These Little Wonders

Jeanne posted recently about ungrateful recipients of knitted baby gifts. I suggested that she do what I do. Knit only for your husband's employees who have had babies. It's especially helpful during annual review time or when the company is being sold and people are doing anything to hold on to their jobs.

Kate and I took a trip to meet baby Brooke and her mom, Anne. Much to Anne's credit she recognized the gift as a bolero - not a sweater. While I worked on this, everyone would tell me "That sweater is way too small". I found myself yelling at people "IT'S NOT A SWEATER! IT'S A BOLERO! THERE'S A DIFFERENCE!". I even took the book with me, just in case Anne needed proof too.

Kathryn and Brooke

Brooke and Mom

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any photos of Brooke modeling her BOLERO. It's best to let sleeping babies sleep. However, before I left home I was able to find a suitable model to stand in.

Front View

Side View

Back View; note the intricate lace detail.

"Bib, schmibs - give me a bolero - I must have a bolero!"

The Tuesday Group Part Two

I introduced Brenda and Sue briefly last week as the newest members of the Tuesday morning knitting group. This week, it's the Founding Mothers.

I met Peggy (blue shirt) on Sanibel Island about 8 years ago. Conversation started and we discovered we were both from Minnesota, lived in the same area and went to the same church. Huh, small world isn't it? A few years later she would wander in to the knitting shop when I was working and we struck up a conversation and a friendship began. I met Sandy (white shirt) on a flight to Sanibel Island - in fact, Peggy was on the same flight. They've know each other for a long time through kids and school and life. She saw the I was knitting and pointed it out to Peggy. We shared a good laugh about how we knew each other. Sandy said she'd never be able to knit. Famous last words!


Cindy (foreground) and I met when she was taking an Einstein Coat class at the shop. There's a awful lot of knitting in an Einstein Coat so there was plenty of time to hang out and visit with the students. Plus - I wasn't teaching it! Cindy's mom and Peggy were also in that class - they were all so much fun. After the Einstein class, Cindy and Peggy decided to take a Fair Isle Jazz scarf class - again with another instructor, again a boat load of knitting. I think their class was on a day I wasn't scheduled to work but I kept finding reason to go in to the shop just to see them. Yes, I was stalking them. Yes, it was pathetic.

So I stole them. Plain out. When the scarf class was over and it looked like they were going to be gone, I asked them if they wanted to get together over coffee and knit. Thus was born the Tuesday Morning Group - two years ago in May. They laugh and say "We can't believe Deb wanted us to be in her knitting group!"

Yesterday, more than anything in the world, I needed you guys. Not just in my knitting group, but in my life. Thank you seems trite but I can't hug you from here.

See you tomorrow.

P.S. They had to approve the "spontaneous" pictures!!

True Confessions

Amy provided me with this little knitting game. Apparently, she and the Usual Suspects think I might be running out of blog fodder - and so early in the game!

I actually found this to be an a good check-in for me; a way to answer questions such as:

• Am I the knitter I want to be?
• Are there still things I need / want to learn or teach?
• Are there things I just will never do and I'm just fine with?
• Will Fair Isle Aways kick my butt?

The "real" rules for this game call for you to "Mark with bold the things you have ever knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest". Screw that. Not being one to follow the rules, I'd rather answer each one and provide some humorous* running commentary along the way.

