Vortex of Chaos

Standing up in the boat

2010-10-25T12:37:00.000-06:00

In Venice--in Venezia--everyone stands up in the boat. Gondoliers, motor boat drivers, little old ladies using the gondola ferry to cross the Grand Canal. If you're sitting down, you must be a tourist.

It is strange to be in a place where there are no cars. The night is silent.

In Venice you take a boat to the airport, to the train station, to the hospital--the ambulanza is a boat, too, of course.

Distances in Venice are measured in bridges--"cross three bridges, then take the first street on your left." The streets can be measured in bricks--4 1/2 bricks wide at this end, 7 1/2 bricks wide at that end. Look sharp or you will miss your street entirely. In Venice, the cracks between the houses are the streets.

Sometimes the distinction between the canals and the streets blurs. Given some rain and a high tide, the canals ignore the distinction. *Acqua alta*, they call it in Venice. It's synonymous for winter.

Like the water, the names of Venice roll and flow and pour. The sestieri: Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce. The islands: Murano, Burano, Torcello, Lido, Mazzorbo, San Michele, San Giorgio Maggiore. The churches: Chiesa Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Basilica Cattedrale Patriachale di San Marco, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

Heavy with the weight of great age, solemn in its stillness, dolphin-shaped Venezia floats in and under its lagoon. What race of sea-people dreamed this city of boats and music and glass? Did they, too, stand up in boats?

I survive group lessons

2010-02-19T15:12:00.002-07:00

Don't ask me why this stresses me out, but for some reason having 17 kids show up at my house in groups of 5 or 6 over the space of three days fries my brain.

We celebrated Mardi Gras after the fact. At each group, kids improvised along with Thelonius Monk and had a chance to play pieces they're learning. At the Wednesday group, one of the older kids who is a great pop improviser demonstrated how he comes up with a new piece. Then they ate king cake (I made four of them--we ate ours on Mardi Gras day) and I threw Mardi Gras beads and doubloons at them. I think I ordered them from PartyCheap.com this year.

Everything went fine, and my daughters helped with the groups their kids are in (cousins can get a little silly when together in a group with other kids). So why is my brain fried?

I hope there is enough of it left to go practice the organ for a while.

I keep my head above water . . . barely

2010-02-05T18:17:00.002-07:00

Just to let you know what's going on:

I am practicing the organ 4 hours most days and working on transposition, modulation, and harmonization in my spare time.

I am hardly knitting at all.

My mother is going into a nursing home on Monday.

I will let you know when things get better.

I think about pitching out my ball winder

2010-01-15T09:18:00.002-07:00

After struggling for over an hour with my jumbo ball winder, I watched this video and am considering giving up ball winders entirely.

I lose some weight in 2009

2009-12-31T08:14:00.003-07:00

Hopped on the scales this a.m. as I do on the last day of each month: another 3 lbs. down brought me to a round 20 lbs for the year. Slow and steady wins the race, I think.

The cool thing is that when Paul sent me to Utah Woolen Mills to pick out my birthday sweater, for the first time, the sweater I wanted fitted. I didn't have to leave it behind on the shelf and take a second choice.

I gave up on Weight Watchers. I just make sure that my carbs for each meal are in the 45-60 gram range my dietitian recommended, and I have 20-30 gram snacks in between and before bedtime (if I remember). At least this is the goal.

What has helped me most is that in 2008 I went to Overeaters Anonymous and learned a great deal about myself and the reasons I was overeating, and this year I began using lights to treat myself for Seasonal Affective Disorder. The combination of these two changes in my thinking have helped me immensely in stopping using food as a drug. Just not thinking about food at all is a good way to not eat.

The drawback is that I sometimes find myself in mental shutdown because I have forgotten to eat and to bring snacks. For Christmas, Paul gave me a coupon to a restaurant near campus so I could go out for a decent meal while I am practicing at the music building instead of buying Fritos out of the vending machine.

A very Happy New Year and Guten Rutsch to everyone! And many red sweaters to all!

love from Tan

I finish some Christmas knitting

2009-12-23T12:46:00.003-07:00

Wow, this was a last-minute finish! I just got back from taking it to FedEx. I think I took care of their budget for the year. Just kidding. It wasn't as bad as the time we sent chips and salsa to Sharman in Jordan when she was on study abroad.

Now I am going to wrap presents, make cheese balls, and go to hear Howard play trumpet in a Christmas concert. I might do some more Christmas shopping just for fun.

I like Christmas :)

I survive Fall Semester; and review some CDs and a book

2009-12-19T08:15:00.018-07:00

I think fall semester cured my anxiety. I'm not kidding. I was so stressed out over the oral presentation for music history class, that I think I may have used it all up. There was no anxiety left over for anything else. Organ juries were actually fun.

So, your CD reviews:

Christmas In The Heart by Bob Dylan

I have been a Bob Dylan fan forever, and have raised a second generation of them; OK, maybe just Todd and his wife. But I have to admit I bought his Christmas CD with a little bit of trepidation. Could That Voice do Christmas? So I ordered it, but then put off listening to it for a couple of months.

So, yeah, it's definitely Dylan. But as far as Christmas, I think it has to go in my weird collection. My seven-year-old grandson made the definitive comment on it:

"I didn't think any Christmas song could be that bad. His voice is really horrible. I can't stand to listen to that any more."

(Keep in mind this is one of the kids whose dad is an opera singer.)

So, if you're a Dylan fan, thumbs up. Otherwise, maybe not.

The other CD I got was this Sting CD.

If On A Winter's Night by Sting

I find it more listenable. There are some nice rhythmic things, some old sounding songs, some actually old songs. I was listening for hurdy-gurdy; there's a song called Hurdy-gurdy Man, but I didn't pick up on actual hurdy-gurdy in it. Well, I will have to bring it in out of the car and read liner notes. If there are any.

And now a book review:

The Gilded Bat by Edward Gorey

I picked this up at Tabula Rasa (actually I got the Sting CD there as well). We can't decide what it is, other than Edward Gorey, which pretty much says it all. I think it is an allegory* but I haven't decided for what. Sharman thinks it is a parody of a Russian novel. I think everyone should read it and we should have an online book group to discuss it. You will have to guess which is my favorite picture when you get it. It definitely calls for an Edward Gorey shawl and legwarmers, though.

And speaking of knitting, I must knit. I am knitting for Nitin, Cherry's boyfriend who has never had a Christmas stocking and who WILL have one this year.

And so, adieu.

Is there some subtle, hidden significance to the sizes of the pictures, which increase as the post goes on?

*serendipitous pun

Just in time for next Halloween

2009-11-04T14:47:00.004-07:00

I finished the Halloween socks on Sunday.

I wore them to school on Tuesday. I wanted to wear them to play the organ for convo but they were just a little too thick for my organ shoes so I had to go with basic black.

These aren't the leg hairs you're looking for. Move along.

The bobbles around the top are knitted on every other knit rib, increasing to five stitches by knitting in front and back of the stitch, then knitting five rows in stockinette, and then decreasing down to one stitch again. For this decrease I slipped one, k2 tog, passed the slip stitch over, k2 tbl, passed the slip stitch over again. The only tricky bit was what to anchor the bobble to. I decided to grab a stitch from the row below on the inside of the sock and knit the bobble stitch together with this picked up stitch. It seems to work fine.

I have Halloween knitting

2009-10-31T06:30:00.001-06:00

There is something about the changing colors of autumn that makes me want to knit orange things.

I knitted a scarf

yarn: Zitron Trekking Tweed in "Casablanca" handpainted by Zauberglöckchen
--how does she do that, hand-dye a ball of yarn so the color changes
go from one end to the other without repeating?
pattern: Windsbraut Wintersturm from Klabauterwolle

and am still knitting socks.

yarn: Djinni in "Pumpkin King" from Dragonfly Fibers;
pattern: KawKawEsque by Yarnissima

The scarf is itchy, but hey, that's what turtlenecks are for. I'm knitting another Windsbraut in a silk blend. Should be more comfy. These little lace projects from Moni at Klabauterwolle are working out well for Miss ADHD here.

I will see if I have time to put little bobbles around the top of the sock this afternoon. In the meantime:

Happy Halloween!

I see too many holes

2009-09-26T08:32:00.002-06:00

I have run into a problem with my beaded gloves.

Eve pattern by Julia Mueller (not available yet); Wollmeise in Jultomte

It's that line of holes running through the diagonal design. They happen when a right-leaning decrease (k2tog) is right next to a left-twisted stitch (ktbl). Other people knitting the design are getting them too, but mine are more noticeable.

Diagnosis: The knitting is too stretched becase my glove is too tight.

Treatment: Start over with the next size bigger needle--or the next size up in the glove. I kind of like the dense gauge, so the bigger size might be my answer.

I don't have all that much time to knit since I am taking classes this fall and practicing the organ more. It's sad to have a project crash and burn.

I try beading with dental floss

2009-09-06T13:43:00.003-06:00

When I knitted Roxie this spring

Roxie by Lisa Grossman

I could not figure out the Tsarina's instructions for using dental floss as a beading tool. I put in all these stacks of beads one by one with a crochet hook.

Then someone on the Tsock Flock Ravelry group explained it a different way, and I got it. It goes like this.

First you need Oral B Superfloss.

This stuff has a a stiff nylon end intended for threading through braces or other dental obstructions while flossing. However, it also works as a beading needle.

When you string beads on it, they stay on because the middle section of the floss is puffy; it scrooches down as you slide the bead on, but then expands so it won't slide off.

Once you have a bead or two strung on, you put the stiff end of the superfloss through the stitch.

Fold the tip back so that you can slide a bead down over it like this:

Now pull the stitch off the needle using the loop for traction.

Slide the stitch from the floss loop to the stitch loop. Some beads are smaller than other, so if the bead won't go, you can just take it off the loop and try again with the next bead.

The bead can be put on before or after the stitch has been knitted. In Roxie the beads were put on after the stitch was knitted. In this swatch, the bead on the right was put on before the stitch was knitted, and the remaining bead was put on afterwards. They seem equally secure, but you would need to decide which method to use before starting and stick with it.

What I bought

2009-09-02T18:29:00.003-06:00

This is what I bought when I had to reset the "not buying yarn counter":

Wollmeise: Top, Raku Regenbogen
Bottom, Arlene

I have wanted Raku Regenbogen ever since Claudia invented it, but for some reason it has been hard to find. And Arlene is named after the person I test-knitted for this spring, so of course I had to have it. Sadly my photo does not capture the real colors. It is brown and purple, not blue.

This came in today's mail, the result of a happy trade:

Bugga! in Buffalo Treehopper (left) and Goldenrod Crab Spider

I really like getting yarn in the mail; but getting it less often makes it more special somehow :)

Upcoming activities:

Thursday: picking up mom in Pocatello for a visit over Labor Day weekend.

Friday: taking mom to her uncle's funeral in central Utah--he was 90.

Saturday: making cinnamon rolls, one of mom's specialties.

Sunday: Wee I's blessing at church (like a christening).

Monday: taking a day off to relax.

Tuesday: taking mom back to Pocatello, where Robin will meet her and take her home.

Wish us luck.

I start school

2009-08-27T11:43:00.005-06:00

My first week of school is finished.

So far I have:

Taught someone how to play the recorder

Downloaded 107 PDF files for one class

Tested my new exercise routine by hiking all over campus up hill and down without dying

Gotten my first parking ticket of the semester*

Gotten the organ teacher I wanted

Turned in my schedule so I can get practice time on the pipe organ

Archive shot of the Lively-Fulcher organ at the U

My knitting time is going to be seriously restricted. Not only do I actually have to practice, but I have homework. Yikes! I had almost forgotten about homework.

My first goal is to work on projects that are promised to people, such as Piper's other glove

"Miss Sophie's Hands," pattern by Julia Mueller; "Der Letzte Versuch" colowary in Wollmeise

and sweaters for Wee EE. Although the Baby Surprise is going to come out so big that I might not worry about it right away.

I wanted to have knit a sweater for each of the little girls by the time school started, but I am stumped on M1's. I have the most gorgeous red yarn, but she wants "rainbow." I did rainbow for her last year. She might accept pink and purple, but my pink and purple yarn are kind of saying "Modern Baby Blanket" for some reason. You know I don't knit blankets . . . the sweater might be safer.

The purple on the right is Cascade 220
The other three are from Steadfast Fibers in Bonners Ferry, ID
(no website that I can find)

Right now? I still don't have my piano sign-up sheet mailed out. I guess I'll think about teaching for a while.

Er, just a minute. If you are reading on Bloglines, you didn't notice that I had to reset my "I haven't bought yarn since" counter. A friend went to Pfaffenhoffen to visit the Wollmeise store, and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And as long as I was having to reset the counter anyway, I ordered a skein of Eidos from Sanguine Gryphon. But I am going back to being responsible now.

*Who knew they were actually enforcing the 2-hour rule on parking next to the playground?

I figure out double knitting

2009-08-22T07:56:00.004-06:00

Summer is over. School starts on Monday. Time to finish up the summer knitting.

Cheesehead (pattern not yet released) by Julia Mueller.
Wollmeise Buxkranzl and Hollerstaud'n

This is my first successful double knitting project. I really wanted to make a video of how it works because I was so excited. But I just couldn't stop knitting to make it. It was kind of addictive. I will let you know when the pattern is released. The instructions for the double knitting are in the pattern.

ETA: I forgot to show you the cute scalloped edge. I did a knit 1 row purple, purl 1 row purple, then knit 1 row green before ribbing in green for the alternate side of the cuff.

Cesare had his dental surgery on Wednesay. Four teeth had to be pulled. He seems to have recovered completely, though--I saw him eating hard cat food last night. The vet had suggested soft food for three days, and but I guess Che had his own schedule.

The big yarn sale netted enough to pay for Che's procedure with some over for tuition. It is on hold now. It is so time-consuming to photograph the yarns, and eBay is kind of expensive.

I am a little nervous about the upcoming semester. I have always been really excited about school starting, but after having had two semesters where I could not finish the classes and just dropped out, the old excitement isn't there.

School was always the thing that I was good at. Suddenly it doesn't feel that way. We will see if the new exercise program (step aerobics and light weights) and the light box--treatments for Seasonal Affective Disorder--make a difference.

