When you see bugs you know it's fresh.

Let me tell you where I've been.

Housecleaning. No, I'm not kidding. Once a year I hire an Amish woman (who has since become my friend), to houseclean for me. (Amish = no photos, sorry) In years past, my DH and I spent two WHOLE days cleaning our townhouse, once a year, top to bottom. My DH can give Adrian Monk a run for his money. (To his credit, the rest of the year he survives with my version of cleaning. Which I can tell you doesn't come close to his standards. Ah, well, ya' can't have everything.) But I digress. I used to look forward to these days with trepidation and loathing. At the end, I'd feel like I had been hit by a truck, and my hands would look like lobster claws. But we'd have shoveled out of the mail, and some of the flotsam and jetsam that accumulates over the course of a year.

Then one year he injured his back, and was incapacitated for over a week. When he was finally back on his feet, there was no way I was going to allow him to think about moving furniture etc. I hired two local women to come in and houseclean instead. (Let me define houseclean here: Wipe/wash walls and ceiling, move and vacuum under furniture, scour bathrooms, scrub floors, wash all the woodwork, clean the dishwasher (I kid you not, ya know all that crap that accumulates around the door?), wash windows (inside and out) all the stuff that a working person doesn't have time to do on any regular basis. Well, they did most everything in the course of one day, I helped by putting all our "stuff" (books, CDs, knick-knacks etc.) in boxes, and helping to move things when asked. It was much better, and even though it wasn't exactly as we did it before, it was fine by me.

The next year, I just went ahead and tried to call the same person back, but couldn't reach her. I learned about Mary Ann from a friend of mine, and she agreed to come. She brought along her sister-in-law Nancy to help, and it was like having two tornadoes in the house-and they were funny and entertaining to boot. And Mary Ann loves to do windows! When she is finished, you can barely see the glass. Anyway, it isn't inexpensive, especially since I have to pick them up and take them home (it's too far for the buggy), but I liked their work (and work ethic) enough to ask them back. This is the fourth year that I've had Mary Ann. This time she came with her two nieces. (It turns out Nancy and her husband purchased a food concession and are busy with their new business. The Amish are nothing if not resourceful.) Well, even though I have these folks to do the heavy lifting (so to speak) DH and I still have a lot of "prep" work. So it isn't a picnic. I still look forward to it like a trip to the dentist, but I gotta say, I much prefer it to doing it myself (with DH). You don't get "sidetracked" by trivia. Like cleaning out the junk drawer instead of just wiping it down. (BTW, Mary Ann wiped out the insides and outsides of the cabinets in the kitchen. I'd never do that!) Anyway, I take the day off as a "vacation" day, and do stuff that I'd rather have them not do, so they can focus on the hard stuff. With three people, they finished a little earlier then they had in the past, and I got them home by just before 4:00pm. I still had to "reassemble" the place. You know, nothing was in the place where it began, but all you have to do it organize/find it. You haven't seen my bath pouf, and my Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book have you? I still feel like I was "grazed" by a truck, but at least my hands are not raw!

The bugs? Oh yeah, the bugs! Because all of these women live in the same rural neighborhood, one passes a number of farms, many of whom sell produce at farm stands. I stopped on my way home and got some sweet corn from a tractor on the side of the road, and as soon as I got home, I threw it in the microwave.

My corn cooking system is something like this:

Cut the silk off the top, peel the outer husk and snap off any long stalks. Allow a layer of husk to remain on the corn. Soak for a few moments in cold water. Throw in microwave (I usually do 3 at a time because of space.) for four minutes. Turn and do another three or four minutes. Rinse and repeat. At this point, cool slightly, and the silk and remaining husks will come right off. (I slice my kernels off the cob to eat. Expensive dental work.....) I'm getting to the bugs. When I'm husking the first few layers, I've learned to look for signs of insects and those charming little worms that like sweet corn. If I pick my own ears, I'm pretty good at spotting the signs. But this time the farmer put them in a bag for me instead. I got a bonus ear though. Anyway, this time there were several with tell tail worm signs and one ear actually had little bugs scurry out when I stripped off the first few layers. IN MY VERY CLEAN KITCHEN!! I washed them into the garbage disposal, cut off the chewed portion of the ear, and when ahead with the cooking.

That's fresh corn folks!!

Those little knitting elves....

..... were working very hard. 'Cause finally I finished this! Crest 'O the Wave scarf.