Afghan - No, American but I have knit a big huge blanket thing.
I-cord - You cord, we all knit I-Cord; yes.
Garter stitch - Really? This was a question?
Knitting with metal wire - Does wire come in other forms? Pass.
Shawl - Lots of things could fit here but I know I qualify.
Stockinette stitch - See garter stitch.
Socks: top-down - Yes.
Socks: toe-up - Yes.
Mittens: Cuff-up - Yup
Mittens: Tip-down - I'm getting dizzy; no.
Knitting with camel yarn - Not while it was still on the camel but, yes.
Hat - No thanks, I'm warm enough. No.
Knitting with silk - Yes.
Moebius band knitting - Not on purpose.
Participating in a KAL - Failing in a KAL.
Sweater - Sure.
Drop stitch patterns - Too easy. Yes.
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn - Yup.
Slip stitch patterns - See Drop stitch patterns.
Knitting with banana fiber yarn - Hmmm - I got nothing here. Yes.
Domino knitting - They kept falling off the needles. Yes.
Twisted stitch patterns - Yes.
Knitting with bamboo yarn - I'm all about natural fibers baby! Yes.
Two end knitting - Yup.
Charity knitting - I am my own favorite charity. Yes.
Knitting with soy yarn - While using chopsticks.
Cardigan - How is this different from sweater? Yes.
Toy/doll clothing - I have a 10-year old.
Baby items - She wasn't always 10.
Knitting with circular needles - Yup.
Knitting with your own hand spun yarn - Not there yet.
Slippers - MINNESOTA!
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) - I must be really out of it!
Continental knitting - I get the names mixed up but I'm bi-hemispheric.
Designing knitted garments - Does a poncho for a Beanie Baby count?
Cable stitch patterns - Do these get harder as we move down the line? Yes.
Lace patterns - Yes! Yes! Yes!
Publishing a knitting book - I'm the only one who hasn't.
Scarf - See garter stitch.
Teaching a child to knit - 10 year-old daughter.
American/English knitting - See Continental.
Knitting to make money - Ha!!!!!
Button holes - Not intentionally.
Knitting with alpacas - Yes; we have several in the yard with whom I knit every afternoon.
Fair Isle knitting - See intro to this blog post.
Norwegian knitting - I'm German, Irish, Scottish. We don't recognize Norway.
Dying with plant colours - Chemical dyer on-board.
Knitting for a wedding - Lots of little 1st Communion things; no weddings.
Household items - Warshrags.
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars - I'm a 1 circular girl.
Knitting with someone else's hand spun yarn - Isn't it all some else's? Yes.
Knitting with dpns - Yes. For the record I really hate that abbreviation.
Holiday related knitting - Which holiday? Yes.
Teaching a male how to knit - I hope he's a male.
Bobbles - Uhhhm, sure?
Knitting for a living - I live to knit.
Knitting with cotton - Yarn or balls? Yes.
Knitting smocking - Pass.
Dying yarn - The dyeing season is almost here and soon my friends will come!! YES! YES!
Steeks - Eeks! No.
Knitting art - It's all art to me.
Knitting two socks on two circulars - No.
Fulling/felting - Sometime on purpose.
Knitting with wool - Huh?
Textured knitting - I think so.
Kitchener BO - Yup; KOPO POKO is my mantra.
Purses/bags - Sadly, I must confess, yes.
Knitting with beads - They wouldn't stay on the needles. Sorry.
Swatching - Always.
Long Tail CO - Yup - sometimes.
Entrelac - Love it.
Knitting and purling backwards - Yup.
Machine knitting - Uh, no.
Knitting with self patterning yarn - Can't get away from the stuff it seems.
Knitting with cashmere - Only in the dark when I'm alone.
Knitting with synthetic yarn - There was a time.
Writing a pattern - Yep.
Gloves - Without the fingers??
Intarsia - Kicks my butt too!
Knitting with linen - Yessirre.
Knitting for preemies - Just small babies.
Tubular CO - Totally.
Freeform knitting - I'm stumped.
Short rows - Yep.
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers - Oops. I answered gloves wrong.
Pillows - Yes, but not the stuffing part.
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine - Sure.
Rug - No.
Knitting on a loom - Actually, yes.
Thrummed knitting - Looks silly to me.
Knitting a gift - Ask me about Swallowtail.
Knitting for pets - Sorry Holli and Tigger.
Shrug/bolero/poncho - Yes.
Knitting with dog/cat hair - Yes, it's in everything I knit.
Hair accessories - Have you ever scene my hair?
Knitting in public - OK at first I didn't see the "l". Yes; all the time.

*Use of the word "humorous" just means I think it's funny. Your mileage may vary. Laugh, chuckle, snort, giggle, or moan at your own discretion.

See you tomorrow.

This is where ...

