Mele Ho'omaika'i

Even more...

2006-11-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Day!

2006-11-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

This past two weeks have seemed verrrrrry looooong. Filled with dr. visits and worry and very little sleep. I had to take my DH to the emergency room before dawn last Thursday morning. The symptoms had started two days before, but DH is very stoic about pain. The only way you'll know if he has a headache for instance is that he'll be more quiet than usual. So when you find him on the floor asking you to please make the room stop spinning, you bundle him up and go. It was finally diagnosed as a viral inner ear infection and because it was viral there was nothing to do for it but let it run it's course. The symptoms included severe dizziness, nausea, and disorientation. They gave him a prescription to tone down the dizziness and another for the nausea. For the first few days he couldn't eat at all, had no desire to and the mere thought of food made him ill. He finally started on soft solids (I fed him applesauce, mashed bananas, soups, soft breads and the like). He's feeling about 90% better but still can't drive yet. Just being in the car for a ride to the drs. office yesterday wore him out. That Thursday after we got back home and I got him settled, I went to check the mail and of course, wouldn't you know it? There was a package from my SP:

A luxurious pair of socks that were not only hand knit, but hand dyed as well! The pictures don't do the colors justice, jewel toned blues and hints of greens barely there reds

A beautiful quilted pouch in steel blues, grays, golds and reds. I'm going to use it as my official sock project bag; I can put my working yarn in the pouch and knit from it while the bag's drawstring rests on my wrists. I'll even be able to knit while standing. Did you make the quilted pouch as well SP?! I especially love the knots at the end of the drawstrings, they remind me of bees.

...And a lovely card in blues, greens, grays, golds and white. This card also has a series of intricate knots. I want to learn how to make them.

Thank you, Thank you SP! They were just what I needed, just in time :-)

In the felting front, this is my sheep from last week's class, I finished it this past Sunday. So what you see is a before wooly coat application pic and an after wooly coat application pic. All done with needle felting, 100% wool, 99.9% enthusiasm & only .1% needle felting finger incident. I'm enjoying this class. The next session is in two weeks. We're going to do gnomes I believe.

Chris is taking the class as well. This is Chris' sheep and my sheep (they're buddies)

Here are just a few of the many people and events I'm grateful for EVERYDAY of my life, but especially today:

I'm grateful for my family & friends past, present and future. Mum, Papi I love you. Thank you for being who you are and for helping me to be who I am. Although I probably didn't say it then, thank you for being a pain when you needed to be

I'm grateful for all the sweet babies in the world (a.k.a. all babies, 'cause all babies are sweet babies). Their joy and wonder, their trust and love

I'm grateful for friends who leave messages on my voicemail about the particular sound pattern of rain falling on the rooftops that they were listening to. Pointing out that that exact sound pattern has never happened before and will never happen again. Letting me know they were thinking of me (just as I was thinking of them coincidently)

I'm grateful for that butterfly that captured my attention, causing me to stop what I was doing and follow it's path with my eyes until I couldn't see it anymore

I'm grateful for Baily White for writing the stories that made my DH laugh while I read out loud to him this past week

I'm grateful for the sound of my DH laughing out loud

I'm grateful for the two black furry alarm clocks that go off at o'dark thirty and won't shut off until they are fed ;-)

I'm grateful for the turkey that was running around the mall grounds while I was at job #2 the other day. I like to think he was an escapee. Hopefully no one got hurt while trying to avoid hitting him. Run Turkey, Run! Word of advice though, stay away from the traffic

I'm grateful for an SP that possess perfect timing, incredible talent and warm thoughtfulness (and for my SP's cat, who helped her make my treasures)

I'm grateful for artistic urge to create that exists in us all (yes, even those of you who think that you aren't artistic)

I'm grateful for the heart wrenching beauty in the changing colors of the leaves as they die

I'm grateful for the ability we have to feel all of our emotions and for the myriad experiences that bring them out

I'm grateful for the opportunity to experience life

No longer euphoric...

2006-11-13T18:12:00.000-05:00

Has anyone out there ever bought perfume that didn't suite them? Well I bought Calvin Klein's Euphoria last year about this time and I was thrilled because it smelled soooooo good. I tried it for a day first and everything, still loved it. I didn't wear it again for several weeks since my signature scent for years has been Happy (I know...Happy, Euphoria, pure coincidence though) so it took quite a few months for me to come to the realization that although I loved the scent on others, it smelled like ass on me. Okay, ass is an exaggeration, but it was as if my body chemicals and this perfume wanted nothing to do with each other. They didn't interact at all. Nadda. Zilch. They each stayed in their own separate corners. Whereas Happy and my body chems mingle, laugh and flirt with each other. At which point I went through my own mini "I-just-bought-something-that's-completely-useless-to-me" grieving process. Denial, anger, and yes, even bargaining was in there. Last month, I finally found peace with acceptance. Two weeks ago when driving to a knit together with Chris & Jane, I caught a whiff of Jane's perfume and asked what she was wearing. Yup, you guessed it, she was wearing Euphoria and it smelled absolutely glorious on her (the way perfume is meant to). I told her I would bring in my perfume and lotion set for her since it was completely wasted on me what good is it doing anyone in my closet? Well this past Friday, Chris and I stopped off at the Yarn Garden after a quick trip to Webs in Northampton, Mass and look what was waiting for me!

WOW! I couldn't believe it, that was so sweet of her, especially since 1) she didn't have to and 2) I had already used the perfume and lotion (remember the denial stage) so we're not talking new off the perfume counter here.

But wait, there's more!

...and would you belive still more!?

Yum! Many, many skeins of alpaca and wool goodness in royal purples & lilacs and the most adorable bag ever!

Thank you again Jane for your thoughtfulness! I'm happy with Happy and euphoric over my goodies :-)

Montessori Mommies

2006-11-06T17:50:00.000-05:00

For all you Montessori Mommies referring to my blog for material ideas, the "Martha Stewart Holiday Handmade Gifts" magazine that is currently floating around has a pattern for stuffed crocheting balls that you can make for your little pumpkins. They're especially wonderful for 4-7 month olds who are tummy crawling. Make sure you don't overstuff them though, you want to stuff enough so that it rolls, but leave enough room so that it will give when they grasp it with their fingers. That will enable them to hold onto it easily. They would also make great gifts for anyone who recently had a little one.

Project Update

2006-11-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

With all my electric & electronic woes of the past few weeks, I've been unable to blog. But I think everything is fixed now and since I finally found my camera...

This is the Counterpane Carpetbag from Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays. I stopped there because I was unsure how I wanted to decrease because I was tempted to change the handles but I then realized that the recepient would prefer the one's shown in the book. I'm working on the other side now. I got this yarn 2yrs ago from Ebay. The colorway is called "Barks" from Handpaintyarn.com. The pattern is easy-peasy once you get used to it. Incidently, I received an email from Melanie in response to an email I had sent her in desperation, I was tragically stuck on the over-the-knee-socks (yeah, remember those) anyway she responded quickly and cleared up my confusion so I will continue on those after the holidays since they're for me and therefore can wait.

and my first hat! I made it in half a day on one of the days we had no electricity for miles due to the storm. It's Misti Alpaca Chunky (I've never worked in chunky, my it goes fast!) the colorway is "Charteruse Melange" and it is sooooooooo soft and sooooooo light. Pattern is Saucer Hat I got from Knotty Girl a while back.

I had picked up a wool sweater at the Salvation Army the other day to try my hand at felting. Not bad so far. I like it because you have to sort of go with whatever the sweater dictates. I'm trying to use up the whole thing. Here are pics of the bits and pieces. The main part is a surprise. Shhh!

Needle Felting

2006-11-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

I made this in the first of a series of needle felting classes I'm taking:

My very own Magic-8 Ball. For those of you who don't know, the Magic-8 Ball (brainchild of Abe Bookman) was a toy used to gaze into the future or unearth the truth of the past or present. You ask a question and turn the Magic-8 Ball over to reveal GASP! The Answer! Mine is made of wool.

Let's take it out for a test spin by asking the proper questions, shall we?

"Oh, magic 8 ball, do I have 2 cats?"

Hmm, not bad. Could be a lucky guess though.

Let's pose a medical question that I'm sure variations of which are constantly running across the minds of all humans who are servants, uhm, I mean roomates to cats.

"Oh, magic 8 ball, I'm truly concerned about the health of my sweet-overworked roomates. Maybe it's me, but honestly 23hrs. just doesn't seem to be enough R&R. Are my cats getting adequate amounts of sleep?"

My goodness, well that's a relief! You heard that Booboo? Scoozie? You guys are getting enough sleep, you can cancel that call to your union rep! Guys? Helloooo? Oh, never mind.

Okay, third times a charm. I'm going for the big question.

"Oh, magic 8 ball, would my DH encourage...NAY! INSIST that I purchase yarn and deep down, does he consider my seemingly uncontrollable fiber addiction an endearing, quirky part of my personality?"

OMG! I don't know about you folks, but I'm convinced.

Forget Secret...

2006-11-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

I think the S in SP stands for Sensational! My SP was faithful about getting in touch with me immediately and sent me an email hinting at goodies in store for moi! I think I may even be getting a pair of handmade socks! ME! HANDMADE SOCKS!! I've never owned a pair of handmade socks before. Haha, how spoiled am I going to be! Now I can't wait to find the perfect pattern to use for this:

TAHDAH!

Found a surpise in my mailbox. The colorway is "Green Parrot", operative word here being green...my absolute favorite color. 430 luscious yds of 100% merino wool in fingering weight. YUM! And now SP I have a secret to tell you! No one has ever bought me yarn before. Can you believe it?! You would think it would be an almost constant occurence. Ahhh, now I have yarn that someone had thoughtfully chosen with me in mind. How sweet it is. Thank you SP, smooches!

Secret Pal 9 Q&A

2006-10-02T10:28:00.000-04:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? My fav yarns to knit with are wool or part wool content yarns, but I'll also knit with acrylics. I do have an incredible aversion to most fun fur though, I think it makes people look like they've had a run in with a muppet--and lost

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Anything that stays still long enough. No....really

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? I've been knitting for almost 3yrs. I'm mostly self-taught, with a little help from my friends :-) Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I consider myself somewhere between beginner and intermediate

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yep, but it's farshluggineh. It was used as my book collection database before I discovered LibraryThing and I haven't updated it since, so the books I own and the books I want are all thrown in there

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.) Plumeria, gardenia, pine, or anything clean & citrus-y

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? No. Favorite candy? Nope

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I crochet, quilt, sew, embroider and I also make miniature topiaries. I'm beginning to seriously consider getting interested the art of rubber stamp making (I know that sounds odd, to "seriously consider getting interested in something", but you know how it is when you get so all consumed with creating. I want to make sure I have time for everything I want to do 'cause something will always go on the back burner). Do you spin? No, I don't spin and although I do have a drop spindle-- I'm nowhere near proficient with it

8. What kind of music do you like? Eclectic, World Music (see profile). Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Yes

9. What's your favorite color(s)? My favorite color is green, closely followed by blue. Any colors you just can't stand? No. I prefer earth/forest/ocean tones to pastels, but don't have a color I can't stand

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married, no kids, 2 cats

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to all except ponchos, I'm totally not a poncho person...and under no circumstances would I wear any of those items in fun fur (see muppet attack above)

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Actually, I'm not sure yet

13. What are you knitting right now? 2 bags, 3 socks, 1 scarf, 1 wrap & 1 sweater(like) object

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circs. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Bamboo. Having said that, I have an insane amount of circular bamboo needles...so aluminum is the next frontier

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

17. How old is your oldest UFO? Knit wise, less than a year. Quilt wise, almost a year and a half

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect? I mostly collect fabric & yarn and bags to hold my goodies in; books about yarn and fabric; and buttons, I love old buttons. Oh, and sometimes my projects themselves like to collect things (dust for instance) but only as hobby ;-)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? The Nicky Epstein book when it comes out (Knitting Beyond the Edge), lace or sock yarn, really long circs., "French Girl Knits" patterns. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I have Interweave Knits & Vogue Knitting

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Knitting 2 socks on 2 circs, Intarsia & Knitting backwards

22. Are you a sock knitter? I'm trying to become one. What are your foot measurements? Wear size 9 woman's U.S.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) December 25th

Did You Hear?!?!