Franco looks lovely in it no? The one thing you can sorta see is that there is a distinct difference in the color of the two ends of the scarf. Sigh. I thought I'd have plenty Claudia's Handpaint (2 skeins, about 380 yards), but this pattern ate yarn like a champ. Then started the quest. The quest to find the same colorway. It's a handpaint so no two are alike. But some of these are like - completely different combinations of colors. Sheri from the Loopy Ewe came to my rescue and had a skein that came close.







What you can't see in the photo is that the waves are beaded.



I beaded the two middle garter stitch rows in the pattern (rows 10 & 11, for those playing along), and I beaded the last six rows of the ends. Using this method the beads show on both sides of the piece.

Looks fabulous, though I think I made it a little long than most folks have.











Here's the beading....



The beads are 6/0 AB iris. Large and easy peasy to thread.

Next up is my Hanging Garden Stole. I have ONE repeat to do. Unfortunately the repeat is nearly 50 rows long...in lace weight no less.

Still waiting.....

... for those pieces to knit themselves, but in the meantime here's what I've been doing.


This is a peyote stitch bracelet trimmed with freshwater pearls. (See the "bead" in the blog name means something really!) The backstory is that for the past oh, ten years or so I've made some jewelry for my sister-in-law for her Fourth of July birthday. She goes "above and beyond" to take care of my DH's parents and does a lot of the organizing for family picnics etc. Though my in-laws are pretty easy-going, ya'll know what it's like to interact this way with your own mothers. Frustration is a word you'd know well. Anyway, last year I sent her a unique piece that I didn't make because I ran out of time and ideas. This year I had to get back on the horse. When a pattern for this crossed my desk, I thought wow - perfect. And it is not that complicated to boot. All I needed was time. That's the hardest, most precious commodity.

Wanna see it up close. You can see the Swarovski crystals peeking out in this one.



Her birthday is usually deadly hot around these parts, so even though I toyed with the idea of a moebius, with beads natch, and even ordered the Apple Laine to make it, I couldn't imagine giving her a wool/silk scarf in 90 degree weather.

This bracelet has a slide clasp, my absolutely favorite kind of clasp for cuff style bracelets. Makes the bracelet really easy to wear. I'm going to make one for myself, with a few changes. Right now I'm waiting for some "button" style freshwater pearls to make an appearance.

Good thing she doesn't read this blog.

Next up, my scarf should finally be finishing itself.

While I am waiting ...

.... for the pieces I am working on to knit themselves...

I did this. And it was so astonishingly accurate I had to post it

You Are Indigo

Of all the shades of blue, you are the most funky, unique, and independent. Expressing yourself and taking a leap of faith has always been easy for you.

What Color Blue Are You?

Especially the funky part. There was one question about a "best friend" that I had a hard time with. I really don't have a "best friend". I'm married to my best friend. I often wonder what a shrink would make of that.

Be back soon....

..... I'm on hiatus!

Still no FO's

.... working on it though. I did hear from my local yarn shop that Cynthia got me another skein of Claudia's Handpaint to try and finish the Crest of the Wave scarf I've been pooping along on. It's just pooping along because I'm beading as I go, and damn, not only does this pattern "eat" yarn, the beading pattern I've selected is "eating" beads. So I'm going to have to order a kilo or two from Fire Mountain to finish. I should get a photo of the work in progress, it is very cool, but way more fancy than I originally thought. This is going to be one heavy scarf.

ETA: I just got back from the LYS and the Claudia Handpaint is COMPLETELY different then the skeins I have. It's like they're two different yarns. And it's not even like one has more blue or more pink. This yarn is loaded with black and very, very light blue/gray.

I'm also moving along on the Ribbi Cardi. I'll be finished with the body, which is knit in one piece, maybe tonight, and can start on the neck and sleeves. I suspect that it won't take me too long and will get the heavy wool off my lap.

Of course, heavy wool is perfect for the 20 degrees below average temperatures we're getting. Not to mention the S.N.O.W. that I had to brush off my car last Monday. Yes, last Monday, May 12th. I am not joking. I was traveling to a another campus, and when I went out at the crack of dawn the car had snow on it. Bah! If anyone sees any of that there global warming, please send it in our direction. My few plants are gonna freeze.