I See Stars

2009-08-11T07:59:00.005-06:00

Photo from Jim Harrington

Last night was the peak of the Perseids meteor shower. I decided to stay up and watch meteors. It was hazy, and there was light pollution, so only the big ones got through. I saw six shooting stars that trailed across a couple of degrees of arc. One left a trail hanging in the sky for a few seconds.

The best one I ever saw actually made a hissing sound, but that was several years ago.*

I was going to stay out longer, because you see more meteors after midnight. My late father-in-law once explained why. It has something to do with the part of the earth you are on turning towards what you are looking at (Perseids meteors radiate from the northeast sky). However, at about midnight Paul came out to get me. He couldn't sleep because Cesare was sitting in the window looking out at me and yowling at the top of his Siamese lungs.

I also spent some time yesterday looking for knitting stars.

Since I did not go to Sock Summit, I have been watching for blog reports by people who did go. The most star-studded blog report I've found was from Sheri at the Loopy Ewe. She seems to have met everyone.

Anne Hanson went to dinner with the stars.

Lots of articles, great interviews, and a podcast showed up on the Oregonian's website. They did a video of the Guinness World Record knitting event.

Knitting Daily interviewed Nancy Bush, my own personal sock hero. It was Nancy, when her shop "The Wooly West" was still a brick and mortar store, who introduced me to sock knitting.

My Bosnian socks (purchased a few years ago from the Sundance Catalog) met several knitting stars, thanks to JC Briar who took them to meet Cat Bordhi, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Anna Zilboorg, and Barbara Walker. I had sent them along to see if anyone can tell how they were constructed. Sadly, socks do not take photos of the people they meet. But when they get back in the mail, I will take photos of them and show you why they are interesting.

People who are promising more Real Soon Now: Stephanie. Gryphon. Knitnana. Lisa.

*No one believes I could hear a meteor, but I swear I heard it.

I find a scarf pattern I like

2009-08-07T14:41:00.010-06:00

I was looking through blogs today and ran across this scarf:

I saw it on Crazy Aunt Purl, and the pattern is available for free on Freckles and Purls here.

So why am I so excited? Well, I have this yarn that I bought from Sanguine Gryphon earlier this summer.

Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller in (from left):
Mogok, Rangoon, Mandalay, Arakan

The colorways are all done in honor of her dog, Burma, whom I had a chance to meet when I went to Gryphon's dyeing workshop. I love how the yarns look together, and thought that entrelac would be a fun way to focus each color and still have a coordinated effect.

And Little Traveller is a soft, squishable yarn. It feels good.

The only problem: I don't know how to do those side triangle thingies. And now I have a pattern with side triangles.

A friend offered to copy a pattern out of Scarf Style for me, but I have a rule against taking copied patterns. I told her I was sure I had the book so she wouldn't feel bad, but I looked and I don't. You never know, I could have forgotten I had it.

Aren't you glad I didn't say eBay?

I try a photo collage again

2009-08-06T20:26:00.005-06:00

I spent another day uploading yarns. I am trying a different collage program. Today it is Smilebox.

Note: Smilebox opens a new window. You can get out of the slide show by closing the window.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I also tried a different format for the yarns. They are all on auction rather than "Buy Now." I think if I decide to post any "sure thing" yarns, such as Wollmeise or Bugga, I will use Etsy. eBay seems awfully pricey. They take a 12% cut, whereas Etsy only takes 3.5%. But I think eBay has a wider audience.

See the yarns at my eBay store, Tan's Yarn Sale.

I hope tomorrow I will do something else. I am really tired of trying to sell yarn online. Buying it really is more fun.

*FSOT: For Sale or Trade

I crash my blog

2009-08-06T07:22:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I spent all day uploading Scottish Campion to eBay and my Ravelry sell or trade pages. Then I tried to make a collage of the yarns I was selling. I tried the Dundoo site. When I put the collage on the post, it put the Dundoo logo all over everything. The whole layout was ruined.

So my advice is, don't use Dundoo. I am open for suggestions on a collage site that works.

While I was trying to fix my blog, I happened to check my email. Someone had already bought all the Scottish Campion. This is good. As soon as her payment clears (when the tracking number shows that it has been delivered), I will have enough money to pay for Che's dental work.

Yes, cat dental work. Who knew that cats have so many tooth problems? Fortunately we found a vet who has extra training in dentistry.

I should just get a job as a veterinary assistant. I am a slave to our pets. My routine:

Twice a day:

Change litter box

Give Che antibiotics for severe gingivitis

Rub solution on Che's gums for same (yes, in there with all those teeth)

Check or clean Trusty's ears

Give Trusty antibiotic for infected place on hock

Clean Trusty's neck and put on either cortisone or an antibiotic cream

Clean out and refill everyone's water bowls

Feed Trusty and check the cat's food

This is in addition to feeding and walking etc.

Oh well. That's why we have pets, to teach us a sense of responsibility.

In the meantime, I am not buying yarn. I am looking at it, though. Walking on the edge. The slippery slope.

These are some of the winners from the Dye for Glory contest that was held on Ravelry.

Georgia Peach by Three Irish Girls

Father Time by Three Irish Girls

Twilight from Becoming Art

Gypsy Love from Becoming Art

Estuary by Three Irish Girls

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from Green Eyed Monsters

This one is not a prize winner, but I love it! I wonder why I love Halloween so much? Maybe I could dye this colorway for myself. It would be a lot easier to get than the Georgia Peach.

The Pumpkin King from Zen String

I upload yarn all day

2009-08-05T15:12:00.002-06:00

I Sell Some Yarn

2009-08-04T12:37:00.002-06:00

I have needed to destash for a while. There is so much yarn that there is no place to put more yarn. And now I have stopped buying yarn (if you are reading on bloglines, please click over to the actual blog and admire my ticker), it is time to winnow the pile.

I just started yesterday.

In an effort to see what works and what doesn't, I have some things on eBay at Tan's Yarn Sale.

Different ones are listed on Etsy.com (as supplies, since I didn't make this stuff) also called Tan's Yarn Sale.

I plan to put up more stuff as I have time. There will be some items by a certain Scottish lady whose name I dare not publish online, mostly Scottish Campion and a little Scottish Heather. Anyone in the Salt Lake area who wants to come over tomorrow (Wednesday Aug 5th) and have a look at these, I will knock off $1 since you are saving me all the photoing and data entry it will take to list these on Ravelry. I think the Scottish Campion will be $5.00 online and the Scottish Heather will be $7.50 online. I do not have sweater quantities of the Scottish Heather.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for either shop. I am way new to this!

Today I am trying free shipping on a couple of items.

Harder Than It Looks

2009-07-29T23:02:00.013-06:00

Spoiler alert for Co-op Club and Embrace the Lace! continue at your own risk!

Nobody has said anything about my new ticker. I waited until I had gone without buying yarn for a month before putting it up. This is mainly because that was the point at which I got tired of looking in my emails to see when I bought this skein of yarn from Handu.

Purchased to knit Yarnissima's Kiila pattern

That was the last yarn I shopped for and bought. This was harder than it looks: the website is in Finnish. I was able to figure out what I wanted and get all the way to checkout (Finnish must have some loan words), but Ilu's website doesn't provide for shipping to the US. I gave up trying to find a link to email Ilu to place an order and made Cherry do it for me. Who knew it would come in handy to have a polyglot in the family?

This does not mean that yarn is not still coming. As you no doubt already know, I subscribed to way too many clubs. And some of these are subscriptions that automatically come out of my PayPal or are invoiced. So technically, I am still buying yarn. But I am not counting those, because I am not shopping for and buying yarn. I am just filling commitments I already made.

But temptation is everywhere. Someone on Ravelry posted a message asking if Dahlia in Gaia Lace is the same colorway as Calliope in Eidos. And I says to my self, I says, "If it is I will buy it." And I looks, and I'm sure it is, and there is one left.

And then I remembered I am not buying yarn. WAAAAAAAAH!

It is harder than it looks.

The club offerings are letting me taper off gently. Here are the most recent ones I've received:

Sanguine Gryphon's Little Traveller in "Kahuku Point" (not yet available outside the Unique Sheep's Co-op Club)

"Faith" from Embrace the Lace, a Wool Girl club

This kit has Miss Babs lace yarn in a sand color, a shawl pattern from Goddess Knits, a yummy orange-ginger lip balm, a row counter bracelet from Crimson Orchid (maybe this time I will learn how to use one), salt water taffy and sea shells, a note card, a Namaste Catalina Pouch, and a cat.

What, you didn't get a cat in yours?

ETA: When putting everything away I found a stitch marker from See Jayne Knit, two pouches of lemonade mix, a curly paper clip, and a Soak sample.

:)

Never Blog Anything that has 231,665 Hits

2009-07-27T19:56:00.007-06:00

Eh, so what, rules are made for breaking.

The big news:

Laurel had her baby on Wednesday. He weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was just over 20 inches long. No pictures on the Internet, in the interest of child safety.

Turbo and I knitted a hat for him.

Capillifolium Baby Bonnet from Piecework Magazine, knitted in Hebridean 2-ply from Virtual Yarns.

The hat is itchy. I guess I will put a little hat band in it and line the earflaps.

This just in:

My brother broke his leg camping at Yellowstone park this morning, badly enough to require surgery. His wife called our brother-in-law, Dan, who is an ER doc to ask if he should have the surgery in nearby Rexburg, or go back home to Las Vegas. Dan said that if they went back to Las Vegas, the leg would look like a python that ate a pig by the time they got there.

The illustration from The Little Prince comes to mind. Of course, that was neither a python nor a pig.

Drumroll:

Ruth Ann has finished chemotherapy! Hurray! She can grow hair again!

The Shielded Ice Warrior Meets the Sock of Doom

2009-07-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

Unaware that his doom approaches, the Ice Warrior chills out while his Cat-Guard takes a nap.

He turns to face the threat.

How can this scenario end? Who is stronger, the sock or the Lego Empire? Can you even ask?

Yes, the Sock of Doom and it's mate have been defeated. (Also de-feeted.) They are mounted and put on display. All Bionicles rejoice!

Shielded Ice Warrior and sock-down scenario designed by A; sock designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Rogue Roses); yarn designed by Tina Newton (BMFA Socks That Rock colorway Gertrude Skein).

P.S. Look at the cute rosebuds:

I crochet all day

2009-07-11T16:06:00.006-06:00

I am not very fond of crocheting. Naturally, that being said, I am not good at it. I finished this little top for Emi and it had to have a little crochet on it. I think, I'll get this done in a couple of ours.

The first question that arises is, what do they mean by double crochet? I opted for the one where you wrap the yarn around the hook one time before working the stitch. It looked fine on the first go round, but maybe a little large on the next two rows?

By the time I got to the shell-stitch row on the neck, I thought I better call my sister, Robin, to find out for sure what a treble crochet in American-speak is. Two wraps around the needle, then work the stitch. But what is it in British?

I went with American, and I think it looks fine.

Seven hours later I had a finished project.

I was working from a photocopy. If I had taken time to find the book, I could have just looked at the cover photo and seen what was going on.

But if I had taken time to find the book, I wouldn't have done the crochet.

I'm not very fond of crocheting.

P.S. I didn't have the right size hook, either. I guess I need to buy something in between teensy beading and size G for afGhan.

Not that I would crochet an afghan, either.

Trusty Takes Care of the Mail

2009-06-29T08:00:00.002-06:00

Sometimes a picture says it all.

Gryphon had some left so I ordered another one. It is Eidos in Apophenai.

Remember when I was all excited about the Russian join? In the Orenburg class, Galina said to tie a knot in the lace yarns when joining a new ball, and then knit the tails into the lace. I, of course, wanted to know, "What about the Russian join?" She said, "I wish I hadn't told anyone about this. It got all over the Internet. It is not good for lace."

However, it did work fine for my project, which is in a fine sock weight rather than laceweight. There is nothing to see yet. I have about ten rows of edging left. Then you can see it.

Chris has a Website!

2009-06-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

My son-in-law the singer has a website now.
You can see and hear him
here!

Black Sheep Gathering: Eugene

2009-06-27T14:17:00.000-06:00

Sue went nuts over Eugene. OK, we both liked it, but Sue wants to move there. Why?

Tie Dye. (And coffee.)

The Saturday Farmer's Market in Eugene has been going on since 1970, and some things never change.

I was really interested in this musical instrument, a home-made kora, also heard accompanying the dancer. The ancestor of the banjo, the kora is a harp-like instrument that comes from Mali in Africa.

If you go to Eugene, there are lots of good places to eat around the university. Just drive down Willamette or Agate to find Prince Pückler's ice cream, the Agate Bistro, Beppe and Gianni's Trattoria, the Midtown Cafe, and Newman's Fish Company.

Black Sheep Gathering: The Loot

2009-06-26T14:59:00.006-06:00

There are certain things you have to buy at a wool show. You have to buy a skein of yarn or two.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Beached (closest to Turbo)
and Crabby McCrabbypants

Or four.

From Creatively Dyed Yarns,
the top yarn has milk as an ingredient!

BMFA Silk Thread and roving in Sunkissed Sands

Or maybe more than that, if the grandkids want handknitted socks.*

Bambino wool and bamboo sock yarn from Chameleon Colorworks

From Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio

Or you see something you just can't resist.

You have to buy some spinning fiber and a spindle on which to spin it, right? OK, I know, it looked prettier rolled up, before I messed with it.

Of course I ended up getting a Greensleeves spindle I could have bought here in Utah. The fiber is a silk and cashmere blend but I forget which booth had it.

And then you take a class and you have to get something to practice on.

Galina provided materials for our class, but you can get a luxury fiber sampler (top of photo) from Herndon Creek Farm.

This can get dangerous.

In the bags: Pygora from Peppermint Pastures Pygora goats;
cashmere (left) and camel top from Herndon Creek Farm.

Note: It's not all for me. I had to get something
for my daughter who speaks Russian and spins and would
like to take Galina's class if she had a chance.

Even going out to the car is dangerous, when you run across the felted items from Kurghistan.

This booth was in Salt Lake last year at the Great Basin Fiber Festival, but I didn't get anything then.

Galina recommended the Kurghi booth to us in class. She said that the prices were very good, and she had called Russia to check. She told us that the Kurghistanis are great experts on felt: "Felted hats! Felted boots! Felted houses! You know, yurt!" Pronounced "yoooert." It is much better with the Russian accent.

Tomorrow: Eugene

*Some skeins got away because I dropped them off at Laurel's before getting home. I should have taken photos in the hotel room.

