Woolythyme

Ta-Dah Tuesday.....

I knit this sweater a long time ago.  I bought the yarn at Halcyon in Bath, Maine on a trip with a friend.  Souvenir yarn.  I love the yarn....Noro Kochoran, a perfect blend of wool, silk, and angora.  The silk gives the beautiful colors, the angora such a fluffy, soft feel, the wool the extra warmth.  Why in the world did I choose to make this sweater?  It's heavy and WARM (actually HOT) and I simply don't live in a climate that warrants that kind of sweater.  Besides, which, I looked like a cross between the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy wearing it.  #1 Daughter had it for awhile, but returned it for all the above reasons.  This is great yarn.  Expensive yarn.  And the sweater took a bunch ofit.  It would make a wonderful cowl or hat or mittens or scarf.  Only one thing to do.....rip it.

Most of my friends already know that I have absolutely no problem ripping things apart.  So, for  me, this is really no big deal.  You deconstruct exactly the way you constructed.

Neckband off...took less than 4 minutes.  (I decided to time this, so you would see how really easy it is....).  Sleeve came off next.  So far so good.  And then....

As I'm really struggling to get hold of a good end to pull, it dawned on me that this was constructed as many Noro garments are....using multiple balls of yarn across to eliminate pooling.  How could I have forgotten??  I did remember I used (rather creatively) nearly every inch of yarn to finish this (a fact that happens so rarely, it was memorable!), but the multiple balls.....totally forgot about that.  Trouble.

What a mess.

That only got slightly better as I neared the cuff.

One sleeve...2 hours and 24 minutes (remember, I was timing this!).  NOT FUN.

TA-DAH!!!!

Weekending.....

It was crisp and sunny most of the weekend.  Look what I found buried in last season's foliage!  

 PapaGeek was at an out of state meeting this weekend, so Freddie and I were on our own.  We both missed him...especially around 3 am (Freddie's usual time for....I think I want company/I need to go out/I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY hungry/or a combination of all three).  I am not nearly as perky at that hour as his usual nighttime caretaker.  In fact, last night he actually gave me a rather rude ARF (and this is from a dog that does NOT bark--not at the mailman, not for food, not at cats, not at strangers coming into the house...nada...no barking...EVER--except last night).  Yep, we're all going to be glad to get back to our usual routine.

so what else did we do...

:: lunch with a girlfriend (with enough lunch leftover to bring home for dinner.  Yeah!  No cooking!)

:: walks with Freddie

:: dinner club at the home of our vegan friends 

:: a bit of online shopping!!!!!  (shopping at 3 am is just so easy....thanks Freddie!)

:: cleaned out a closet 

:: did a little knitting!!!

:: baked some cookies

Welcome home, Papa (cookiemonster) Geek!!!

 

joining amanda at thehabitofbeing for weekending...

A moment....

getting ready.....

 

joining amanda with a single moment from the week

A love story....

When #1 son was a baby I made him a stuffed Kanga which became his favorite.  Kanga was dragged everywhere (by the neck), and before too terribly long, she was showing the love.  She was mended and mended and washed and washed, but the time had come that she was just going to have to go (health hazard, you know!).  On Christmas eve I snuck to his room, managed to undo the death-grip, and replaced old Kanga with "new Kanga".  We marvelled the next morning at how Santa had brought Kanga new clothes and how nice (and happy) she looked.  New Kanga was accepted, but never loved quite the same.  I've always wondered if he was just ready to let go, or if he really knew something wasn't quite right.

I never realized this total faithfulness to something, no matter how ratty, was a genetic trait.

PapaGeek's "dorm socks".  I've tried to replace them.  He says he thinks they have at least a couple more years of life in them!   

Yarn along...WIP Wednesday

 

 

 

 After a week of impulsive knitting, I think I've settled back in to knitting from Juju's Loops book.  Cedar shake fingerless gloves are done (even though only one is pictured) and they didn't disappoint--they are lovely.  They are the longest mitts I've ever made, and tuck into the sleeves of a coat very nicely.  It's not looking like we're going to get much snowball making weather, so these might just be the mitts for the rest of the winter.

