Knitting at last...

...ya' know, I've been knitting really truly....but progress has been deadly slow.

I've had two regular projects going, but because I'm not inclined to take "in-progress" photos, well, there aren't any. I'm slogging along on another CeCe, and it's been slow going. Not because of the pattern, but because of the changes I made to it. I was marooned on sleeve island for A REAL LONG TIME....but, now I'm past the sleeves and am in, what I hope, is the home stretch. My purse knitting is a sock...it's been my purse knitting FOREVER, because I ripped the foot back once. Was lookin' too big and floppy. So eventually, I'll get past my sock.

In the meantime, I may have nearly finished my Christmas, in July, knitting:



OMG NOOOOOO!!! She's knit yet another pair of French Press Felted Slippers....yes, my friends I'm afraid I did.

The red pair is for my sister. Who I hope hasn't found this blog, yet. The last of the Super Bowl Sunday Sale Lamb's Pride.






This is a [poor] closeup of the button:

Pretty, no? I'm still trying to figure out how to use the macro feature well. Maybe I should read the instructions? Nah!

I'm a tad nervous about the fit of these. They may actually have felted too short in the heel. I'm not sure how that happened. But if it is an issue, I'll just make her another pair. I'm also debating about the anti-slip puffy paint on the sole, but I'll just let her decide. She does have mostly hardwood floors, so it will probably be a yes.



I didn't fuss with the quality of the photo, because it was HOT outside. Not triple digits hot, but in the 90's. And because it's July, and it is 90, it must be "Art's Festival" actually it's two competing art festivals in our little "burg". So every person on the east coast is here. Or it feels that way. I work downtown and apparently visitors forget that we...the worker bees are still here -toiling away, when they dash across the streets in front of our vehicles, and stand in the middle of the sidewalks, blocking all access.

Sigh...

Thank you for ....

...indulging me for the last loony posting. I guess I'm tired of worrying myself to death about the great Cap and Trade con, that will probably drive my elderly mother from her home, which we probably won't be able to sell because it's over 40 years old and not energy efficient, and we do not have the resources to have it either inspected or upgraded... of course, we'll probably be too sick with no viable options to even worry about it, and on and on. In comparison, the Sportbeat "issue" seemed almost "solvable". I'm incredibly cheery am I not?

But on to knitting. Here's were I am on the Wrap Me Up shawl:



This has turned out to be a fun piece. And even though I still don't really feel the Noro love, it looks pretty cool. I can't imagine actually wearing it, but they'll be setting the building temps lower in order to save money this winter (it's much warmer in here now in the summer), and I might need it. The other fun thing is that this piece lends itself to lots of ad libbing. Don't like a color, instruction, pattern? Do something else. It's all good.

I may as well knit ahead, 'cause I won't be getting to my group this month. My Amish friend is coming to help "spring clean" that day, and though we'll be long done, I'll be a wet rag by evening. Last year I drove her home, stopped and got fresh corn from a farmer, cooked and ate it standing up in my freshly cleaned, yet disarrayed kitchen. I was just too mentally and physically tired to do anything else. Blah!

Here are two progress pictures of Girasole. When I took the first, I had just reknit it to the point you see. This was right after the July 4th weekend.



I had not paid attention and ended up with THREE more stitches after the first chart. One then knits six stockinette rows, and when I started the next sequence, I was shocked to find I had extras. I pulled it out to before the stockinette rows and started over.


This is almost through the third chart. I'm doing much better reading the lace, so I can see the errors before I get too far. You didn't think I stopped screwing up did you? I just know how to fix them better.



In this photo you can see the bits of silver in the Dream In Color Starry.



It's a little blurry because I'm struggling with my macro feature. Must. Read. Manual.

Still working on the cardigan too. Pretty boring photo fodder though.

I'll leave you with two cell phone photos from the Altoona Curve game. The ball park is a very nice place to attend a game. You will notice the roller coaster, Leap The Dips, in the background. That is a vintage wooden coaster which is classified as a National Historic Landmark. When the amusement park is open the cars have GO CURVE on the side as they climb the hill facing the ball park. The first photo, is so typical of a minor (AA) league team. There are all kinds of games and prizes and the "kids" run the bases after the game and are greeted by the bizarre array of mascots, including, this year, a goldfish!! No idea how the goldfish relates to the Curve in particular, or Altoona in general. I just thought the last photo was interesting as the fireworks lit up the coaster. (Which had just been doused in water by the fire department to make sure it didn't get set aflame.)

Finito!!

Finito #1

The Vanilla sock!!



Happy Birthday Mom....Basil (the bear) not included. I figured out that if I actually worked on the blasted thing I'd finally finish it.