... I live.








... I start every day.








... I "work".








... I play.
















...I knit.








...I sleep at the end of my busy day!

It's been a full week. Are you sick of me yet?

See you tomorrow.

Fiber Friday

I saw this idea over at Shannon's. There's a group of folks who post lots of pictures of their favorite yarns, yarns that are special to them, yarns they've spun.etc. I'm way to lazy to join that ring so I've just co-opted the idea and the title and plan to to the same thing but only here.





Noro Blossom; color no. 6. I probably have 10 skeins somewhere down stairs. They are destined to become this sweater. In fact, the rolled skeins, which you may be able to see peeking out below, were already the front and the back of this sweater before I realized that counting and keeping track of rows really did matter and no amount of blocking was going to get the pieces to match up correctly.

I love the texture of Blossom - but only after it's been knit into a fabric. It's as if you have to see it for what it could be, not for what it is as it sits in front of you. I often wish I could be as patient with people.

See you on Monday.

Play Misty - For Kathryn

I've never heard her scream before so perhaps that's why I didn't recognize it at first. Besides, it wasn't really a scream, it was more like a muffled squeal. She'll tell me later that she doesn't know how to scream. I hear her coming down the stairs and I flash to something that's been bothering me for a few days. I really should clean that contraption. It's been quite a while and It's probably my turn. But man, it's such a pain, pulling all that plastic apart, dealing with all that mess, trying to put all the pieces back together again. She's standing at the top of the steps into the kitchen with the little green wheel in her hands and I can see in an instant that my instincts were correct and my heart breaks. Not so much for the life of a small hamster named Misty, but for Kathryn.


Misty was HER pet. Unlike Holli and Tigger who are family pets, Misty was hers. Misty was her responsibility to care for. She lovingly provided food and water for Misty and played with her constantly. The cage cleaning thing required a lot of parental interaction and we weren't very good about that.



Misty was a good sport but Holli was an even better sport when it came to playing with Misty. Kathryn and Jon taught Holli this trick. Holli would literally quiver while standing with a hamster on her head. I think she was afraid of hurting the hamster. Jon always thought she was afraid she would eat the hamster and then get in trouble. Kathryn would roar with laughter.

We spent the better part of last night and all through the night going through all seven stages of the grieving process. I keep wishing I had found Misty and maybe taken a little bit of the pain away - she keeps seeing her tiny dead body.She's worried that it hurt her to die because Misty looked scared. I tell her it didn't. I tell her that animals instinctively go to a comfortable place (her green exercise wheel) to lay down and die and that they die peacefully. Nature then takes over with their bodies. She asks what we will do with Misty. I tell her Daddy put Misty in a safe place and we can bury her and have funeral or whatever she wants. No, she says, I don't want a funeral. That sounds babyish. Maybe I'll just bury her by myself. Now I'm choking back my own sobs.


It's morning. We've each had about three hours of sleep. Jon got more. It seems fair though. He usually has to clean up barf. I'll take the emotional clean-up. This morning over breakfast she's thinking of names for the new hamster. Bubbles,she says. Welcome to stage eight.

Misty

April 2006 - May 2007

The Tuesday Group

For nearly two years we have met every Tuesday at 9:00 am at 318 Cafe in downtown Excelsior. It's the best little restaurant in town. Awesome homemade soups and sandwiches and unbelievable coffee cake, muffins, scones, and cookies ... I could go on, but.

That's Jill. Jill works every Tuesday morning. She knows our names and our orders. She's a doll. Matty was being uncharacteristically shy when this picture was taken. He owns 318 and he loves the Tuesday morning knitters. Matty's mom makes all the delicious baked goods mentioned above. We love Matty's mom.

This is Brenda and Sue. They are the newest additions to the Tuesday Knitting Group - and by newest I mean they've been with us for about a year. Both wandered in to the shop at times when I needed a friend (they would say the same thing I think). And so, they became Tuesday Knitters.

You'll meet the rest of the Tuesday group as we go through the month. Perhaps we'll be able to take advantage of the outdoor patio at 318 next week!