2006-09-30T03:05:00.000-04:00

We interrupt the seemingly non-ending, non-knitting content of this "knitting" blog to bring you breaking knitting related news. Yes, I realize it's 3:00 in the a.m. but I'm still suffering from jetlag. Plus I'm too excited to sleep! There's a new podcast out there in pod world- a knitting podcast and get this--it's a video podcast! Would that be called a videocast? Not sure. Well anyway, isn't that thrilling! I got the heads up while looking on Julie's blog, Boogaj, in it she mentions the new kid on the block entitled,"Let's Knit2gether". In her first episode, Cat, the host demonstrates casting on for socks using the two socks on two circular needle approach! Some of you may know that this is a technique that I've been wanting to learn because I'm always on the lookout for new ways to start a project (not finish mind you, just start) and I've been keen on learning this method for months and I'm very much a visual learner. Yay Cat! Keep them coming on.

Somethings I love about Japan

2006-09-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

That you can leave your bikes unlocked for the most part

Even the garbage trucks are clean, small and ultra cute. I missed getting the shot of the really cute one- it was powder blue and mint green with an cartoon elephant, the garbage men wore crisp clean matching uniforms. Some of the trucks play music a la ice cream truck ...I kid you not.

The ramps in the middle of the staircase on the overpass near the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, it just makes so much sense!

Am I dreaming?!?

2006-09-27T06:24:00.001-04:00

I had to pinch myself for this one, then I dove right in.

Japan from the air

2006-09-26T21:55:00.000-04:00

In and around Tokyo

2006-09-17T22:26:00.000-04:00

Tokyo above ground:

Traffic laws are obeyed; so wait patiently for your light (this also pertains to pedestrians and bicyclists).

Getting around Tokyo can be a little confusing at first for two reasons: 1)Tokyo streets were originally built in a zigzag fashion to discourage invaders (and confuse everyone else). 2) Buildings in Tokyo are numbered by the order in which they were built, they are not in numerical order. For example if you are looking for a building numbered 5109 on a particular street and you see 5110 don't be surprised if not only is 5109 nowhere around, but it turns out to be miles away. So if you are planning on going to a particular address give yourself plenty of time. Many times you won't even be able to find a street name, unless it's a main thoroughfare. I mostly traveled by foot (a.k.a. getting lost) and by subway (coincidently, also known as getting lost). I found it easier to use landmarks, for that very reason instead of an address as a guide even when directing a taxi driver on the one occasion that I took a cab. I left Tokyo with a deep admiration the dedication of their postal workers. Despite of or perhaps because of Tokyo's quirkiness I enjoyed myself immensely, wouldn't mind moving there and can't wait to return!

Tokyo underground:

The Tokyo subway system is a bit confusing at first, but makes perfect sense once you get used to it.

1) Bring your train maps...all of them...just in case. :-)

2) Bring a coin purse (gentlemen, this goes for you too) the smallest paper denomination is 1000 Yen, approximately $10.00 USD at this writing, so you're going to get change- a lot of change.

3) There are quite a few train lines in Tokyo, the main one being the JR line. You can easily transfer between the lines but there may be times when you must purchase a separate ticket for another leg of your journey.

4) There is an option for English on the upper right hand corner of the screen when purchasing your tickets. Look at the map for the stop you want to get off; the tickets are purchased according to price, which is based on the distance. So if you want to go to Kamakura for instance from Tokyo the price, 890 Yen is located directly above and below the station name on the overhead map, 890 is what you choose on the screen.

5) The option to purchase a round trip ticket isn't always available for every leg of your trip.

6) Don't forget your train ticket after you put it through the machine when entering the train station (you'll need to put it through again at your destination in order to get out of the station).

7) There is a queue for boarding the trains indicated by the markings on the floor.

I wish I had found this link while I was there. Check out their info on the Tokyo Metro Guide and the Transfer Guide as well as the General Tickets & Service Info.

8) Do not ignore the LCD displays above the platforms, turns out there kinda important (who knew!). Even though you may be on the correct platform the display will show what time the next train is arriving and most important--what train that is. I could regale you of the day in which I reenacted the blip in "Pong" going from the Ofuna station to the Odwara station over and over again, always in search of the elusive Kamakura station which I never reached that day because I kept getting on the wrong train although I was on the right platform (but we won't go there).

Buddha at Kamakura

2006-09-16T00:31:00.000-04:00

Hokokuji Temple grounds & Kamakura Bamboo Garden

2006-09-14T18:36:00.000-04:00

Konbanwa!

2006-09-10T07:46:00.000-04:00

It's about 8:15pm on Sunday (7:15am Sunday, EST). I've landed safely in Japan and just arrived at the hotel. I'm highly distracted now because I'm watching a show that seems to have instant translation available because the hosts are speaking to the guests in Japanese and the guests are responding to their questions immediately in French. There's food involved as well, someone with a black mesh cloth over the head is giving all the guest panelists a taste of something Japanese, can't figure out why he is wearing the mesh thing though. Is he scared that the food won’t be to their liking and that they’ll spit it out as an immediate reaction? The show may be covering a Japanese exposition in Paris (I'm not sure as I can only figure out half the conversations), one of the Parisian guest panelists is explaining the appeal that Japanese products have to the French, namely that the products are compact, esthetically pleasing and practical. I think the show is called “Cool Japan”. Anyway, speaking of all things cool and Japanese, I'm going to go play with the buttons on the toilet seat some more then unpack and rest in anticipation of exploring Tokyo tomorrow. To all my NYC family & friends, I love you and will be sending especially warm thoughts your way tomorrow.

Oyasumi nasai y'all!

Organizing my stash

2006-09-05T16:42:00.000-04:00

I came across this link while I was organizing my stash to update my database. It's a conversion website for different weights and measures. You can even get a code to put on your blog or website, thereby making meter to yard and yard to meter conversions a breeze.

Do the words "Captain Scarlet" mean anything to you?

2006-09-04T20:27:00.000-04:00

No? I'll wait....Still nothing? Well, don't feel bad, there's not a lot of us, but you weren't alone. A dear friend recently clued me in on the BBC show that aired in the late 60's "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons". After I stopped laughing he went on to describe the characters and the process used. You see, the creators of Captain Scarlet and it's predecessor "Thunderbirds" didn't rely on animation. Oh no, Captain Scarlet and his cohorts were in "supermarionation", in other words beyond mere marionettes. It was at this point, that I of course started laughing again. He also sent me this link of the theme song. Still laughing, but now curious I went online and dug up these clips (you'll need realplayer to view the clips). It seems that Captain Scarlet had and continues to have a huge cult following. I actually stopped laughing hard long enough to be impressed, it was kinda cool especially the lip-sync. Considering the time period- it was pretty hip.

"The show was forward-thinking - not only did it feature female fighter pilots (albeit very pretty ones with big hair) but also Gerry's first black character. He had wanted to include non-Caucasian characters for a while, but selling the programmes to the American south in the 60s made it impossible. The climate had changed by 1967, and the Trinidadian Lieutenant Green and Japanese Harmony Angel were introduced."(quote found on the BBC site).

All of the marionettes were based on real people for instance, Melody Angel's character was based on Eartha Kitt!

I have been initiated. Thank you.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

2006-09-03T00:04:00.000-04:00

Still chipping away at the Ruana

The South Dakota Badlands

2006-09-01T23:55:00.000-04:00

Damn, I moved to the wrong city

2006-08-31T08:18:00.000-04:00

While blog hopping I saw this at other Carine's blog (which by the way you should read 'cause she's uber talented & great fun). What are the chances of two Carines living in New England traveling within the same blog circles!

I'm London didn'tcha know? DH is over there on a business trip right now, I should call him and tell him not to bother coming back. I'll just pack up the cats, my fiber & books and meet him there. I'll have to get a job in Paris. It's going to be hard, the commute and all. London/Paris Paris/London every day. The things I do for my career!

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern.
A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock.
A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything.
No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

Great news on the travel front. I'm going to Japan & Malayasia soon, gratis. I'll be a staying a week in each. I've been hitting all the japanese crafts blog circuits hard lately. I've been a fan of japanese crafts for a few years now, but this past summer saw a resurgence in my enthusiasm. Mostly due some of the materials we had to make. The Gobbi Mobile shown here in the center uses 5 gradations of colored embroidery thread, one color per ball. It's typically used as a mobile for a 2-3 month old childand may have been inspired by it's cousin the Temari. I found a good resource link and a few pics here.

I was also further inspired by some of the patterns that kept cropping up in the sew-i-knit-along. I'm drawn to the clean, less fussy photographs in japanese craft books as well as their easier to follow diagrams. Maitreya's Crafting Japanese is a cool resource and of course Hilary's Wee Wonderful is always inspiring (she has free patterns too, if you want to get your japanese crafting feet wet). I'm looking forward to the trip and have been practicing my japanese and even dusted off the japanese flashcards I made while taking a japanese langauge course when I lived in Hawai'i (okay, how many times can I use the word japanese in one section, I think the phrase too many comes to mind. Let's try it again). I'm looking forward to the trip and have been practicing the language and even dusted off the flashcards I made while taking japanese when I lived in Hawai'i (better). Very, very excited. This is what I have planned for Malaysia. Not sure what I have planned for Japan yet. I have to double check, but I think it will be too late for Mt. Fuji hikes and it's not cherry blossom season but I believe I will be able to see the changing leaves and of course I want to see the temples, bridges and castles. Hopefully I'll be able to take pics. Oh yeah, my ban on yarn and fabric will be lifted slightly for this momentous trip (I've never been to an asian country before!). Mmmmm, japanese silk.

Some crafting from this summer

2006-08-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

This past summer in Denver as part of our Montessori infancy class studies, my fellow students and I were required to make some of our materials. The weaning set was one of my favorite homework assignments (crafting as homework is a beautiful thing). The set consists of a case, bib, napkin and tablecloth/placemat to be used in conjunction with a weaning table when you are introducing the wee ones to solid foods. What I enjoyed most about these material making sessions was that it encouraged people who never thought of themselves as capable of designing/sewing/making objects. Seeing everyone's work at the end and knowing all the hardwork we put into each of our projects was incredibly satisfying. I used a chain stitch for the embroidery outline of the utensils, plate and cup. A male student in our class used a whip stitch for his outline, which went so well with the dark blue and white material he used.