Black Sheep Gathering: The Classes

2009-06-25T14:03:00.005-06:00

I was really excited to get into Galina Khmeleva's Orenburg lace spinning class. Galina is one of the people who have been instrumental in making the West aware of Orenburg lace, and in bringing the techniques to the United States.

We learned preparation as well as spinning.

This is a supported spindle technique, and I was not good at it. I like to draft with my right hand, but my left hand is too uncoordinated to spin the spindle consistently. I've never had trouble with cotton, but cotton just kinds of drafts itself. I am here to tell you that cashmere doesn't.

In class I tried drafting left-handed, but it wasn't way successful. I will practice both ways and see what turns out to work better for me. I was able to learn how to dribble left-handed when I played basketball. How hard can it be?

While I was in the spinning class, Sue made a super felted bag. I am sorry I didn't get a picture of it. Sue and I took one class together, a mitten design class from JC Briar. I forgot my camera that day so I have no pictures of that either. It was valuable because JC gave us some rules of thumb (haha) to use when making a mitten from scratch, such as how much ease to use and so forth.

Sue's main class in Eugene was not at the Gathering, but was a weaving class she took at the Eugene Textile Center for several hours each on Friday and Saturday, with the finishing on Monday. The topic was collapse weave. Since I am not a weaver, I don't know all the possibilities. However, what Sue did in this class was to combine different fibers that wash differently and use their characteristics to create the look she wanted.

This scarf was warped with two types of wool. One was a standard merino, the other a type of merino called "pony wool" which shrinks more than the regular wool. The weft is silk, which does not shrink when washed.

The finished scarf was about 90" long. The second scarf was done in silk and wool.

Susie, the owner of the Textile Center, then put the scarfs into the washer with a towel for friction, hot water, and a little Synthrapol. After five minutes we were starting to see the pattern begin to appear.

At this point it took only a few minutes more agitation to achieve the effect Sue wanted.

Tomorrow: The loot

Black Sheep Gathering: The Show

2009-06-24T12:49:00.006-06:00

I think this is a Wensleydale sheep.
I was sure I would remember but . . .
The ones in the video are
Blue Faced Leicester
Coon Hollow Farm

Little House Rugs

Ken Ledbetter Turnings

Pixie bought this hat at
another show and doesn't remember
the vendor, but it really rocks!

Skaska Designs

Janis

Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Tomorrow: The classes.

I pack for Black Sheep Gathering

2009-06-17T19:12:00.004-06:00

I have been on so many trips lately that I didn't even freak out about packing.

For one thing, I now have a master packing list on my PDA. It includes hiking boots. Yes. I learned an important lesson from the blisters I developed in New Orleans. Sandals just don't cut it for all-day activities.

I have a list of vendors. I have a map of the site. I am taking Karl-Heinz, but I hope Sue brings her navi, too, since she doesn't speak German and Karl-Heinz doesn't speak English.

Some knitting is packed.

The main project is Desdemona, who went on all the April and May trips.

Mimknits Desdemona Shawl from Shakespeare in Lace 2009, knitted in Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller in Kyoto.

In order to take Desdemona, I needed to create my first ever Russian join, since I had knitted up the first skein on the way back from Maryland.

Much more sanitary than the spit join, don't you think? And you can use this one on non-felting yarns such as silk.

Performing backups are Rogue Roses

Gertrude Skein Socks that Rock with Rogue Roses pattern;
available next year from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

and Rosi, but there is nothing new to see about Rosi.

Say, I think I forgot to put my hair iron and non-frizz goop on the packing list. See y'all later :)

Edited to fix link to Russian join and to commiserate with Rosi, who is getting left home after all. My carry-on is just too full.

I get organized for fall

2009-06-14T21:51:00.002-06:00

I have been organizing my spaces again--the bedroom first, with the wool room and office to come. I am a really disorganized person. It is a constant battle. I want to take classes again this fall, plus start organ lessons for credit. I have to consolidate my position now or fall will be a mess.

But hey, organizing is not interesting to look at. So instead, we will look at yarn.

I got this one in a trade. For some reason I had four teal Buggas with slight variations. Now I have two, plus this Tachina Fly and a Wollmeise Letzte Versuch that hasn't come yet. I hope that Wollmeise isn't my first bad trade. Will Das Letzte Versuch come at all? Eventually?

Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Tachina Fly

I got this one the normal way. Check out Gryphon's new, improved website and read the poetry that goes with each Sappho yarn.

Sanguine Gryphon Sappho II (sport weight) in Beyond Their Reach

I also got three Wollmeises last week, two from a friend who bought extra and sold some to me, and one in a trade (I had two similar greens).

From top: Skandal um Rosi (named after a song); Limone; Vroni

After arriving on Thursday from Germany, Rosi quickly surged to the head of the pack.

Wollmeise Skandal um Rosi in Adrienne Fong's Margaritaville pattern

Some skeins of Skandal have more pink in them. For comparison, take a look at Dani's Skandal um Rosi* and her finished socks.

*You will need to scroll down to find the skein. But it is totally worth it to see all the piccies. This is the Wollmeise booth at a recent market in Germany. Marjan/Yarnissima is running the booth (shown in pink shirt and ponytail).

I think that might be my favorite blog post of all time.

Over the Rainbow (Oz Club Spoiler Warning)

2009-06-04T17:26:00.005-06:00

Today while I was at the post office, I was approached by a very punky looking kid. He had multiple piercings, including chains hanging out of both nostrils. He showed me stickers on the bottom of his skateboard and asked if I knew where he could find them. It turned out they were Priority mailing labels. I showed them where they were, and he grabbed a handful.

The surprising thing was that he then asked if they cost money. Apparently he was only willing to take a handful of postal supplies if they were free. He didn't want to steal them.

When I see someone that looks really punk, I automatically assume that they don't believe in rules at all. Obviously appearances can be deceiving.

It makes me happy that I was wrong about the punky-looking kid. I hope that I am wrong about a whole lot of my negative assumptions. Could the world be a better place than I think? Is it all due to the Oz "Over the Rainbow" sock kit?

Wool Girl Wins

2009-06-01T16:51:00.002-06:00

OK, for most cool stuff in a single club offering, the Oscar goes to:

WoolGirl!

If you haven't received your Embrace the Lace offering for May/June yet, please do not scroll down. There are spoiler pictures coming up.

In the meantime, I will show you the finished M2 sweater:

Hannah from the Nashua Sprout book,
knitted in Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece,
colorway 520, Caribbean Sea

I had to go up several needle sizes, so the fabric is a little floppier than I like; but then, it is a summer sweater. Should be fine. The bobbles were a teense hard to block. I ended up rolling them in my fingers like balls of clay.

Next I will tell you that I passed my audition to switch the private lesson component of my music degree program at UUtah from piano to organ (will start in fall). For those who assume that a woman my age must already know how to do something, I will clarify that I am taking the lessons, not teaching them. I have had a varied career path that included Earth Mother, when I made everything my family wore including a tailored suit for Paul but excluding shoes; computer programmer; freelance journalist specializing in computer topics; secretary; yarn shop clerk; piano teacher for beginning students. It did not include a lot of practicing any one instrument.

And I can throw in a couple of beauty shots that Che insisted on while I was trying to take the upcoming spoiler photos.

OK, I am assuming that anyone who didn't want to be spoiled has gone away. This is the second kit from the Embrace the Lace series.

The yarn did not photograph to good effect; I suppose I should take it outside and give it another go. It is 100% cashmere, dyed in a soft aqua semi-solid by Mama Llama. The pattern, an asymmetrical scarf with beaded edging, is by Sivia Harding. The extras include a tape measure, gift boxes, red hots in a reusable container, note cards and gift tag, a color coordinated highlighter/pen combo, a heart-shaped stitch marker, and a very cute project bag with grommets strategically placed to put the needle tips through so the lace doesn't get scrambled in the bag.

Isn't this a great package? And I am expecting my first Wizard of Oz kit from Wool Girl this week. But I am asking myself, why, really, did I sign up for these two clubs? I knew that there would be designers I like in the lace club, and who doesn't like Wizard of Oz. Besides, Amber loves Wizard of Oz, too, and I can knit some things for her.

But the main reason I wanted to join Wool Girl clubs is because the kits are so full of little goodies. And yes, I pay extra for those. So in effect, I am buying myself presents, only they are a surprise each time because someone else picks out the stuff.

It's really kind of pathetic, isn't it?

Hey, pathetic, schmathetic. I think I'll go wind that skein of cashmere. I deserve a little cashmere in my life.

I go home for the weekend

2009-05-24T21:43:00.002-06:00

Actually it was last weekend.

I promised my sister, Chris, that I would go with her to Mom & Dad's whenever she came. It is hard to visit them by oneself, besides which if I went along, she wouldn't need to rent a car.

Mom and Dad were doing fine.

He likes to lie in bed and watch the news or CSI reruns. He comes out to visit with family, cook, and feed the dog.

Mom enjoys the cat we sent her for Christmas.

She seems to know that it is not real, but treats it as if it is.

Aunt Lela came up to visit. She had a chance to look at Dad's new handgun, The Judge.

I'm pretty sure Aunt Lela does know how to handle a gun. Before I took these pictures, Dad had just demonstrated that the chamber was empty.

The Rest of the Story

As it turned out, our visit was more business than pleasure. Mom had spent Mother's Day in the ER due to an overdose of Xanax. The doctor had told Dad that he needed either to put mom in an Alzheimer's care center, or lock up the pills.

When Chris and I arrived on Friday, there was a large padlock on the cabinet with the twenty bottles of hydrocodone, and the lock box Ruth Ann had bought last summer but which had never been used was now locked with the Xanax in it. As the weekend progressed, more pills had to be put in the box. With the hydrocodone and Xanax out of reach, Mom began to take too many Ibuprofin, and then started looking through her other medications. When I left, she was overdosing on calcium pills. Paul recommends I send her some vitamin C. He says you can't take too many of those.

So what's going on here? Well, my mom has been a prescription drug abuser for as long as I can remember. As a very small child, I was put to bed on Christmas Eve with half a tranquilizer. When I was a senior in high school, mom got so strung out on a series of carefully wangled medications (she had three doctors and two pharmacies involved) that I had to teach her 7th grade class for the last few weeks of school. But through it all, she was too careful actually to OD. Now senile dementia has robbed her of the ability to be sneaky and careful. Dad was in denial. Now he has had to face it.

With the pills locked up and Mom having to ask for a pain pill when she needs it, she is taking only the dosage recommended by her doctor. The Xanax wasn't her prescription in the first place, so she isn't taking them at all. Her pain levels seem to be fine as long as she lies down while waiting for a pill to kick in. Dad apparently doesn't understand that he can give her Ibuprofin alternately with the hydrocodone. I will make sure Rachel knows.

Rachel is our angel of mercy. My 20-year-old niece is the one person in the family who not only has the summer off and can work for mom and dad, but who also can make them behave. When she tells Mom to eat, Mom eats. When she tells Dad to calm down, he calms down. Every family with aging parents needs a Rachel.

Dad has to pay Rachel, though, or she will have to get a job to pay for school. After being poor his whole life, it is hard for Dad to realize that he has a bank full of money from selling the family ranch. He says he understands, though. I hope he does.

What will Rachel need to do?

First of all, basic cleaning. The twice-a-month cleaner has not been adequate. We will need to find someone else when Rachel goes back to school in the fall.

Second, she will make sure that food is available for Dad to cook. Their home is set up for two mobile people with working brains. Unfortunately, Dad can no longer get to the basement to bring up canned or frozen food from the storage room. Mom cannot remember what to bring up if he sends her.

Third, Rachel will entertain Mom. Dad has become a surprisingly gentle caregiver. Mom's need seems to make him feel useful in a way he has not since selling the ranch fifteen years ago. However, he does not enjoy playing cards, looking at albums, doing crosswords and puzzles, or any of the other things mom needs to keep her mind somewhat functional.

In the fall when Rachel goes back to school, we will be back to the drawing board. If Mom begins wandering, there will have to be a shakeup. For now, I think things are stable.

The Haul

2009-05-08T23:21:00.004-06:00

I didn't buy much at Sheep and Wool due to luggage and financial constraints--I already had this . . .

Bugga! From left:
Blue Metalmark, Hognosed Bonking Beetle, Goldenrod Crab Spider,
Smaller Yellow Ant, Polka Dot Wasp Moth

. . . sitting in my suitcase in the hotel room back in Easton. Most of what I saw didn't look as good, besides which Gryphon wasn't giving the stuff away.

However, Anna of Mystic Lace fame mentioned that she had heard about a large ball winder that would make it possible to wind a large lace skein without having to wind the last 500 yards by hand. I also knew that some of the new Blue Moon colors would be available at The Fold, so I went with those two shopping goals in mind.

Tola and Mike helped us pin down the ballwinder. Since I was shopping with Cherry, there was strong opposition to purchasing it without checking prices online. I won the round, and so far it seems to be about the same everywhere.

Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder

I was not planning on buying a spindle, but it is difficult not to be sucked in by Tom Golding's art. Cherry, bargain hunter of the world, trained by her father, a world-class expert in same, was horrified at the prices of these purportedly utilitarian little items. You saw the $350 Russian lacquer model in the previous post, right?

However, there was a smaller version without a certificate of authenticity that was more reasonably priced. The artwork was still fine, as you can see if you click through into Flickr to look at the photo in its original size.

Ew, isn't that a little sick to see the lacquer damaged
for the hook to be installed on the spindle?

It's in my sock drawer right now. Not sure where to keep it, objet d'art that it is.

I did find some of Blue Moon's new ocean-inspired colorways at The Fold.

From left: Sam n' Ella, Guppy, Sunkissed Sand

I will have to look for Crabby McCrabbypants at Black Sheep Gathering. Hmmm. I wonder if Tina will let me be an honorary Sockateer while my friend Sue attends a weaving workshop?

I also got a sheep to shoe kit. You know, to keep the little spindle company?

I think this is Jubilation, but don't quote me on that

At this point I was ready to call it quits, but Anna talked me into checking out Tess Designer Yarns on the way out.

Grey merino and angora blend, red merino laceweight

There was only one skein of the red laceweight left, but Anna says she is going to design some smaller lace items.

And that's it. It all fit into a little 22" carryon bag, and that included the ballwinder in its box. The yarn was stuffed into and around said box.

So, I did good, huh?

