Turn the page?

Jac and I went to Barnes & Noble tonight to cool off after dinner. I wandered and looked at knitting books and magazines. No exciting books though, just couldn't commit.

They had the 2007 planners out though. I was so tempted to pick one up and start fresh. To see if starting a new year a little early might affect the craziness of life. But it wouldn't, and then I'd have yucky 2006 to carry around with me all of 2007. No thanks.

But it's all good, because I can always find something else to amuse me. Take the lovely vanity plate in the parking lot.




It really makes it all worthwhile because life is a comedy as much as a tragedy and there's plenty to find funny if you look in the right place (see also right above the bumper).

Today I hosted the exterminator and the cleaning lady. The termite guy was a no show. I spent the morning slogging boxes around the basement trying to make all the corners accessible to poison man. But then I actually got quite a bit of knitting done on the Large Rectangle Project. It's looking fairly lovely. The night is already flying by but I am planning to get some more knitting done tonight.

The Thousand Lives Bookcase

After I graduated from college, I moved into my aunt's house. Eventually I moved down into the basement. My home furnishings budget was exceptionally modest, so when I disovered wooden etageres at Ames for less than $20 a piece ($19.88) I stocked up. I bought either six or eight of them. I lined the basement walls with my thrifty bookcases and filled them with photo albums, books, cosmetics - everything that would fit.

When I moved out to my first place that was mine, all mine, along came my thrifty bookcases. I put one in the water heater closet and filled it with utility stuff. Another went into the hall closet and became a pantry. Another went into the bedroom and became a tv stand. Three or four others stayed in the living room and held books and decorative stuff. When my future husband moved into the tiny apartment with me, we loaded up those thrifty bookcases with everything they'd hold and added to them with pricier, sturdier models from the Container Store. My future husband couldn't stand the etageres. He didn't like the pine. Didn't think they were pretty or functional enough. But when we moved to our new house and again, the furnishing budget was small - the bookcases took on jobs from the basement to the closets holding everything imaginable.

We moved again last year and my husband could hardly bear the thought of packing those things up and hauling them to the new house (as light as they are). Today I was cleaning the basement, trying to make some sense of the chaos down there. I got all "Mission: Organization" and started dividing the place into zones. Then I spotted a thrifty etagere, stacked with odd-sized boxes. I cleared it off, found it a corner, and put it to use organizing tools and gadgets. Ten years later and this $20 bookcase is still indispensible. I wonder what its next life will be.

But I like purling wrong

Darn, I've gotten in the habit of purling wrong. Now, given the numerous actual concerns I have in my life, this should be completely laughable. But nope.

See, I discovered just how darn fast I could purl if I wrapped the yarn with my thumb clockwise instead of the awkward , way out counter-clockwise way. But alas, it's no exotic method, it's just backwards and it makes stiches twisted which apparently I'd give a rat's ass about if I could commit to a pattern instead of just making stuff up as I go along.

Jac asked what I cast on last night and I told him I dunno what, but it will be a large rectangle. As of now it's a large rectangle with the first 10 rows or so purled clockwise, but I'll live. Tomorrow the bug and mouse buster is coming. I cannot wait. I just wish it weren't going to be so hectic. The cleaning ladies are coming, the Terminix guy and the Terminix free termite inspection guy. Meanwhile, all the thought of creepy crawlies is making me itchy. Well, the cure for that has got to be knitting wool.

Hot Day WIPs

We got to the river a little early yesterday because Jac had a short day at work. It's nice when that happens since it feels like having an extra day here. We stopped at the farm stand on the way down and picked up some yummy corn, squash, zucchini, yellow plums and heavenly tomatoes. We went to dinner on the water last night despite a freak storm.

This is the pillow front that I did in the car on the way home last Sunday. It's a stripe - whoopee. It is gonna take some blocking though.















But since then I have been working on the shawl. It looks like a ray because I was hesitant about increasing at first, but I kinda dig it. I hope to get it finished this weekend.
















But I gotta say, it is hot as blazes outside today and it looks like this:

Seriously, where are the locusts?

This is just a gross post. You might want to look at a pretty scarf instead. We have too many houses - at least one too many at the moment. We bought a new house before selling our old one and then walked straight into a downturn in the market. So for the past year we've been having three houses.