See you tomorrow.

A Most Perfect Weekend

Waking up before 9 AM on a weekend morning is beyond unusual for me. When I was up, dressed and standing outside by 7:00, even Jon was amazed. I had big plans. He rattled off the long list of outdoor home maintenance chores he was planning to tackle over the next two days and bemoaned the fact that he wasn't likely to finish them. I'm usually not required (allowed) to participate in home maintenance projects - it's like having Kate do them. It usually requires a lot of explaining. I safely therefore, asked if there was anything I could do to help.

rhe·tor·i·cal [ri-tawr-i-kuhl,] –adjective. used for, belonging to, or concerned with mere style or effect.

"Sure - you could start by washing the screens". Start?- we have 33 windows!! After that I was allowed to power wash the porch and deck furniture and then the porch and deck surfaces. Kate helped for a while - she's a load though! It's really hard to get good help in a ten-year old. All the while Jon was planting his "garden-in-a-box" - little plants that came in a box with a map that showed him how to arrange them in the ground in dirt. Did I get scammed here or what.

Now that the hard work is over, the animals have a nice place to rest on the sparkling clean porch.

I have a nice sunny spot on the porch to sit and knit!

And Jon can look out the clean screens at his tiny little plants (through the middle window). They're there - trust me.

So what were the big plans that got me up so early? Sorry. I'm saving that for another post.

Thanks for all the great tips on making it through a month of daily posts. I'm really looking forward to it. I've got my camera in my bag, a notebook and my odd way of looking at the world!

See you tomorrow.

BBB Contest

I'm starting my own contest tomorrow, May 1st. In an effort to "Be A Better Blogger" I've decided to enter myself in a "Post-a-day-in-the-month-of-May" contest. My rules for myself are simple:

1. Post a blog entry every weekday during the month of May.
2. Weekends and Memorial Day are not included: I can post if I want though - cuz it's my blog!
3. I can post about anything I want on my weekdays.

My hope is that I can develop the blogging habits of so many of you to whom I turn every day for a dose of humor, knitting talk, cats, life talk etc.

I'm the only entrant in this contest - so if I'm successful and become a better blogger - does that make you guys the winners? Because if it does, I'm not inclined to send prizes out to all of you!!

Wish be luck, encourage me along the way, and if you have an tips on how to be a good daily blogger, please pass them on!!

See you tomorrow.

The Ins and Outs of Knitting

ALERT: If your name is Monica and you live and Columbus, Indiana, please move along. There's nothing to see here today. Come back in a few days. Say, after a package has arrived at your home. Move along now.....

This just in.....

and this...

I really should get these guys together!

It embarrasses me to say until a few minutes ago, like when I opened the package, I was a complete Socks That Rock virgin. Never owned any at all. Now, I own two precious skeins: one in "Foo Foo" the other in "Titania". And two new sock books. The possibilities are endless.

And this just out....

... on its way to Monica for winning the contest way back in February. I tried to make up for the fact that this was so long in coming by sending lots of fun stuff. I included some alpace yarn, hand-dyed by me, Misti Alpaca and Addi Lace needles for a Swallowtail Shawl, a mini-keychain sock blocker kit, a Lantern Moon black sheep tape measure, Minnesota-made cranberry chutney with rosemary crackers, a Frabjous Fibers felted trinkets pouch, and some beaded stitch markers. If I could just get myself to drop this off at the post office ....

Sockerella

Before heading off on our spring trip to Florida I had some time to kill one afternoon so I wandered through the bookstore looking for some good poolside reads. I spent a a good hour or so, going from section to section and finally landed in the Memoirs Section with two books: The Glass Castle and The Year of Magical Thinking. I'll just let you know that I loved one and strongly disliked the other but since this is not a book review post, that's all I'll say.

I paid for my books and set off into the huge parking lot and ... no keys. I've never lost my keys. I've lost my car (a lot lately) but never my keys. Back into the bookstore to ask the cashier if I left my keys at the desk. He tells me to check at Customer Service. The gentleman at the Customer Service desk says that, yes a set of keys has been turned in and asks if I know where I might have left the keys. "No, because that's where I would have looked first you idiot" is what I want to say but, I really need these keys. He laughs as he tells me that they were found in the "Memory and Brain Teasers Section". I laugh as I think to myself, I don't even remember being in the Memory and Brain Teasers Section.