To Market, to Market!

2009-05-08T04:00:00.002-06:00

We made a point of catching up with Tola,
a Utah friend who married and moved to the east coast.
From left, Tola, me, Cherry

I spent the most time in the Golding booth.

This is the one that got away.
At $350, it was a little beyond my budget.

The Blue Moon was quite picked over when I got there.
There will be more of it at Black Sheep next month.

Maggie's Music and Rover Dance are one of my favorite things at MDSW. I was too late to get a good video, but you can at least see the clogging dogs.

Tomorrow: The loot.

I dye, Horatio!

2009-05-07T09:47:00.003-06:00

Gryphon's yard

Shopping for Bugga!

Gryphon uses Jacquard dyes.
It was nice to have a wide selection
of colors to pick from.

Solid color (on the left) and nearly solid color methods

Shallow water method (variegated)

From left: Gryphon's Oil Beetle colorway on Wollmeise base;
taupe Woobu (BMFA) overdyed for more variety;
mini skeins using solid color, shallow water, and hand paint
(the plastic-wrap method we all know and love);
Gryphon's Bergen colorway on Wollmeise base

Tomorrow: Maryland Sheep and Wool Show

We go to church

2009-05-02T04:00:00.003-06:00

Cherry is Catholic, and wanted to attend Mass at St. Louis Cathedral.

The organist was not as showy as those we heard play before Mass in Vienna and Salzburg, but played some good, solid fugues before and after mass, and did a nice improv during the second collection, which was for upkeep of the Cathedral.

St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the United States, and the oldest building in the southern USA.

Mass at St. Louis is not what I remember from my catechism days, when I trailed along to the Catholic church with the cutest boy in class (who grew up to be a priest). Then it was in Latin. Now it's in English; you have to listen hard to catch what was once kyrie eleison or the Gloria. St. Louis has no choir, or if it has, they were all at the Jazz Festival; instead a soprano (good) acted as both chanter and choir. The altar boys were middle aged women. Not to knock St. Louis, but here in Salt Lake at the Cathedral of the Madaleine we have classical music and a children's choir at Mass.

Not that I go.

Next week: The Maryland Sheep and Wool Show, and Sanguine Gryphon's dyeing camp.

We go uptown

2009-05-01T04:00:00.002-06:00

On Saturday Cherry and I took the street car uptown.

We should have bought an RTA pass at the hotel; as it was, it cost $1.25 every time we hopped off and back on again. We couldn't make as many stops as we wanted to because we were soon out of exact change.

When I went to Tulane University in the late '80's it was only sixty-five cents to hop on the car to go to class.

We went to the Camellia Grill for lunch. Oh, right, I forgot to mention that yesterday.

We had Harry's Yankee Special, my favorite from back when. There is still a line (we waited an hour for lunch), but they manage it well.

We wanted snowballs from Plum Street, but it was closed for Jazz Fest. Instead we enjoyed the neighborhood. The corner of Plum Street and Carollton is lined with these banana-like trees.

Also on Plum Street:

The evening was less enjoyable. We spent most of it in the valet parking area of our hotel.

Valet parking at our hotel lost the keys to our rental car. After a thorough search of all the keys, it became clear that they were really gone. The car had not been stolen, but we could not use it. The rental agency was willing to rent us another car, but wanted a $250 lost key fine--realistic, since they were going to have to have the car towed, and new keys can cost well over $100.

Paul should get a prize for calmly insisting that the parking company (not part of the hotel) take care of this honorably. Central Parking's manager first suggested that they have Papa Lock come and make new keys for the car. We rejected this, knowing that the rental company would not accept. And Papa Lock said that they could not make the computerized keys this late model car required.

Then the manager wanted us to take the $250 fine on our credit card, with the idea that they would repay us when their insurance paid them. Obviously this pig-in-a-poke scheme was not acceptable to us. We didn't lose the keys! They did!

Eventually I was able to get Central Parking to talk directly to Budget Rental, and in the end, after 3 hours of discussion and stonewalling, someone from Central Parking arrived with $250 cash and took us to the airport to pay the fine and get us into a different car.

Where were the keys? Did someone take them home by mistake and run them through the wash? Were they taken by a disgruntled employee who had been fired for his sloppy handling of customers' keys? We don't know, but we felt very lucky that we made it to the Texas Barbecue Company in Metairie before it closed--and before any of us passed out from hunger.

Tomorrow: We go to church

We hit the French Quarter

2009-04-30T04:00:00.006-06:00

Here is a good idea for people visiting New Orleans. Take your hiking shoes. Man, I wish I'd thought of that. An umbrella is generally a good idea for NOLA, too. I will take those items to the wool show on Saturday.

St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square

There is actually a knitting store just off Jackson square, on the street that runs in front of the cathedral. It had more needlepoint than yarn when I went several years ago. With Maryland Sheep and Wool coming up, I didn't bother this time.

Statue of Saint Joan

Immigrants statue and Mississippi River Bridge

Mime

Was the mime by Jax Brewing Company? It's been a mall for some time now. I bought a bejewelled, camo fishing hat to wear to the zoo this summer.

Mule tour cart

If you want to see the cemeteries, you really do need to go on some kind of tour. Muggers like to jump out from behind the raised tombs and catch naive tourists unawares. You're safe in a group. If you stay with your group.

Leftover muffaletta

We had the muffaletta in the Riverwalk. Other meals: sandwiches from Mother's on Poydras; barbecue shrimp at Ruth's Chris Steak house; sandwiches at Texas Barbecue Company in Metairie.

Must do's for the French Quarter:

beignets and coffee or cocoa at Cafe du Monde.

pralines from Aunt Sally's

a stroll along the river

a tour of the Cathedral or, next door, the Cabildo

eat a muffaletta or a roast beef poboy

sit in the shade and listen to the music; there always is some

Tomorrow: We go uptown.

We visit our old neighborhood

2009-04-29T04:00:00.002-06:00

Welcome to Metairie (MET-uh-ree), the little farm, the New Orleans suburb just west of the city.

I think it is really weird to be on vacation and still feel at home. Living someplace for ten years establishes it pretty permanently in your psyche.

Thing have changed, though.

Our old house used to be French Provincial with bricks and stucco.

Now it is boring.

The Lake Ponchartrain levy is much higher.

The shore is less accessible.

New Orleans itself has changed some, too.

Casinos have opened.

Charity Hospital has closed.

Paul and Cherry said my picture of Charity Hospital, taken in the dark from a moving vehicle, would not turn out. I think it turned out pretty danged interesting

On the other hand, some things never change.

Tomorrow: We hit the French Quarter.

Sounds of New Orleans

2009-04-28T09:11:00.003-06:00

The calliope on the steamboat Natchez. Sorry about the Blair Witch camera work.

Street musicians at Cafe du Monde.

Fairy Tale Club spoiler in this post

2009-04-21T17:43:00.004-06:00

I wonder how much stuff I have to put up front so that a spoiler picture won't be the first thing people see.

It's possible that spring is really here now.

Two days until we go to New Orleans. We have a food list: a good muffaletta. A good roast beef po-boy. A snoball from Plum Street Snoball Stand.

We decided not to go to the Jazz Festival while we're there. Very expensive when one of us is not interested. Plus, I would feel bad to hear Joe Cocker when Paul is still in his meeting. Cherry is more interested in visiting her old haunts.

OK, what do you think? Is it OK to show you my Fairy Tale Sock kit?

On the left, the yarns for the sock. It is intarsia in the round. Some doodads. I think the little box is part of my prize for guessing the Fairy Tale. Actually Cherry guessed it, after much more googling than I had patience for. I am waiting to hear if she wants the box or the yarn, which is the red Gaia cashmere/silk lace in the middle. The purple yarn on the right is Little Traveller in Bergen. It is a very good purple. I ordered it just in time to have it come in the club box, making it a very scrumptious package, all told.

Updates to Sanguine Gryphon's website may make those links not work; plus the yarns are sold out.

The fairy tale this time is a Punjabi story called Bopluchi. You can read the story here, but it is kind of bloody. Just warning you, don't read it during lunch.

Some Days It's Better Just to Stay in Bed.

2009-04-19T20:13:00.003-06:00

I gave Paul the audio book version of The Lord of the Rings in German for Christmas. A while ago I transferred part of Book I, Die Gefährten, to iTunes so he could put it on his iPod.

So far, so good.

So today I was feeling relaxed . . . the Early Music concert is over . . . and decided to feed a few more into the computer.

I had finished Book I and was about halfway through Book II, Die Zwei Türmen, when I realized I hadn't checked the ripping format before beginning.

Aaargh. I just spent all day making huge megafiles instead of MP3s. So now I am waiting for iTunes to convert my day's work.

My brain is fried. That's it.

I will let you know if I finish my sister's tam. Beret. Whatever.

P.S. I have to admit there are some entertaining moments when working with German translations. Such as the chapter entitled "Elronds Rat." Elrond's Council

I always thought he looked like the kind of person who would keep a pet rat.

Blossom Snow

2009-04-16T11:34:00.002-06:00

I spent a few hours yesterday with my sister in the infusion room at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Her daughter, probably the nicest 13-year-old in the world, was there too, doing her homework. We went to lunch and then drove home in the snow.

The infusion room is emotionally draining for everyone. For the patients, there is the added fear and physical exhaustion caused by the disease and its treatment. Of course there is hope, too. That's why we were all there, because we hope we can beat cancer in our own various ways, whether nurse, patient, or visitor.

I worked on another chemo cap.

Lisa's and Katie's Berets from Through the Loops;
knitted in Rowan Calmer

The test knit I did is for sale now, so I can show my pictures. The first one is a little cloudy. I think I need to do a photo shoot in better light. When there is some.

Ammonit Stole from Arlene's World of Lace;
Wollmeise Lacegarn in Blue Suzanne

It is done in short rows, and so makes interesting use of variegated yarn.

I don't know why it's so hard to take a picture without a cat in it

In Your Easter Bonnet . . .

2009-04-11T14:39:00.004-06:00

I finish a chemo cap for my sister.

Bloody Stupid Johnson from Knitty.com in Rowan Calmer yarn.

I buy doo-dads.

The Knit Kit. I bought mine from Blazing Needles.

The Ear Light; mine came from Full Thread Ahead

Camp SG

2009-04-05T23:02:00.004-06:00

Coming up at the end of the month are a trip to New Orleans, where Paul will attend a meeting and Cherry and I will hang out. Maybe we will go to the Jazz festival.

And then the next weekend is Camp Sanguine Gryphon.

We'll be arriving in Maryland at the height of the dogwood blossoms and just in time for the Sheep and Wool show. I may never make it to Rhinebeck, but it will be my fourth time at MDS$W.

Last time I did the NOLA Jazz Festival and MDS$W back to back I gained 4 lbs. This time I won't need to try the fried twinkies and funnel cake. It will be harder to avoid the fiber feeding frenzy. All I'm in the market for is a theme tote bag or maybe apron. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

Reasons to buy yarn. Or not.

2009-04-04T17:02:00.004-06:00

I think these are the top ten reasons I buy yarn:

1. I want to support the dyer's business because she needs the money

2. I don't have that colorway yet

3. I caught the update, so it's fated that I buy some

4. Ooh, shiny!

5. It's from a club and it will come with doodads, and I will feel left out if I don't have that yarn and those doodads

6. Everyone else wants it, so I must want it

7. I need a blue sweater and I would have more fun knitting it than buying it

8. Meggie needs a blue sweater, and I would have more fun knitting it than buying it

9. It's less fattening than a carton of Winter White Chocolate

10. I test-knitted that sock in that colorway, but I had to give it back. I want that sock!

Some of those are not very good reasons to spend my hard-earned piano money, and most of them are worse ones for spending Paul's hard-earned cash.

If I am completely honest, the first six items on the list are responsible for probably 95% of my yarn purchases. Yet, the rest of the list, representing the other 5% of the yarn, seem like more viable reasons to buy yarn. The need for clothing; the need for a reward for a battle fought or a task well-done--the something for something way of life, instead of the pile-it-up, acquisitional way of life.

Can I stop acquiring, just for the sake of acquiring?

That was just a rhetorical question. I don't think there is an answer.

Yet.

Sock Innovation: Have a Cookie!

2009-03-31T22:03:00.004-06:00

Did you get this book yet?

Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

OK, turn to page 74. There is a small picture of a variegated-yarn version of Cookie's Devon pattern.

I knitted that!

Do I have proof? Not much. I dug through all my pictures, and apparently I did not take any finished photos. That figures.

I have a few shots that Cookie needed to make sure the design was coming out the right size and looked OK in the yarn.

Claudia Handpaints in "John"

Cookie A's designs are generally much too sculptural to work in variegated yarn. Her explanation to me was that the publisher wanted at least one multi-colored sock. The design worked so well in the yarn that I thought she had designed it especially for variegated yarns. Nope. The lead picture for Devon is a solid. Just goes to show.

I did a better job of documenting my most recent test-knit. When I'm OK'd to post pictures, there will be pictures.

In the meantime, I think I may go on a huge Cookie binge. I want to knit every sock in the book--including the pair I've already knitted once.

No Spring Chicken

2009-03-29T15:08:00.002-06:00

The spring knitting got off to a good start. I got the projects into bags.

The big bag is the Vera Bradley Supertote in Pink Elephants;see It is Still Snowing for info on other bags

The chickens are in the red Loopy Ewe bag. The sheep bag has a leftover sock that was previously inhabiting the big bag, all by itself.

I swatched for the Cotton Fleece project

and knitted a chicken.

Chicken is sitting on the Posy Bag from Nana Sadie Rose. The Posy Bag is perfect for knitting from both sides of a yarn cake because it is just the right size to keep the cake from flipping

But then the Blue Moon club kit showed up.

Oh, sorry, spoiler warning.

Let's have some more chicken pictures.

From the back:

He is awaiting two more tail feathers, a tan one because Vonnie didn't buy that color in DK weight so I ordered it from WEBS, and a blue one because I was being frugal and didn't buy it; I will pick one up tomorrow

In the snow (did I mention it snowed 6" in two hours this morning?):

OK, now can I show you the Blue Moon kit?

Pattern: Rogue Roses by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee; yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Gertrude Skein by Blue Moon Fiber Arts

I think I will start the sleeves to Baby M's aqua sweater after I finish the picot top to the Rogue Roses socks.

Or when it stops snowing.

Whichever comes first.

