Amazing Lace Challenge #6

Challenge #6: Unlikely Model

The last Amazing Lace Challenge of the summer has been posted:

"You’ve laced all summer. Many of you have finished. Many are on the home stretch. It is time for your lace to be seen in all its glory; to be shown off to its best effect, to be unleashed upon the world, to be modeled by…well, by the least likely model you can think of.

Your challenge — your final challenge — is to post a photo of your lace being proudly worn or displayed by the strangest, funniest, or most unlikely model you can find. Maybe your model is alive; maybe it is an inanimate object. Maybe it is human; maybe it isn’t. It just needs to be clever and unexpected."

I give to you my first ever pair of blue lace socks, humble offerings laid at the feet of Lumberjack Paul Bunyan from Bangor, Maine.

This Cinderfella could not quite get my first pair of lace socks to fit. And the base Paul stands on is out of my reach so I asked a visiting (tall) tourist type gentleman if he would place my socks at the lumberjack's feet. He did it with a grin and then got them down afterwards!
(Blue socks are at the tip of that giant looking pencil/log roller thing.)

AND I'M A CONTENDER!
Go vote for my Garden of Gladiolia's & Lace Socks from Challenge 5...won't you?
Oh, seriously! Grinning ear-to-ear just to be a finalist. But I need some votes, too!

Knitting hands

Three Generations of knitting hands

Antics with the Menagerie have put out a random contest call for photos of knitting hands. 

Not sure what they're looking for in the quest of perfect knitting hands, but pretty sure mine aren't it!  Continental style knitters are most wanted over there. I'm definitely not. We only have the action shots. If they see anything that really catches their attention, perhaps one of us will get a call back for the hands only photo shot. Yeah...okay. NOT! 

 Top picture is Mom; she explained that her mother tried to teach her to knit when she was very young, but mom is left handed and it didn't go that well. She taught herself later in life.

 Middle picture is me. I will admit to having a funky knitting style (probably) all of my own. I've decide to blame it on the fact that a left hander taught me to knit. There is NO wrapping of yarn around fingers for me...ever. I pinch yarn between finger & thumb and it runs down into my palm, where I keep it tightly held for tension. Too tight, probably. Did I mention I knit tight? ;) I let go of the working needle completely while wrapping the yarn and then I push needles with tips of fingers while completing the stitches. Middle picture is the What NOT TO DO While Knitting example, sure to be in the next Knitting for Dummies booklet. 

 I tried teaching both my daughters the basics of knitting and Sara is currently working on what she claims will be a scarf. Around 2010. 

P.S. That yarn wrapped around Sara's finger of bottom photo is her pretending she knits that way.

 I tried teaching Stephani when she was home on a break from NY once. She thought it would be really cool if she could knit on the subway. Didn't work out all that well. (I can still hear her long ago hissing pre-teen voice, "You are such a terrible teacher!" whenever I tried to teach some craft of the moment.) 

Our conclusion of the day was this: ANYONE who knits as queer as I do, has no business teaching others how to knit. They deserve to learn from a qualified instructor. (And I should do no further damage to the knitting world. ;)

I have built a great wall!

A Choka wall.

Choka: The Latest 35 Couplets

Turtle War? Wonder who won.
Just give peace a chance?

Turtle trek'd through my garden
Perhaps just to mock?

Trekking Yarn makes hiking socks
Something to knit next

Trek bikes in the Tour de France
Floyd won. Didn't he?

I'm a big fan of Star Trek
Next Generation

My favorite Floyd is Pink
Will I build a Wall?

Reagan said 'tear this wall down'
Will we build our own?

New Homeland Security
Terror alert RED

Fair and Balanced News blames me
War on Democrats

I'm doing 12-step program
Crazy politics

Watch less news.Learn to knit socks!
2 dozen pairs made

Learned to knit socks 12/05
Program working well

Pomatomus socks underway
Bang my head on wall!

How many socks does it take?
Get socks in word wall.

Not even halfway there yet
Until now that is?

What good is half of a wall?
Harder than it looks ;)

Should I go back to my socks?
Choka Wall virgin

How fast must I think couplets
Before duck awakes

Knitting socks might be faster
but I knit slow, too

Would a socks wall gain some fame
How about Red Socks :)

Baseball's red socks make men cry
Lost 5 in a row

There's NO CRYING in baseball!
Watch a Field of Dreams

Watch Kevin Costner movies
Water World is near?