We also had to make mobiles. This is a fish mobile from a former student a few years back. This one is not mine, but ohhhh, I really want to make it.

Lightening strikes

2006-08-30T16:57:00.000-04:00

I don't know why I was under the impression that trying to take a picture of lightening would be easy. This pic was taken in Michigan, can't recall which lake. I stood on the beach for nearly a half hour alternating between waiting and then snapping away either a split second too early....or a nanosecond too late. In other shots the lightening didn't appear where I thought it would and it ended up just out of my camera's range. I got a lot of pictures of the dark though :-) and then ahhh, this one.

More Road Trip Pics

2006-08-28T09:59:00.000-04:00

In the Black Hills of South Dakota, a memorial to Crazy Horse is being created

The mist rising into the hills from the Mighty Mississippi River

Mount Rushmore

Close-up of Roosevelt's glasses (which I think are so cool)

Much more fun than the regular rectangular bales of hay, I wonder how much they weigh?

Pics

2006-08-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Ruana

Hair

Tired, bed...goodnight :-)

Shhh....I'm back, but don't tell anyone

2006-08-21T17:56:00.000-04:00

I'm laying low for now, trying to get my bearings. Let's see on the non-knitting news front (and there's almost nooooooo knitting news). My studies and the entire trip were good and to think, only two more summers like this and I'll have my masters! Whoo-hoo! The last summer will be in Maryland though, not Colorado so I'll be near an ocean.

Hmmmmm, this is one of those situations where there is so much to tell, so many small details and nuances that you get all flummoxed and just sum it all up in a sentence or two because all your thoughts are struggling to get out of your mouth simultaneously. If over the course of the next few years, I bring up seemingly random thoughts like "Oh, you have to go to Sushi Den if you are ever in Denver, they seriously have the best sushi I've ever eaten!", please note that it's in response to the question asked a few years back..."so, how were your studies and what did you do for fun while you were in Denver?" And seriously, Sushi Den does indeed have the best sushi I've ever had, DH was teasing me that it's Colorado, hundreds of miles away from an ocean, was I sure it wasn't "elk roll" they were trying to pass off? This family owns two sushi restaurants one here and the other in Japan, they fly their fish in every other day and it is YUMMMMY! Lucky we got there early, I went with a few of my favorite classmates, it got so crowded that by the time we were leaving we had to fight through the line of people trying to get in.

Let's see what else is new. Well I'm stuck in the over the knee sock pattern (but that's not really new). I managed to get no knitting done in Colorado, what was I thinking?! Has anyone out there in blog land successfully completed it? There is only one errata that I know of. I'm stuck at the first round for shaping (so the first decrease). If I follow the instructions as I understand them, the yo's end up on the sides of the socks which makes no sense what so ever. I started the Ruana from Oat Couture, on Friday. I'm using Noro Kureyon #126. Although I've had it forever, this is the first time I'm using Noro. I've hesitated because I wasn't sure if I liked that particular way of self patterning that Noro has. It might be that I've just seen it everywhere for too long and it's like a song you liked...at first...before they played it on every radio station 50x's a day. The ruana pattern is a one-sizer, but has directions for three different yarn weights, I'm going according to worsted weight(ish). I think the kureyon is slightly smaller than worsted, but I wanted to use what I have and I'll be using about 10 skeins. I'll post pics soon. I can't wait to catch up on everyone's blog.

Oh! My avatar went and got her hair cut and dyed platinum blonde so of course what's a girl to do? I couldn't make a liar out of my avatar! I'll post pics of that too. Cute, sassy and carefree. Ahhh, life without a comb. The longest sections are a little less than an inch, sweeeeet! If I had waited until it grew out another inch I could have donated my locks, but my hair was driving me insane. If I had to wait another inch I would have pulled it myself in frustration and that would not have been pretty, they'd probably end up calling me "Patches". Next time maybe I'll be more patient with it.

Country Road....

2006-08-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

Secret Life of Bees

2006-08-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

What's wrong with this picture?

2006-06-26T21:00:00.000-04:00

I'll give you a hint...it's actually about 80 degrees out there and it's snowing (okay, actually it's hail but it's my blog so I'm calling it snow). Amazing! This was on Saturday.

Weeks ago in Indiana..

2006-06-20T17:44:00.000-04:00

On our way to Colorado, we stopped off at Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home in Indiana

It's also home to a working 1820's style farm. Park Rangers work on the farm throughout the year dressed in period clothing. The farm has cows & sheep. The park rangers trade their sheared sheep wool for cornmeal from a grist mill a few miles away. Here is a replica of a blanket that might have been used during that time period Queen Anne’s Lace gave the greens, purples and blues from indigo, browns from walnut.
Ranger Sam is holding a Niddy Noddy, an instrument which was used to wrap yarn into managable portions. There was also a rhyme you would say while you wrapped the yarn around the niddy noddy, repeating the rhyme 11xs while you wrapped helped you keep track of the length which when done would be a hank (or skein).

It's been awhile

2006-06-10T23:38:00.000-04:00

since I"ve blogged last. I'm settling down in the house, getting the know the housemates and ironing out all the wrinkles. This past week classes started and with it comes the familiarity of walking, eating, sleeping, breathing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling Montessori. Taking an AMI Montessori is very intense, I remember when I took my Primary courses, DH whether he wanted to or not was for all intents and purposes taking the course with me. Okay, so I have to work on my scheduling a bit to make sure I stay on top of things. Tok, (one of my housemates) and I go for a walk around the lake twice a day. The first is to clear our minds for the day ahead, the latter is to discuss concepts and review while everything is still fresh. We walk 6 miles a day and it feels wonderful! We see these goslings everyday on our walks.

On the knitting front, I'm stuck on a portion of the over-the-knee socks. There is something there that I just can't wrap my mind around and since I only knit a few minutes a day, I haven't really made any progress. I'm pretty sure it's not an errata, there was only one that I've heard of and that's at the heel and I'm at the shaping of the thigh portion. Hmmm, I'll figure it out eventually. Today was WW KIP day and I didn't go out to knit :-( I also wanted to go the yoga center not too far away that was having an intensive, but couldn't do that either. I have major assignments due every Monday (with this Monday being the first) and I haven't completed everything for it. I may have to make a midnight run to a Kinko's and print all the work out since I didn't want to bring my printer with. I'm trying to decide whether or not I'll be able to stay up tonight and finish the work, if so I'll go to Kinko's early tomorrow instead and spend the rest of the day reading for next week's lectures and theory discussions.

Project Spectrum

2006-06-03T20:39:00.000-04:00

I know, I know it's all pics of the same thing. But honestly I couldn't stop taking pictures of it! These are from Tuesday I believe, or was it Monday? I forget.

St. Louis, Missouri

The Rockies

2006-06-01T22:00:00.003-04:00

Psst...hey you

DH took this picture of me. I'm driving him to the airport tomorrow :-(
We'll only be apart a few months, but I'm going to miss him. He's such good company.

We're here!

2006-06-01T06:39:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Denver last night, DH and I are going to go 'sploring today. My housemates should start arriving soon. I'll be taking my sweet DH to the airport tomorrow for his flight back home. He'll fly back to CO when school is finished, in about two months and we'll do the whole drive over in reverse. Over the next few days I'll post about parts of the trip I hadn't gotten to write about, then it will back to our regularly scheduled program...nearly all fiber...nearly all the time.

I'd like to be, above the sea

2006-05-30T06:26:00.000-04:00

in a butterfly garden with you. I thought we were going to have to bring one butterfly in particualr home with us, it just wouldn't fly off of DH's arm. Stayed there for a good 10mins. at least.

Take the last train to Clarksville...

2006-05-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we started off in eastern Ohio, went to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus

(that's also where I took project spectrum pics from the other day btw), attended an Asian Festival that was going on in the adjacent park and went in search of an elusive bowl of chili in A Taste of Cincinnati (it wasn't there). Couldn't find this legendary bowl of chili anywhere as a matter of fact. NO ONE KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! Meandered our way through Louisville, Kentucky and ended up in Clarksville. We stayed in Clarksville, Indiana last night.

The conservatory was great! Throughout the buildings on permanent exhibition you'll find Dale Chihuly's blown glass work

They also have Patrick Dougherty's sculptures as well as photographs of his work (can't remeber the photographer's name). Those are pretty cool.

And they have an annual butterfly exhibit which runs from March to September. I'll post those pics Tuesday night

Project Spectrum

2006-05-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

G'day!

2006-05-28T08:26:00.001-04:00

Slightly overcast & gorgeous today in Ohio! Yesterday's trip took us through; New York's Hudson Valley, all of Pennsylvania (which was interesting, 'cause even when we lived in PA we had never gone that far west within the state), West Virginia and just within the Ohio border. DH asked as we came to a fork on the Highway if I wanted to see the horse country of Kentucky OR go through Ohio. Well, did I mention that Cincinnati is The Chili Capital of the World?!?!? Helloooooo, we can swing by the beautiful rolling hills of horse country on the way back. We're talkin' chili here. Mmmmmmmm, chili. Besides eating chili in Cincinnati takes care of one of my 101 things in 1001 days. We'll do a bit of site-seeing, today I think we're going to the botonical gardens. We'll be heading to Cincinnati tonight. Am I forgeting anything? Oh yeah, I noticed I missed and entire section of the ribbing on the over-the-knee socks...so I ripped it out and I'm starting over.

Love yah!

Note to self

2006-05-27T06:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Self,

FYI, when knitting in the round and reading a chart, the chart is read from right to left for every row. Haha, go figure! I hear the faint sound of a frog. Not too bad though, just a few rows.

I haven't posted lately, I've been get ready and organizing my classroom. We leave today for the roadtrip. Will post whenever we stay someplace that has internet access. Probably no pics for a while.

Look at my booty ;-)

2006-05-24T18:01:00.000-04:00

The sale at The Yarn Garden was spectacular. Everyone was helping each other picking out yarn and matching them to patterns, refreshments were served, skeins of yarn were being wound up on Denise's ginormous ball winder (this thing is massive) and a sporting time was had by all. Good fun that. I only bought what could fit into one bag (lucky they have large bags). The best news is I actually know what I'm going to use these for, that almost never happens. I usually just buy yarn because it exists. Mum avert your eyes some of this is for your holiday prezzies. You too DH, DB & DN. Shoo. G'way, nothing to see here.

I've made miniscule progress on the Over-the-knee socks but the pics are still coming out horribly. I'm about to start the first round for the thigh (where the lace cable back seam begins). I really like this pattern a lot. Other than that I've been winding down my school year with my little ones and organizing what materials I need to bring, checking and double checking to make sure I have all the books from the reading list. Still haven't packed clothing & crafts, but my academic stuff is ready.

Hah!