It is Still Snowing.

2009-03-25T21:51:00.015-06:00

My plan for today was to put my spring knitting projects into bags.

Step 1: Print out chemo hat patterns.

Shedir

Lisa's and Katy's Berets

Bloody Stupid Johnson

After all, they are all Terry Pratchett fans down there

My sister will need chemo hats soon. Especially if it keeps snowing.

I bought Rowan Calmer for the hats; it's supposed to be especially comfortable for senstive, newly-bared scalps.

But problems arise. The router than runs our home wireless network died. The new router will not speak to the printer. I am stubborn. I refuse to go find a really long USB cable to connect the computer with the patterns to the printer.

3 1/2 hours later I have learned two things.

On the PC you use the disk that came with the printer.

On the Macintosh you don't.

Sometimes you feel like a disk; sometimes you don't

No, I actually learned three things.

It is a good idea to call tech support for help. Thank you, MacDocs.

Step 2: Find bags.

Top left: The Knitmare Boxbag from Emoknitter; Top right: The Sheep Cube from Schrodinger; Bottom: 3 AM KIP Basic from The Loopy Ewe

I have all these cute little bags. One of them will be fine for the chickens, and hats can go in the others. But I have two sweaters. Where have all the sweater sized bags gone?

Hint: they probably have socks in them . . . think about it . . . right! You could swap the projects out . . . no way! Yes, way . . .

Tomorrow: Swatching!

Just last week it was spring

Spring Does Not Mean the Same Thing Here

2009-03-24T07:18:00.006-06:00

Hurrah for spring! Crocuses. Daffodils. The beginning of the allergy season. Six inches of new snow.

Snow?

It's some kind of hurrah, anyway--the last hurrah for the Utah ski season, probably.

In honor of the last (hopefully) snowfall, I finished a pair of socks yesterday.

This was last month's Rockin' Sock Club kit, Queen of Beads by Sivia Harding. The yarn is My Blue Heaven. Can you see the beads? In the spirit of scientific research, I went ahead and put the beads all the way down the instep. Yes, you can feel beads if they are inside your shoe. No, they don't hurt. But if your feet are sensitive, it would probably bother you. Me, no problem.

And, in a fit of, well, finishing, I wove in the ends on these today:

Roxie from The Tsock Tsarina

Despite the snow, I am clearing the decks for spring knitting!

Chickens

and the cover sweater from Rowan's Organic Cotton Kids Collection:

and a wee Easter cardi from the Nashua Sprout book (although using Cotton Fleece because we like the color better):

There is baby knitting, too, but the due date isn't until August. Plenty of time for summer knitting . . .

P.S. If you are in the Salt Lake area, the Nashua book and yarn are available at NPJ and the Rowan at Black Sheep.

Just Add Water

2009-03-15T16:52:00.004-06:00

Can you take freeze-drying too far?

I don't know. Look at what I got in the mail:

OK, I admit, it's not freeze dried, just vacuum-packed. Two of my net friends, Cheri and Debby, went in together on a skein of Blue Suzanne Wollmeise, which I've been wanting for quite a while.

Cheri couldn't fit it in a letter-sized envelope to mail from Canada without a little help from her food saver.

Proof that you can squish yarn without harming it:

I finished my test-knit, the Blue Suzanne laceweight I showed you last month, but don't have permission from the designer to blog it yet.

You realize that Debby and Cheri probably just saved me from trying to knit a pair of socks in laceweight, don't you?

Turbo says hi:

Mega Camnesia!

2009-02-26T21:09:00.007-07:00

I finished the socks for my friend Cori's little girls and took them over tonight. One girl wasn't there, but Cori's socks and her 3-year-old's fit perfectly. Cori said she loved the edging on Gracie's sock, and Gracie said, "I love it all!"

It wasn't until I got home that I realized I had forgotten to photograph the socks after I blocked them.

My mind has been on other things, that's for sure.

My sister was scheduled to start chemo on Monday, but cancelled it instead. I have been upset all week. I want to be supportive, but I could not understand why she would cancel her treatment. She is only 46 and in good health. Why would she want to set herself up for a recurrance by not having treatment?

Finally yesterday I emailed my friend whose husband is an oncologist. I wanted her to ask her husband what the permanent side-effects of chemotherapy are, that are so bad that a person would prefer a 20% chance of their cancer coming back? Her husband kindly called me to discuss chemotherapy.

It turned out that he was actually familiar with my sister's case because her doctor had consulted with him about it (they work together). He said that she really should have chemo, but that it is ultimately her decision and we have to support her.

So I prayed really hard, and I think God listened. Because this morning my sister called me and said that she has changed her mind and is going to have chemo after all.

It turns out that all the times the doctors said she should have chemo because she is young and healthy, she and her husband thought they were saying that she could withstand the rigors, so it was OK to have it. But her surgeon explained to her that what they meant was that chemo is the gift that goes on giving. You put up with a year of misery and some possible health risks to have a really good chance of living the next 30 years without a recurrance. Because she is young and healthy, she can expect those 30 years.

So I bought her this tote bag:

It says, "Unbeknown to the mosquito, I just had chemo!"

Obsession

2009-02-06T03:22:00.003-07:00

I'm not really obsessed with Wollmeise, am I? I don't really sit up at night organizing my wish list, and checking to see if there's any in stock?

My on-line friend, Debby from Alabama, and I started team-shopping a couple of months ago. Wollmeise updates are hard to catch, and the yarn goes fast. I snagged a bright orange for her, plus some reds for myself. She captured some for me.

This is my combined haul:

(from left)
Indisch Rot, Single Malt, Dornröschen,
Kürbis, Rotkäppchen

This is definitely the collector's instinct at work. When will I manage to get through all those yards, miles, parsecs of yarn?

Right now I am doing a test-knitting project for a German knitter using Wollmeise lace. I should have put something in the photo for scale so you could see how huge this yarn cake really is.

Blue Suzanne laceweight

It was actually too big for my ball winder. I had to wind the last few yards by hand. I will have a ton left when the stole is finished. I wonder if I want to knit socks on size 000 needles to use it up?

I don't think that will be my next Wollmeise project, though. Right now I am obsessed with this yarn combination:

Top: Gewitterhimmel; Bottom: Saami

I am trying to decide what colorwork pattern to use these in together. I know the Saami's blue will be eaten up by the Gewitterhimmel unless it happens to line up with the very darkest blue every time, but I still think it will be interesting. Saami looks a little garish knitted by itself, but I think the colors are beautiful. I want to set it like tiny gems in the dark blue background.

At least my yarn obsession is less expensive than the harp obsession was. Remember the shattered harp photos from last month? The repair and shipping quote on it was $2850, or $4900 to replace the harp. Miraculously, the insurance company is actually going to cover the cost of the repair.

I wonder if I should list my Wollmeise collection with the insurance company. Just in case.

Cesare wants to knit

2009-02-04T09:56:00.004-07:00

Cesare seems to have some distinct yarn preferences. He really likes Wollmeise, and he really likes alpaca.

I mean, REALLY likes it.

That was a skein of Paca Peds Heels and Toes from The Loopy Ewe in the Vampire's Kiss colorway. Che was less interested in the contrasting heel and toe yarn. It only took about half an hour to sort it.

But the main ~~disaster~~ project took about three days.

I actually ordered a replacement, but it wasn't as cute. That was why I determined to tackle the original yarn. That and the inversion. That was the week that the air here was so thick you couldn't see through it. I had a headache and sinus icky all week. The wages of sin is death, and the wages of living in Utah is the dread winter inversion.

I was too cross to teach. I was too grumpy to do anything but sit on the bed and untangle yarn while watching Sherlock Holmes movies.

I have a pair of toes ready to go as soon as the gift knitting socks are finished.

I WILL Blog Again!

2009-02-03T17:44:00.004-07:00

In the meantime, here is a blog with some cute sheep pictures.

What has been going on here?

The harder I try not to buy yarn, the more I buy.

When I feel overwhelmed, I am very susceptible to people showing me pretty colors, especially fuzzy pretty colors. Although pretty colors on silk suck me in on occasion.

My sister just had her second breast cancer sugery today.

She has appointments with a stack of oncologists next week, but the surgery might be all she needs.

I am still doing gift knitting.

I am almost finished with the largest of three pairs of little girl socks. Their mother's pair is already done.

I must have started the little pair four times before I got something I was happy with.

I just finished my Iowa friend Jeanne's scarf, but it is awfully short. It was a yarn that I should have done from two skeins, alternating them. But too late now. I will take a picture when I block it

My mom is nuts, but I love her

Mom's cousin, Hortense, died recently.
Mom: Let's call XX, she'll know when the funeral is.
Robin: What is her phone number?
Mom: 47.
Robin: I need more numbers than that.
Mom: Since when?
Robin: Everybody as more numbers than that nowadays.
Mom: Not for them. They aren't in nowadays.

And, to Ruth Ann,
Mom: Tell Hortense I'm sorry I can't make it to the funeral.

Many thanks to Dad for taking such good care of Mom when she is so often not in nowadays herself.

Andrea Bocelli sings "The Wheels on the Bus."

2009-01-26T22:07:00.001-07:00

Thanks, Don. I laughed really hard.

I Am Still Here

2009-01-12T11:02:00.003-07:00

I got three boxes of harp parts out the door with FedEx around 9:00 a.m. today.

Shipping and repair are going to be free, except I asked for new strings . . . about 1/3 of them broke anyway when the harp disintegrated, and I cut the rest off with scissors and pruning shears.

Still feeling wimpy from having had the flu.

Early Music starting today. Whether to take the recorders in for repairs before class, or use them with messed up cork? That is the question.

The computer I do all my work on is in the shop. Will it come back in time to print all the materials I need for teaching starting at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning? When I called it was still disassembled on the bench.

My big debut on Largo al Factotem tonight at the Care Center. Chris is doing the singing, don't worry ("Figaro! Figaro!"). And I am playing my own simplified version of the piano reduction, in which at any given time I am leaving out from 1/2 to 2/3 of the notes.

I knitted three rows on my sweater while listening to recordings of Chris singing the Largo. I need to be able to hear when to change chords in the patter section because I can't count it for some reason.

See y'all later.

Can We Fix It? Hey, Don't Look at Me.

2009-01-05T10:21:00.001-07:00

Where's Bob the Builder when I really need him?

click Bob

I haven't played any harps since Christmas Eve, when the family got together to play carols. I got the flu a couple of days after Christmas, and just started feeling normal yesterday. Chris went in there to practice yesterday and noticed this:

I sent the pictures to the builder (Dave, not Bob) and he thinks a flaw in the wood grain at a key tension spot caused it to spontaneously deconstruct.

Definition: Chaos
Systems whose states evolve with time – that may exhibit dynamics that are highly sensitive to initial conditions (popularly referred to as the butterfly effect). As a result of this sensitivity, which manifests itself as an exponential growth of perturbations in the initial conditions, the behavior of chaotic systems appears to be random. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future dynamics are fully defined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos.

And you wonder why I call my blog
Vortex of Chaos.

The harp is under warranty. I still have the shipping box. Of course I have to take off all the strings and remove the pillar before I pack it up to send it back, so that it won't damage the soundbox during shipping. I can hardly lift the shipping box. It weighs more than the harp.

I can think of one or two things I would rather do today.

NaKniSweMoDoNoWay

2009-01-04T19:23:00.011-07:00

NaKniSweMoDo stands for "National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon." Or something like that. Just hearing that Susan and Margene were going to enter made me shiver with terror. But it did make me think I could knit one sweater in one month. Maybe it would be the only way I could knit a sweater that actually fits.

I bought this yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon.

Free Range sport weight in Montazah

I wound it into balls. I knitted a swatch.

I decided on a rotation scheme to prevent pooling, which can be a problem in multi-color yarns, even ones as subtle as this. Yarns that have more aqua are A, and yarns that have more plain blue are B.
A1 A2 A3
B1 B2 B3

A and B trade off every two rows throughout the sweater. In addition, after inch and a half or so, A2 replaces A1. After another inch, B2 replaces B1, and so forth, so that all six yarn cakes are used pretty much evenly. A pin on the knitting shows where I've changed balls, so I can figure out which change I'm on.

I will want to knit the sleeves simultaneously. Yikes! That could get messy.

About 3" into the project, the pattern said "Repeat rows 3 and 4 40 times." I had another shiver of terror. At the end of the forty repeats, I would only have knitted enough to join the sweater to knit in the round.

Don't say it . . . I know the sleeves look puffy . . .
and this color is not accurate, either

I appealed to sweater knitters I know for encouragement. Margene estimates that a worsted-weight sweater has only about 25% more stitches than a pair of socks, and AutumnBriars on Ravelry has read that a sweater has about as many stitches as three socks.

I can do this.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T17:54:00.004-07:00

Welcome, 2009!

I have done pretty much all the things on yesterday's list.

Today's Scripture

Joshua 10:25
Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage;
for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

Take that, evil carbohydrates!
Take that, grumpy person in my ensemble who stresses me out!

Knit

still going on the scarf

Spin

I had some help with this one

Visit with the family

Celia's lunch was fun; and now we are having fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches from the Elvis cookbook for dinner

Got the new phone

$79 after mail-in rebate, and it replaced my dying Palm Pilot as well

Put the recorders back in their cases.

That has to count for Playing Music. I will give myself a raincheck for starting practing after I don't have so many germs to spread on the musical equipment

I am still not over the flu (or whatever it is) but today I feel hopeful. I consider that an improvement.

How did your day go? Hope it was great!

Guten Rutsch!

2008-12-31T16:14:00.004-07:00

I had to have my Ravelry friend, Waldmaus, explain that to me. Everyone I know who speaks German says it on New Year's Eve, but it means "Good slide," not "Happy New Year." Now I know it's a wish to get us over the hump into the new year. Tomorrow we will appropriately say, "Gutes neues Jahr!"

I wish my Rutsch would leave the flu behind. Yes, I had a flu shot, but they aren't 100%. I have fever and a horribly stuffy, runny nose and can't sleep, but I don't think I will get pneumonia.

I think I will be able to leave Paul's scarf behind in 2008 as well. I am ready to shape the shawl collar edge.

Since I went up a total of three needle sizes, I have fewer rows, so I had to recalculate the shaping instructions. We will see how this works.