In the beginning, there was heat. First, the air conditioner at House #1 died and so for the second time in two years we replaced half of the AC system. Then, when we moved to House #3, the AC was like a whisper of relatively less hot air. That was a lesson in ductwork and a chauvanist AC guy.

Then there were the ants. Little, tiny, black suckers in the bathroom and kitchen. Three trips from Orkin and they seem to be in remission. But just last week, a new teeny bug in the bathroom appeared - as far as my extensive photo-based research can tell, they are springtails - not harmful, just not cool. They came in from somewhere, but where?

And tonight, our kitty Madeline (oh geez am I going to break down and post a cat picture?)

It's remarkable I'd post about one of the cats before the dog, but I'm sure Lexi will find her way on here.

Anyway, tonight, Madeline showed up in the living room with... a... mouse... in her mouth! Ick! Does Terminix make 10pm housecalls?!?!?!

And of course there was the flooding. Ah, the flooding. The guy who sold us our house said it "leaks a little" when it rains. If by "leaks" he meant gushes and by "a little" he meant wild, uncontrollable torrents that will make you build an ark - then yes, he was completely truthful in the house sale.

We also have a Biblical weed in the back yard. Jac mowed it all down one day and it was 1/3 of the way back the next day. It grows, uh, like a weed and dies like Freddie Kruger. Jac has been digging it up and he's about 3/4 of the way through the huge patch of weed jungle, so far no regrowth.

If you're keeping track, the 10 plagues of these Arlingtonites are: Poverty, Ants, Mice, Springtails, Man-Eating Weeds, Floods, Spontaneously Prematurely Failing VW Transmissions, Temperamental Air Conditioning Units, and - you'll have to stay tuned for the last two.

Illuminating Knitting and KnitFix

Ah, it's a moment when my geekery and knittery intersect:











That is LED knitting and crochet needles, courtesy of Make. I don't know that I, or anyone, need those, but I was happy to find something knitting related on Gizmodo.

Today I had writer's block at work (proposal writer's block) so I popped up to Knit Happens and indulged in three skeins of Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn, another knitting book, and a new pair of Lantern Moon needles. I went a little nuts. I crossed my fingers when I handed the credit card over. Yeah.















I am still working on the stingray shawl. I was so bummed though because I happened to see Spiderwoman Knits' post with a fantastic shawl made of the very same yarn. I seriously considered pulling the whole thing apart, but I think I will just stick it out.

No photos of it yet though, or of my shopping extravaganza because my sinuses are killing me and I can't even bear the thought of a flash.

It's Shawl Good

I finally took the plunge into that shawl I've been meaning to make. It got off to an interesting start because I decided it would look nicer to increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch, but then I didn't love doing that at first, so I was just increasing on one side, every other row. Finally I got the hang of it and started increasing at both ends of each knit row. As far as I can tell, the result of my reluctance to increase is a loooong tail. Oh well, the shawl is coming together pretty well. I am knitting in this grey Cascade 220 yarn and it is very nice to work with. I am also pleased with the stockinette size and pattern with this yarn. I'm still on the first ball and I've made quite a bit of progress.

Bag the Weekend

It's been a hot, rainy weekend at the river. I got quite a bit of knitting done though. I completely frogged the camo scarf because I thought I'd try something different with it, but it turns out that yarn doesn't please me any more.


I made another little cream bag and a blue cotton one. I am going to start something else with that wonderful blue cotton yarn today.

pretty pouches

Oooh, so I said I knit Treo and camera pouches:



Well, today I decided to try a little i-cord and voila:

a good indication

... that it's finally Friday and the weekend is nearing is:



I have had a little knitter's block, can't decide what to start next. In the interim I knit a couple gadget pouches with different types of openings. One can hold my Treo, the other fits my camera. I have this skein of random Lion Brand Chunky USA that I got before the yarn snobbery kicked in. I figured I'd start something on it and figure it out along the way. I just wanted to put my fingers to work. I completely frogged out the ace bandage bag and it's a good thing I did. Not only had I somehow flipped my work and started knitting in the wrong direction, but when I pulled it off the needles the thing was gigantic. It could have been a duffel bag. I know, knit a gauge. Slacker.

damn that's cool in a geeky way

Props to Boingboing for pointing me to Guillaume Reymond and his collaborators at NOTsoNOISY who created a stop-motion video of space invaders.

you are doing, what, exactly?

