Archive for the ‘Knitting’ Category

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I Thought Today was the First

November 2, 2010

Maybe it’s because we were expecting to have two propane heaters installed.  No one showed up until 4:30 and all they did was bring the tank.  I had to take Gus for a walk by myself and I was feeling crappy.  Do you ever feel like you are on the verge of getting a cold, but it never materializes?  I felt that way for a few days.  I’m better today.  Not wonderful, just better. 

When I left Bismarck on Wednesday morning, it was in the 20’s, the wind was going at about 50MPH and it was snowing.  Yes.  I said SNOW!!  I am so glad I had brought my Philosophers Wool sweater, my Sanguhar gloves and wool entrelac hat.  They had to de-ice the plane three times before taking off.  We were an hour late leaving.  I kept hoping someone would start crying or screaming for a little entertainment, but no such luck.  I guess the plane was full of North Dakotans. 

Here’s my girlfriend in the hat that I made her getting ready to take me to the airport.

By the time we got to Denver, it was 50 and sunny.  My daughter called while I was still on the first plane, so I called while I was waiting.  She had heard about the nasty weather.  We chatted for a while.  It was nice to hear her voice.  I was going to get a bite to eat, but I had a headache and nothing appealed to me.  I bought a bottle of water and added a tube of lemonade mix.  I felt a lot better after that.  I had plenty of time so I refilled it and added iced tea mix.  Since I had a two-hour wait, I found a semi-quiet space and sat down and knit and listened to my iPod.

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LSD

September 17, 2010

All right.  Get your minds out of the gutter.  Around here, LSD means Lower Slower Delaware.  Things are different here.  That upper part might as well be part of Philadelphia.  I would also like to thank my Grandson for giving me this sticker.  He knows what Nanny likes.  I display it proudly.

I’ve finished the socks and have started on mittens to match.  With the pattern,doing the thumb gusset was a little hairy, but it turned out well.  I decided to start the cuff with the tan/brown this time.  I think I mentioned that it is lighter than the yellow/orange/green.  Socks get more tugging and pulling than mittens so it should be all right.  Did I mention that I will be delivering these in person?   I finally bit the bullet and booked a flight to Bismarck, ND.  This will be my first time since 9/11.  So many rules!  It’s kind of scary!  I hope I live through it>  At least I’ll have my knitting.

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Crabcakes

September 9, 2010

God must love me.  He gave me the ability to make perfect crabcakes.

It’s very simple.  See the beautiful backfin crabmeat on the right?  You just dump it in the bowl of stuff on the left that looks like baby poop.  Form into cakes and cook.

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Sunday on the Nanticoke

September 7, 2010

I was heading down to Salisbury for knitting group when my daughter called.  They caught two full bushels of crabs and they were starting to steam them.   OMG!  OMG!  OMG!  I hadn’t had any this year so I was ready.  But the girls were expecting me.  That’s OK because they would be steaming for hours.  I stopped at Wal-Mart to get another cooler and more enormous Hefty bags.  I wished I hadn’t.  The place was a zoo.  It took me ten minutes just to find a parking spot.  This one is super-duper and only has six handicapped spots.  What’s up with that?  If she had called a half hour earlier, I would have gone to Seaford.  That one is only half the size and has a good fifty handicapped spots.   It makes no sense.  I wasted half an hour that should have taken ten.

I was about 30 minutes late to group.  I said I would be leaving at 4PM to go eat crabs in an effort to make everybody jealous.  We talked about some knitty problems and had a little show and tell(always fun).  Maria was late as usual and I helped her with her glove.  She sent me a picture this morning of the first finished one.  YEAH!   Around 3:45 I remembered I had six bags of yarn to get rid of in my van.  So out to the van we trooped.  We took it back in and dumped it on the floor for everyone to pick over.  I even had a bunch of old needles that I knew I would never use.  They took everything.  I am so happy!   The yarn got good homes.

I finally got out of there around 4:30 and headed on down the road.  I still had a good half hour of driving to go.  When I got there they were pigging out on hot crabs.  I joined in.  They still had about a hundred to cook.  Is there anything better than hot steamed crabs?  We all had about ten a piece.  There was also corn on the cob, green beans and hot dogs.  Everything was good.  Observe grandson, please. 

  

We sat and talked for a while and watched the sun set. 

