to add: Or will they? I just got another e-mail saying, basically, “nope, we were right the first time,” when they clearly weren’t. My packing slip states exactly how much more I was due to be charged for the back-ordered items and I was charged more than that. It doesn’t get simpler than that, does it? Argh! They’d better send the check! I’ve got plenty of back-up documentation if they need it.

  I passed the halfway point on the edging for my Brooks Farm shawl. I figure, two more nights and it will be done, and I have no problem letting my Peacock rest that much longer!

  Here’s a close-up of the edging, unblocked though it obviously is. (You can really see the colors beautifully in this shot. Man, this yarn is gorgeous.)

The sweater-strike of yesterday has been resolved. The Fluffer’s services were not required, and everybody’s back in the closet, where they belong. I offered some new cedar blocks, and they accepted the deal, and everyone’s happy.

I got an e-mail yesterday that my local yarn shop is closing June 1st. Now, it’s not one of my favorite shops–they seem to have been rude and unhelpful about eight out of each ten times I was there–but they do have Rowan yarn, which I often like, and some other nice ones, although, there’s always been such a leaning toward novelty yarns, which I almost never use. And once they stopped carrying Debbie Bliss, I really haven’t found much worth going back for. But, since they’re closing, they will be having sales . . . I’d say that maybe a visit is in order, huh? You know, to say good-bye (good-buy?), for old times’ sake?

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:You Say You Want a Resolution…Well, You know. // 7 Comments »

I seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties . . .

First, I heard from my KR Secret Pal today. She shipped my first gift over a week ago and UPS says they delivered it on Friday (which, to do her credit, would have still been in April and therefore not yet late!). And yet . . . there’s no such box here! She’s checking with UPS, and feels just terrible. (So do I; I hope it wasn’t anything that happened on our end!)

Then, I got my Visa bill, and Woodland Woolworks overcharged me for my Lendrum–since two of the “complete package” items were backordered, they were billed separately and at $40 too much. I’m sure they’ll fix the error, but . . . I’m not happy about it and just sent them a (very nice, polite) e-mail to check on it.

Typepad no longer remembers me, and every time I come by to post or update anything, I have to sign in as if I were new, instead of it knowing who I am, as it used to do. I know, it doesn’t take that long to type in a username and password, but why, Typepad, do you keep giving me the “Remember Me” option, if you’re always going to forget, like a bad boyfriend? It’s not like I’ve changed any firewall options on my pc lately.

Sigh.

I love computers!

And, oh yes, my closet exploded.

You know how, you keep your sweaters neatly folded, and everything’s going smoothly . . . and then that last month or so of winter comes along, and suddenly, none of them want to behave? It’s like they know they’re about to be put away for a long, long time, and so they rebel.

Well, this morning, two cubby’s-worth of sweaters decided it was time to ACT, and so here they are, staging a strike on my bed. (If you listen really carefully, you can hear them, “Knit? No! We won’t go!”)

  My next step is to try to negotiate, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll have to send in the big guns–The Fluffer. (Doesn’t he look like he means business?) Yes, in his meek and mild non-professional persona this is my sweet little Chappy . . . but give him a pillow, blanket, towel or sweater and he will fluff the living daylights out of it! Vigorously shaking it, pounding it against the floor, rubbing his head into it, scratching with his paws . . . I don’t know how our sofa pillows managed without him and think they love the rough-housing, but I’m pretty confident my delicate handknits are going to cave before it gets that far.)

Meanwhile, I’m working on my Brooks Farm shawl. Since that’s just a matter of days away from being complete, and my Peacock shawl is still a few weeks away . . . I kind of like the idea of having a Finished Object. It’s been a while!

Hey, on the plus side today, I did successfully get two UPS shipments from Amazon–including the third book of a trilogy that I’ve been looking forward to, so I guess it’s not ALL bad!

• Tags: Chappy, General • Permalink:Technical Difficulties // 2 Comments »

  This was fast! I just ordered this yarn. On Thursday. From Colourway in England. And here it is, in my house in New Jersey on Monday. Talk about speedy service–and it had to go through Customs, too!

This is wonderful, because now I can start my “Nothing but a T” (though not, really, until I finish at least one of the projects I’m working on!). The Coral yarn is a little pinker than I’d hoped it would be–I thought it would have a little more orange to it–but it’s still a nice color. The khaki on the left is the one I picked to be the accent color. The four skeins of green Kid Silk Haze? Well, the price for the yarn was really good, and I thought it would be nice to make something else with it . . . it’s about the only fuzzy yarn that I’ve ever liked, and so soft and light!