And I'm planning for New Year's Day. Whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you will do throughout the year. My list:

Study scriptures

I am currently researching references to fear (anxiety is just a kind of fear) in the Bible and have made it through Leviticus, using LDS Books, an iPod touch application

Knit

I want to start the hat that goes with Paul's scarf

Spin

Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar arrived in today's mail

Visit with family

Celia is having a luncheon

Get a new phone

Yikes--I hope I only have to do that once in 2009

Play music

I oiled all the recorders last week, but maybe I should pick an instrument I don't have to breathe on.

So--what are your plans for New Year's Day?

The Christmas Loot

2008-12-27T17:53:00.002-07:00

There were beautiful handmade things.

Laurel made me a quilt!
(I am wrapped up in it as we speak)

This delicate yarn is a 3-ply,
representing a lot of work by Joanne

There were funny things.

Trusty Calendar, created by Todd and Joanne
for Paul (with a little help from Photoshop and Shutterfly).
I hope Todd will make the photos available online
so you can see them all!

Yes, it does have the fried peanut butter
and banana sandwich recipe.

There were musical instruments.

Soprano recorder, Moeck, boxwood;
OE got a toy electric guitar

There were things from around the world.

Cherry bought these Rajasthani puppets
for me while she was in India last month

Here is how the puppets look in their natural environment
(photo taken in India by Cherry)

Helen sent me a carved stone pendant from Gemstone Beach and yarn from the Ashford shop that she got while on vacation in New Zealand

There were books.

Books, in both printed and audio versions, included Beedle the Bard, the newest Mma Ramotswe book, an audible gift certificate.

There was snow.

In fact, there was a lot of snow.

Our Christmas celebration is still going on. Everyone made it here to eat on Christmas Eve, but between Paul's work schedule and the snow, people opened gifts on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We are on our way to Celia's in about an hour to take them their gifts to open tonight.

The kids had fun. The kids had so much fun that the grownups had headaches. That sounds like a pretty typical Christmas to me.

I started over on Paul's scarf, the former Mystery Project.

That sounds pretty typical to me, too.

I Survive Church

2008-12-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the weird thing.

My knitting doesn't have to be perfect. Yes, I frog if there's an obvious mistake, but a lot of stuff just doesn't bother me. If I have three stitches at the end of the row where there should be two, I purl two of them together, or whatever will work with the pattern. If the sock pools, I don't care.

So why does it bother me that my organ playing isn't perfect? The knitting will still be sitting there years from now, with the fudged edge stitches, or the pooling colors. The performance is gone even as it takes place. Better luck next time.

But, as I say, I survived it. The parts with the choir went really well, which was the most important to me because I would hate to mess them up when they've worked so hard. It just bugs me that every time I went for an A with my left foot I got a G. I guess it was not an A day.

Apparently some people couldn't see my pictures from yesterday. They were on Flickr. If you couldn't see them either, let me know, especially if it happens more than once. I can use Blogger's photo loader instead if lots of people can't see them.

The ones from yesterday are pretty much at the front of my Flickr photostream.

I Play Dolls

2008-12-21T10:00:00.003-07:00

It finally stopped snowing. The gingerbread house decorating session that had been postponed could finally take place.

The fuse sticking out of this one seems ominous

Demolition of some houses took place even before construction was completed

The mailman came.

Fairy Tale II: Rapunzel by The Sanguine Gryphon

We played dolls.

Not sure where Snuffles's bonnet has gone

We knitted.

I love how the candy stick pattern looked when extended into the ribbing (although the yarn began pooling at that point, no doubt due to the change to twisted stitches).

The cast-off is a 2-stitch picot (cast on two, cast off two) followed by two stitches cast off using the knit two together method, repeated around.

Some people just slept.

As for me, I'll feel more relaxed when church is over this afternoon and I'm not worrying about whether I can play the carols at twice the normal speed, which is what the choir director wants.

Snow on Snow

2008-12-20T20:31:00.002-07:00

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

From In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rosetti

I Knit All Day

2008-12-19T00:01:00.002-07:00

7:21 a.m.

I do some laundry.

The pattern turns out not be hard to do with Magic Loop. I discovered that I could set up the stitches so that a left-leaning decrease started each line of stitches, and that the k4 that preceded it was at the end of each line. This meant that I had 26 stitches on one cable and 39 on the other, not a problem.

3:07 p.m.

I fall asleep and have to do something else to wake up.

I think I've finally worked out my favorite way of doing a line of left-leaning decreases. Here I've used sl 1 k1 psso in the active row, and then knitted that stitch through the back loop in the following row.

Still not perfect (it is the left edge of the diagonal band) but better.

10:31 p.m.

I think they are ready for ribbing. They are very close to the "fold in half" rule of sock measurement.

Tomorrow. I am going to bed now. Trusty had better not wake me up to go out, either.

Wait. Have you seen this yet?

Click to order

It has a menge of super ideas for making self-striping yarns do all kinds of interesting things.

* * * * * *

Oh, sorry, I forgot to post the winner of the OEXPTQ contest.

2nd runner up: Teri
1st runner up: Lynn
Winner: Laurel

The answer was: Owen from Paul and Tan. X meaning Latin ex for "out of" and PTQ to mean Paul and Tan, in the same way that the Romans used SPQR to mean "the senate and people of Rome (senatus populusque romanum). But it wasn't a very fair contest, because I think only members of our family know that Owen invented his own spelling of his name before he started school: OE. So everyone who tried gets a prize. Winners, please e' me with the color family of your choice and whether you want chunky or sock. Note: Many more colors available in sock.

One Thing at a Time

2008-12-17T10:11:00.004-07:00

Today's Goal: Focus!

Get the pets set for the day

Check.
We're not walking far in 20 degree weather.
If at all.

Get the appliances started on their jobs

Check. With two families in the house, something has to be running all the time.

Wrap packages that still need to be mailed.

Focus.
Do not repair the bird ornament
that came out of the box without legs.
Do not even look for the glue gun.
Focus.
Check.

More laundry

A cat has thrown up on my duvet cover.
Check--until next time.
Focus.
Stay. Away. From. The. Computer.
Focus.

I mean it!

Errands--the post office, picking up firewood, practicing the organ

Organ practice--Check
I can now play all the carols for Sunday
twice as fast as they are supposed to go,
which is what the director wants
Post Office--Check

Only 24 minutes and $66
for five packages and 20 stamps;
much better than I expected, especially since
three of the packages were going to Europe
Wood--Check
I hope it is a green burn day,
because I have a fire going

And now I am going to knit. See y'all later!

I Survive the Piano Recital

2008-12-16T07:34:00.004-07:00

I may have to rethink how I do my piano recitals. A whole hour of listening to beginners at various levels of preparation and stage presence might be too much for the average audience.

Some alternatives:

Have two recitals so each is shorter

Have the children learn two numbers but play only one at the recital based on which one sounds best at group lesson

Do the recital at a time other than Christmas when students have more time to prepare

No one wants to play Christmas music too early; and six weeks is not enough for some students to learn the arrangements they like. Of course if it isn't Christmas music I would make them memorize their pieces. I think only four students had their music memorized last night (kudos to Quinlan, Nico, Preston, and Kaden). Apologies to anyone else who had theirs memorized that I forgot to mention. Not that any of them read my blog other than Quinlan's mom.

Did any of you have your kids take piano lessons? Do you have any recommendations?

I know of one teacher in the area who has her students pay by the semester just like a college class, and then has a recital at the end of each semester. If I did that I would have to have two recitals, and they really stress me out, but everyone would know where they stand and that they had to have a piece really well learned by the end of the said semester.

What to do now that all the concerts and recitals are over?

Practice the organ--I still have to play at church for Christmas

Mail away the gifts that should have gone out a week or two ago

Pump up my wood pile--it's still snowing!

Wrap more gifts--there are still cardboard boxes in my closet

Knit those socks I promised to my friend Cori and her little girls

Work on the poor, neglected mystery project

--but I have until Christmas Day for that one, since the recipient doesn't like to open presents early and he's working until 7:00 p.m. on The Day

How Cool is This?

2008-12-15T08:29:00.003-07:00

Last night at dinner I was saying that I would like to hear Chris and Howard perform "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from Messiah. Chris sang in Messiah a couple of weeks ago with the Utah Symphony, and Howard has been playing trumpet in various college and church performances of it around the city, and actually was leaving from our house in a few minutes to perform at another one.

I was thinking I could play the piano and they could perform, but our living room is pretty small and we would all need ear protection . . .

So Howard had been gone for about half an hour when we got a phone call. The baritone had just cancelled. Would Chris be willing to come sing? He decided he would, so I piled in the truck with him and we headed into Salt Lake.

Howard kept calling to see where we were, and when we were about six minutes out they started the performance. Howard met Chris at a side door and I went to park. As I slipped into the back of the church, Chris was just standing up to sing his first number.

It was so cool to hear them perform together. The church had pulled together a nice little orchestra, and the other soloists were OK. I even got brave and sang along with the rest of the congregation on the choruses, although I have never sung the alto part and got a little lost now and then. I figured my lack of voice control wouldn't matter in that setting.

I think it was Messiah, Himself, who said, "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Y'all--it works!

I Do This Every Year.

2008-12-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't really. Usually Amber does it, often in a marathon overnighter of wrapping, bows, and Sharpie ink. But Amber lives 45 miles away now, and has two kids, so it would be pretty silly to make her come up and wrap my presents for me. Besides, I'm not in school full time right now, so I don't have an excuse. And this year Sharman and Chris have wrapped a lot for me.

Why am I still complaining? It's Christmas. It should be fun.

Except it's boring. I'm not getting in any knitting time (see it hiding behind the candy canes?)

I have to come up with things to liven it up.

Things to do while wrapping presents:
Listen to Christmas CDs on the clock radio

Listen to an audio book simultaneously on the iPod

Drink diet Cokes and munch Cadbury chocolate balls

Text people

Think of weird ways to tag gifts: OK, guess what OEXPTQ* means and I will give you yarn

Check to see if there are any new emails, blog posts, or Ravelry messages

write blog posts

take pictures for blog posts

make Sharman and Chris feel sorry for me so they will wrap more of them

Where to put them when they're wrapped is a problem. Last year the kids figured out I was hiding gifts in the window seat in the toy room. Was that before or after they broke the cover to the window seat? Anyway, that hiding place is out. The computer room window seat is available, but I would have to move gift wrap and a pirate ship to get to it.

I am going with big plastic bins. I suppose they might end up back in my closet. But at least the gifts will be wrapped.

*I can't stand it, I think that is so funny. You should email your guess, though, and not put it in the comments or everyone will copy you. Let's say a deadline of Wednesday 12/17, how 'bout?

Apples and Hubcaps

2008-12-13T14:23:00.009-07:00

From our discussion with the Brain Health Educator at the Cognitive Disorders Center on Thursday:

Brain Lady: Your dad is pretty sharp mentally, right? He knows what's going on, he can pay the bills, and so on.

Ruth Ann and me: Yes, that's right.

Brain Lady: So we're not really talking apples and oranges here, right? Your mom and dad aren't even in the same fruit basket. Instead of apples and oranges, they're more like apples and hubcaps.

Ruth Ann and me: !!!!!!!!!!

We had a nice visit with each other and with our ~~hubcap~~ mom, but due to an impending snowstorm, it was pretty short.

I sent Mom home with my angel puzzle to stimulate her mind

Click picture to order

only I had to order a replacement. It's just too cute.

I Survive the Early Music Concert

2008-12-07T12:31:00.003-07:00

Henry VIII was a mean, mean guy.
He had eight wives and he watched them die.

I told Laurel I would put that on my blog if she would let me use her pictures from the concert Saturday. Which she did.

Me with my gothic bray harp.
Photo by Laurel Leishman

The last section of our concert had some Henry VIII compositions as well as other Renaissance stuff. We also had some very early pieces. I played a solo on my bray harp which would have gone better if I had remembered to eat lunch or even bring a snack. My hands were shaking, and I blamed it on stage fright, but I realized afterwards that it was probably also from taking a Sudafed and not eating anything since breakfast.

So I remembered my rug to sit the harps on and my desk drawer to raise the bray harp a little and give it an added sound magnifier. I remembered the two harps, three recorders, and the krummhorn. I remembered my music, which I had forgotten to bring to Monday's rehearsal.

My instruments are under my hand. From left they are a tenor recorder,
a krummhorn and an alto recorder.
I also played the U's soprano recorder.
Photo by Laurel Leishman

When I carry all that stuff into the music building (and I can carry it all at once except the rug) I think of that Simon and Garfunkle lyric about "a poet and a one man band." So then I had to think of a poem. That's where the Henry VIII doggerel came from.

So who needs food? Me, apparently.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

2008-12-04T14:46:00.003-07:00

. . . everywhere you go . . .

With a wreath on the front room door

Wreath by Sean at Sax Romney Florist in Salt Lake City

And some knitting plucked off the floor

This is the candy cane yarn from Holiday Yarns

And a cat adrift in wrappings, you'll be sure.

Actually the chair covers Sharman is making for me

OK, this was not my best photography day ever. I suddenly, without warning, came down with a raging cold this afternoon. I attributed it to allergies for a while, and exposed a poor piano student. So the out of focus photos actually look the way I feel.

Incidentally, if you live in the Salt Lake area and don't have plans for Saturday afternoon, you can come to my early music concert. It is at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday the 6th in Gardner Hall on the U campus.

Some Christmas CDs and a book for you

2008-12-01T04:00:00.002-07:00

My favorite new Christmas CD this year is this one:

Click the picture to order

It has some of my favorite Christmas music on it, including John Rutter's What Sweeter Music and Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, as well as some witty arrangements that are just for fun. Nothing says Christmas quite so well as a brass ensemble.

If you need another recommendation for this CD, Howard took it home with him. Maybe you have to know Howard for that to mean anything.

Click the picture for bio;
from the UPB website click "Member Bios" and then click "Howard Summers"

I paid for this guy's music lessons, so I value his opinion.

Here's what else I really enjoyed listening to today while getting ready to decorate our tree (and making our belated Thanksgiving dinner):

Click the picture to order

Kim Robertson is one of the best Celtic harpists I have heard, and the arrangements on this CD are interesting and beautiful. Plus it's a good recording. Sometimes you hear harp on a CD and it sounds like piano, or someone whacking the side of the fridge. This actually sounds like a harp. Nothing says Christmas quite so well as a harp.

What, you think I'm contradicting myself? Hrrrrrmph.

