Monday, March 25, 2013

Dear Blog,

I think of you every day, yet, I never take the time to write.

So this is a quickie:

In our house we've been plagued with colds and sinus issues. Two rounds of antibiotics and steroids each. And one of us is still hacking.

As the two readers of this page may recall, I'm a big ballet fan. I've been a season ticket holder (that's patron) to the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater for thirty(!) years. I'm a believer in supporting the arts you love - be it professional wrestling, jazz, or whatever. Our ballet is incredibly flexible in their season ticket holder policies. So when my mother-in-law passed away, and we just didn't feel like Giselle ten days later (even though it's my DH favorite - he has a "thing" for the Willis), we exchanged the tickets for another performance and gave them as a Christmas gift. Well, two weeks ago the creeping crud invaded out home. See above, and we didn't feel up to traveling. So I exchanged another set of tickets for the following weekend. We were packed and ready to travel Saturday (tickets were for Sunday). However, when I got up Saturday morning, we were in the middle of a snowstorm. A full blown snow storm, not the predicted flurries. So reluctantly we changed plans (you may add "yet again" here). We'd drive right to the theater on Sunday, stay overnight, and drive home Monday. The weather looked promising. Fast forward to early Sunday morning. First thing I did was to look up the weather and what did I see? A travel advisory for our entire route!!!!!???? Not for Sunday, but for Monday. That meant that we'd certainly be able to get there, but coming back was going to be a problem. As we discussed the possibility of it not being a serious advisory....it changed. Now it was a severe weather warning. So, here we are, all packed up and no where to go. Fortunately, the box office and ballet theater allowed me to swap these tickets for the final performance in April, when there is no possibility of snow - even in Central PA. At least none that will stick around. But I now have four tickets to Cinderella (with the PBT Orchestra). Anyone want to buy 2 excellent seats to Cinderella? This has not been a good year for traveling...or ballet for us.

Lastly, I'd like to share some gratuitous knitting content. My Wurm (not Raveled yet, I need a better photo). LOVE. IT. Even though it's getting a little to warm to wear it, says the woman who lives where it is currently 25 degrees.



 I used a worsted superwash called Giusto, dyed by an indie dyer Altobish. Sadly, she has given up dying yarn and has gone back to teaching viola and violin full time. I say sadly because this yarn was to die (pun intended) for. I actually bought two more skeins. It only took one to make the hat, so I have another skein in the blue, and one in spring green. It was great to knit with and I have a feeling it's going to wear like iron, which is really good. I'm not particularly gentle with my knitwear.











 Then there is this. This is Four Play, in the Gypsy Heart colorway. I find it fascinating that the skein looks so much different than the cake, which knits up totally differently in the scarf. Scrunchable Scarf,  that is. With the busy variegation, I wanted something that would be poofy, yet I didn't think cables would be a good choice. And it looks even more different than in the photo because I changed the cast on. What is in the photo is 32. I upped it to 38 (multiples of 3, +2 for selvage) and found the flashing and pooling overwhelming and repetitive. So  settled on 35 and that seems to have worked better. A 3 stitch difference really mattered.  I just love these simple yet lovely patterns. They let the yarn shine. And if you ever get the chance to snap up some Four Play, do it. You will not be disappointed. Srsly.