But yesterday hot damn, "Elvis left the building"(apologies to Mike Lang)! And where was I? In my car...traveling east to west across the middle of the state, where I couldn't get a radio broadcast of the game to save my life! (Other than the repent or go to hell types. Which always seem to come in loud and clear. Can this be a coincidence?) And it was on NBC. And I missed it. We don't have Versus (no digital cable), so we haven't been able to actually see any of the games. We listen to the radio broadcasts so it's a little like being Amish--except for the bad words my DH yells at the radio. I've never heard an Amish person curse, but they may do it in PA Dutch and I wouldn't know anyway.(Why pay more to see more, for the most part, bad TV? Turner Classic Movies excepted.) On the positive side we got to hear the incomparable Mike Lang call the games, so it isn't all that bad. ("Get in the fast lane grandma, the bingo game is ready to roll.....!") So it was a treat to have the game be broadcast on a network. On another note, my mother also doesn't have digital cable, but she gets Versus....what's up with this?

Anyway, it was great to see them win. They've been playing really well, and they're a great group of guys...very, very young, but for 43 year old Gary Roberts. But as one of the news writers from Pittsburgh pointed out, you wouldn't mind your son or daughter emulating any of these guys-no steroid scandals, no child support issues, no arrests, not even any DUIs (probably because so many are not old enough to drink yet). No dirt anywhere. It will probably happen sometime, but not yet. Pretty remarkable.

Go Pens!! Enjoy that dance with Lord Stanley!

Heard at the polls......

..... or who says there shouldn't be a voter intelligence test?

First the stipulations: 1) I didn't hear these first hand, I cannot vote in our primary because I am "unaffiliated". The events were related to me by an individual whose integrity is unassailable; 2) I swear there really were one of each party flavor; 3) the individual who heard these exchanges swears no idiot was harmed in the unfolding of these events, but it was considered (by more than one person apparently).

Scene: Local poll staffed by older retirees. Generally these folk are genial and helpful. Because we have the new electronic voting machines (which can be the subject of another stupidity post), there is a younger fellow, a technician, I presume, to help those who are new, intimidated, etc. My experience of him is that he is unfailingly nice and considerate. (I'd kill myself, he has my undying admiration.) It is a few minutes to 8:00 pm EDT the time the polls close, and they are actually counting down. Not a usual event.

Event 1: There is a line and a woman steps up to the poll attendant.

Attendant: "What is your party affiliation?"
Woman: "What?"
Attendant: "Are you registered Republican or Democrat?"
Woman: "I'm for that Obama guy. What is he?"
Attendant, nonplussed: "Uh, Democrat."
Woman: "Yeah, that's it."

After looking though the Democratic rolls, then the Republican rolls, without success, they find Madam Voter is "unaffiliated".

Attendant: "I'm sorry, but you have an "unaffiliated" registration, and cannot vote in the primary."
Woman:"What? That can't be! I thought I changed it! I'm sure I did! I want to vote for that Obama guy."

Never mind that she didn't even know what party that "OBama guy" is running under..... I'm sure she changed her registration. Probably to Martian......

Event 2.

Yet another woman, this one a Republican, steps up to the voting machine, and the attendant turns the machine on and sets it to the Republican races.

Woman: "So, I can't remember - how do I vote a "straight ticket?"
Long Suffering Attendant: "Mam, this is the primary, you can only vote in the Republican races. You vote for Republicans that you want to run in the general election."
Woman: "What if I make a mistake? You know I want my votes to be counted!"
LS Attendant: "Mam, as long as you vote for the people you want, you really can't make a mistake. Your votes will most definitely be counted."
Woman: "Well you know what happened in Florida! They left all those chads and then their votes weren't counted! I don't want to leave any chads!"
LS Attendant (who is probably wishing for a good stiff drink about now): "Mam, I assure you that if you follow the directions and push the flashing red "VOTE!" button, your vote will be counted. You need not be worried about chads."
Woman: "You'd better be right! Now, how do I vote a straight ticket?"

I wish I were kidding. I am taking a little license with the actual dialog. As I said I heard it second hand. But I attest to you that the substance is true.

Now, do I hear a vote for a test before you can actually vote?

(And that test should be in English. It was pointed out to me yesterday, that there were probably illegal immigrants voting in the primary, and I could not! Where's the justice in that?)

Knitting? What knitting?

As the month from hell rolls on, I have no knitting to show for it. Not only do I have nothing to show for it, I have hardly been knitting. When I've had a few moments I can hardly keep my eyes open. Case in point......