Knit Picks Dancing, wool/cotton/nylon blend. It is rather thinnish and has quite a bit of give. They no longer have this yarn, but mom loves it, so I'll have to find a good sub. I'm thinking something with bamboo. Let me know if there are better options.
No idea what color. The way it knitted up reminds me of Sweet Tart candies. (Yes, I'm loony, why do you ask?)
Knit on two #1 circs.

Finito #2

RIP MJ

Please, please, please, no mas!! Reverend King he is not! He was a sadly, self-destructed individual.

Finito #3

Finally, over the holiday, we got to one of the state parks we've been interested in for a long time. It is on the "endangered" parks list. PA, like so many other other states has a huge budget shortfall, and there are 20some odd state parks that may be closed due to the budget short fall. We have some glorious areas in PA, and it would be a shame!

This is Trough Creek State Park. It is over an hour south east of us. What I liked:



The Rainbow Falls. But I could have done without the felled tree down the middle.














The Falls stairs, which looked a heck of lot like Cirith Ungol for you Lord of the Rings geeks.















The Balanced Rock, a remnant from one of the ice ages. It is balanced precariously over Trough Creek. One of these days they expect it to tumble over the precipice. I hope the idiots who think it is the place to proclaim their love for each other with magic markers stop before it happens.









The cliff side view.













This is taken along one of the ridge trails. Only problem with this park is that most of the trails are up! Makes for tiring hiking. But the views are wonderful.














This is a suspension bridge. It is wonderfully swingy, and made me very nervous to cross. It felt like being in a ferris wheel.






What I didn't like were all the signs that reminded us that rattle snakes are protected, and there are lots of snakes in the park....Not a snake fan, alas, and I kept wondering who would protect me from snakes.......! Thank goodness I didn't meet any.

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.

The beat goes on.....

So to pick up....last week was Art's Festival week. Big dealins' around here. Usually the hottest, humidest (Webster will forgive me), gawdawful week of the summer. Last week was the loveliest week we've had so far. Yes, there was some rain, but for the most part it was sunny, in the 70's and comfortable. (If there is global warming, apparently PA is on another "globe".) I had to travel to the New Kensington Campus (again) last Thursday, the first day of the festival, so I really didn't get to scout it out. I took a quick walk around Friday, not the busiest day, and here's what it looks like:



This is lower Allen Street, the street directly across from the fake "Main Gates" of the University. The artists set up booths for 4 or so blocks around on campus, then there is lower Allen Street with some food vendors, a stage, the Artist's Embassy, and the water features with gardens. Once across Beaver Avenue, the artists begin again and run for approximately 6 or so blocks. The main streets are blocked for the entire week and for days or so afterward. To say it is a mess doesn't quite describe it. Anyway, there are in the neighborhood of 300 or so artists. It's a lot. Plus there are four venues with almost continuous entertainment--much of it bizarre, but whatever.



This is the view looking in the opposite direction. To the right is the water bucket feature, to the left and not in the photo, is the "spray tunnel". A short walk through a trellis, with plants and fine water spray. The ideas behind these is that it is usually so deadly hot, people can just walk through and get refreshed. Parents bring their children in bathing suits to play in the "buckets". The buckets are weighted and fill with water at varying rates. Thus they "spill" randomly soaking whomever is standing underneath. Kids love it.


Here's a view of a few dumping buckets.....





This is view down the length of Allen into town. About four blocks after this, the booths turn down a side street and continue on in a square.

So this is quite a big deal. The State Police bring in their mounted units, there are bicycle cops and medics galore, for four days it is sheer hell or heaven, depending on your point of view.

What I'm finding weird...as you look at that crush of people in the last photo, is that people find it necessary to bring their pets. All kinds of dogs, sometimes more than one on leashes and try to walk them through the crowd. Now I like dogs as well as the next person. But this seems to me to be nearly cruel. And, apparently, these idiots, are getting so bizarre (or brazen depending on your point of view), that for the first time I saw a "no pets" sign on the water features.......Perhaps that's a "sign of the times". HA HA.

What did I buy? I saw a very unusual pendant that I was thinking about getting on Friday, and didn't because I had to get back to work, and the booth was way to far away to walk back to in time. When I went back on Saturday, it and everything like it, was gone. The artists made composites of faceted semi-precious stones. They ended up with a striking rainbow stone. I ended up getting wild olive colored quartz earrings from a bead artist from Florida. Probably a good thing.

On Sunday, we skipped the festivals (there is another more folksy arty one on the outskirts of town, started as a protest 10 years ago) entirely, and went to the Altoona Curve baseball game (AA Pirate affiliate). The weather channel is my curse because it has turned DH into a weather weenie, and every mention of a thunderstorm throws him into a tizzy. (And please remember we live in Central PA and there are ALWAYS thunderstorms in our forecasts in the summer! If you're reading this during July/August go ahead and look now, I'll wait....) Naturally, thunderstorms were forecast (no watches or warnings though), but as usual not a drop fell during the game.

Knitting soon....promise.