Holding out for an Indian Summer

One year ago today...

As common as an Indian Summer is around here, I have no great photos that show what it is.  Instead, admire this alittletooearlyforatrueIndianSummer photo of Amanda and Michelle, taken a year ago at the end of our Knitters Day Out weekend.

Mugsy's mum, still wet from watering..

This hasn’t been a remarkable summer for me, so I’m quite content to let it go later today, when we transition to fall/autumn.   Despite the deaths that have come in the fall the last few years, I love this season, perhaps above all others.  I love the colors – especially the rich, deep wines – and the flavors of the season.  Bring on the pumpkin everything!  I love wrapping up in a shawl at night and in the morning, donning that first wool sweater of the season, and needing to wear my toasty handknit socks.

September 2008, OBX

Still, Sissy and I are holding out for an Indian Summer at the beach.  We’re looking forward to getting sand between our toes and finding out what Gretchie thinks of the surf.  And if we get a few warm, beautiful days at home first, blessing abound!

What is your favorite season?  What do you like best about fall?

(And did I distract you?  No blocking happened at my house last night, so just keep waiting…)

Have I told you that Sissy rushes to the TV in the living room if I ask her if she wants to see Tony & Gibbs?  Yeah…  we’re a little hooked on NCIS…

Yarn Collector’s Day Out

Okay, it was really Knitters Day Out, and the four of us made it a two-day affair, but that’s aside from the point.  I’m sure some of their group shots are better, but since my only gripe about this one is me, I’m sharing it!

From left to right, that’s Anita, Amanda, Michelle and yours truly.  We had a blast together.  Amanda I took different classes by Maragret Fisher.  Ironically,  the class I took will be offered  at one of my LYSs next month. 

In Seven Things that can Make or Break a Sweater, I learned that I was doing SSP incorrectly.  I also learned a new way to make a button hole.  That and more can be found in Ms. Fisher’s book by the same name. 

 

My afternoon class was on the Lily of the Valley lace pattern.  I took it to learn how to make nubbs.  The instructor also brought several different items made with said pattern, including some socks and varied shawl and scarf patterns.  She mentioned that nubbs are not the same as bobbles, but I wish she’d spoken more about Estonian lace in general.

Now, we’ll back-track and pick up with Friday’s adventures.  Anita and I won door prizes.  I put my card in the mail yesterday for the Wallaby and something about a dozen scarves.  (That’s a Ravelry link…)

We cruised the market Friday night, but I made all of my purchases on Saturday.  My apologies to the vendors, but I only remember buying the bright stuff from The Mannings.  (A separate field trip to their establishment is required, just as soon as I can bribe Anita to come north again!)

My first purchase was this happy Jojoland Melody.  (Remember when I hated purple?  Ha!)  I can’t wait to pick a pattern and cast on with this yarn.  I’d love to find a dress with these colors to wear for the funeral tomorrow…  I just can’t wear any of the trio of black and brown frocks I’ve worn all summer (and last winter) for funerals.

On about my fifth trip around the market, I found this Ty-Dy sock yarn.  SIGH!  I’m not sure I’ll make socks from it, but I’m always excited when a yarn I like shows up in a new size.  Sure it would make nice baby things, but I’m thinking more along the lines of giving this a whirl in something and then trying some of the shawl patterns that look great in self-striping yarns.

Finally, near the entrance/exit, I stumbled upon the one yarn I’d hoped to find, Panda Soy.  I’m quite certain this will be a shawl or scarf of some sort.  I’m not at all sure why I’m so crazy about soy, but I truly feel a void has been filled now that I’ve added this yarn to my collection.

There’s more to share, but this is getting long, so some other time, okay? 

I won’t be around tomorrow until late in the day, so I’m not sure when I’ll blog again.  It seems my announcement that we were returning to normal blogging was premature. 

Thanks for all of the condolences and support.  Please know too that I simply couldn’t catch up on all of my blog reading, but hopefully, I’ll start anew today and stay connected!