This past weekend DH and I drove to the 'Burgh to see "Alice in Wonderland" performed by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. It was the North American Premier of this particular rendition. The scenery, costumes, choreography, etc. were courtesy of the London Ballet. The production was amazing, but the curtain call was the funniest thing. With all the animals and characters (March Hare, door mouse, white rabbit, duchess and piglet, Mad Hatter etc.) the curtain call looked like a Star Trek convention. I just had to laugh. What does this have to do with knitting? Well, on Saturday afternoon when we drove, I should have had something like 2 hours of uninterrupted knitting time, but I was so exhausted, I didn't even bother to take out my sticks and string. So my Ribby Cardi languished. After dinner, it was all I could do to find a comfortable place to sit, and read before I fell over. I even had to reread the two or so pages that I had been reading the next day.

Same thing happened Monday night. I can't keep my wits about me enough to knit at all, and it sucks. So there is absolutely NO KNITTING going on, and I have three projects on my needles. The good news is that I am not compelled to add any more. And I don't even have any socks started.

Today is the last day, at least in the near term for the political robo calls the name calling, bitching, moaning, pimping and all things associated with the primary. After today we can go back to being a sleepy ol' state. What I find less than charming though is the realization that college students are all of a sudden deciding that they invented primary elections. This morning at a busy intersection there were Obama supporters on all four corners jumping around with signs, like Teletubbies on speed. How I wish they could put that much energy into not getting drunk on weekends.

And for me, the primaries are nothing more than a nuisance. In PA, unless you have an "R" or "D" on your registration, you cannot vote. We are being entertained though by a race for our congressional seat. There are dueling felons (OK accused felons). One got nabbed for DUI about a year ago, and the other just had charges filed for taking nekked photos of a former girlfriend, without her consent.

Who says this isn't Happy Valley?

And so it goes .....

..... when we last left our heroine, she was trying to refrain from thumping herself silly before a major work endeavor.

Well, just as I posted, the inevitable "issue" happened. A colleague, who was scheduled to present not once, but twice(!), fell ill. (And I might add here that the second presentation was a "political" presentation. Not one I would have scheduled if I had not been "requested" to add.) It fell to me to 1) find a suitable presenter substitute (read: victim); 2) make the decision in time to allow the substitute to become familiar with work that was not her own.

Let me clarify. If one produces a professional development presentation, it stands to reason that one is somewhat of an expert in the field. If one is substituting and using someone else's presentation...all bets are off. The person who got the flu, kept insisting she would be well enough to travel. It was Wednesday, the presentation was Friday, she looked terrible, I just couldn't take the risk. So I filled in for one and a friend pulled my bacon out of the fire for the other. Everything went OK, but still. I truly didn't need the stress that this invoked.

Sigh. So now the cleanup. Thank you notes, budget stuff, find my sunglasses...you know the usual.

And this morning I dropped my vehicle off for minor (ha!) bodywork. They gave me a loaner. I was expecting the little crappy thing they gave me last time.....instead, I get a 2007 (or 08) Tribecca!! Leather seats, the size of a tank, everything electronic....yoi! Makes me crazy nervous! Go figure. I want my Forester!!

Slowly sinking....

Ever coordinate a conference? If you're a conference/event planner you know from whence I speak. I am NOT a conference/event planner, however, I have the dubious honor of coordinating and organizing a conference once a year, among other smaller events as part of my position.

Consequently, with a conference sneaking up on me the end of this week, I will not be in a good "place" to post until next week, if then. I will be sitting cross legged, chanting, and probably banging my head off the nearest solid surface, until this is over. As the last week rolls by, issues "pop up". Issues that no matter how carefully one tries to avoid them happen. Sigh.

Anyway..... my Monkeys are finito!!



And they're green!! These are Mountain Colors Barefoot in Mountain Tango colorway.










Here's a closeup.


These babies have an Eye of Partridge heel, my favorite heel, and fit beautifully. This is another lovely pattern from Cookie A. She must be a much tighter knitter than I am. I usually use the same stitch count, and a size 1 needle, and it fits beautifully.







This is also my lace slog...It is a Sivia Harding Hanging Garden Stole. If I was a good lace knitter I suspect I'd be done with this by now, but I've just passed about the year mark, and still have 4 repeats to go. And yesterday I discovered I made an error, and will need to try and recover, though I doubt that it will be noticeable to anyone but me. And probably not even me, when all is said and done. How do people knit lace, with lace weight yarn, so fast? I can't imagine.