I started the edging on my Brooks Farm shawl last night. So far, I’ve done the entire thing in garter stitch, with paired increases at the center and at the ends of every other row, to make a nice, elongated triangle. I wanted it to be simple, both for the sake of knitting, but also because I wanted the focus to be the yarn, not the fancy stitch work. You’ll remember that the two yarns looked like this. (I really love that photo–the colors are practically perfect, and you just want to dive right in there!)

Still, I couldn’t quite let it go without doing something a little special along the edge! So I’m doing this nice, little Diamond Edging. Except, at this gauge, it doesn’t look little at all. It adds a nice fillip, though, don’t you think?

(Oh, and interestingly, that same site has this same, exact lace pattern with a completely different name. Same exact thing. Makes you wonder how many other, identical lace patterns are floating around out there!)

The lace has some K3-togethers in it, too, which are particularly challenging with thick yarn–not to mention two strands of yarn. In fact, I’ve been slipping the first stitch to my right needle, doing a K2-tog and then sliding that slipped stitch back over, instead of trying to knit all three stitches at once. It’s working much better. The amount of edging you see, though, is about an hour’s worth of knitting. I’m sure it will pick up a little now I’m familiar with the pattern, but I’ve still got a ways to go. Now I’m trying to decide if I should just let my Peacock rest until I’ve got this completely done, or should I continue working on both of them . . . or, you know, just knit as the mood strikes each night! (Yeah, like you can’t guess which one it will be.)

And, do you know, it’s May now, and I still haven’t gotten my first package from my KR secret pal? The one that’s supposed to arrive in March/April? I admit I’m a little disappointed, but am trying to have faith! I did, at least, get a Comment from her at the beginning of April, so I know she’s out there somewhere . . . (grin)

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Where We Resume Our Usual Programming // 2 Comments »

Here’s my reading list from the month of April–because this blog isn’t only about the knitting!