On the Throne

Oh please, people.  No potty photos here.  Goodness.  We’ve always politely called it the library…

That’s the not so little princess on her throne.  More precisely, that’s Sissy attempting to assert herself, as she claims my spot on the sofa, after dragging the throw pillows and the blanket (yes Pissy, the ERVFC throw, but we got two with the intent that one would be used and abused) around, and even moving the sofa cushions to suit her.  After all of that, she refused to look at the camera.  Diva?

Happy Dogs on Thursday, little Friday and whoohooo, Anita will be here this evening!  There’s one other little bit of DoT business.

Sorry about the glare, but I wanted you to see the pawprint there in the bottom of the black marble.  You see, that’s Sissy’s seal of approval, which withstood Hanna’s downpours to the extent you see there.

I needed Sissy’s approval, because there was a problem with the stone.  I was almost physically ill when I got the box from our mail carrier, because I knew it was too small.  The Knight made a mistake, and offered to re-order.  I tried not to show HOW upset I was, and suggested we take it outside and look at it before ordering another one, because honestly, what do you do with a spare gravestone?

They’re the same types of stones, same dealer, but clearly, the sizes are very different.  That’s not what I’d envisioned, but it seemed foolhardy to order another.  So, we took it to the garden and I set it in place, and stepped back, trying to like it.  Sissy trotted by, and I asked her what she thought.  She made a wide circle around the garden, and then hopped up in the raised garden and pranced right across the spot you see above, leaving a muddy, gravelly paw print on the stone.  I’m sure she scratched it a tiny bit, but that little sign let me sigh, laugh and tell the Knight to let it be.

Chief Pissy stopped by later the same afternoon.  I say this with love, but the man has more than a few OCD issues.  He rather candidly informed the Knight that it was lovely… and what was the problem?  Mugsy was a smaller dog, so why wouldn’t his stone be smaller?  That soothed me enough that when the Knight’s buddy, normally a very practical, reasonable man, announced that the stones should match, I was able to shrug, and share Sissy’s seal of approval story.  He then agreed that if Sissy thought it was right, it must be.

There’s a little FO report to do too.  VERY little FO.  As in, smaller than I meant for it to be…

The KDO hat:

Pattern:  Hot Head from Stitch ‘n Bitch.  I used the small instructions on a smaller needle to make a small child’s hat, and boy, I sure got a SMALL hat.  I made a few changes.

 

1. I knitted in the round.  Why seam when you don’t have to?
2. I started the decreases after 26 rounds, in keeping with the pattern’s other attempts at sizing. 
3. I didn’t change colors.  I just used a happy yarn.  I don’t know whether it is self-striping or just has really long variegated runs.

Yarn:  I’ve already confessed that I used Bernat Softee Chunky in the circus colorway.  I maintain that there’s nothing wrong with a no-extra care needed yarn, especially when you have no idea who will receive the hat.  (And yes, you DO see Missy Sissy running at full tilt!)

Needles :  An unknown brand of #8, 24-inch bamboo circs.

Verdict:  Meh.  I’m disgusted with how small it is, but it was a very quick knit and will do its job for some very small child. 

I don’t know when I’ll post again, but rest assured it will include photos and a full report on KDO. Tomorrow, I’m only coming in to do payroll, and then Anita and I will do a few things around town, then head north to meet up with Michelle and Amanda for dinner and some shopping at the KDO marketplace.  We’ll travel home Saturday night, and then Anita will continue southward on Sunday…

What’s up for your weekend?

Confessions

I don’t know whether I am a loose or tight knitter.  That’s another plus for top-down sweaters; gauge is less of an issue when you just knit until something is long/wide enough.  I’ve tried swatching, and it works okay I guess, but I don’t know whether to envy those of you who say you’re a tight knitter or you always go down two needle sizes to get gauge, or to call you delusional liars.

Maybe I’m just not good enough to be consistently one way or the other.  Maybe it’s because knitting is my therapy that sometimes I’m so loose the stitches run off the needles when I put my hands down, and others, I have to fight to get that tip in there for the P2tog. 

I know I’m not alone.