Sigh. This is probably not a good project for me to work on this week. Not if I want to keep what's left of my sanity anyway.

Well, thanks for that...

This is for the anonymous commenter, who explained that she is anonymous only because of technical issues. Please know, I appreciate your comment, regardless of mode. We might wish to agree to disagree however.

I thought you, and anyone else who cares, might like to know that the genesis of the "elderly hippy dippy" description comes from the self descriptions of elderly (or maybe aging would be a better adjective) hippy dippies of my acquaintance. Some I count among my good friends. I also never said that ALL of Brattleboro was of that description, just the few that began the idiocy on your council, and wasted tax money on a public vote. And just so you know we have plenty of those types who sit on our very own town council, and waste our tax money on a regular basis.

As for being jealous. HA! (Maybe even double ha!) I have had more people tell me how lucky we are to live here than I ever thought possible. Just this week I met a realtor in another city, who waxed poetic, about clients selling their homes to move here to retire. They don't call it Happy Valley for nothin'. So jealous....hardly. We have woods, hippy dippies, little traffic (outside of six weekends a year) and a Wegman's (which is why I'm never moving).

I am jealous of Brattleboro for one reason though, you have one of the most talented, and charming, artists I've ever had the pleasure of meeting living there. We met him something like 30+ years ago, and if he had a web site I'd give him a plug.

Some things I think, I think.

If I hold this in any longer I'm gonna 'spload....

1) Hey Buddy!! What the hell were YOU thinking?




Bill O'Reilly is calling it self-destructive behavior (a'la Beluchi)- that he wanted to get caught. I think that is too forgiving. I'm with the psychologists and Geraldine Ferraro (a friend of Spitzer's) hubris, laced with narcissism and arrogance (a'la Clinton).

And for the idiots who are saying things like, in Europe this wouldn't even be news....I have a message. Perhaps we're a little bit better than Europe. Even though, frankly, I don't care who you "do it with" I think we hold (or try to) our elected officials to a higher standard [than Europe] and actually expect them to uphold the LAW they've sworn to serve. Fancy that!!

If you don't like the law - change it. But until then...zip it (pun intended).

2) A vote for this guy

is like voting for David Duke (The Grand Wizard, or whatever he styles himself these days) or perhaps Hitler. They all traffic(ed) in hate under the guise of helping the "little guy". I used to think he was funny too. He had real talent until his bitterness took over. Now he's just dishonest and disgusting. And what is very scary is that he has a constituency, albeit small, mostly made up of the "hate Bush" kool aid drinkers. Yeah, lots of depth of thought there. Must be the kinds of drugs in the Minnesota water.....


3) Because in PA one has to actually register for one of the two political parties in order to vote in the primary, I, as a no party registrant (independent is a separate category even though I don't know what that means here), can't vote. A year ago, I decided that I would change my registration for a month in order to vote against Hill. Who could have guessed that it wouldn't be necessary? Who also would have thought that PA would matter at all? (Though DH is still encouraging me to do so. I would hate to get on those mailing and phone calling lists. Brrrrr....)

4) Because I have such fond [not!] memories of the last general election, all the robo-calls, all the crap in the mail, etc. I have decided I am going to take action. Call it my own personal protest. I am going to collect all the political garbage we get after the conventions, put it in grocery bags (I'm sure we'll get enough for several) and when I go to vote, instead of refusing the paper the volunteers try to hand me as I go in, I'm going to just hand them the bags. They can sort it out themselves or just recycle it.

5) And ultimately, and sadly, as of today, I have no one that I'd actually like to vote for in the election in November. And this is the very first time I can say that. Even if I wasn't totally sold on either candidate, I could usually make a "lesser of two evils" distinction. This year, it hasn't happened. I'm hoping it will. Otherwise, I might just have to stay home. And no, I cannot vote for Ralph Nader. That poor fellow's tin foil hat is on a wee bit too tight. Makes me very sad. To be honest, I wouldn't stay home, because we have other rather important races going on, but I may not vote for President, which would be a damn rotten shame. But it won't be an apathetic non-vote.

6) The good news is that I finished my Mountain Colors Monkey Socks and as soon as the weather cooperates I'll take a picture!