That leaves the brown-eyed susan shawl still on the needles.  (I made that sound like that is my one and only project on the needles....don't believe it.)

 

On to reading....a few weeks ago I downloaded the first (of how many???!!!!) Amelia Peabody mysteries, and the next thing I know, I'm listening to the third...The Mummy Case.

The reader has an amazing range of "voices" and a lilting English accent, and I'm liking them.  Totally mindless.  If I daydream a bit and miss some of the story--no big deal; it's pretty easy to catch up again.  In print...I downloaded some free books to the Kindle, and started the Scarlet Pimpernel.  How did I manage to avoid reading this in high school?  Or maybe I did read it.  Some parts seem familiar, but surely I would have remembered that the Scarlet Pimpernel is a flower.   And then again....maybe not!  What are you reading this week????

 

joining Ginny for yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday

Ta-Dah Tuesday Self portrait....

Ittybitty blog is one of my favorites.  (Nadia is Swiss, and the blog is written in French, so-I always wonder when I comment whether I'm really saying what I think I'm saying!!--and if I'm really understanding what I think I'm reading!)  She is one of the most prolific knitters I've ever seen, and I seem to love everything she makes.  Last week, she showed Norby, a fairly new hat pattern by Gudrun Johnston that I hadn't seen before.  Cute hat...I had some yarn in the stash---downloaded the pattern and cast on.  (Ravelry has made this kind of impulse knitting WAYYYYYYYY too easy!!!  Yes, I was knitting on this about 3 minutes after I saw it on her blog.)

It's a lovely pattern, easy to memorize, and just has a nice rhythm to it.  Photographing it was not nearly as easy as knitting it.

Like my earring?

Whoa.  A bit close, but nice pattern, isn't it?

It's scrunchie.  I think you can tell from this one.

It has tassels.

After more than 50 shots, I decided my arms really weren't long enough to get the whole hat in.  Or I had the wrong lens.  Or I needed a tripod.  (See why I'm taking a photography class---now if we'd only talk about the camera rather than PhotoShop!!!!)

I gave up--called PapaGeek...  he took one picture.

Ta-Dah!!

Beach time!

Over the weekend we got the  contract for our summer beach rental.  Just a week, but I can't wait!!!  All 13 of us!!!  In the same house.  On the beach.  With a pool!!!  

We did this two summers ago when our number was "only" 12.  Having all the cousins together for a week of fun in the sand and water was simply too wonderful for words.  And having our daughter and son together with their spouses...perfect.  I used to hope for those Norman Rockwell moments, and this really comes close--at least when I think about it.  The reality--of 7 children under 9 years--was closer to ....  no blood drawn, it was a good day.

This was a very quick knit (2 strands of yarn held together throughout), but not real satisfying.  I have done the "wave" pattern before, so I was familiar with it.  These directions were indecipherable.  There was also a mistake in the decrease row, on both number of decreases and number of stitches remaining. (notes on my Rav page)  But I do like the end result.  Big enough for my camera and a book, but small enough to still hold a little hand or a beach chair.  I think it's going to be a good beach bag.

I love using miss-matched and vintage buttons on things.  I'm not real crazy about the color of the fish, but he was the only fish swimming in the button box.

Should I change my mind, I have choices!

Weekending...in slow motion

 

 

 

Woke up Friday with my back doing the spasmy-thing.  So most of the weekend was spent shuffling hunched over and doing a comparative test with Aleve and Motrin.  I'm not sure if Aleve really won, or if the spasms just decided to quit, but I'm almost back to my normal (if rather uncoordinated) self.

Hurting or not, I wasn't going to waste a perfectly good weekend, so daughter, JayBob, and friend headed on a mini-road trip and did a bit of junking (scored some swell little jelly jars with tin lids), had lunch, hopped into a yarn shop, and got groceries.  I know--traveling an hour to a grocery store (with a lousey back) doesn't make much sense, but.....

it beat staying at home and watching the sump pump being replaced (just in time since we're having a lulu of a thunderstorm at the moment), or mourn the fact that the heater in the greenhouse shorted out and I lost everything I was trying to winter over.  The rosemary might be OK--too soon to tell.  Geraniums are history, though.  