Time for me to go home.

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Getting Rid of Yarn

September 4, 2010

It was hard at first.  You look at a cone of thin purple yarn and think, “This would make a nice shawl.”   Do you really want a purple shawl when you’ve got skeins of knock-out beautiful Skacel lace-weight?  Into the bag it goes.  And what’s with this so-called mohair that says acrylic on the label.  Look at this shiny stuff!  What the h**l was I going to make with that?  In an hour, I had filled three bags.  And I haven’t even looked at a quarter of my stash.  So what am I going to do with it?  Yarn sale?  Nay.  It’s not worth the effort.  Do any of my friends want any of it?  Well.  Do you?

No.  I am not getting rid of this yarn.  This is some of what we bought at Frivolous Fibers on Tuesday.  I have a swift and ball winder so I wound them up for a friend.  The lime and the Noro should make a nice pair of mosaic socks with matching hat or gloves–or maybe mittens.

Here is the sock that I have been working on. They are both a wool and nylon which I like for socks.  It’s also good for gloves, especially the snug ones that I prefer.  The tan/brown is from Lang.  It’s almost lace-weight and has a nice halo.  The yellow/green/orange is from Enchanted Knoll Farm in Maine.  It is more tightly spun and a more standard sock weight.  I like the way the two colors play off each other.  I’m going to definitely try this again.  The pattern is simple.  Knit one row. Knit one, slip one on the next.  Alternate the colors and the slips and you get an interesting design.  The little pockets it creates will help keep Arizona feet from freezing in North Dakota.

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Out with the Girls

September 2, 2010

OK.  So we’re not girls.  But it sounds a lot better than a bunch of old hags. 

After being off work since May, Maria finally has to go back to work next Tuesday.  We decided a field trip was in order.  So.  Where to go?  Betty would be coming too.  And where hadn’t she been?  Why, Frivolous Fibers of course.  Yeah!!  It’s not a place we care to visit in the summer due to those pesky evil tourists.  But, we figured it wouldn’t be so bad since just about all the schools had started, so off we went. 

I drove as usual.  I like to drive and, well, I have a minivan and everyone fits in comfortably.  Temperatures were in the mid-90s so we had the AC on.  It took awhile to figure out what to do to get air back to Leslie.  She’s got COPD so it’s kind of important.  We had to fiddle with vents and buttons for a while.  You’d think that with a 14-year-old car, I would know by now what to do.  I seldom have anyone in the second seat and I am not big on cold air blowing on me.  I am so glad I had socks on.  

I am certain we spent at least three hours at Frivolous Fibers.  Fortunately, I brought my knitting.  It didn’t take me long to find the yarn that I wanted.  Happily, this place has comfy chairs so I sat down, got out my knitting and waited and waited.  Maria, as usual, went insane.  She saw a scarf that she had to make.  They didn’t have any yarn the same color in the shop.  The clerk called Barbara(Blue Heron Yarn) and she didn’t have any at her studio either.  So someone is going to take it to her(she lives in the next town) so she can make more for Maria.  How cool is that?  In the meantime, Maria wasn’t going to leave without something so she spent a good hour trying to make up her mind.  Of course she wound up some Blue Heron.  Betty went a little crazy, too.  She finally wound up with some silk merino in a soft lavender green sock yarn, also from Blue Heron.  Did I get Blue Heron?  Nope.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t own any.

I also want to mention where we went for lunch/supper.  The lady at the shop told us about it.  She even had a menu.  It’s a place called Sam’s.  It’s on the way back to Route 50, not far from the old part of St Michael’s.  It doesn’t look like much, but the prices are reasonable, the menu is large and the food is wonderful.  And it beats the hell out of those trendy places in town.

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Acorn Club

August 30, 2010

Who are these people and why do they keep sending me my husband phone books?  It says, “Prepared Under The Sponsorship Of  The Acorn Club, Inc. A Member Of The General Federation Of Women’s Clubs”.  Women’s Clubs??  Then, why is my husband listed and not me?  Go look me up in the regular phone book.  There I am.  It’s the least they can do.  I pay the frigging bill.  But, then again, as my mother used to say to me, “I was JUST the girl”.  So now, I guess I am JUST the woman–according to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.  They certainly are not going to find me darkening their doorstep.  I’ll just go over here and sit in the corner and knit socks and hope no one notices me.  Yeah.  Right.  Like that’s going to happen.