1. SERPENT ON THE CROWN by Elizabeth Peters. (350 p). The latest Amelia Peabody mystery. Not as good as the earlier ones (it’s one of my favorite mystery series), but a reasonable diversion.
2. SCALES OF GOLD by Dorothy Dunnett (519 p.)
3. UNICORN HUNT by Dorothy Dunnett (656 p.)
4. TO LIE WITH LIONS by Dorothy Dunnett (626 p.)
5. CAPRICE AND RONDO by Dorothy Dunnett (539 p.)
6. GEMINI by Dorothy Dunnett (671 p.) The last five of the eight-book “House of Niccolo” series of historical fiction by this, the master of historical fiction. What can I say? It’s the third time I’ve read through this and I’m still in awe. So MANY things going on! Absolutely amazing.
7. A GATHERING OF LACE by Meg Swanson. A book of lace knitting patterns. Most of them are beautiful and amazing, a few are just “nice,” and there are actually a couple that are downright ugly . . . but it still counts as a great lace book. I don’t think much of its production value, though. The start and end of each pattern is awfully hard to spot, and finding the names of the patterns? Far too difficult!
8. AMERICAN BRUTUS by Michael Kauffman (400 p.) The first of two amazing history books this month. The story of and behind John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln. (Did you know it started as a plot to kidnap him? Did you know that there WAS a plot, that he didn’t act alone? Did you know there was an attack on the Secretary of State the same night? And possibly one that didn’t pan out on the Vice-President? Me neither. Well, okay, I read some of that a year or so ago in the book “April 1865” but I know I never learned it in school, and it’s fascinating! Great book.
9. LARSSON by Renate Puvogel (93 p.) A small little volume of Carl Larsson’s paintings and a brief history of him and his work. I just love this man’s art. Love it.
10. PONCHOS AND WRAPS by the editors of Knitters Magazine (78 p.) Another book of knitting patterns, bought primarily for the “Sleeves in Your Pi” pattern, since, really, I’m not that fond of ponchos!
11. NO COLLAR, NO SERVICE by Paul Gilligan (128 p.) A collection (the second) of “Pooch Café” cartoons—the very best dog cartoon strip out there, in my opinion. I read it every day at www.sitstay.com. Always! Poncho is quite a little dog . . . and reminds me, sometimes a little too much, of Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes”—I think he’s channeling him from comics heaven, or something, but that’s fine with me. “C&H” is my other favorite strip, gone though it is!
12. CONRAD’S FATE by Diana Wynne Jones (375 p.) Yes, I know she’s a young adult author, but I got hooked on her when I was one (6^th or 7^th grade, I think) and have been reading her books ever since. This is her newest, with a starring role from a young “Chrestomanci” (who has appeared in four of her other books, including the first one I ever read, which is why he’s one of my favorite characters). I enjoyed this one a lot more than her last book. Fun.
13. POWERS OF DETECTION edited by Dana Stabenow (224 p.) A book of fantasy-related mysteries, some better than others. Not a bad collection, but still, even though I keep trying, I’m really not a short story fan.
14. THE GAME by Laurie R. King (442 p.) The latest in her Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series, this one set in India. It’s an enjoyable mystery series, though the first book is still my favorite.
15. PAWN OF PROPHECY by David Eddings (258 p.)
16. QUEEN OF SORCERY by David Eddings (327 p.)
17. MAGICIAN’S GAMBIT by David Eddings (305 p.)
18. CASTLE OF WIZARDRY by David Eddings (373 p.)
19. ENCHANTER’S END GAME by David Eddings (372 p.) I don’t know how they came up with those titles, but collectively, these five books are called the “Belgariad” and it’s a much better title. These are comfort reads for me, since I read them first as they were published, back in the 80s, and that’s pretty much what I needed, the middle of this month,
20. THE GREAT INFLUENZA by John Barry (451 p.) The second great history book of the month, telling about the pandemic that swept the world in 1918. Absolutely amazing (and scary) story, well-presented, and dramatically written. (Okay, there were occasional lapses toward melodrama, as in the frequent repeats of “It was influenza. Only influenza,” but the book was so well done, I’ll forgive the author for trying to drum up extra dramatic effect—even though this is one story that really didn’t need the help.) Excellent
21. MORETA by Anne McCaffrey (314 p.) I thought after reading of a real pandemic, this fictional one—taking place on her fictional world of Pern (one of my favs)—would be appropriate.
22. SUBURBAN SAFARI by Hanna Holmes (245 p.) Basically, for a year, this woman sat outside in her back yard, watching the surprising amount of wildlife. It was interesting and thoughtful and, really, beautifully written. She’s very good at evoking a place or a feeling. Natural history’s not my usual “thing,” but this was good.
23. ALPHABET OF THORN by Patricia McKillip (291 p.) A fantasy book by one of those unique authors . . . her books have such a feeling of mystery and haunting magic—just like fairy tales did when I was a kid. This one involves a book written in an alphabet of intertwined thorns, being translated by an orphan, raised to work in the kingdom’s library. I enjoyed this a lot.
24. STRING IN THE HARP by Nancy Bond (365 p). Also a YA book, and one I pull off the shelf periodically. I love Nancy Bond’s writing, and her sense of description is well-honed, indeed. This involves a troubled family, transplanted to Wales for a year, where Peter finds what he’s sure is an ancient harp key that belonged to Taliesen. I’ve been re-reading this book since I was about 12. Love it. (And don’t let the young-adult heading fool you; this actually took me longer than the last three novels I’d read, which were written for adults.)
25. SEDUCTION OF WATER by Carol Goodman (356 p.) I really wanted to love this book—sort of a modern day, Gothic mystery. The main character, a struggling writer, heads to the hotel her parents used to manage to look for hints that may have caused her mother to not have published her last novel, and what may have made her leave . . . The writing was capable, the descriptions were apt, the main character reasonably interesting . . . and yet, I was bored. And I picked the “villain” right off the bat, too . . . A book is far too predictable when you can identify the love interest and the bad guy(s) from the minute you meet them. I put this down halfway through (and peeked at the last few pages to confirm my guess). There were lots of raves for this at amazon.com, so it’s clearly not a bad book. It just never grabbed me. I did like the links to fairy tales, though, and I also think the author is a knitter, since there were a lot of references to it!
26. MY SISTER’S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult (423 p.) Anna’s parents conceived her specifically to be a genetic match for her older sister, ill of leukemia. Now, at 13, they’re asking for a kidney transplant, and Anna goes to a lawyer to ask for medical emancipation, effectively tearing her family into little, emotional pieces. Like most of this author’s books, this addressed a compelling, moral issue, had 3D characters, and was a good, fast read. Emotionally wrenching, since you know that her sister is going to die if herAnna wins her lawsuit.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:April Reading–It’s not only about the knitting! // 3 Comments »