That was Jac. He asked me what I was doing. The answer was, "Taking pictures of my yarn." Yeah.















I went back to the fiber workshop today. They said, "Weren't you here on Monday?" Um, yeah. Again. But I knew that if I didn't get some yarn treats for my mom that I would end up giving her some of the precious stuff I got the other day. So I went back and got more yarn. I got several more hanks of the orange stuff that I love. I would make an orange and blue hat and scarf but those are totally UVa colors and that would not be acceptable in my world. Gee, why didn't I think of this before? I could make myself a Hokie scarf for football season.

Click, click, click. As the realization of the perfect Saturday appears in my mind. - Morning, wake up, watch cooking shows and cook something luscious. Then Ina Garten makes the handoff to the Hokie game. During the game I knit and drink hot chocolate in front of the fire while occasionally gazing out at the water.

Wow, holy daydream batman. When will it be autumn?



Well, when it gets here, I'll be ready.

I can't decide what to knit next. I'm very tempted by the orange yarn, but there's also the brown, and the light green. So many choices. When I went to the fiber workshop today and they realized I was there before, we started chatting. I gather there's a new lady who's old and an old lady who's young. The new old one was ringing me up and this being a groovy non-profit there's quite a learning curve. So as she searched for codes, we all talked. The old young chick makes lots of things, blankets and such. The new old chick only knits sweaters. When I was there Monday, old young said, "You don't have enough of anything to make a garment." I was shamed for a moment, pondering my non-clothing making existence. I am actually frightened by many of the knit garments I've seen.



So, no, artsy garments not exactly flying off my needles. When I stocked up today they asked what I'd be making and I quietly admitted there were a lot of hats and scarves and a little purse thing in my life, I still felt okay with myself. But not what I did next...

They had a gadget for making pompoms. Seriously. A little disc thing. I got one. I don't even want to make pompoms. But now I know I could if someone ever broke into the house and put a gun to my head and demanded a pompom.

A New Book, New Mess, New Something

Well, I managed to talk myself into picking up another knitting book at Borders tonight. I am really glad I did, this one is SO helpful. It actually has a bunch of decent, doable, normal, non-freakish projects in it.















I think it even has a couple things I can do to use up the cheap acrylic yarn selection mistake I made.

At Borders there were the two absolutely most mind-numbingly annoying deaf, gay guys. I am ordinarily excessively fond of people who happen to be deaf, gay or guys. These two however... I was in the craft book section looking for knitting books. There were two guys at the other end of the bookcase. All of a sudden one of them sprung backward toward me until he was maybe 6 inches from me. Then they gathered back together. Then a moment later - boing! He sprung back toward me at least as close. Then they gathered back together. Then boing again. At this point the other guy started whimpering with delight, continuously. WTF? I guess they were unfolding patterns in a book or something but it was all out of hand.





THAT'S THEM!





I got all off kilter - what with the guy flying at me every minute and couldn't fully appreciate the knit book shopping experience. I actually think I bought about the third book I put my hands on. But it was a good pick.

Guidance like that should prevent more hatasters like this:



This hat started out as a baby hat. But I guess I cast on too many stitches. Maybe my circular needle was too long. Anyway, after a while I just thought it would have to be an adult hat. But I only gave it one ball of yarn and so it's more of a fluffy lavender yarmulke. I do have a second ball of this stuff so I can either add to the top or try this fiasco again. I do want to make my friend's baby a present soon.

But, first on to mememe. I decided to knock out a quick project from the new book with some of Nan's old yarn. It was supposed to be a cell phone case for my gargantuan Treo but it's probably going to be too big for that. We'll see. I have tons of stuff to put in pouches so it could hold anything.

Making Progress

Well, I finally got the yarn barf sorted out and managed to make a pretty orange ball.














And I started a hat for my friend's new baby. It seemed kind of humongo so I started shaping right after the brim. If it won't fit her, maybe it will fit Skylar.

Yarn Barf WTF

It started out so innocently as a desire to roll my first ball of center pull yarn.















But instead its two balls: one slightly organized, one not so much.