PS.  Over five years ago, the Powers That Be changed all the house numbers.  Our old house number is shown, whereas every neighbor that I searched has the correct number.  Why is that?  Is it because they made a “donation” and we didn’t?  I won’t say anymore.

Since we have to have a picture, here’s my new glasses.  Don’t you just love red?  I would have included a picture of me wearing them, but I was exceedingly ugly that day.

For those of you searching for knitting content, I spent two days trying to decide what kind of socks to make my girlfriend.  First there was the yarn problem and then there was the design problem.  More on that later.  Time to make dinner.

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Three Fingered Gloves

August 27, 2010

They ae not as easy as they look.  I had a hard time closing the gap over the missing finger area.  I wanted it to have a nice, smooth appearance with no strange-looking decreases.  This was especially hard with the Coraline gloves–all those color changes, some right at the gap.  I spent a lot of time fiddling with it.  I finally resigned myself to the fact that I would never get it perfect.  Usually, when I am weaving in the ends on gloves, I turn it inside out and put it on.  That way I can see where I need to tweak anything.  Well, this is not possible when the glove has three fingers and you’ve got four. 

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Coraline Gloves for Carolyn

August 17, 2010

Do you have any idea how HAPPY I am that are finished?  I spent TWO DAYS weaving in the ends!  That’s 50 per glove!   I had a h**l of a time with the closure at the missing finger with all the color changes and stupid ends.  Usually I put the glove on when weaving.  Since I didn’t want to cut my ring finger off, I had to improvise.  I used an Emory board, a fat ballpoint pen and a tube of lip balm, but working between the pinkie and middle was still difficult. 

If you are interested in making your own, I’ll be putting up a new page.  I’ve already started it, so it won’t be too long. 

I will be starting her third pair of gloves this evening.  One color this time.   Then, I think I’ll make two pairs of socks.  I have got to make myself a pair of Caroline gloves, but with fingering weight.    It should be Autumn by then so I’ll probably start a sweater.  But, will I be able to get to my yarn by then? 

new kitchen wall

 

Here is the new kitchen wall.  Doug called the cabinet people today and someone is coming by tomorrow.  Yeah! 

See the little closet?  Flo thinks that it’s a good place to keep her Skunky.  She has a lot of trouble finding a place to keep him. 

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I Was Debating

August 10, 2010

I have used up all my space.  So I thought, ‘should I buy more or just say the hell with it?’  I’m a pretty lame blogger.  I’m a retired old woman with not much of anything better to do.  Please observe that I did not say “lady”!

I started this thing to combat Warm Brown Turdism.  It is a horrible  disease.  You see WBTs everywhere.  Have a seat at the boardwalk and watch them go by.  Look at everyone closely, but not too closely.  They scare easily.   What are they thinking?  Are they thinking?   Better yet.  What are you thinking?  What are you doing?  Are you just sitting there?  You better not be texting.  Too much of that causes WBT!  Oh.  You’ve got your iPod.  What are you listening to?  Is it the latest piece of crap that everybody else is listening to?  Or is it Jimmy Reed singing Big Boss Man?  Or Jussi Bjordling at Carnegie Hall?  Or the History of Rome podcast?  Or the Math Dude podcast?  Do you even know that you can use your beloved iPod to actually learn something?  And what about your hands?   Are they just laying there?  All right.  I’ll stop.

So anyway.  I bought more space .  I am hoping to write more patterns, but don’t hold your breath.  No.  Go ahead.  You’ll pass out and start breathing again.  So have fun with that. 

Carolyn's gloves

Here’s Carolyn with the gloves I made her.  The fit is good so I only need to weave in all the ends.  I started another pair right away and I have plans for a third pair.  She deserves good fitting gloves as much as anyone.

Carolyn's Coraline Gloves

Look at my Coraline gloves!  I’m so happy.  I love doing this kind of (I’ll say)’stuff’.  I think I’ll make myself a pair in a finer yarn.  You know I love gloves. 

After the rain

Cora loves to get dried off with a towel.  I think she deliberately runs through the sprinklers.  She says she got caught when they changed, but you really can’t believe anything she says–like when she says she missed breakfast.

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