7) I can't believe I forgot this!! I would be shocked if even 10 percent of the Brattleboro Vermonter elderly hippy dippies, have even read the constitution. (You may recall these are the idiots who voted to have Bush and Chaney arrested if they ever cross the border. The charge is "crimes against the constitution".) If they had bothered to read it, then perhaps they'd be able to figure out that they themselves are simply idiots. (No constitutional lawyers in Brattleboro?) Alas, unfortunately there is no crime in idiocy. (Frankly there is lots of stuff to be pissed off at this administration about, but crimes against the constitution? Really...) The other thing they haven't figured out yet is that the rest of Vermount, just keeps them around for the entertainment value.

Yoi and Double Yoi and say "hi" to The Chief!

The world is definitely a less colorful place without you,
Myron.

But your legend will live on!

The joys ......

... of living in a college town. Those of you in An Arbor, Chapel Hill, College Station and other similar venues will probably be able to relate.

I'm watching a tape and knitting at 2:30 am on Sunday morning. (Yes, I keep odd hours on the weekend.) Our drapes are drawn, and the outside lights are out. We live in a small townhouse development that is far enough away from the campus that we don't have oddles of students around. Apparently it doesn't matter. There I was minding my own business, and the doorbell rings. I'm stunned. The doorbell! At first I think, maybe it's the newspaper carrier. (He's a middle aged fellow, with a disabled son. He delivers papers so he can stay home with his kid.) I'm thinking maybe he was delivering the Sunday paper and his car broke down, or he hit someone's vehicle or something. So I go to the back door and turn on the porch light. Nothin'. The bell rings again! Front door! Our door is solid, no way to see who is there, unless I peep out the front window (and turn on the porch light), or open the door, which leaves me very vulnerable.

Now I do have a husband, who is upstairs doing goodness knows what, and who apparently has not heard the bell. I run upstairs and say "Someone is ringing the door bell!" "You're kidding!??" As if to confirm that I'm not crazy or dreaming, the bell rings again, now for the third time. He says, "Don't open the door!" Well, duh! Look out the upstairs window and see who it is....well I can't see the person. Bell rings yet again! So I actually OPEN the upstairs window, it is in the teens by the way, and call out "Can I help you?" It is a young fellow, in his twenties probably. He says "Is Roger "Something" here?" I tell him I'm sorry but he has the wrong unit. "Do you know where he lives?" What? Do I look like directory assistance? I ask if he knows the unit number. Even a few digits would help. No, he doesn't. So, genius, why not just choose a house at random and ring the bell in the middle of the night. Great idea! Pretty much par for the course in a college town. I tell him I cannot help him, and he apologizes profusely "for bothering you", and walks away. He is clearly lost, and he is also shaky--frightened, drunk, drugs, I couldn't tell.

Now, though, I suspect it wasn't quite so random. He probably saw the lights and figured we were awake, however, unless I was in dire straits, I would not just knock on a strange door. I certainly hope it was no more nefarious than idiocy, which is in no small supply here. I wanted to ask why he didn't just call "Roger". But didn't get the chance.

I debated about calling the police, but really didn't want to wait for an officer to come and take a report. It was "THON" weekend and the town was packed with visitors.

Lest you think this is something out of the ordinary (people just randomly coming to the door and asking where "someone" lives), I once answered the back door, on a week night, only to find a young couple in formal wear. It was 11:00 pm, and I was in my jammies. The couple were as shocked to see me as I was to see them. They were looking for a party, and were told the host had a "silver" car parked in front. Our neighbor at the time had a silver car, but I didn't think she was having a party either. They just picked a house.

And to add to the fun, about two months ago, I came home to a "Code Red" message on our answering machine. It was from the local police, alerting the residents in our area that there was an armed and dangerous person being pursued in our area. At first I thought it was one of those robo-calls, and nearly blew it off, but as I listened it because obvious that it was an officer reading from a script. It spooked the hell out of me, I can tell you.

So the fun just never ends.......not even in the wee hours of the morning.

A potato's a potato......

I've had any number of serious things in my head today, and I could write a long post full of myself, and flight of ideas, but I won't, I'll only pick one for now.