Book Review:

Click the picture to order

It's a non-Harry Potter view on the training of the young magician. Told in alternating first-person Djinn and 3rd person wizardling, it's well-written and quick-moving. I'm listening to the Audible download and enjoying the reader. This is the first of a trilogy.

No pictures of today's knitting; I will try to photo it tomorrow. Or maybe I will finish decorating the tree.

Note to Tan: Do not get out the blown glass ornaments until AFTER the kids have gone to bed. Kudos to Laurel, who saved said glass ornaments from possible (certain?) disaster while I went to get the safe ones out of the closet.

Let's Have Some Long-Term Goals, Shall We?

2008-11-30T04:00:00.002-07:00

Christmas is only 25 days away, sneaking right up on us. I think we need something a little further away to focus our hopes and dreams on . . .

Something that won't disappoint us by coming and going in a puff of chimney smoke and gift wrap . . .

Something like the endlessly-postponed Harry Potter movie . . .

Tree Fluffing Underway

2008-11-29T04:00:00.004-07:00

There are a lot of good things about having a fake tree.

You don't have to spend hours in freezing weather picking out a tree; it's in the basement.

You don't have to put lights on it; they're already on.

Very few needles are left on the floor at the end of the season.

The tree can go up right after Thanksgiving and stay up until Twelfth Night without turning into a fire hazard.

There are two really bad things about having a fake tree.

It doesn't smell like Christmas.

You have to fluff the blasted thing.

I didn't get much fluffing done today. Instead I went to Laurel's to babysit. I knitted during the Pokemon episodes and the couple of hours between the last kid's bedtime and when the guys got back from James Bond.

These cute little shoe forms came in my new Camper brand shoes

Something else to be Grateful for

2008-11-28T04:00:00.002-07:00

Our daughter is in India this week--only we didn't know where! She went to attend a friend's wedding, and the friend comes from a small town that Cherry knew we wouldn't have heard of so she didn't mention the actual destination.

This didn't matter until we started hearing about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (aka Bombay). I checked all her old emails, and tried calling her housemate with no luck. Finally at about 10:00 p.m. our time we got an email from her. She is fine, and the town she's in is nowhere near Mumbai or any prominent tourist attractions. Of course we are very sad for the suffering of those who were involved in the attack. But we are thankful that Cherry is OK.

Some random knitting stuff--

I wound this yarn as a reward for putting away a big pile of music in the Christmas Tree room . . . yes, I typed that by accident. It is normally The Piano Room. We could call it a living room, but for some reason no one does.

The Flock Sock yarn from yesterday

I started knitting this yarn into a mystery lace pattern from a KAL that started yesterday.

It is Cherry Tree Hill's Orenburg Lace in the Moody Blues colorway. I believe it may be the most gorgeous blue yarn in the history of the world. I am on a blue kick, Margene! Where did that come from?

I was worried about the yarn at first. It is a thick and thin yarn--I believe handspun--and sometimes I am knitting with what seem to be just three threads of silk. I was afraid I would knit this complicated project and then have one of those 3-thread stitches break and have it fall apart.

So I peeled some of the other end of the ball and pulled on it as hard as I could. Even when it's just a few strands, I can't break it. So I think it's safe to use.

I turned the heel on one Baudelaire sock yesterday only to discover I should have measured first. Oops! Much frogging early Thanksgiving morning.

Handmaiden Sea Wool in Bronze. Some day I will surprise myself and the rest of the world by knitting Baudelaire in a yarn that actually lets the delicate patterning show up

I did not get my Christmas tree up yesterday after all. Paul says he will help me this morning.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T04:00:00.005-07:00

I hope you're having a lovely day with your family. Our Thanksgiving is working out to be a little odd--I had planned to go to my parents' with Ruth Ann and her family, but a combination of a cold and Paul wanting not to be left home alone kept me here.

Laurel's plans were foiled by kids with The Throwing Ups at their destination, so we will see them today. Then in the later afternoon, Paul and I will have our Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital as we did last year, since he is on call again.

But I've been thinking about what I'm thankful for all week. I keep thinking of more things, so I know this is only a partial list.

My family.

My husband is the best person in the world.
My kids are super and so are their kids.
My mom is nuts, but I still have her.
My sister may not have cancer after all! Her doctor called on Wednesday and said he wants a second biopsy. Even if it is cancer, it was detected early and is treatable

My neighborhood.

We have a really low-crime neighborhood.
Our neighbors are nice.
One of the neighbors even has his own weather station.
Utah is really beautiful all the time.
There are lots of super knitters and knitting stores in our area.
Teaching piano makes me nuts, but the piano kids are a lot of fun.

My country.

We have a stable government that we can change gradually as needed.
We can do whatever we want within sensible and legal limits.
We have religious freedom and (mostly) tolerance.

My circumstances.

I'm glad Paul got me my early music instrument collection even though I like to complain when I have to haul two harps, three recorders, and a krummhorn up the stairs into the music building for rehearsals.
I'm grateful that Paul's job is stable. We need to work at getting out of debt, but we at least have hope of it. And we have a really low-interest home loan.
I love my organ teacher.
I have a wonderful yarn stash and I like knowing how to knit it.
I'm grateful that Joanne and I both got into the Wollmeise yarn club.
I am losing weight thanks to Overeaters Anonymous and my dietitian's advice.
I'm thankful that I believe in God and have the strength of prayer in my life.

My friends.

Yes. You. You really make my day brighter with your comments and your own blogs.
What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes. I am one of those people.
I am hauling the tree upstairs as you read this.

(back) Holiday Yarns Flock Sock in Candy Cane;
(front) Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in The Loopy Ewe

Gift Knitting

2008-11-25T04:00:00.001-07:00

When three little girls show up on your doorstep to pick out yarn for their Christmas socks, you have a pretty good idea who will pick what.

Gabriela, who loves green, will want this one:

Araucania Ranco Solid color 102

Graciela, who love pink and purple, will want this one:

Araucania Ranco Multy color 318

Josefina, who will be one in January, doesn't really care.

But these are little girls, and their choices are not to be predicted. Miss Pink and Purple Gracie grabbed this and hugged it to her heart, only to have it drooled over by her sister, Miss Green Gaby:

Araucania Ranco Multy color 307

I'm pretty sure there is enough yarn for all three to get socks from this yarn.

The pattern is Moorish Tiles by local artist Anne Carroll Gilmour.

My black is actually a very dark navy which coordinates with all three of the yarns, so I was safe whatever the girls picked.

There are other gifts I would like to knit, but I bet I don't get more finished than these socks and Mystery Project.

Note: I got the Araucania and Moorish Tiles pattern at Black Sheep Wool in Salt Lake City. Mystery Project's yarn came from Blazing Needles, also in Salt Lake.

Guess which one I bought two of!

In other news:

Do you ever wonder what what the weather in your neighborhood really is? You know, when The Weather Channel says the wind speed is only 10 mph, but you just got blown off your feet by a hurricane-force gust? Now there's a weather info choice that will give you a lot more specific local information. It's at The Weather Underground.

You can enter your zip code for a weather report just like you get on The Weather Channel, but if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can find individual weather stations in your neighborhood. Our backdoor neighbor has a station, so we can get very local info. Turns out our wind wasn't quite Hurricane Force. It only made it to 49 mph. Has to be 74 mph to be Force 12, Hurricane. Our wind gusts were only Force 9, a Strong Gale.

Some people just don't give a hoot about the weather.

Knitting by Firelight, Knitting by Starlight

2008-11-24T06:09:00.007-07:00

The shorter days really get to me. I have caught myself not only buying chocolate, but eating it. There has to be a better way to self-medicate in the dark days as we wind down towards the longest night of the year.

My solution: Bead knitting:

For times when I need fire I have Baba Jaga with silver-lined flame beads.

For times when I need stars I have a Sundara yarn, Prussian over Denim, with silver-lined sapphire beads.

These will not replace my gift knitting or The Purse Project. They are just for those times when I need chocolate. They are a chocolate substitute.

I haven't actually started knitting; I will need to take time to get the projects started so I can just knit a row here or there as needed.

My mystery project will go on a road trip, which I hope will help it substantially towards its 48" goal. I am riding up to my parents' for Thanksgiving with Ruth Ann and her family. Ruth Ann's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd. With that coming up and with our mom losing ground mentally, she wanted to get her kids up there while mom still knows who they are and Ruth Ann feels like travelling. We are not having our Thanksgiving dinner until Sunday, and Paul is on call for three days over the holiday, so I am not missing anything.

Waldmaus from Ravelry insists that a straight cable needle held in the hand like an extra finger is better than cabling without a needle. There is a lot of cabling in the mystery project. I'm going to try it. In a project where there are maybe four cable twists every eight rows or so, I really like needle-free cabling. But this is, like, 40 millions cable twists every four short rows. I need help.

I'm taking my mom the gloves I knitted for her. They did not get blogged previously because they just went so fast.

Panda Silk yarn

Besides, black doesn't photograph well.

This is the cover pattern from the latest Piecework magazine. It is a super pattern. When it says, "knit 7 repeats of the finger pattern," the finger miraculously fits. I saw the designer, Nancy Bush, at a book signing a week ago and commented at how clever that was. She said she surprised at how well it had worked.

That Worked Out Pretty Well

2008-11-20T07:16:00.002-07:00

I was surprised at how easy it was not to stare at the computer all day.

Things I did not look up on the Internet on No Internet Wedneday:

Is David Tennant Irish? (this one came up just a few minutes into Wednesday)

Answer: No, he is Scottish.

look up Myken's address

Answer: It was much faster to look it up in the piano student information

download a new Audible book

Answer: Why? I have five already

I tested the new keyboard here instead of on the internet. It was more boring, though.

I did not pay bills

Exceptions I had to make:

email to piano student mom

I did not get a lot of knitting done. I did not finish my cleaning project. I think I will go do it now.

Maybe I will have time to spin when the cleaning is done.

Ravenswood and Frustration's Muse by The Sanguine Gryphon from the Loopy Ewe

No Internet Wednesday

2008-11-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

I've decided I spend too much time staring at the computer screen. I do it all day long. I stare at Ravelry. I stare at email. I stare at blogs. Any time I don't feel like working, I stare at Internet stuff.

So I am declaring a day off. Here's what I'll be doing today instead of staring blankly at the computer.

1. Teach piano from 6:45 to 8:30 a.m.

2. Fill these with magazines to take downstairs.

3. Fill these with magazines I still want to read.

4. Work on my mystery knitting project:

My friend Connie says I can't finish this by Christmas. She may be right. This represents 2 hours of knitting, and it's only about 4" long.

5. Practice the organ.

6. Walk Trusty.

7. Teach more piano students between 3:00 and 7:00 pm.

8. Pick up Paul from the airport.

9. If I get my cleaning project finished, I will work on this project, a gift for a friend, in the evening:

Cookie A's Baudelaire socks in Fleece Artist Sea Sock, colorway bronze.

I'm planning on checking email and Ravelry messages when I first get up, just in case of emergencies. After that, if I'm tired of cleaning and want to sit, I am going to do it with knitting needles in hand.

Wish me luck.

Chewy, Chewy Fiber

2008-11-18T13:16:00.004-07:00

Things to do with yarn:

Attend a yarn tasting!

Joanne

and I went to Blazing Needles on Friday and tried out this plate of yummy yarns.

Some people swatched

This is a Habu yarn with metal and merino in it. Lace that doesn't need to be blocked?

while others made knitted brooches or weird doodads which could potentially be put on a Christmas tree.

I just wish you could have seen the look on Paul's face when I said we were going to a yarn tasting, though. As my mother used to say, "You could see the wheels turning."

Who is this guy, anyway?

2008-11-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

More of his work.

Memories of Halloween

2008-11-14T08:31:00.004-07:00

These are the Wollmeise yarns I was able to order from Claudia's Halloween update. All very arcane, if you ask me.

From left they are: Thriller, Baba Jaga, Frosch, Poison Nr. 5, and another Thriller (Joanne's--I will give it to her tonight when we go to the yarn tasting at Blazing Needles).

Successfully navigating a Wollmeise update is like winning the lottery. Claudia lets you know the day, but not the time, of the update to protect the website from a mass attack of thousands of shoppers all at once.

The amount of excitement, suspense, and resultant adrenaline involved left me shaky for hours afterwards on Halloween. I happened to be looking at the computer when little shopping carts appeared by the items on my wishlist. I just dumped the whole wishlist into the checkout line and after much refreshing, backpaging, and redoing, I was able to make it to the PayPal screen: the sign that you actually have made it through checkout with something left in your cart.

Like many online shopping sites, the Wollmeise site does not "protect" your shopping cart. If a product is oversold and someone checks out ahead of you, the embattled item will disappear from your cart. This protects you against paying for a product that doesn't exist, but it's very nerve-wracking. For about five minutes I was staring at the computer, pushing buttons, saying to myself, "Do I have anything? Do I have anything?"

It wasn't until I got a shipping notice from Claudia that I was sure my order was real, although the fact that I made it as far as PayPal and then got a confirmation email were very heartening. Errors don't happen often, but at least one person got a complete refund due to overselling, so there's always the dark chance.

I think it's a good thing I'm not a gambler. I would have a heart attack waiting for the roulette wheel to stop every time.

The intelligent reader may ask: Why? Is it a lemming-like behavior left in the back of some people's brains after millions of years of evolution?

Is it a hoarding behavior caused by too much dieting and repressed emotion in an effort to fit into modern society?

ROBERT HUSKISSON (c.1820-1861) Biography
Worked: c.1820-1861
Fairy School, Titania's Elves Stealing the Squirrel's Hoard of Hazlenuts - Midsummer Night's Dream (United Kingdom, 1854)

Is it the excitement of the chase, caused by a dog-like "if it runs I will chase it" response deep in the limbic system?

Or is it just "Oooh! Shiny! Want it!"?

My money is on "Oooh! Shiny!"

Protesting Breast Cancer

2008-11-08T22:11:00.003-07:00

You know how you go to your doctor and she asks you if you have any history of breast cancer in the family. And you say, "No." You feel safe. You might get your mammogram or not, depending on how much you feel like being run over by a truck. You don't do your self-exam because it makes you feel kind of dumb. You just sort of forget to make the appointment with your gynecologist for your annual checkup. Why bother? You don't have breast cancer in your family tree.

OK, here's the truth. Only 3% of breast cancers are hereditary. You can get any one of the other 97%.