2006-05-21T16:58:00.000-04:00

IE: 0 Me: 1

Agggh! I )hate( IE

2006-05-20T23:54:00.000-04:00

I use Mozilla. I mentioned before that I noticed when my husband reads my blog (he has a pc & uses IE) that my sidebar is at the bottom. I logged on and checked on my Mac using IE (which I had to find and download) it looks like crap, not only is my sidebar at the bottom but the posts go totally across the screen! No matter what width I change anything to in the template!! &#@&#! I'm even trying to make my pictures smaller, thinking that's the cause. Now it's beginning to look like I have a blog for stamp collecting that's how small the pictures are getting. I've checked for errors in my html codes too. Obviously there is something I'm missing but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is and I'm so tired. IE, right now I'm squinting my eyes to little slits so that you may feel my wrath. I have to admit anything that has to do with IE sets my rackles up and gets my nose twitching in the air, so obviously that doesn't help...now I just look like I'm myopic & I have muscular tics. I'm going to bed.

*Me stomping off, all pissed and everything*

*Me returning*

For those of you using IE, I'm really sorry about how crappy my blog looks. It looks really pretty with Mozilla though (maybe I'll post a microscopic picture of what I see when I log on and post it)

*Me muttering and cursing like a sailor under my breath, but too tired to stomp anymore and beginning to smile sheepishly*

G'nite :-)

still hate you IE

WIP Pic

2006-05-20T17:03:00.000-04:00

A lot of housework being done this weekend, not a lot of knitting :-(

BTW, have you seen the short toe socklet? I can't take credit for finding it, I got the link from another knitter's blog (can't remember which one, I try to read all the blogs for the KALs I'm on and it takes me two weeks to do the rounds and get caught up!) Isn't it too cute! I want to make a few as stocking stuffers for my DN.

Attn: New England Knitters

2006-05-19T06:47:00.000-04:00

and anyone who just happens to be traveling through CT. I discovered a yarn shop yesterday by pure chance on my way home and actually drove back later in the evening to take part in their informal SnB (which was great fun btw, thanks Denise!). Yarn Garden is having a ginormous sale this coming Tuesday. 45% off on ALL yarns. Yep, you read that right (nothing off on kits, patterns, notions, or books) this is a yarn only sale. 45% off is my kind of sale. Part of me didn't actually want to post this 'til let's say Tuesday just before the store closed for the evening, but my unselfish side finally won over my "mine, mine, it's all mine" yarn hording side (which btw is bound, tied and safely tucked away for now). Unselfish side kicked ass. Denise has Debbie Bliss, Noro, Green Mountain Spinnery, etc. and probably the last batch of Possum Wool in existence. Please feel free to blame me for any and all purchases when the topic comes up with your significant others, family members, therapists (although therapists will probably insist you take blame for it yourself, unless they knit in which case they'll ask you what ill feelings you are harboring towards them since you hadn't told them about the sale until after the fact). So fellow stashalongers if you're reading this I plan on having my free day on Tuesday :-)

On knitting news, I cast on for the over-the-knee socks but the koigu I'm using is a redish pinkish combo and is not photographing well. So no pics yet.

Project Spectrum

2006-05-17T20:14:00.000-04:00

Warning: Un-knitting ahead

2006-05-16T17:54:00.000-04:00

So, I was thinking about learning the magic loop method of knitting two socks on one 40in needle and how it compares to knitting 1 sock on 2 circs. I was also thinking that I knit that first sock too loose and I'd try it in size 2s next time. Well, no time like the present. One thing led to the other and before I knew it, I heard the call of the frogs.

I love the process :-)

OMG, they're impossible!

2006-05-15T14:34:00.000-04:00

Booboo, the naughty kitty (those two words are probably redundant, I think cats come in only one flavor...naughty) seems to have more than one fiber deficiency in his diet. This time its wood, my circ. knitting needles that my Mum's sock is on in particular. I looked over and found he had just finished doing this:

I ask you, isn't it enough that they have the run of the house?

Doh! Ahhh well

2006-05-15T06:37:00.000-04:00

Down to the beginning of the toe. Me Mum tried it on (since it's for her) and loves it (because that's what Mums do). Okay, so I'm merrily knitting along when I look down at the dwindling cake attached to my working yarn. Only then does it dawn on me that there is no way on this green earth that I will have enough yarn to finish both socks. And of course in one of those rare moments I threw away the band label, which included information that for some strange reason I didn't feel that I would ever need to know. I always save my labels. I remembered which store I purchased it many moons ago and went there yesterday hoping to purchase another skein, knowing it would be a different dye lot, and call it my free day for my Stashalong. There were no more. Seeing that I was just going to spend the day going from one EIFY (exercise in futility) to another, 'cause that's how it is sometimes...and that's actually okay. We went home. I know now that I should have bought 2 skeins, but I thought that one could get one pair of socks out of one skein! I guess if the pair are anklets. But that just slowed me down a bit. I'm going to look in ye old stash to see what I have that will sorta kinda go and me Mum will have a pair of Mix Matched Socks, which she will love, because that's what Mums do :-) :-) :-)

I love you Mum

Carine (there is no period after that last sentence, because there is no end to that statement)

Goals

2006-05-12T19:04:00.000-04:00

I decided on my first sweater: Rowan #39 Minnie by Amanda Crawford. I'll hopefully be starting a gauge swatch sometime within the next two weeks. They used Rowan DK cotton. I'll be using Briggs Little sport. Colorway red. I'm still deciding on the beads. With the difference in yarn weight, I'll have to adjust a few things. I should put my LYS on speed dial for knitting emergencies when I leave for Colorado. Goodness knows I'm going to need it.

Decided on my next pair of socks, found in Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays: MUST have these Over-the-knee socks. Tell me you've seen them. They are totally hot! I mean is it just me or aren't these the sexiest socks you've ever seen? I just received this book as a gift and there are so many things in it that I want to make!

What I see, what I hear

2006-05-11T20:19:00.000-04:00

What I see: My almost finished sock. I'm past that portion of the sock that was giving me a challenge. I think it should be clear sailing ahead. Hmmmm, that sounds so familiar. I almost feel as though I said that last week ;-). What I hear: I'm listening to Neil Diamond. You read that right Neil Diamond. I am not ashamed. Say it loud, say it proud. I enjoy listening to Neil Diamond. I've got "Play Me" right now on loop in my iTunes. Maybe I'll play "Longfellow Serenade" afterwards or "I am, I said", possibly some "Red, Red Wine" (ah ha, you didn't know he wrote that didyah?). Maybe I'll put his folder on random and I won't know which song of his will pop up next. I'm just THAT wild and crazy.

The sock that wouldn't end

2006-05-10T06:25:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted for a few days, but I have been knitting and unknitting. Believe it or not this is not the same pic of my first sock. Nope, this pic is of the sock after ripping back a total of 5 times. I get to a certain part of the gusset (about the 6th round) and I start noticing that something doesn't look quite right :-(. This time I'm instead of stopping and redoing from here, I'm going to rip back to the end of the first round after the gusset stitches were picked up. I think part of the problem is that I forget to make sure that I'm holding the working yarn between both needles and not over the back needle. I've done that a few times so I know it creates a false stitch which I probably knit into the next round.
We'll see.

Finally!

2006-05-07T19:35:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed I finally figured out how to put buttons on my blog, friggin' html. Anyway, I've been adding away. I feel like I have flares. Those of you who've seen Office Space will know the reference. Now all I need is a copy of the TPS report and I'm set. Remember a few posts ago I mentioned how the posting page looked different on DH's screen then on mine? Well I discovered today that my blog also looks different on his screen. All the information that I have on my "sidebar"(given the name, one would assume that's where it should be) is found at the bottom of his screen. I can't even imagine where everything is ending up on your screen, possibly smack dab in the middle? On top? Haha, so much for all my careful arranging :-)

Mile high in > than 30 days

2006-05-07T14:18:00.000-04:00

In less than a month DH and I will be making the roadtrip to Colorado. My classes begin early June and I want to give myself a few days to settle down. DH and I were looking at a map today. We figure we'll hit 13 states along the way (9 of which I've never been to). My neighbor has kindly said she would cat-sit and water the plants (yay!). I've got so much to do before we go, I don't even know where to start. Not the least of which is a ginormous homework assignment due for another course, that assignment is due in July. I really should get it done before so that I won't have to pack those extra texts & binders plus the paraphenilia for the upcoming summer courses AND (this is the clincher) so that I won't be doing assignments for that course as well while I'm in CO. Of course I've been telling myself that for the last two months. The house is completely upside down. Why do I procrastinate so? Speaking of procrastinating, I wonder what I can find out about it...

Following text added 30mins later:

I just looked up some interesting things on procrastinating. Fascinating stuff, I'll have to try them one day ;-). Where was I? Ahh, yes. I remember. I was going on and on about all the stuff I have to do before we leave (but I wasn't actually doing any of it, no siree). I also have to make a firm decision on what to pack craft-wise. I can't take it all with me, DH didn't go for the uhaul hitch idea (teehee, it seemed like a great solution to me, Men! There's no understanding them.) I have to decide on what I'm making for the Year of the Sweater KAL and the Scarf style KAL so that I don't buy ANY yarn (Stashalong) while I'm there. I'll take pics and post to the blog along the way.

Speaking of pics, this is what my DH brought home for me from his trip.

The little insignia on the bag: By Appointment to H. M. Queen Elizabeth II Supplier of Fabrics Joel & Son London. My husband is my favorite fiber enabler. I think I might make a kick-ass bag and matching cell phone or iPod holder with this fabric.

He also got me goodie bags from his flight. a.k.a amenity bags/travel wallets. I call 'em goodie bags & I love 'em. They've got such wonderful little items, esp. the pens and of course I use the bags for all my knitting/quilting notions.

What to do?

2006-05-05T18:37:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to come up with something I want to knit for the Year of the Sweater knit-along. Should I knit something simple to help me ease into the whole knitting more than a scarf thing. OR. Should I say screw it and jump right in with both feet (or in this case, hands). It doesn't even have to be a sweater (it can be a shrug, tank, etc) , and it doesn't have to be adult size either. Also, if I knit a shrug from the Scarfstyle book for instance, it would knock out what I have to knit for the Scarf/Wrap-along as well. I also have to make sure I don't choose anything that I would have to by yarn for (Stash-along) and yet at the same time, it would be sweeeeeet if what I made used up a lot of my stash. Hmmm, I've been looking at some of my Rowan mags and looking again at the Scarf Style book. I don't have the Wrap Style but I may pick it up from the library. The last pic is from Scarf Style, it doesn't look like it will give me much of a challenge...but, it uses up 3000yds of yarn. Booyah! These are what I'm leaning towards so far:

If I choose the last one for the Scarfstyle along, then I'll still have to choose something for the year of the sweater.

Credit, where credit is due

2006-05-04T19:32:00.000-04:00

I would like to dedicate the completion of my DB's scarf to Marie Irshad of KnitCast. Specifically her interview with Debbie Bliss. I found myself picking up my brother's scarf while I was listening to her podcast, having just discovered the knitting podcast world that day. I figured if quilters have podcasts, then it would make sense if knitters had their own. Knitting podcasts are far more exciting (in my opinion) than quilting podcasts. Not quite sure if its the nature of the beast or that particular craft is attracting exciting podcasters and their listeners. From there I discovered Cast-on with Brenda Dayne, Secret Knitting (where you knit with the podcaster, Daniella, which I haven't tried yet but the idea intrigues me). I also discovered Chubb Creek ( I want to host the Minis), CraftSanity, and Craftypod. So basically everything that can take me away from knitting (time-wise) has actually brought me closer, because I can listen and knit. "Win-win" Yay!