It started with the Yarn Harlot "musing" about how people can say things "electonically" that they wouldn't say in person. Well, duh, we (in the higher ed arena where this monster took shape) recognized that for the double edged sword that it is. When you post to the internet three things are true: 1) It's there forever, no takee backsees 2) It's public, not private: 3) NO VOICE, it takes a mighty clever writer to put voice in electronic communications. Maybe you would prefer the world to be a sweet place were folks do not feel compelled to make negative (however mild) comments. (An aside: I for one rarely read blog comments. Particularly those that can reach into the hundreds. How many times can you read "Wow, I'm first!") But as for the negative comments...well, say hello to the tin man there in Oz. For any number of reasons someone may feel compelled to make a comment that curves away from the "popular". (I can't help but wonder what would happen if the blog was an attack on Bush, and one poster said "Whoa, let's be reasonable with the name calling and piling on." I shudder to think.) One other time comes to mind. It was, again, the Harlot's blog describing a plane trip. The guy in a seat in the same rack, told her he was uncomfortable with her knitting needles (socks on dpns). Even after she explained that she had been cleared through security, he was still nervous. Ok, I admit, he sounds like a nut job, but one of the commenters thought it must have been Rush Limbaugh (Stephanie snapped a photo of black wing tips) because "he's a weenie" (wimp or something like that). Now I have no particular love for Limbaugh. His brand of attack politics distresses me, but in this context it was a bizarre non sequitur. The point, however, is that that particular comment, an ad hominem attack, didn't even cause a ripple. I guess attacks on unpopular personalities are fine, but not negative comments about socks. I'll tell you it has me scratching my head.

Now lets talk, if not ugly, but odd. When I made these I thought they were hysterical. (Still do.) I brought them into work to show a colleague. Another colleague saw them, and asked "Who are they for?" I answered my sister and her boyfriend. "How old are they? Seven?" Do these people look seven?



But do they look like they have a sense of humor? That second colleague apparently thought the hats were weird and that only a child would be caught dead wearing it. I could have taken great umbrage. Instead, I just smiled and thought how glad I was that I had a person with a sense of humor in my family. (My sister squealed with laughter when she opened the package.)



My advice. Get over yourself...whoever you are!

Here's my new scarf. (How's about my photography...not bad? Still working on learning the camera's "ropes". If you look at the clock you can see that I'm going to be late for work!) I got a new Bean parka, and needed a scarf to match. This is made with Araucania, Aysen from Chili. It is merino/alpaca/silk (70/20/10) and is so soft and snuggly. This is the Multi-directional scarf pattern found all over the web. The yarn is closer to an aran weight and I used #9 needles (don't ask me from metric, I can barely deal with American needle sizing. One must know and gracefully accept their limitations.) I got a nice dense fabric, with a wonderful drape.



And not a moment too soon because the winds were whipping this morning like nobody's business and we're expecting it to go down into the teens tonight. When I arrived here it was in the high 30's, now 2.5 hours later and it has dropped 10 degrees WITH the sun!






But I need a hat! A matching hat!




So I got this and have begun another cloche.


It's New England Highland wool, out of New Hampshire. It's a bit harsh, and not nearly as soft as the Patons Classic Wool I used for the last one, but I could not find a good match in the Classic Wool. The color in the photo is way too pinkish. The color is actually very plummy. I didn't notice the odd coloring until now so didn't try to color correct it. I'm hoping that the felting will soften it up quite a bit or I may not be able to wear it. I'm a very delicate flower you see. I need to take some time tonight and find suitable beads to knit into the banding. And then decide how I want the banding to look. Do I want it the same as my first one? Do I want to change the position? Decisions, decisions... It may just depend on my mind set, and attitude when the time comes.

Never stop....

...evolving. I've never shied away from new things--new techniques, new innovations, etc. At least when it comes to non-lethal activities. No one ever died or had their head shaved if a beading experiment or a knitting project turned into a stinker. So after having a devil of a time with my DP sock needles slipping out of my alpaca monkey socks, I decided to give another technique a try. Which brought me to this.



Now I'm not going to say (like Cat Bordhi) that "socks soar on two circulars", but it isn't half bad for someone like me who is not very gentle with socks in progress. I spent way less time picking up stitches than I did with my previous pair. The yarn is Mountain Colors in Mountain Tango. I'm kinda surprised by the striping going on, I didn't expect it, but what the heck. These are being knit using KP size 1, 16 inchers. I don't think I'd want to use circs that were any longer for socks.

I must admit though that they are stalled for the moment. I'm attempting to finish a scarf to go with my new snuggly warm down parka. As you all know, it is in the single digits here, and I didn't have a scarf to match my new parka. So what's a knitter to do? Knit a new one of course. Duh!

An aside: I see that because of the abundant sunshine we have hit a high of 23(!) at the moment.

What I did .....

....on my Christmas vacation.