But....look what started to bloom on the kitchen window sill!  It smells as pretty as it looks.

Oh, Freddy.......

This is my new purse...new as in a week old.  

I think I've been on the search for the perfect purse most of my life.  Not too heavy, (which is a drag because I love the feel of leather, but leather is heavy!) so I went with nylon on this one.  Weight on this was good.  Not too big, but big enough for carrying knitting (of course!) and my camera (for class) and all my "stuff".  So far, so good.   All that  makes it a bit heavy, but it really isn't too bad.   Straps that will stay on my rather narrow shoulders.  This one hugs under your arm, so that seems to work.  It will work much better in the spring without a bulky coat, and I really bought it as a spring/summer purse.  Outside pockets aren't great on this one, but they are big enough to hold my keys so they don't get lost.  OK.  I'm thinking that I like this pretty well.  Maybe it's not perfect, but I think it will work.

Apparently, Freddy really likes it, too.

There is a big old doggie chewed hole (and a tiny doggie chewed hole) under that patch.  I was too upset to take a "before" picture.  I've recovered, so you get to see my new "designer" bag.  (Thank you Lotta Jansdotter for the patch I reused and embroidered from a fabric order.)

Guess I'll take the candy bar out of my purse......

Yarn along...WIP Wednesday

I'm afraid the picture looks as scattered as my knitting and reading have been this week.  I could also have added an ebook, although it isn't even good enough to mention.

KNITTING>>>>>I simply couldn't not cast on something else from jujuloops, so brown-eyed susan shawl is on the needles in the tall precursor- to- a- knitting bowl.  (Sort of a knitting jug, I guess.  It works.) I'm using some isager wool that I got in a sweater kit on a trip to Copenhagen years and years ago--before I had ever heard of Marianne Isager.  (I bought three sweater kits at that store, and since all the directions are in Danish, I haven't exactly been ready to take the leap of faith to cast on and hope for the best with a very poor attempt I've made at translating them.)  I've obviously been a fan of hers for far longer than I realized.  (Rediscovered all this great yarn when I put the "stash" in Rav last week.  What a find!!!!)

The  cedar shake fingerless mitts from jujuloops are as pretty as the picture in the book.  One finished.  One to go.  I used some Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! (from the stash!!) and it has just the right amount of cushy bounce for these lacey mitts.  

The "fan" sweater hasn't been totally put aside, but didn't make the picture.  The back and one side are finished.  That seemed like a good place to pause....because I needed a knitting project I could read to, which brings me to PapaGeeks socks.  (And to The Leopard by Jo Nesbo--which went back to the library...that's why Jo Nesbo's The Snowman is standing in.)    Simple vanilla sock with 72 stitches CO, using Opal Sport.  I might (just MIGHT) have enough yarn.  It's going to be close!  Oh, my--that book!  A serial killer page turner that got pretty far out there at the end, but my goodness--that first sock was done before I knew it.  I ran out of book about 1/2 way through the second sock, so picked up the earlier book, also a serial killer saga.  Not sure I can handle another crazy killer quite so soon. (Jo Nesbo is a Norweigen writer and winner of the Glass Key award for best Nordic crime writing, an award that Stieg Larsson also received.  The book had the same intensity as the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books.  I feel like I've just come up for air!)

 While I liked it, it's going to be a very long time until a book lives up to the last novel, The Time in Between.  I really loved that one! It takes place in Morocco and Spain during the Spanish Civil War in the 30s; a seamstress, turned haute couture becomes a part of the resistance  movement leading up to WWII.

In the mail today was my very favorite magazine.  In fact, the only magazine I subscribe to now.  British Country Living.  It always comes after I've seen it on others' sites, so I get to enjoy the anticipation of getting it as well as savoring it once it's here.  You can always count on the styling and photography both to be inspiring.  Yes, it's time for a little lighter reading.

 

join Ginny for more book suggestions and Tami to see what projects others have going!!