Diggin' this whole sock thing

2006-05-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it! I am knitting a sock. Me! Knitting a sock. You have no idea how cool that is for me (I obviously don't get out much). This is my progress so far. I've just turned a heel and I'm up to the gusset part. I may even finish the 1st sock by next week. Here's the pic:

I had to rip back a few times because I kept losing track of where I was in the pattern, even though I mark things off. Also, you know how sometimes you read a pattern and a glazed look comes over your face...then you read it again and you understand it even less than you did the first time? Well that happened a few times, but with the help of my trusty gibberish translators (friendly neighborhood YS owners), I was able to get over that hump. Thanks Lu, thanks Lauren!

I'm a heel

2006-05-01T23:33:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow me is gonna be real pissed off at tonight me. I should have been asleep hours ago, but I got stuck in the "one more row" dilemma. Mmmmmmmm, smile, yawn, stretch. Ready to turn the heel, pleased but sleepy. G'night.

No title, just thinking

2006-04-30T05:48:00.000-04:00

I think one of the aspects that I love about knitting is also one of the aspects that used to madden me about it and that is this, knitting, (at least for me) is not an immediate gratification sort of thing. It seems I knit and knit, knit, knit, then knit some more and it still doesn't look like anything. But through knitting I discovered a patience I didn't know I had. Like life, sometimes it takes so long for the beauty and the pattern to appear. In this time of instant access, internet access and full access, so long seems like forever. Knitting for me is an antidote to the need for speed- a reality check in many ways and very freeing. Walk with me a little this way, would you?

In knitting, we have slow starts, make mistakes that we sometimes have the opportunity to fix (if they are caught in time). We may realize that the yarn (you can insert job, life, etc. here) we thought we wanted and had the perfect pattern for, no longer suits. Yarn is so very forgiving. Mistakes when made can be ripped out and we are given an opportunity to "make things right". We also have the option to not fix a mistake. We can leave it be if we choose to, and not obsess about it. We receive the gift of looking at the creation for what it is a beautiful imperfect object made by a beautiful imperfect being.

As adults, we sometimes forget what it was like to be a child. We are born with no skills, no knowledge of this world and how to move around in it, but bit by bit we learn. With each encounter, within each moment is an opportunity for growth. Whenever we try to grasp a concept or learn something totally new to us, acknowledge that we become almost like the child- struggling, sometimes stumbling, but filled with possibility. Wrestling with what will later on be second nature to us.

Well, off to a second day of workshops. I will post pics of progress later.

Edit: added update pics

This bag is my first intralac experience. Oh and something is wrong with my sock, not sure what it is it just looks funky in one spot. It's looks like a stange combination of a dropped stitch and ????

Ends woven in (finally)

2006-04-26T19:44:00.000-04:00

My DB's Dr. Whoish scarf is done, as in all ends have been woven in. What a relief to have it finally finished. I hope he doesn't read the blog before I can mail it out to him. DB if you are reading this post now I am referring to my uhhmmm, other brother. Uhh, the one that we were separated from at birth. Yours isn't finished yet and won't be for years and years. There that sounded very plausible and should throw DB off the scent. He'll be totally surprised. I took a close up of the ends because a long shot didn't portray the daunting uphill climb that the last 49 ends represented. Feel free to add appropriate tear-jerker theme music in your mind whilst you are viewing the pic.

Blog Surfing

2006-04-25T21:00:00.000-04:00

Since I've joined a few a-longs, it's given me the opportunity to start blog surfing- a very addictive sport. Looking at everyone's creations is so inspiring, especially on knitting blogs. DH called me a blog junkie last night (while he was pretending to cough). That phrase is highly inaccurate, since my therapist says I can stop anytime I want to ;-). My blog surfing has taken away from quilting/knitting/sleeping time, but it's so much fun. I'll try to post a link to a few of my favorites in the next few days.

Make it stop!

2006-04-25T18:51:00.000-04:00

Arrrrrggggh! I've been singing the same song now for a several days and I can't seem to stop myself. The theme song to The Banana Splits has been on permanent loop in my mind, so much so I had to look up the dang lyrics. I was a year old when it came on and 3yrs old when the show ended. It must have gone on syndication though because english was not my first language and I didn't even arrive to the U.S. 'til I was almost 4. Does anyone remember The Banana Splits? From what I can tell it on this site, it was the toddler's version of The Monkees. Well hopefully, one of you out there will start singing it uncontrollably so that I can stop.

Knitters need 4 pairs of hands

2006-04-23T16:55:00.001-04:00

Or less projects going on at once. Hmmm, that sounds like a near impossibility. Yes, 4 pairs of hands that's what we need. 3 more inches on the Paton's Monogram tote before I start on the actual initial. The paprika that I'm using for the main body is a lot less orangey and a lot more spicey than it appears in the photo.

Librarything...

2006-04-22T22:43:00.000-04:00

you make my heart sing. You make everything groovy. Sorry Mr. Chip Taylor for morphing your song BUT-Librarything...I think I love you. Have you been? Librarything is a wonderful tool they've developed to help you catalog your books. The first 200 books can be posted free. Got over 200 books? Ten bucks a year will cover it or $25 for lifetime. You have a choice of typing in the ISBN, the title or the author, or importing from an existing catalog file, or importing from Amazon. Your book catalog will come out alphabetized and in most cases with the little cover picture. You can even change the way you view your virtualshelf online. I took a break from knitting to catalog my knitting/crochet books, I'm not up to doing the quilting books tonight. I'm trying to get a bit (okay, a lot) more organized in general but in my crafting life in particular so that I can use what I have. I've had a few "Oh, what an interesting book, I think I'll buy it" moments and it turns out I already have it. Doh!

Back to knitting :-)

Can't blog...must knit

2006-04-22T20:22:00.000-04:00

Hey, who moved my week?!

2006-04-21T20:15:00.000-04:00

I feel like a child after summer vacation! What happened to the long week that shimmered and stretched out all around me like miles of surf and sand? This time thing is truly amazing.

Lookie, Lookie!

I'm knitting my first pair of socks. I'm using the simple sock pattern from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. Yarn is an unlabeled dk freebie I had received a ways back, sz 3 clover bamboo circs.

Cleaning House

2006-04-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

Not the real one, don't be silly! I'm finally getting a grasp on this blogging thing, up until a few days ago I couldn't figure out why I had so much trouble putting links in postings and the sidebar. I felt so dense. I even enlisted the help of the swamped Blogger team, to no avail. I noticed my DH was reading my blog (he's soooo sweet, okay I would beat him to an inch of his life if he didn't, but that's soooo sweet anyway), his screen looked different. So I asked him to log on as me. Boy was I surprised, his whole posting screen had icons and options I'd never seen before! Including that elusive "link" icon. He has a pc, I have a mac (we're a mixed couple). I remember hearing somewhere that Mozilla Firefox had less support issues than Safari. So now I post using Firefox. I've gone back and tried to insert links where I could and I've added links to the sidebar, now if I could just figure out how to get buttons.....

One day this will look like a real blog! Who knows maybe they'll come up with a "pimp my blog" show. I want some blog bling!

All The News That's Fit to Knit

2006-04-20T05:34:00.000-04:00

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...a guy knitting!?" Sweaterman, the newest superhero is the brainchild of Mark Newport.

Penguins need love too. These Mormans know that nothin' says lovin' like a homemade sweater.

The Edinburgh population has seen an increase in the artform. How cool is a pub knitting night where the "pub" stands for, well, pub.

These articles have just a smidgen of knitting involved:

Llama poop is this year's "bean" to have. I skimmed ahead and skipped a few parts, then started from the beginning, so it took me awhile to figure out the beans they were referring to were animal made.

Okay, how can they put such restrictions on knitting needles but are fine with corkscrews?! I guess they figure it takes longer to screw somebody (I'm serious, so stop laughing and take your minds out the gutter people) than to attack them with knitting needles. Everyone knows that knitting and all it's paraphenlia should be used for good and not evil.

Alright, this is a stretch because this last article just had the word knitting in it, but I thought it was kinda cool 'cause I'm a nerd (although I'm not a math nerd, I wouldn't aspire to such lofty heights). Gregory K. Pincus is the creator you can read more on his blog.

Here's mine:

This
marks
my first
attempt at
Fibbing;-), who knew that
lying would be considered chic?

I just came from the gottabook blog which had links to Fuzzy Galore and Knitting Curmudgeon as well. They are knitting blogs that've mentioned the Fibonacci sequence and/or the NYTimes article! The Knitting Curmudgeon even has a Fib contest going on. Seems like fun, I'm digging this fib stuff. I think I'm going to enter! The rules are on her site, check it out.

Knitting & World Peace

2006-04-19T12:20:00.000-04:00

Two years ago, shortly after I began learning how to knit I started having dreams about knitting. Well maybe not so much dreams as listening to conversations in my sleep and inserting the topic of knitting where I deemed it necessary, except I didn't know it then. I used to listen to the local NPR in Allentown, WDIY (which rocks by the way, the station...not the town) in the wee hours of the morning they would switch from music to world news which, for the most part is pretty depressing. I am a very light sleeper and I can hear conversations going on around me while I sleep and remember snippets. I found myself waking up in the morning and wanting to talk to my DH about all knitting that was going on around the world and what he'd heard about it. Of course he had no idea what I was talking about, but every morning I woke up convinced that there were cease-fires all around the world and the soldiers who once attacked and killed each other were now knitting and chatting, exchanging free patterns and knowledge. Okay, maybe not that far fetched but close. There was love, good will and kick-ass mittens being made. It was beautiful and completely untrue. One particular morning after waking up smiling and at peace because South Korea had started a national knitting program and somehow or another France and India were involved, I decided to look up knitting and it's world links. I was saddend that these peaceful knitting events were not taking place globally. Those events (or non-events) sparked an idea in my mind to put in my future blog: Knitting in the News. Periodically I'll scope for interesting articles about knitting with a global spin and a link. I'll bring those to you shortly. In the meantime...knit on!

What I hear

2006-04-19T08:14:00.000-04:00

This very moment I am listening to Hapa's self titled debut album (which is my favorite so far of all their albums with Namahana coming in a close second). I miss not being able to hear them live as often as I did when I was living on Oahu. The last Hapa concert I went to was in Maryland two years ago, DH bought surprise tickets for our anniversary. Of course I cried, seeing and hearing them makes me feel homesick. But how can you feel homesick for a place you've spent the least amount of years of your life so far? I can't explain it well though, just a feeling I got the moment I clapped my eyes on that chain of islands I felt as if I finally came home. Has this ever happened to any of you out there in blogland? It was like time stood still and everything just shifted slightly and clicked into place. I love and miss Hawai'i, the land itself, the pace, the culture, the people and of course my dear friends (shoutouts to Kekoa, Robyn, Lana and Noelani!). Hence the hawaiian name of my blog. A few of you from the mainland have asked what it means. It is hawaiian, roughly translated it means "song of praise". Because that's what I feel that we do whenver we create something. The need for us to create is so deeply ingrained, I believe that even those of you out there who don't believe you are "artistic" or crafty, (not in the sneaky sense) have it and you should just go with it no matter what anyone says. Making, creating is very soothing (and sometimes maddening). You feel the stillness of time and stand back to look at your work and you can tell whether or not it needs "something" you may not know what it is but you intuit that it needs something else. Then you find whatever your piece needed and again you feel the stillness of time but now with that slight shift when everything clicks into place, you stand back to look at your work and you can tell that the piece is done, it needs nothing else but to lovingly give it away. Because we carry the process and the experience inside of us forever, the object no longer has to be with us. You know this because you have been listening with all your being. I love that feeling.