What are we doing to Earth?
It's our only one.

Greenhouse gas effects us all
Unless science lies

Bury heads in desert sand
Just to steal their oil

Renewable Energy
Patriotic war?

What would John Lennon sing now?
Imagine a dream

The REAL night our music died
12-08-80

Googled John Lennon and socks
And there was a hit!

"...gonna be sellin' my socks
like Judy Garland...

...I hope that they get a good price."
More socks for the wall!

Will my wall be defeated
Submission Failure?

Are there knitters, knitting socks
Waiting for my wall

Laurie

At last! My wall is complete.
UNLESS? The Lorax. ;)

All me :) Now go write one with the word socks in it if you can. Remember it has to fit!!
Ha! Socks that fit!!! I slay me.

Treasury of Knitting Patterns

And other things

SCORE!

I had serious relinquishing issues with the library's copy of Barbara Walker's Treasury book 1.
I suspect the fine for losing a Library Interloan program book is steep - in addition to replacement costs. Well it should be. It was WRONG of me to consider even for a moment what it might cost if I ...er...lost their book. Even for a nano second. Even if I would never in a million years really do such a thing. Just reading the fine print to see how much it would cost: WRONG.

I now own used copies of Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns - Books 1 & 2!
I put in a bid on Ebay and then gave up. That hardcover copy of book 1 went above $36. I googled "used books" and found this Fetch search engine. I paid $15 & $17. Smug grin here.

Both came in the mail on Monday (different sellers through Amazon). Opened the packages and Book 1 was HARDCOPY! Listed as a paperback when I bought it. Seriously happy, whatever the reason! Shown with the library copy - both marked @1968. Different covers?
Book 2 cover has a little more damage than indicated in seller's description, but pages look like they've hardly ever even been opened in either book.

Happy, Happy with my Knitting Library acquisitions. Even if I can't try any of the patterns out until a couple sock projects get finished.

And another thing:
The STUPID KNITTER fairy must be watching over me. I cast on 64 stitches for my second Pomatomus sock while waiting for mom at one of two doctors appointments she needed me to take her to yesterday. Forgot the pattern print out, so sat in the second waiting room with nothing to do after 3 rows of p1, ktbl rib.

Only problem is, there was supposed to be 72 stitches cast on. The entire 10 rows have been ripped out and done over. Guess it was a good thing I didn't have the pattern with me at the doctor's office. They may have tried to have me committed when I realized the error of my ways.

I apparently can neither count, read or follow directions when I do read them. I deserve to have my knitting needles & yarn taken away, as unworthy. I will fight the one who tries it though!

Out of control

How did I end up with 3 different sock projects underway?

There were to be NO knitting UFO's in my Knitting Bucket! My pledge for finishing one knitting project before starting another was working out pretty well.

Socks were being done in pairs. Being that everyone I know has two feet and generally wear socks on both of them. At the same time. Most of us even try to match them up, although there was the trend setting kid in fifth grade who dared to be different. The Punky Phase.

Longest on the needles currently are my design-a-sock pair, using Barbara Walker's Treasury book #1. Both are growing at a good pace, but they're not exactly traveling socks. There's no knitting these while riding in the passenger seat of the Wrangler. No bumpy roads while trying to keep two 6-repeat patterns & a 16-repeat pattern in correct order.

Then I decided to try the Pomatomus while spending a day at the lake, but it turns out that's not a pattern I can take my eyes off of for even a moment, either. No traveling knitting project there at least until I've gotten used to this pattern. It's now been Unknit 4 times. Not sure what pattern I was following, but turns out my glorious lake day knitting sock only had about 8 rows of the 22 that I did that followed the actual pattern?

I'm blaming it on the CHART! Once I typed up the instructions long form and stopped looking at the chart, things went a little better. And it's not as if the long form took up much more space than the chart. I may never be a chart knitter - without translation!

On Thursday we went for a rainy day ride. Visited an elderly Aunt in Unity and then poked around used book stores and thrift shops along the way to Waterville. So I shoved a set of needles and yarn for another Old Shale 2 Yarn Socks project into a totebag. Just in case!

3 sock projects - plus a felted bag that just needs half again as much strap as I've managed. Ran out of yarn with so little left to do and had to buy another skein. Really need to finish that before starting anything else!!