I gotta find that video lesson on this. The yarn is really pretty though. I have two hanks. I wonder what I can get out of that.

Lunch Time Yarn Trawl

Mmmm, I have a new spot to hunt for yarn - Springwater Fiber in OT Alexandria. I told Jac what they lack in ambiance they make up for in selection and price. I got a whole bag of yarn goodies including a new set of circular needles for $91. I have so much more to learn about yarn!

Picture Day

Well the sun finally came out a bit today. It's about a zillion degrees and Jac was sweet enough to attempt transferring my compost muck from one bin to the other. He is a ball of sweat right now. Appealing, eh? But cloudy, rainy weather means I'm probably either cooking or knitting.

In this case, I've gotten a bunch of knitting done in the last few weeks. I can't seem to stop myself.

Last night I started two new things. First, an impossible ace bandage colored bag using a teensy two-ply yarn that Nan gave me. Second, a simple, pretty pink garter stitch scarf. It's coming along swimmingly. I'd like to work on it some today, but I think I'll probably come close to finishing it during the car ride home if hubby lets me ride instead of drive most of the way.

This Knit is Love

Wow, what a difference the right materials make. I knit this scarf with Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn and beautiful wooden size 11 needles. I thought I'd give ribbing a shot. I started knitting and had 3 knit bars and 2 purl ones but the purled edge looked weak so I frogged it all and started over. I am glad I did. This yarn is too nice to have mistakes.

I seed stitched the ends and did knit 4 purl 4 across each row. It was good to practice flipping the working yarn back and forth. I kind of started to get used to it after a while. There are a couple spots where I knitted one that should have been purled or vice versa, but it's very hard to see the defects. I was thinking about blocking it flat, but I think I like it all squished up.

Throughout the Yarn Universe

So, as I'm getting acquainted with the whole knitting thing, I've naturally been consuming every blog about knitting I can get my hands on. I also spent quite a bit of time just sitting in front of the knitting books at Borders trying to decide which one I was allowed to purchase. I got two. I really can't learn knitting techniques from drawings or pictures, I really have to see the thing being done (loving the web video). So I am getting the books more for other info. And I have been watching and rewatching Tivoed episodes of Knitty Gritty.

It's funny how one thing leads to another though, because the yarn adventures led to me updating my online accounts and spiffing up blogs and updating my news aggregators. It just sucks you back in to the whole web world.

I am working on getting a self-populating Blog Roll up here, but who knows when that'll happen.

I Enjoy Being a Girl

It's times like these that I thank my lucky stars I'm a girl. Granted, there are plenty of times when it sucks being a girl - like tomorrow and for the rest of the week... But I am incredibly happy that no one on earth "expects" me to hang a ceiling fan or recaulk the bathroom or change my own oil -- not that I couldn't, and not that many women aren't better at it than many men, I'm just glad those things aren't on my HoneyDo List.

Jac is hanging a ceiling fan right now, and cursing his whole way through it. He is the one who decided we needed a ceiling fan. He plotted it out and has been ruminating about it for a couple of weeks. Today he decided budget be damned (we're hella broke right now) he was putting in a fan. I sure hope when he flips that switch that all systems are go because I don't know if our animals can take another string of profanities like that.

Fingers crossed.

I finished knitting Sebastian. That's the blue/aqua scarf I started the other day.

This was my first conscious stockinette stitch project. I know it makes the thing curl up, but with this yarn I actually like the way it looks. I'm really pleased with this one because of the colors but also because it's a lot like a grey one I have that I bought at Lerner and almost never took off last year.

I also knit a hat with the same colorway, but I think I'm going to pull it apart because the hat is too short to be practical.

back down to earth

hub-boy, well it is sunday afternoon and the hours of my vacation are dwindling fast. it was a nice break, but as always, way too short. the dog is pooped. the husband is mowing a neglected yard (what a great guy). the house was cleaned while we were away, so it's as nice to come home to as possible. we're going to take another long weekend next month, and of course we'll be back at the river this weekend, so i'll try not to be too dramatic. (though use of capital letters was just all too challenging today.) i have a clean outfit to wear tomorrow. i don't think i have any meetings to attend.

if i were a good wife, i would run up to 7-11 and get a sunday paper and some more beer. there is one in there for when hubby finishes with the yard, but i took one too.

there is something to be VERY grateful for in all the chaos of my life and that is that the basement here is relatively dry after a few storms. i also think i'm going to seek out a couple other knitting stores this week. i'm planning to finish this really pretty blue scarf i started knitting yesterday.