Totally Busted

2006-04-18T20:37:00.000-04:00

Came upstairs in the middle of doing laundry to find Scoozie quite comfortable on my freshly washed, yet to be folded bedding.

Bizarre News

2006-04-18T09:53:00.000-04:00

After listening to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me (Podcast version) last night, my DH went online to look for a story that featured a "monster rabbit" on a rampage in a UK Village. The giant rabbit with a ferocious appetite is causing quite a stir. Luckily rabbits are vegetarians. Now I for one didn't know rabbits came that large and the rabbit in the photo is supposedly smaller than one that's run amok. Must be a pretty smart rabbit to have evaded them so long, especially considering it's size. So my DH and I came to a thought almost simultaneously: Imagine if angora rabbits came in that size! For you non-knitters out there the angora rabbit (yes, there is a rabbit under all that) is very popular for hair which can be spun into a light, almost decadently soft yarn. (side note) The angora goat (Angora seems to be a very popular region) produces what we call mohair. I remember two years ago when I first started knitting my DH and I went to a yarn shop, there I was fondling all the yarn and my DH wandered away and came back a few minutes later with a strange expression on his face, holding up a skein of mohair "Whats a mo?" The look on his face was classic, after I stopped laughing and wiped the tears from my eyes, I admitted that I had no idea so we looked it up when we got home.

Also in bizarre news, an attack cat has caused some Fairfield residents to be extra cautious when venturing outdoors. Lewis the "psycho kitty" is under house arrest. Very odd.

While we were leaving my Mum's house late Sunday evening I saw what I thought was a small to medium size dog crossing the street, barely avoiding getting hit by a passing vehicle. What caught my eyes though was it's movement, it didn't move like a dog or a cat for that matter so I kept looking to see if it would appear again. It had an arched back and moved like it preferred to be erect rather than on all fours. Well it wasn't a dog or a cat but a racoon. I didn't expect to ever see a racoon in downtown Flushing, Queens.

Needle Case Closed

2006-04-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

I put finishing touches on bag #2. It's a needle case for my knitting and crocheting needles. The pattern is a combination of everything I've always wanted in a needle bag, but never found so I made my own (at least for a price that I wanted to pay at the time, since that takes away from fiber monies). There are many things I learned from this and that I will do differently next time, so this will be my prototype. This also marks the first time that I've made something for myself, especially since I have no family member or friend that knits or crochets. It was fun and frustrating, if it were left to me we would probably still be wearing togas...no buttons, no velcro :-) I plan on fine tuning and putting as a free pattern on here in the near future. I do want to buy a cup of coffee to dip the elastic in for a while to darken them, so I'll do that later today. I'm off from school this week for Easter break although I do have to go in for one or two days. I have hopes of finishing and starting a few projects as well as make progress on a few others. This week I would like to finish: DU's Irish Hiking Scarf, DB's Dr. Whoish scarf and I would like to start and finish at least one more bag, maybe the chelsea, the madison or the nappy. Would like to start knitting this felted monogram bag from Patons (minus the glare from the flash):

I still have to decide on the person who will eventually receive it, which will determine the monogram & color choice. I'm also going to check Paton's errata page. I've never felted before and I'm looking forward to it. Also like to make progress on the needle turn quilt, the bento box quilt, the crazy quilt and the crazy curves quilt. I figure if I devote 3 hrs. per day to one of the quilts, for progress I should be set.

Quilting and other videos

2006-04-14T04:13:00.000-04:00

The videos I've been waiting for came in through intra-library loan, so sometime this weekend between spending the holidays with the family, housework, homework, quilting and knitting I'm going to watch Judith Baker Montano's Silk Ribbon Embroidery video. No matter what they do quilting videos are always dry and boring. I have yet to see one that isn't...but who knows, maybe that day will come. In the meantime I want to see Judith's techniques on silk ribbon embellishment. Oh and I'm also going to watch The Girl With A Pearl Earring, I'm interested in seeing how it compares to the book of the same title. A few months ago I read and enjoyed another Tracy Chevalier book The Lady and the Unicorn. I love reading period piece books and watching movies. I'm engrossed by their living conditions, clothing, footwear, hairstyles, food and homes.

Bag 1.5 & survey

2006-04-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

I get so inspired when I come home from work, I always thought early mornings were my creativity peaks. I started this yesterday and I'm about halfway done. It's a needle case using leftover material from the first handbag. The cover will be the tropical print. I'm trying to decide what to use for the inside flap that goes over the needles to prevent them from sliding out, should I use this material that I swear if I stare at it long enough begins to move (which for some strange reason appeals to me) or should I use plain unbleached muslin? I bought the wavy stripe thing at Marshall's a few months back, I think it's a dish rag. I had no idea what I wanted to use it for when I got it but I liked the pattern. The case is going to be a roll type with two buttons and very thin elastic. It holds my Denise interchangeable needles as well other as circs & straights. I put in a little pocket on the right hand side to hold the end caps and extenders that came with the Denise needles. Used velcro on that. So I put the question to you all: stripe or muslin? Whaddya think?

What I see, what I hear

2006-04-10T04:46:00.000-04:00

This is one of my favorite poems, it's bit long. That being said, those of you not into poetry will probably want to skip this part.

THE HIGHWAYMAN
By Alfred Noyes

Part One
I
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding-
Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

IV
And dark in the old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say-

V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.

Part Two
I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gipsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching-
Marching-marching-
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

II
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.

III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say-
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like
years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain.

VI
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs
ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did
not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up strait and still!

VII
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him-with her death.

VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

IX
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.

* * * * * *

X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding-
Riding-riding-
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

XI
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

I listened to Loreena McKennitt's version with my eyes closed earlier, I really appreciate what she's done with it. She's finally going to go back to the studio, which means hopefully a concert soon. She had stopped doing concerts or even recording during the time I got hooked. I heard her concerts are fantastic, so I can hardly wait!

Flash my stash

2006-04-09T16:23:00.000-04:00

Oops, forgot to post my stash here for flash my stash day. Without further ado, the reason I joined the Stashalong:

Visit My Trail

Irish Hiking Scarf Pic

2006-04-08T08:27:00.000-04:00

Progress despite cats...or to spite cats, it can go either way.

Yay! New Tricks

2006-04-07T23:18:00.000-04:00

What a crappy day I had. I won't get into details but suffice to say that at one point I was just going to burst into tears. In an attempt to salvage my Friday, I went to my first Knitting Guild meeting. I was hoping that someone there could help me out with dpn issues I've been having. The guild membership begins in June so I went as a guest. After about 5 minutes, I began thinking I probably came at the wrong night. They were working on a project involving 6 different strands of yarn (which you have to number on a piece of paper), one die and a coin. I believe it's called the Vegas Scarf. I didn't know we were supposed to bring anything so I had nothing with me but two projects that I was working on. One was the Irish Hiking Scarf, the same from the cat fiasco. I've made a lot of progress and took pics but they aren't coming out very well. I'll have to try again. The other, a pattern called carrot top from the book Knit Hats. I'm using Noro for that one. They were kind enough to let me use some of the extra yarn they had, but I didn't cast on the whole 150 stitches. I cast on about 10 instead of 150 because I knew I didn't want to finish the scarf. I just wasn't feeling the Vegas Scarf and more to the point I drove 50 mins to get there so that I could get some help on my dpns, which I desperately needed and was assured over the phone that I would be able to get. The guild meetings take place at the Fabric Tree. So there I am with two of my favorite types of fiber in one store, talk about needing will power! I was soooooo good, I briefly fondled the bamboo yarn, leafed through a couple of pattern books I hadn't seen before and looked at the Amy Butler Free Spirit line of fabrics. All I purchased were two circular size 4 needles, because Joann (guild head I believe) said she would be able to show me how to knit on the round with two circular needles a la Socks Soar With Two Circular Needles. I have in my personal library two of Cat Brodhi's book but I'm a very visual learner and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Joann was kind enough to show me last night and now of course when I look at the book and it makes perfect sense. I'm so excited! On the round without the big gaping holes that I usually get from working with dpns! Totally worth the trip. I also observed her teaching someone a grafting technique for seams that look smooth. It was pretty cool, I found myself saying the technique outloud with the person who was learning. A mixture of a mantra and The Karate Kid, "knit leave on, knit take off, purl leave on, purl take off." Interesting, can't wait to learn. This guild seems like they have a lot of cool members, so perhaps I'll join in August since I'll be in Colorado come end of May 'til July. In the meantime I'll continue as a guest for first Friday in May. Everyone brought their show-n-tells, very yummy bags, a beautiful shawl, a quilted vest made of scraps, and a very cool gauntlet type glove with a swirl pattern made by yo's but without yo holes! I'll have to find that pattern one day. Now I'm off the dip my circs in their hot water spa bath (we all need to relax, don't we?)

Project Spectrum

2006-04-07T08:34:00.001-04:00

Since my classroom is where I spend most of my time, I decided to take some photos for project spectrum there. Yellow & Orange. More to come.

Le bag, c'est fini!

2006-04-06T19:10:00.000-04:00

I finished the bag yesterday except for the buttons. The original buttons I got were way too large for a bag this size, so I went back to Joann's last night to exchange them. This of course meant I spent 2 hours in the home dec fabric aisle getting swatches cut for my next bag. They're having a 50% off home dec fabric sale until April 15th.

What I learned:

1) Even though I used mid-weight decorating fabric I wish the handbag was less floppy. Next time I'll use stabilizer as well.

2) When making a bag this size, I'll go with a smaller overall pattern. I wasn't really able to fit a whole scene anywhere, so I spent days hemming and hawing over what was going to be on the main part of the bag. Finally I said screw it and just cut.

3) Toggle buttons are a pain.

But the most important things I learned...

4) I like making bags.

5) Alongs are fun.

Possibly a swing bag next (I'm working my way up to the Weekender)

Halfway there

2006-04-03T17:38:00.000-04:00

I was inspired today to start on my bag as soon as I got home. I didn't think I would since I woke up with a monsterous headache this morning that never actually went away, it just dulled a bit. I'm happy with my progress so far on my sew i knit project. I changed my mind on the fabric I posted before for the lining and used this one instead. I have alternate plans for the other fabric. The outside of this bag will still be the tropical print and the handles will be striped.

Happy Spring to you

2006-04-01T06:05:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know the first day of spring was a few days ago, but today is April 1st so in my mind it's officially spring. These are some of the photos I took at the Annual Philidelphia Flower Show. Aren't they loverly?

Okay, since I've blogged last I joined 2 more alongs (just a tad obsessive there). Ahh, the things I do to induce productivity. Remember the cat & yarn fiasco? I've joined the Irish Hiking Scarf along, so "Ha" to you kitties. This scarf will exist despite your plotting. It's so nice to see all the pics of Irish Hiking Scarves people around the world are making. Oh and I also joined Stashalong in an effort to reduce and use my yarn stash. No buying any yarn or yarn related items for 12months, that's to insure I don't increase my stash. On the reduce end I commit to using up or selling 5-10% of my yarn during that time.