Mr. Customer Service retreats to the back room to fetch my keys (had I really been gone long enough to have them locked up?). When he returns he asks if I can identify the keys. "Uhm, I think so. I mean, I guess so. They are keys, and they.... "

Suddenly. I smile as I whip this out of the pocket from which my keys must have fallen:









If the sock fits!

OK - Break Over

Here's a tip for bloggers: If you take a really long break from blogging, you'll have a lot to say when you come back. In all truthfulness, the break didn't start out to be a break, but then - life happened. First things first, there was a contest in the last post to guess the projects I worked on during our winter retreat. Since no one guessed all of them correctly, Monica from "Monica Knits ...A LOT!!" was randomly selected, by my able canine assistant, as the winner. She'll be receiving a terrific prize package in a much more timely manner than this notification. For the record, the projects were, the KISS bag from Sally Melville's third Knitting Experience book, Cookie A's Monkey Socks, and the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits, Fall 2006. The KISS bag is 95% complete at this point, 1.5 Monkey socks are complete. Swallowtail is finished and was given to a friend for her birthday.

But so much else has happened. Jon and I went to Mexico for 5 days. Most of the time it rained; when there was sun, we took plenty of advantage of it. When there wasn't sun, we took plenty of advantage of that time too.

We celebrated Valentine's Day in our usual manner complete with the homemade, heart-shaped pizzas. The tiny one in the middle is Holli's. Valentine's Day is a big deal around here..

Jon's company announced it was being sold to it's fiercest competitor. When you're in telecom, everyone is you fiercest competition.You never want to be purchased. We have no idea what this will bring for us but we're looking forward to the adventure. After four years at the yarn store in town, I decided to take a break and am now a full-time stay-at-home mom. Lots of closets have been cleaned, refrigerator has been scrubbed, laundry is clean, dinners are planned and balanced. Kathryn and Jon are hiding for fear that will be scrubbed or thrown out with the old clothes. It's an adjustment around here for all.

Also on my mind is my dear friend and neighbor. She survived Hodgkin's Disease 12 years ago only to discover she had breast cancer last fall. A routine scan last week, followed by a needle biopsy, confirmed the presence of breast cancer cells in her liver. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

There's a lot more but not that I really want to bore you with or blab about here. Suffice it to say that our spring trip to Sanibel, Florida was a treasure this year. Ten days - 85 degrees, sunny, old friends and new ones - it really was something I needed this year.

Blame it on the ....

It's really hard to say how it happens. Six friends go off together for a weekend. You know each other; some better than others. You know a couple from outside of knitting. You're all of different ages and at different stages in life; some with smaller children, others with grown or no children. The only thing you all have in common however, is knitting.

The knitting starts, the weekend is before you. You eat (A LOT) you drink (A WHOLE LOT) and the stories that make us who we are begin to unfold. Some are so sad that your heart breaks. While others are so outrageously funny that your side hurts from laughing so hard and the tears are those of joy. Little by little you realize that these a wonderful women; truly amazing and great people. I have poured out my soul to them and they have accepted me. I've given them my best material and I'm still sleeping in the good bed!! You know that you have connected at a level that goes beyond acquaintance. These are now your "girlfriends". One of your own sad stories is that in your own life, you've never really had "girlfriends", never really learned how foster those kind of relationships. Now all of a sudden, you have five new ones. And you don't want to leave for fear of breaking the magic spell. You all feel that way.

So how does it happen? The realist in me says it's the wine. It can't be the hormones; half of the women are past that age (or so I'm told). Maybe it's the isolation - it's way the hell up near Canada and we were completely isolated. Nah, we had food and water for an army, music and DVDs that we never even broke into. Oh, and we had our cars. The romantic in me says maybe it's the love of the craft and that knitting is the bond that will keep us together. But even that seems kind of shallow. I've met or "blog-met" some equally amazing and wonderful people through knitting (do you know who you are or do I need to name you??) whom I hold as dear these women. And if knitting were to disappear, I would have to trust that they'd still find me their friend.
So, maybe, I'm just getting better at this whole freindship thing. Maybe, I'm and OK person to have as a friend?