Knitting Fool

So I've been on vacation for a week (I can't believe it's coming to an end) and I have been knitting my ass off. I've knitted 5 scarves and two hats. I think I'm getting better. I did drop a stitch in the last scarf I knitted though. I need to take some pictures.

I've also managed to do some cooking, read a book, and perform the undesirable task of filing away bills and hunting in vain to find proof that we paid a legal bill last year. This has been a year of financial misery and I am yearning for it to end. But today our realtor called and asked if we'd be open to renting out the house we have for sale for the month of August. Ugh.

It's hard to blog without sounding like a litany of complaints. Things really are tight. And of course, go figure, I started hearing a new voice in my head - one that says "have a baby". WTF? Has my mind lost its mind? Apparently so. But not really.

One of my dear friends just had her first baby, another one just had her second. They seem to be popping up all over the place these days. Jac and I went to Urbanna yesterday and I credit/blame the world's cutest baby outfit for my new voice. It was $40. I seriously debated buying it. It was so totally impractical. It had embroidery/stitching around the neck that would be filled with baby food and barf in no time. Still, it was the loudest the voice in my head ever screamed about having a baby. I am very ambivalent though. Some days I could care less. Actually that would be most of the time. I really do like having time to myself. Anyway, I suppose it's a safe internal discussion because it's all really moot anyway. I totally can't afford it, afford to think of it, at all for now.

Oh, something to be glad about (aside from the fact that I am watching my 8 gazillionth hour of Food Network this week) is that Monk returns tonight. Can't wait. Man I love that Monk.

Since we live in the country (on weekends) we don't have DSL here yet. Recently we got satellite internet. It's a great leap forward, but not without HUGE drawbacks. Several days this week have been too cloudy and rainy to swim or boat, but also to cloudy to surf the web much. Right now for instance I can definitely see the sky, but my web signal is blipping on and off. Not cool. Well, I suppose I should knit something then.

Vacation Cooking

Well, I've been on vacation for about a week and I've done a little cooking, but not a whole lot. I've actually been knitting, but that's a whole other blog, uh, story. Anyway, yesterday I made my second cheesecake ever and again water from the bain marie soaked the crust. Grrrr. This time the soaking was so noticable I started thinking how I could rework the cheesecake.

Today I scooped the cheesecake out of its crust. I tossed it in the mixer with the whisk attackment and a little milk and voila - back to batter. I baked a pan of brownies, spread the cheesecake on it, and baked a little longer. It's cooling on the counter. We'll see how that turns out.

I also made dinner earlier in the week. I made turkey burgers with marinara and cheese served with a pesto cream and sundried tomato penne pasta. It was pretty tasty. For dessert I made French vanilla ice cream from scratch with my new ice cream maker. It came out very nice. Very custardy, but everyone loved it. I think this weekend I'll just make some nice fajitas and maybe cranberry chicken salad. Yum.

Vacation Cooking

Well, I've been on vacation for about a week and I've done a little cooking, but not a whole lot. I've actually been knitting, but that's a whole other blog, uh, story. Anyway, yesterday I made my second cheesecake ever and again water from the bain marie soaked the crust. Grrrr. This time the soaking was so noticable I started thinking how I could rework the cheesecake.

Today I scooped the cheesecake out of its crust. I tossed it in the mixer with the whisk attackment and a little milk and voila - back to batter. I baked a pan of brownies, spread the cheesecake on it, and baked a little longer. It's cooling on the counter. We'll see how that turns out.

I also made dinner earlier in the week. I made turkey burgers with marinara and cheese served with a pesto cream and sundried tomato penne pasta. It was pretty tasty. For dessert I made French vanilla ice cream from scratch with my new ice cream maker. It came out very nice. Very custardy, but everyone loved it. I think this weekend I'll just make some nice fajitas and maybe cranberry chicken salad. Yum.