Come "a-long" with me

2006-03-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

I've joined my first "a-long", the first of many I hope. I'm very excited. I've picked out my fabric(s) and pattern(s) . I'll finally be able to put those Amy Butler patterns I bought to good use. Last summer while rummaging through The Rag Shop I stumbled on the Amy Butler patterns, they didn't have many and of course I wanted them all. I was very patient (in my opinion anyway) and bought one a week using my 50% off coupon. Fortunately no one else seemed to want them and there wasn't even a place for them on any of the shelves. They were just there off to the side on the cutting counter. Anywhoose, I'm making the smart handbag in the upper right corner. I'll use the striped fabric for the lining and the tropical print for the outside. They were on sale, so I treated myself to a few more cuts of fabric with money I had found in the pocket of a jacket I hadn't worn since we moved here. I picked up buttons for the bag while I was at Joann's as well. I would also like to make the velma bag, the swing bag & the weekender bag (I don't have weekender bag pattern, but maybe I should check out Rag Shop again). All the other "a-longers" chose fabulous fabric and patterns, I can hardly wait to see the process and final results. One person has even finished her bag and the a-long hasn't yet started! Awesome!

Another UFO bites the dust

2006-03-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

My nephew's birthday baby blanket is complete. Yay!

Area 51 has nothing on me

2006-03-26T19:26:00.000-05:00

I started a scarf for my DB for his birthday. Growing up he was a great fan of BBC's cult series Dr. Who, so I decided to make a Dr. Who inspired scarf using a pattern in Sally Melville's, The Knit Stitch. The scarf was my first knitting project and I started it before we left for vacay to South Carolina. The few minutes before we left saw me practically burning my retinas trying to memorize the movements from helloknitty because I wanted to learn how to knit continental (the english method seemed like such a waste of energy to me). I figured if I couldn't learn continental from knitting an 8ft scarf it wouldn't be from lack of practice. Well it worked! During my non-driving times (my DH and I took turns) I got a hang of it and actually finished the scarf two weeks after I started. BUT I never wove in the ends and this summer will mark a two year ufo! Uggh I really don't like weaving in the ends. Now I know to weave them in while I am knitting. So because of this my poor DB still does not have his scarf. Hmmmm, his birthday is coming up and I have 49 ends to split and weave in. Can I do it by Saturday's B-day dinner? Just in time for Spring? I will try dang nabbit!

The evidence your honor

2006-03-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

coincidence...I think not.

He didn't even have the decency to look abashed!

Oh well, that's what I get for leaving anything outside of a locked safe that was sealed in an airtight vault inside an undisclosed building, behind a 15ft. high electric fence. That was my uncle's Irish Hiking scarf. I started it last year and I had every intention of finishing it within my lifetime.

His partner in crime can barely even move after all that yarn play.

Hummph, exhausted

What I see, what I hear

2006-03-20T05:30:00.000-05:00

In the early morning during my drive to work, I've been listening, off and on to "Anam Cara" by Celtic scholar & poet John O'Donohue.
he is such a pleasure to listen to, the cadence and lyrical quality of his voice are arresting sometimes I find myself having one of those "driveway moments" where you don't want to get out the car and miss what comes next. His spirituality is very thought provoking. I don't always have radio on, because I enjoy the silence. I find that silence is something so rare and sacred in these days of cell phones, ipods and the like. I remember on one of our vacations a few years back, DH and I went to Colorado and went hiking on our first day there. It was so cool to go hiking and see animals, that because I grew up in a major city, only ever saw on t.v. or in a zoo. There they were just grazing, paying us no mind. At one point while on the hiking trail two deer crossed our path. I just stood there and gently pulled DH's arm to get his attention. One of the deer had stayed behind a bit and stood in the path facing us, we stared at each other for a long time. The deer then seemed to continue on it's way, but we still hadn't moved. It came back a few seconds later with it's companion and we just stared at them and they at us for what seemed like a long time but was most likely only two minutes. Silence is like that to me sometimes a moment so beautiful, I don't want to break it. Mind you, having lived in Pennsylvania I had even seen a moose walking down our street at about 4:00 am one morning on the way to work, that was surreal. Had I known at the time that moose a sighting in PA was a nearly unheard of phenomina, I would have called the occurence in. Growing up in New York City allows you to see daily the most absurd things as an almost natural, normal occurence. Seeing a llama in the backseat of a taxi cab one day for example. But this was a different experience, we were in the Rockies, their turf this time not New England, New York City or Allentown PA. It was silent contemplation and curiosity and it was awesome.

I'm finally going to start on a book I purchased over a year ago on Amazon.com, "The Creative Habit" by Twyla Tharp. I'll divide my time between that and school related materials and texts

Updates & Whatnots

2006-03-19T18:08:00.000-05:00

Last weekend's NorthEastern Shop Hop was a complete success! If you count success as my winning any of the prizes in any of the stores in the two states involved a success, then no that part was a complete bomb. BUT on the other hand if you count success as spending a wonderful weekend driving your DH batty when he comes to the realization that gasp, you are just one of the many fabric dependent junkies out there and there is NO CURE! (insert evil laugh here) Then yes, it was a rousing success. I got to visit new quilt shops and buy more fabric and each shop had a goodie bag for the shop hop participants. One of the grand prize winners came all the way from New Jersey! There is no way she could have done all that in one day. It took us both Saturday and Sunday. Granted we started quite late on Saturday due to the fact I had a workshop to go to that had completely slipped my mind. We didn't actually hit the first shop until 2:00pm and we barely made it to the last shop on Sunday before they closed. Grand prize winners received the Madeira Treasure Chest and each store had their own drawings and prizes. Plus it was great fun. I love driving around with DH, he always takes the scenic routes and I think he's part compass.

I have been quilting I managed to square all my blocks of the crazy curves quilt and piece them, and then unpiece them. Long story, but I will say the seam ripper and I are best buds. I'm in the process of re-piecing.

Here is a pic of an arrangement I didn't choose to go with.

I began my hand quilting class being offered at one of the local high schools in the evenings. Completely lost track of the particulars of cutting my half triangles for the Amazing Technicolor Quilt. She showed us a way of cutting that would eliminate having to snip off the extra corners at the end of each altered & reassembled square (a.k.a. triangle) but I forgot, uuuggggh! I have to give her a call. Crazy quilt class and other curve class, hmmm, I believe it's best not to ask about those right now.

I had my phone interview earlier this week and just received my acceptance letter (yay!). What did you say? Why, yes as a matter of fact it is for the summer plans I'm making. Housing (check), how I'm getting to Colorado (check), transportation while I'm there (check), roommates to lower housing costs (check). Application and acceptance into the program. Ahem, application and acceptance (oh, yes of course, check). My mind prefers the spherical rather than linear thought process. I can understand the linear thought process but can't comprehend why someone would want to operate that way. I'm so glad DH has gotten used to it. This morning after breakfast DH came up with an analogy, he said I talk like I quilt. I have at least 7 different conversations going on at once and they never actually finish. Ha, ha, very funny DH, very funny.

Quilt Show Pics

2006-03-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

On March 3rd my most wonderful DH took me to for a drive to my first quilt show "Fabrics & Fabrications" a quilt exhibit in Fairfield, Connecticut. The exhibit benefited the Make a Wish Foundation. I managed to take some photos before the juice in my camara died. The quilts were draped over pews or hung from various balconies so getting the full effect in the photos proved challenging. The descriptions and information come from the exhibit catalog.

One of my favorite quilts was a crazy quilt from 1888 made by Jennie Tarbell Crowther of Vermont.

Here is a close-up...

Other than the fact that it's a hand quilted whole cloth quilt, I'm not sure about the rest of the information on this piece. I zoomed in to get detail and forgot to write down the number to look up in the pamphlet afterwards. I think it might be called "Medallion Star" created from a pattern in the Smithsonian Institute quilt collection.

J. Phil Beaver designed the line of fabric and the quilt "Indiana Harvest" for Free Spirit Fabrics. WOW!

The "African Story Quilt" was made in Nyanga, Zimbabwe. Each panel tells a story of people in their village, an accompanying paper detailed the meaning of each picture. Of course DH thought the last panel and it's description was very funny.

"Japanese Garden Path" was created by Kathleen Rice who was inspired by a similar quilt she saw in a 2005 quilt show. It reminds me of both Stone Henge and of the stone walls found throughout New England.

"Tree of Life" is a commissioned king-size Amish piece that hung from the choir balcony in one of the chapels used for the exhibit.

Three words:

2006-03-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

Shop...hop...drop. Still three more quilt shops to go.

Block Party!

2006-02-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

I got no quilting done all weekend, I had to drive all the way back to the shop on Saturday to get my sewing machine which, in my haste I forgot there Friday evening after class. Then we had to make it home in time for the furniture delivery. Wow! Finally after 8yrs of marriage we have a bedroom set. We had never been able to agree on a set before. DH would like one aspect of the set but not the whole thing and of course I would like certain aspects of another set all together, but again not the whole thing. Well almost 4 yrs ago our eyes clapped on a set that not only we both agreed on, but we both liked the entire collection. After our jaw dropped from sticker shock we kept searching in other stores. We never bought anything else though. I wanted a timeless piece that I wouldn't get tired of looking at. I also prefer dark woods. Late 2005 I started working part time at RH (where our dream bed set is) to supplement my teaching income. I must say it wasn't a coincidence, whenever I decide to work retail it has to fall under 2 rules 1) The store has to have quality merchandise that I would use, honestly represent and most likely want and 2) The store has to have very little clothing (if any). Folding and re-folding during the holidays in retail is not my idea of a good time. Well, the employee discount made the purchase a bit more realistic. Our room is on the small side so we were only able to get 3 pieces. We chose the wardrobe, the king size sleigh bed and one nightstand.

On the quilting front here are pictures of my fellow student's quilts from the Crazy Curves class, the pictures do not do justice to the rich colors found in all the quilts:

This is Lisa's quilt, she is making a queen size bed quilt to present to her husband as a surprise for the upcoming 12yr anniversary (Happy Anniversary Lisa & Hubby!).

This is Yvonne's quilt. Yvonne will not be quilting her quilt, instead she plans on stretching it over canvas as an art piece for her home. Aren't the batiks divine! So rich and varied. What a wonderful collection from her stash.

This is Betsy's quilt, her quilt is still evolving. The fabrics she's using have such a cosmic quality to them. I can't wait to see it when it's done!

What of mine you ask, well, yours truly is slow as molasses. My block placement changed since the last time (slightly) and I'm very pleased with it so far. I'll post a pic next time. I still have such a long way to go though (15 more blocks to sew, square all 64 then start on the borders), but all the sweeter when I get there. What of progress on the other quilts, knitting projects, housekeeping, homework? "La, la, la, la, la (hands over ears) I cannot hear you."

This was such a wonderful class and I learned so much. The instructor, Ann Trompetter is such a sweetie, her accumulated knowledge flows from her so easily. Much sharing was taking place and ideas and information were constantly being exchanged. For instance, the ladies in my class were kind enough to indulge me in giving even their teensiest fabric scraps to create a technique, by Frances Emery I saw in the Spring 2006 issue of American Quilter Magazine called "Scraptures". Lisa, while Google-ing found a website that featured some interesting quilting patterns that others who have made Crazy Curves quilts have used (thanks Lisa!).