As a hostess gift for our gracious hostess, I taught all the girls how to knit Log Cabin Squares. Our last evening and morning we all knit like fiends so we could leave the cabin with as many squares as possible. We also left her with gobs of stash yarn so that she can teach other guests how to make squares too. When (if?) we are invited next year we'll all put the sqaures together to start a big patachwork throw for her cabin.

Other than the squares, can you identify the other projects I worked on during the weekend? There's a prize if you do. It'll have to wait until after February 11 when Jon and I return from Mexico. All that relaxing got me in the mood for a warm weather vacation. Plus - 18 below zero - not so much!!

Bye Bye

Dear Friends,
I have a small confession. I'm going away this weekend on a knitting retreat. My Tuesday morning knitting group is going up to northern Minnesota (way up north, past Grand Marais) for a long weekend of knitting, eating, relaxing etc. They are a wonderful group of women, the core of which started together at the shop during an Einstein Coat class. They then moved on to a Fair Isle Jazz scarf class. That's when I hijacked them and we started our little Tuesday morning group. People have come and gone from the group, but for the most part the core has remained the same and we have settled in to a comfortable friendship that means the world to me.
Here's where the confession part comes in - none of these women are bloggers! I don't think they know what blogs are or that I have a knit blog or that they would care. But, I love them all anyway. I feel like I'm cheating on you all by consorting with known non-bloggers.
I'll report back next week but on the off chance this blog should go dark, Amy was the last to see me before I went off into the woods with non-blogging-knitters. Wish me luck.

It's not the 0s, its the 9s.

Sunday was my birthday, my 49th birthday. Based on the comments I've received, you'd think this was the end of me. I seem to remember this with each of the decade birthdays. People start with the age comments the year before so that by the time you hit the big "X0" it's so anti-climactic that you've forgotten all about it. So get them in now because by this time next year, I really won't give a damn.

You'd think a person gone for two month's would have lot more to discuss but I really don't so I'll answer Amy's meme (still don't know what that means) looking for five (only five?) personal idiosyncrasies.

1. I absolutely must fold my bath towels in the exact same manner all the time. Take them the long way and fold them in thirds; then in thirds again so that no edges are showing. Then they get put in the linen closet so that the smooth folded edge is facing out.

2. I have never eaten margarine and further it is not allowed in my house. Same with Miracle Whip. I'm a butter and mayonnaise (Hellmans) girl.

3. I cannot sleep on my back for fear that if I do my hands will naturally fall into a position that might look like a person in a coffin and I think that would be too weird.

4. I have to make my bed every day. Even if I just throw the covers up in a hurry and toss the pillows on in a haphazard way and even if I make the bed moments before I climb into it at the end of the day, some effort must be made every day toward making the bed. If I've been sick and in bed all day, I'll get up at some point, make the bed and get back in.

5. From the time I was a little girl I had an imaginary dog named "Peaches", a Golden Retriever. She was "with me" until I got my first real dog, a Golden Retriever named Koko. I was 32 at the time.

Holli, my very real and wonderful Golden, and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We're going to try to post more often this year but.....we're getting old and everything.

One last thing, Tigger is rolling all over the place hoping you'll stop by and wish Jeanne a Happy Birthday if you haven't done so already!! It's just his way.

Tigger Speaks

There are times when a cat just has to speak out, to say what's on his mind, to make his voice heard. All too often we stand mute when the cry must go out through out the land. Now is that time. So, without further ado, hear me roar:

On behalf of kitties everywhere - black, white, yellow, gray, brown, tabby, calico, orange, striped, speckled or any combination thereof:

Happy 40th Birthday, Chris!

So c'mon all you kitties - go wish her a happy day yourself. The more the merrier.