Moronblogging: The Slutty Divorcee

Picture it: A large warehouse room dubbed the Urbanna Flea Market, a hot, rainy 4th of July week day, four or five shoppers milling about pawing old glassware and albums. The Slutty Divorcee enters, talking on cell phone.


TSD: Well, what I do is my bi---
TSD: No, I asked you not to!
TSD: George and I are not---
TSD: Yes, George came over to my house and spent the night, but I wasn't going to tell Jessica that.
TSD:--Because she doesn't need to know. You shouldn't have told her.
(Continue for 20 minutes at high volume throughout the shop, even as another shopper and I pondered aloud Jessica's mother's sex life.)

TSD to shopkeeper: Sorry to be on my phone so long. I know I shouldn't have done that, I just, I just had to deal with an emergency. Exunt.

Audience: Grateful.

And scene.

Red White and Blue

Here's a little Fourth of July inspired treat. I made this cheesecake and offered cherries or blueberries. Some people wanted both. I actually think I ended up eating mine plain. It was delish even though I haven't mastered the springform pan yet. Some water seeped into the crust, but the cheesecake definitely turned out yummy.

Twin Hats

So when my fairygodknitter Nan found out I was knitting, she brought me a mountain of goodies. She brought me a mountain of needles including the ones I gave this bath. She hasn't knit in years, but she is a yard sale hunter extraordinarie and I think she's had this cache stashed for quite a while. She brought me circular needles and lots of different sizes of straight needles. She also brought me a horde of yarn. I am going to have to knit her, and her granddaughter Skylar some good stuff. First though, these needles needed a swish in some warm soapy water.














Ah, that's much better!

So after one hat it was time to try to do it right. I knit a multicolor one from Nan's stash and when I realized I had enough yarn left, I decided to knit it a twin. They are a little different though, the first one I knit reducing as before to the top, then I fed the yarn through and pulled tight. With the second one I basically cast off in a circle at the top of the hat. It left a cute little ring on top. People keep asking me if I am going to put pompoms on these hats. Um, no, I just started knitting, I didn't lose my mind. I suppose I will have to cross the pompom/fringe bridge someday, but I hope that is a very very long time from now.

Oh right, the hat!

Moronblogging: Cigarette Boat

Why the hell would anyone spend a million bucks on a boat like that? I have a house in the country in a ruuuuural part of Virginia. Though prices have taken off of late, it's a pretty darn modest place to live. I even know of people who downgraded their fancy pick up truck when they moved here. Seriously.

So why is it that some jackass bought a cigarette boat that he takes out on holiday weekends and tears up and down the mouth of the Great Wicomico River? What the hell is the fun of racing up and down the driveway. Take that shit out in the bay. Honestly.

Last year he did it every holiday weekend and his damn boat was so loud that you had to stop your conversation as it raced by. Fortunately someone must have ratted him out because this year he has a bit of a muffler on the thing. It's still as disruptive as hell.

Oatmeal anyone?

Well, I had more of that dastardly yarn so I thought I'd put another one of these scarves together. Besides, I don't think I can stop my fingers. Though I've been to the yarn shop in Irvington almost every day this week, a couple times twice.

yes, it's another scarf

I'm calling this one Charlotte. I really like the way the stripes came out. I only used one yarn but magically it has stripes. I dropped one stitch on this and I have to figure out how to fix that when you have totally missed it while knitting.

I am going to have to make some friends who like bright colored knits because that seems to be fun to knit. Of course at the moment I can't really fathom parting with any of my knit children. Maybe people would be happy getting photos of knits. Right right, not so much. This scarf is actually ideal for me because I have a tendency to drop a lot of food on myself. I don't think I have a single shirt that hasn't had a sauce or soda dribbled on it. Perhaps if I take to wearing scarves all year round - actually I blatantly stole that idea from Nan who mentioned that she used to wear scarves for that purpose.

Congratulations, it's a hat

I decided it was time to break out of the just a scarf universe and so I took on this rolled brim hat. I actually screwed it up, but the mistake looks intentional (to the unknowing). I knit this on circular needles and I guess at some point after knitting the brim I put down my knitting. Later when I picked it up, I think I started knitting in the opposite direction. The result is a hat that doesn't so much have a rolled brim as a faux rolled brim. Or a reverse rolled brim. It fits and gosh darn it I like it!