The quilting is phenomenal! I saw some pretty cool ideas that may just change my quilting plans for either this or future quilts. Yum!

Caution, curves ahead

2006-02-24T07:49:00.000-05:00

This is what I got done so far and the class is tonight. The blocks in the center remind me of girl scout butter cookies, mmmm, butter cookies. Still less than half of what I was supposed to have done, I thought it was 36 but upon further reflection, I think it was supposed to be 64 (I was concentrating on sewing my curves at the time and missed what the instructor said). I didn't think I would like the color combination with the pattern but now I'm totally digging it. I even have a possible plan for quilting, I see an echo pattern of the circles and quarter circles. It hasn't given me a name yet though. Sewing the curves is a little slow, but I'm getting faster and not sacrificing accuracy. All this without having to make those little registration marks and snips into the fabric. Perfect curves every time. Imagine that!

I spent the better part of my week doing laundry and on the phone with the Mac people, the SBC Global people (dsl) and the Cannon people for my printer (which obviously didn't want to be left out of the fun). Both computers refused to acknowledge the printer, "I don't even know you anymore, you've changed". The printer on the other hand was like "Nah, man what you think you despise in me is what you are afraid to see in yourselves, it is the reflection of your inner self that you refuse to acknowledge". Well it turns out it was neither, I just needed to download drivers specifically for the Canon i860, not generic drivers. So technically what they had there, my laptops and my printer, was a failure to communicate. Why would I have to do this since I've never done it before? When I got the 12inch G4 I just popped the usb plug into the printer and was off and running, no cd needed. Well my dirty deeds have caught up with me. We'll see what else the electronic future holds.

I finally sent my application for the A to I course scheduled for this summer and next in Colorado, hopefully I'll hear from them soon. Especially since I've narrowed down my search for housing over there and have found potential roommates who are also taking the course. This is the second summer for 2 of them and the first for the other 2 (but they've had previous AMI training). I've never had roommates before, so this should be interesting. Oh, and I almost forgot! I'll most likely be making this a road trip! YAY!! Road trip, road trip, road trip, road trip. This will be my first long road trip, we usually leave early in the morning and get to where we are staying by early the next morning, taking turns at the wheel and stopping only for breaks. But this will be a bonafide road trip. I'm burning cd's for it and everything. My sweet DH has decided to join me, he requested his vacation time to coincide with my trip. We'll drive there, he'll fly back home and fly back over when my studies are done (which is kinda ridiculous, I believe my Mum may have had something to do with this, she was worried about me being out there on the road all by myself) but we get another road trip going back. Cool! DH has been to every state except Kansas and Alaska, this trip will knock off plenty for me. I'll collect interesting things for my classroom from every state we get to. Oh! and I can't wait to see all the quilting/knitting stores and museums and shows and....

EEE?

2006-02-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

I was trying to come up with alternative acronyms and names for the world wide web. Imagine it was named something else like, EEE (earth entirely entangled) or GGG (globe's gargantuan gossamer). I wonder if we'll ever reach that point where we won't have just WWW, just the same way we have .com, .net and .org.

I've been so busy trying to keep up with my projects in quilting I haven't even had time to knit :-( or post knitting UFO's. I'll try and remedy that next week.

Olfa Spinning Rotary Mat

2006-02-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to use the Olfa Spinning Rotary Mat in Monday's Crazy Curves class and I was hooked. Being able to spin your mat makes life so much easier because it makes squaring up your blocks a dream! I saw the round revolving mats before but was hesitant to buy it because--well, it's round and it didn't seem logical to me when most of what we cut or at least start out from is either a square or a rectangle. The Olfa mat is not wobbly at all and spins very smooth. The only size it seems to come in so far is 12x12, which is great for your average size blocks. Of course it also has the yellow lines for measuring as well and of course it's also self-healing. It's a little on the pricey side (average $36.00) but I found two websites, store quilting-warehouse and joanns.com that have it on sale for just under $25 bucks!

Crazy!

2006-02-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

I think I've sewn myself into a corner, see below

I started out using the sew and flip method but now I think I'm using something else, hmmm. Anyway elsewhere in the news, I went to my first Crazy Curves class yesterday evening (this is different from the Curved Piecing class online). I'm a very visual learner so I wanted to take this "live" class in order to aid me in my online class as well as learn different ways of piecing. The class was supposed to have started last Monday but it was cancelled due to the snow storm. Of course yours truly still hadn't signed up yet. I called The Quilt Shop in Danbury to find out what materials I needed to bring and ran out of here like a bat outta hell yesterday (very un-Montessori like). Amy Trompetter is the instructor (a sweet woman and a wonderful instructor) and the pattern we are using is called Drunkard's Path Gone Wild from Elisa Wilson's book Crazy Curves. I just grabbed as many light & dark fat quarters as possible as I was running out of the house. Needless to say I wasn't pleased with my fabric choices. I'm still trying to decide what fabrics I want to use, but this is what I made last night

This pattern lends itself well to batiks, but I don't have a lot of batiks and I really don't feel like spending hours in a fabric shop getting more material (I know, it's a blasphemous statement but I don't want to shop now, I want to quilt). I've got a lot to do before Friday's class. Instead of extending the class one week due to the snow storm, we decided to meet this Friday as well and we need to have 36 of those curved pieces done! And I still have to make room for the furniture delivery on Saturday...Ackkkk!

Focus

Best laid plans

2006-02-19T07:02:00.000-05:00

Let's see...what if someone who has never had a problem with their internet connection or their computer (it is a Mac afterall) was enrolled in 3 online classes that would be going on simultaneously. What if the same person had recently started a weblog and was over the moon that she had managed to log on faithfully and blog daily since it inception. What could possibly happen in a situation like that? Any guesses? How about no internet access since the day that the third class began and the exact date that the assignment from the professional online course is due. It turns out midway through reinstalling my OS X-- I realized it couldn't possibly be a Mac problem because I wasn't able to logon to the internet in either computer (both are Macs but same day I upgraded to OS X.4.3 on my main laptop and I thought maybe there was a conflict between the upgrade and my Safari/Firefox. Well the computer wasn't the problem but it became part of the problem after I tried "fixing" it. Two days later, with the help of a friendly Apple Tech we came to the conclusion that these were my options: 1) buy a firewire, transfer all my files to the other computer, erase my hard drive and reinstall OS X again (less expensive, but not something I was looking forward to) or 2) buy Disk Warrior (the more expensive, therefore least desirable option). I went down to CompUSA yesterday, got both and tried Disk Warrior first. It is as magical as they say! I'm back on and have a few things to catch up on blogwise, but a heck of a lot of things to catch up on online classwise.

Encrusted Crazy Quilting Class

2006-02-15T21:16:00.000-05:00

It's almost here, it's almost here. Tomorrow, February 16th is the start of the Encrusted Crazy Quilting Class that I'm taking online with Sharon Boggon who incidentally has a fabulous blog called inaminuteago. She has the most incredible links to resources/information about quilting and other fiber arts. It is such a joy that she shares them with us. Check it out.

Me thinks I may have a wee bit too much on my plate, but what the heck. Since I'm off from school all of next week and will only be working at my second job Wednesday through Friday in the evenings, I'll try and use that time to do as much work on my projects as possible. I decided not to take the Silk Ribbon class this go around :-( that's too bad because I really wanted to feel comfortable enough to use the technique for my crazy quilt. I just don't have time to find all the materials I need (nor the funds, I've nearly exhausted my fiber budget on classes & supplies).

On another note I'm having trouble with links inside my blog posts, can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Hopefully I'll work out something soon. In the meantime cut & paste the urls.

Oh! One more thing. I was cruising iTunes yesterday and getting updates on my Podcast subscriptions, typed in "Quilt" and wouldn't you know there are quilting pods! It's like having an all quilt all the time radio station. Wonderful stuff.

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T18:18:00.000-05:00

Our Anniversary Dinner is almost ready, except the salad. I think my DH is surprising me with a bottle of Ice Wine. If you like sweet wines, I suggest you try it. The best Ice Wine (in my humble opinion) is made in Canada. Take a look at the process.

Enter: "Spring"

This is a quilt I'm making for my Mum. Inspired by the little green buds I discerned on the trees while I was in NYC (last spring of course). It's also inspired by Vivaldi's "Spring". I hope to create a quilt for each of the Suites in his "Four Seasons". Each season will be a different style. See if you follow my thinking here, the upper left hand corner (not the borders) of the quilt represent the little buds, then the browns of the trunks of the trees, then the dirt and small stones leading into the blues of the water across to the bank on the other side, up the trees to the buds and then the blue of the sky. Repeat. It took me a long time to decide on how to border and quilt it, I actually had to put it away for several months but I think I've finally decided. The main portion will be free motion in a side-to-side swirly ripples in a lake fashion and the outside border will be lines extending from the main quilt to echo the straight lines of the bargello effect. I got the pattern for this quilt from Colorwash Bargello Quilts by Beth Ann Willams

By the banks of the pond

2006-02-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

This is the view from the footbridge that goes over a little pond outside our backdoor.

After many hours of searching I came back with an architect's compass! Who knew they would be so difficult to find? I also picked up everything I needed for my sweet puddin' pie of a DH's special Valentine/Anniversary dinner tomorrow. On February 14th, 2006 we will have been married 8yrs (not bad considering we knew each other for only two months before that). We met on the beautiful Hawaiian island of O'ahu in an art gallery where I was working at the time, but that's a tale for another day.

I'm considering signing up for a Silk Ribbon Reticule class that begins on the 18th of this month on QuiltU, but I'm having quite a bit of trouble finding everything from the supply list. I'm tempted to get everything I need online, but 1) I don't know if I'll have enough time for it to ship and 2) it irks me that I won't be able to use my Joann's & my Ragshop coupons (50% off is nothing to sneeze at and I'm on a tight craft budget). I'm really keen about taking this class though, so I may have to bite the bullet, we'll see. Besides the benefits of learning the technique, the actual finished product for me will not be a reticule but rather the centerpiece for a crazy quilt which I plan on starting mid-month. I've never made a crazy quilt before so this should be fun!

Wheee! Snow Day!!

2006-02-13T07:10:00.000-05:00

Before going to bed last night I placed the telephone on my makeshift nightstand along with the telephone tree containing the names and phone numbers of parents in our main school. That way if I got a phone call for school cancellation in the wee hours of the morning I wouldn't have to struggle, groggy eyed looking for anything. I didn't actually think we'd get a snow day today. The snow had stopped falling by around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. My phone rang at 5:30 this morning and I called the next person on the main telephone tree list to continue the domino effect, then proceeded to call the parents in my school (we're itty bitty so that took all of 5 mins.) I acquaint snow days with finding a $20 in your coat pocket from the winter before, makes you heady with thoughts of how you're going to spend it. I'm going to go hunting for an architect's compass to make my templates for the online Curved Piecing class I'm taking on QuiltUniversity.com. I'll see what other mischief I can get into. Mayhaps I'll bring my camera along to take photos of our winter wonderland.