I knit hats, not one, but two!! I'm kinda hat picky. I have a head for hats. But not those tight cap type thingies that can be knit up in a snap. I look best in something with a brim that doesn't make me look like a pinhead. So I opt for hats with brims. One is B. Marie's bucket hat. The more intrepid among you can page back to last winter, when I made not one, not two, but THREE of these hats. (I'm no quitter.)All three were made with Patons SWS because I was enamored by how well it felted, soy and all. However, I was not enamored by how disproportionately the stuff felts--too much in length not enough in width. My buckets looked like hippie felts. Not bad, but not the look I wanted. So I tried yet another, but this time two things were different: 1) the yarn. I used Patons Classic merino and 2)I bossed my felting around. Even though the stuff tried to felt too short, I yanked and pulled and the proportions are so much better. It only took ONE skein of Classic merino and felted like a dream. I cast on on December 30 and was finished the evening of January 1st. Happy New Year indeed!

On the left is the cloche from Elegant Knits. It also only took one skein of Classic Merino, with a second for the contrasting stripes--but I used hardly any. It also has iris beads in the stripes. This was my traveling knitting, and literally only took a few days even with sporadic knitting. I was a tad concerned about how the neutral and white would felt, but I need not have worried. Everything felted beautifully.

This next photo is of a cat tunnel from "Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair". Every year I make something for the "kids". One year, Pi Beds, then catnip filled mice, this year a tunnel.


I'm told that "Velcro" has taken to hiding in the tunnel just to ambush his arch rival "Demetia". Glad everyone is happy....We aim to please.








And finally the Sock Monkey Hat was a huge success. Doesn't she look happy?



















So my final Christmas knitting tally is:

A Multidirectional scarf. (Fun knit will do it again)
Monkey socks (already started another pair)
Moebius scarf (many more in my future)
Two Sock Monkey Hats
Two ribbed hats
Fuzzy Feat
Cat Tunnel - which was remarkably like knitting an afghan, and which I will never do again.

So there you have it.

Now what the heck is in the water in Iowa?

Christmas Time is HERE...... Yikes!!

I'm on the last little bit of my "Christmas knitting". Thought I'd share what I've finished.



This is the moebius that I started when we were on vacation. It is fingering weight (sock) yarn from Socks that Rock in Pebble Beach.














Next up are "Fuzzy Feat". A pair of felted slippers. I made these with Paton's SWS (soy wool stripes). They're for my sister who keeps her house at frigid temperatures.







And the "piece of resistance" .........











His and Hers Sock Monkey Hats!! These are for sister and her boyfriend and were too much fun. I have enough for one more and may just have to make one for DH.











Getting ready to sign off for the day. DH will probably be at the office until way late. He just feels he has too much to do. I'm going to put everything off until next year, but that's just me.

I'll have more knitting in about a week, but for now, signing off until 2008! I hope everyone out there has a happy, healthy and Merry Christmas (no matter how you celebrate)! Stay safe.

And I thought I'd have knitting.....

..... but I have this instead. For those of you who really don't know, the "premier" weather forecasters are right here in State College. That would be Accuweather. You know that Elliot guy that you may hear on your local radio channel? He shops at Wegman's with me. Oh yeah, and the National Weather Service is based here too. And PSU has the top meteorology program (check out the live video and Bad Meteorology) in the country. In the last survey, 25% of all the working meteorologists graduated from Penn State. (Including a "TV weather reading" course where the students are required to "dress up" and read the weather in front of a green screen. To add insult to injury the course is always scheduled at 8:00am too!) We are pretty much weather central. So is it any wonder that we're all weather weenies.

Here what I see today on Accuweather:

TODAY. HEAVY SNOW IS LIKELY OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF
PENNSYLVANIA...WITH A MIXTURE OF SLEET AND SNOW BETWEEN
INTERSTATE 80 AND ROUTE 22...AND MAINLY SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN
TO THE SOUTH OF ROUTE 22. TRAVEL WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED
THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING.

We're in that band between 80 and 22. Now doesn't this sound like fun?

As late as the mid-nineties Accuweather was run out of three little houses on College Avenue. The roofs had satellite dishes, and unless you knew they were there, you completely passed them by. Sometime in the late nineties, they moved about 5 miles to a glass faced building that resembles [probably] Mission Control.

So these constant and ever evolving winter storms occupy most of our time on a much more "personal" level. We're pretty strange here, that's for sure.