So here's my advice. Do the monthly self-exam. Get your mammogram every year. Have your annual exam with your gynecologist. Because what if the person in your family who has it is you?

We do have a history of breast cancer in my family. My cousin. My aunt.

My sister.

I Finish Some Things

2008-11-05T14:44:00.002-07:00

Including autumn. I think autumn is over.

But it was nice while it lasted.

Gardiner Village in Salt Lake City

The knitting things I finished were Paul's Trekking socks (the ones that took two years because they were lost for months)

and the Bellatrix socks I started with a skein of Wollmeise Poison #5 while we were in Austria.

Bellatrix pattern by Monkey Toes (I think her real name was Gigi Silva); I think it's only available on Ravelry right now

Actually only the feet were knitted in Austria, due to large quantities of frogging that took place when we got back. I couldn't try them on while jammed between Paul and some other person on the plane, and got the legs too big.

I knitted them toe up, and did an I-cord cast-off with loops every so often.

I-cord isn't very stretchy, so the top edge just sits there in a straight line. But they fit, at least.

I am almost finished with a pair of gloves, too, but I will foto those tomorrow.

See you later!

See and Hear Chris on TV

2008-10-23T17:18:00.005-06:00

Chris is singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on their Music and the Spoken Word program this Sunday, October 26th. It's broadcast online here at 9:30 a.m. Mountain time.

If that link doesn't work, the main site is Music and the Spoken Word, and then you click on "View a Broadcast."

If you live in Utah you can probably hear it live at the same time on Channel 5. I think I am going to go to the rehearsal tonight. That way I don't have to get a substitute to play for me at Old People's Church (not its real name) on Sunday morning. I have a sub lined up for the following week to do something fiberish with Joanne, and I ought to show up once in a while in person.

If you live in Salt Lake you could also catch Chris in Madama Butterfly Friday or Sunday with the Utah Opera. He is Prince Yamadori.

Ooops, looks as if it's sold out.

Paul and I went to Madama B. on Monday. I had a surprising emotional reaction to the performance. Instead of just thinking, "lalalala, its an opera, I have heard the CD 50 times, so what?" (which is what I usually do) I was very upset by the final scene. Here is Butterfly with a little blond 2-year-old, and she finds out her husband has left her for another woman. Her distress is so great that she wishes she could die, and ultimately kills herself.

Instead of Butterfly, I kept seeing my mother in the same circumstance, deserted by her husband on Christmas Eve as he left her for another woman. She had a little blond 2-year-old, too. Fortunately for me she didn't kill herself, but struggled through many years of a mediocre-to-bad second marriage in near-poverty circumstances. I have a super brother and three wonderful sisters because she didn't give up.

My mother might be nuts, but I love her.

I try monogamous knitting

2008-10-20T01:13:00.004-06:00

All I have worked on for three weeks is Princess Pea's Brambling sweater.

I finished it at about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning

only to try it on The Pea and learn that what had looked suspiciously like gorilla arms (do you read The Yarn Harlot's books?) were, in fact, gorilla arms.

I think my efforts to put a real sleeve cap on the sleeves might have had something to do with it, but I also think that I just can't measure.

I clipped a thread on each sleeve as close to the armpit as possible, and another thread 24 rows below that, and unpicked both rows on each one. I released the underarm sleeve seams, grafted the sleeves back together, and re-sewed the seam.

Time-consuming, yes, but not as bad as unpicking the sleeve out of the armhole, frogging, and reknitting. It looks much less like a gorilla thing now. ETA: and it fits The Pea now.

Hey, what do you know? It's 1:00 a.m. again.

I thought I could whip this out in a week by knitting on it monogamously. It took three weeks.

Next: A Hanna Falkenburg kit for Wee Meggie.

I don't think it will be faster, even though I am only knitting size 2. It uses tiny yarn and needles. It has bobbles.

I wonder how long I can keep up this monogamous knitting thing.

The Random Report

2008-10-10T23:48:00.005-06:00

My mom is nuts

When I visited my parents this week, my mom had taken all the pictures off the walls and put them into her car "to move to the other house." Apparently she has been doing this for weeks. Ruth Ann saw the movie 50 First Dates, which makes her think mom would benefit from a scrapbook reminding her that the house where she has lived for ten years really is home, and the old house is gone.

Random Fact: The house I grew up in has been replaced by a cluster of cabins.

The desert is beautiful

I didn't take a camera, and I wouldn't have stopped to take pictures anyway, but the fall colors are just stunning. The gold of the grass, the black and grey of the sagebrush, the weeds with oxblood stems and blackened leaves, and the ever-so-surprising occasional patch of rose . . . a photograph doesn't do them justice.

After thirteen hours of desert driving in two days, I have the colors imprinted inside my eyelids anyway. Who needs photos?

Random Fact: The desert I was driving through is the home of the Idaho Nuclear Laboratory (they like to pretend that the "N" stands for "National" but we cancer survivors know the truth).

The Pale Barney sweater is nearly done.

Brambling by Marie Wallin, from Rowan's Story Book of Little Knits;
knitted in Rowan's All-Seasons Cotton, color #203--"Pale Barney"

This picture is a few days old. The body pieces are finished now. I think the sleeves are ready for the sleeve caps to be knitted.
I will assemble the body of the sweater tomorrow and then try it on Princess Pea with the sleeves so far to see if they need to be a little longer.

Not sure what to do about buttonholes, though. I hated the two-stitch buttonholes in this size yarn, so I knitted it without any buttonholes. I may swatch for steeked buttonholes. Why wouldn't that work? Shannon at Hemstitched Heirlooms will have pearl cotton to match my yarn, I bet.

Random Fact: I knit faster with pink yarn. Desperation, I think.

Laurel, I appreciate your giving me a chance to back out. I just like to complain.

Book Review

No, not The Graveyard Book. I only just started listening to it.

Instead, I finished listening to Tintentod today. The verdict is finally in--I love the Inkheart series by German author Cornelia Funke. I wasn't so sure after book 2, Tintenblut/Inkspell. They're very dark for children's books. Lord Voldemort seems tame after you get to know Capricorn and Basta.

Random Fact: The German titles of the books, Tintenherz, Tintenblut, and Tintentod, mean Inkheart, Inkblood and Inkdeath in English. These words are central to a key plot point, but for some reason the English-language edition of Tintenblut is called Inkspell.

Thanks to you, the piano club has a name!

I loved Terri's suggestion that we call the club "The Piano Animals," but the deal was that the name would be suggested by a student, so we will go with P.E.D.A.L. (Practice Every Day and Learn) which was suggested by 11-year-old Mick. His suggestion got 57% of the votes, winning him a coupson for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.

Please help me with a piano teaching thing

2008-10-06T08:51:00.002-06:00

I have put a poll on my blog to have you help choose a name for my piano students' practicing club. I think you have to go to the blog to do the poll, not sure if it will show up in bloglines.

I hope you will take time to vote.

Thanks!

The Neil Gaiman Thing

2008-09-30T20:44:00.002-06:00

In case you are wondering why I have all these advertisements for Neil Gaiman's new book, it's just because he puts them on his blog and makes it easy to get them. I had one for Harry Potter, too, remember?

Anyway, click on the picture and it will take you to Harper Collins's website where you can click to listen to the first chapter of the book (and Bela Fleck playing Danse Macabre).

Surprise! It's a Sheep!

2008-09-29T04:00:00.000-06:00

You may be surprised to learn that my number one shopping goal for Austria was not finding yarn. No, it was finding these guys:

Timmi Traumer, left, and Sven Startklar

Sven again

Timmi again

Nils Nickerchen and Oma Wolle

Now banned here by the FDA because the small toys could be dangerous to children, Kinder Surprise Eggs (aka Kinder Überraschungs Eier) are hollow chocolate eggs, milk chocolate lined with white chocolate, with a toy inside. Sometimes the toys are kind of dumb, and sometimes they are quite clever. Over the summer they were these adorable handpainted sheep. The white ones are Good Sheep. The black ones are Wild Sheep. There is chaos in the meadow!

To get the whole picture, you need to watch the TV ads for them. Go to the Kinder Überraschungs website and click on the egg to enter. Then click on the TV and click on the remote buttons to watch the ads. My favorite is on channel 5. Nils Nickerchen complains that he can't go to sleep. Oma Wolle (Grandma Wool) suggests that he count sheep. He points to her and says, "One . . ." then goes to sleep.

I bought way more Ü-Eier than yarn. In fact, I have enough to make a cake that calls for 22 of them in the filling (thanks for the recipe, Waldmaus!). The kids and I had an Ü-Eier opening party. I'm sorry for my grandchildren because they had to share with their grandmother. I wanted Oma Wolle very much for my toy collection. Princess Pea opened the egg with Oma in it, and kindly gave her to me. I owe that girl a sweater!

Note: We did get some black sheep, but the new owners disappeared with them before I could get pictures. Probably thought Grandma was going to commandeer them.

The Ü-Eier Torte was a big success. I felt kind of sorry for the 22 chocolate eggs being melted down in a pot of cream.

The finished cake does not look like an entry for the chocolate show, but it tasted good.

Yarny Update

2008-09-26T06:00:00.001-06:00

A couple more kits came in Thursday's mail. Unfortunately, I could not get a good photo shoot. If you spread out a purple cloth and there is a Cesare in the room, you have a Cesare photoshoot, not a yarn photoshoot. Who gets to wear the purple toga around here, anyway?

Here is Cesare admiring the Tsock Flock kit #3, York and Lancaster.

Actually he was between bites

Cesare thinks he is King Richard. Sorry cat, Richard lost.

Here is Cesare rolling in the STR kit. The yarn is called Tide Pooling. These are my colors for this time of year!

Here is Turbo trying to get in on the action.

It's OK with me. Cats I can handle. Now if Jet shows up, the show is over. Nothing is safe from the acrobatic aerial torpedo. He can jump five feet straight up!

Yarny Things: Homecoming

2008-09-25T07:14:00.007-06:00

In case you're wondering why I have to stop joining and renewing yarn clubs, check out the pile of mail waiting for me when I got home Sunday night:

Of course, it wasn't all club offerings. There was an audiobook I had hoped would come before the trip, and some individual yarns I had ordered from various places.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Letitia in Count Cluckula and STR Leightweight in The Cookie Next Door

The Sanguine Gryphon Traveller in Wales

I need to stop doing that, too.

But check out the club offerings. Can you see why I succumb?

The Unique Sheep's Seven Deadly S(p)ins offering for "Pride"--check out the goodies!

The Sanguine Gryphon's Fairy Tale Club offering for an Arabic Tale. Do you see the BEADS????? Watch her website, because she will soon be taking orders for Fairy Tale II

The Wollmeise's Club offering, themed "Homeland." The colors represent elderberries and boxwood. Wollmeise's next update will be at some random time on the first Friday in October.

A closeup of Wollmeisische cuteness

Now if I could only cast on for any of them. But I have GOT to finish up some things already on the needles or I will go nuts.

P.S. I ordered my copy of The Graveyard Book on audio. It should come on October 2nd. I will let you know if it's as good as Neil Gaiman's other stuff.

Yarny Things: Austria

2008-09-23T10:20:00.022-06:00

First there was airplane knitting. This very dark photo is the pair of Bellatrix socks in Wollmeise Poison #5 (dark) that I started on the way outbound last week.

I didn't want to disturb people by having a light on during the night, so didn't knit much on the way to Vienna. A bad idea. I couldn't sleep, so I should have knitted. The flight attendants passed out eyemasks, after all.

There was some frogging, too--70 stitches was too many for my foot.

On the way back I knitted most of the time. This represents about 14 hours of knitting.

And here we have the car project, Sanguine Gryphon's Traveller in the Austria colorway (cute, I know). I think these are probably mittens, not socks. They represent maybe 5-6 hours of knitting, representing how long it takes to get from Vienna to Salzburg and back.

And then there was the yarn acquired there. I remembered a knit shop in Salzburg from our last trip, and it was still there in Universitatsplatz, right where I remembered it.

Die Wolle in Grünmarkt; their receipt says "Malle-Hemetsberger, 5020 Salburg Universitätsplatz 12, Telephone 0 66 2/84 16 52"

They have what looks like the entire collection of Opal Hundertwasser colors. I asked about the Harry Potter colorways, but they had not heard of them. I bought a couple of things that caught my eye.

The purple is Gedifra Aldato in colorway 9311; the gold is Gedifra Fiocco Oro in colorway 6607

Cherry got something froufy to knit a scarf, but left for Berlin before I thought to photograph it.

Die Wolle is not a serve-yourself shop. Most of the yarn is stored in neat and tightly packed rows of the plastic bags it's shipped in. When I reached to pull one out, the shopkeeper hurried to take it away from me. She was happier when I pointed to what I wanted and let her get it.

Then we went on to Vienna where we met Spinnwahn from Ravelry, and her husband.

He is a lifelong fan of St. Stephan's Cathedral and told us some terrific stories as we toured the cathedral. Later we had fun discussing kids, fiber, and politics over whipped cream-loaded hot chocolate, and Spinnwahn and I exchanged gifts and the trade we had arranged: I took her spindles and Knitpicks needles not readily available in Europe, and she gave me yarn she had spun and dyed.

As you can see, Spinnwahn is the Austrian version of die Wollmeise. These are some of her hand-dyed sock yarns:

And this is her handspun, hand-dyed Desert Sunset shawl kit, with colors I requested:

I can't wait to see how they knit up!

Spinnwahn says that Vienna is not a hotspot for knit shopping. She orders most of her wool online. Salzburg might be a sleeper. Cherry, not wanting to waste time, did not point out the several knitting shops that she noticed and I missed as we wandered around the old section of town. Hmmm. Food for further research on another trip?

I swear my hair actually looks good sometimes; just not when I'm having my picture taken with someone (see me with the Yarn Harlot in an earlier blog post)

Hey, look! I've lost weight since the Yarn Harlot was here!

The first day back.

2008-09-22T06:39:00.005-06:00

1. You can print out your boarding passes in Europe, but you can't use them. Just go to the gate and get real ones.

2. People will speak German to you more readily if you remember to say "Guten Tag" instead of "Hi!"

3. If your room is on the 3rd Floor, you are going to climb three flights of stairs.

4. The German menu may have better food at half the cost of what you find on the English menu.

We had fun. I have a lot of pictures to go through. Will get back to you :)