I also know that I’m not alone in think acrylic has its place.  I’m quite happy with this Bernat Softee Chunky for my little hat for Knitters Day Out.  No, it’s not a sock; I just have the stitches all bunched together, because I’m magic looping.  Well, that and the pattern calls for #10s with a bulky yarn, but because this is supposed to be for a child, I’m using #8s, and I think it will look just fine when I’m done.  It’s a happy colorway, and I would think either a boy or a girl would be happy with these colors.  The colorway is called circus, which makes me inexplicably happy.  The easy-care softness of this hat makes it ideal for an unknown child, to my way of thinking. 

I also wanted to show you my progress on my sweater, but Sissy had a camera-hogging impulse I couldn’t control. 

Seriously, that’s the best I could do with Sissy’s help.  I suppose I could have put her outside, but I didn’t bother.  Y’all think she’s cute too, right?  (We’ll see how cute Anita still thinks Sissy is after this weekend.)  I’ve just started into the bust area, if you can see the bottom left portion of the photo, so there’s basically no way I’ll have it to wear on Saturday.  I still have three swatches to do as homework, along with finding 150 grams of a DK weight yarn for a scarf.  I’m betting I have something in my stash that will work, but it’s a matter of finding it.

And who knew my lumbar pillow would be such a nice sweater in progress holder? 

Sorry.  Gotta go.  It’s the House season premiere!

Coming up Roses

Weeee!  This is a hang on and enjoy the ride couple of weeks.  I wish I could remember the snarky cliche my great aunt used, but the gist is that without the manure, roses don’t bloom so nicely.

Tonight,  I have stuff to do around the house, including closing out my last August Pampered Chef show.  Tuesday night is the last shot at cleaning before Anita arrives.  Wednesday night is a meeting at the firehouse.  Thursday, Anita arrives and we have a meeting at the firehouse, but I’ll only be there for a few minutes.  Friday, Anita and I head north to meet up with Michelle and Amanda.  Saturday, we have Knitters Day Out and then the return trip home.  Sunday, Anita will head home, the Knight has a meeting, and Sissy will need some TLC.

Monday, Ruth and her husband are in town.   We’ll do lunch, and then see what kind of adventures we can have!  There will be lots and lots of photos and posts to share, but for the rest of the week next week, y’all will have to entertain me until Saturday.  Then, the Knight, Sissy and I will head to OBX for a few sweet days of nothing.  I haven’t even told our friends down there we’re coming.  I’m not sure how the beach without Mugsy will be, so we’re keeping our calendar open.

There will be LOTS more of this though.  We’re hoping that the warmer waters will be more to Sissy’s liking, and she’ll enjoy the ocean.  The Knight loved playing fetch with Mugsy in the surf, so keep your fingers crossed that the ocean will be more to the Princess’s liking this time!

Knitting is all but on hold right now.  I started some very basic socks Thursday, and knitted along on them as I rode here and there over the weekend.  I’ll take them along this weekend, but in the meantime, I need to whip out a children’s hat as part of my KDO registration.  I’m enjoying the self-patterned yarn (started from opposite ends of the ball so they won’t match, but who cares?!).  I think I need more of this kind of yarn.  It seems I can indeed just do stockinette into infinity when the yarn’s changing constantly…

I also made it through the first skein and separated the sleeves on my Blue Heaven Plath Cardigan, but no updated photos there.  I’d hoped to finish it for this weekend, but I can see now that ain’t gonna’ happen.  Instead, I’ll wear my Stardust.  (Ravelry links.  My apologizes to those not Ravelrizing.)

I’m already planning my beach knitting.  I hope to have the Plath finished by then, but it not, it’s top of the list.  Then, Fredfoot.  It just seems right to work on that at the beach.  Then, my nearly forgotten should be all but done by now RCK KAL lace.  The travel sock (above) and the Chevron scarf yarn will also make the trip.  There’s no way I’ll finish all of it, but that’s the whole point, right?  Plus, I’ll have to stop in and see what’s new at Knitting Addiction.  Ironically, I’ve knitted up all but one or two skeins of yarn I’ve purchased there, so that’s a great place to buy more for my yarn library.  (I’m thinking sweater, if anyone down there is reading…)