It's 2-weeks of vacation time now so there's been a little traveling. Price of gas is a crock; oil companies just make stuff up since the hurricane season is taking it easy this year.
Goddess help us when one does hit. ;)

Reading Da Vinci Code - a must read for women in defense of the Sacred Feminine. I have to say it's reading very believable and the religious call to boycott it sort of proves his point the Church will do anything to retain their male dominated control of power?

And did you know that our knitting goddess of patterns wrote feminist books as well? I just got Barbara Walker's book, Feminist Fairy Tales through the library interloan project!

Amazing Lace Challenge # 5

Where's Waldo?

The next Challenge for the Amazing Lace is posted:

"In honor of that slightly crazed I see lace everywhere mental state that'’s a symptom of obsessive lace knitting, your challenge is to post one photo on your blog in which your lace is a hidden or unexpected part of the picture."

Can you find all of Waldo's Lace Socks?
(5 pair finished since Memorial Day!)

For the longest time I could not stand to look at a Gladiolia. My only sister was killed by a drunk driver in July of 1983 and Glad's must have been the funeral florist's flower of choice; it seemed as if they were everywhere.

I hated them.

Several years ago I put a rock garden out beyond my kitchen window. An angel was placed on a stone bench next to a sun dial type arrangement of rocks.

And then I made peace with the humble Gladiolia.

When I dug up the ground for my new vegetable garden there were a lot of rocks! Big, heavy rocks just crying out to be important enough for their own garden space. The idea was this was to be an asparagus patch and the flowers would pretty it up. The asparagus were a miserable failure . . . but look at my pretty flowers!

The blue ones are quite exceptional this year, don't you think?

Sunday Sky

Attempting my first Pomatomus!

On Sunday I got up at 2 a.m. to put on a pot of coffee. The plan for the day was to wake up and get on the road for a two and a half hour drive to the lake where mom & dad were camping. It was to be their last day on Seboomook Lake and if we wanted to get there before they packed it up and left early, we needed to get started really early ourselves.

We were on the road by 3:30 a.m. and got there at 6. Just in time for a breakfast of bacon & eggs, which was already cooking.

This was to be a sit in the sun at the side of the lake day and knit. While the men went off fishing Mom and I would take a walk or two along the causeway and then sit and knit some more. She worked on a Grammie Sock and I decided to attempt the Pomatomus.

That's right. I have no clue how to read a knitting chart, but this pattern (written only in chart form) . . . This is the one I decide to try. I didn't want to take the library's copy of the Treasury of Knitting Patterns on the road so I loaded my totebag with 2 sets of different sized needles and a couple of sock patterns I've been wanting to try. (Printed out from Knitty.) I figured I would probably just start another pair of Old Shale socks because I can do them without the pattern and even traveling down bumpy roads. (5 pair completed since Memorial Day!) But I packed to cover several choices rather than decide ahead of time.

It was COLD. If you can believe it!

I cast on and did the 10 rows of Knit 1, Purl 1 rib wearing Dad's THICK flannel lined jacket. Sleeves rolled up so the needles would stop getting hung up on the cuffs. The wind was coming in off the lake and it was freezing until after 10 in the morning. By the time the winter coat came off I was ready to try to interpret a knitting chart. I wrote out each line of the chart in long form and painstakingly went from line to line.

Thankfully mom had a clue what to do when the very first sentence said to [YO, k2tog, (p1, k1 tbl) five times] WHICH PART happens five times? She concluded it was the (p1, k1 tbl) part that repeats 5 times. But she had no idea what tbl meant. Luckily I had consulted Knitty's definition section and knew it was THE BACK LOOP. Whatever that meant as I had never actually tried it. Until now.

Let me just say knitting in the back loop did not come easily at first! Some of my Yarn Overs may have been a little too long. But by the time the guys got back with a few fish and it was time to pack it in I had completed 2 inches of my first Pomatomus!

Mom nearly finished an entire Grammie Sock. Only about 2 inches left to do.

NOTE: Sunrise photo is over Moosehead Lake. Mt Kineo on the right, taken from the road on the way to King's High Landing. Which is where the traveling sock photo is gazing out over.

UPDATE: I'm stuck on my Pomatomus so have posted this in designer's comment section of her blog. If anyone happens by that can help me out, I would be ever so grateful!
I need a support group for my Pomatomus.

Row 12 of the first 1-22 repeat ends in a YO? How do you YO on the end of a row?

There's an * that says to move stitches around on the needles but I'm not sure when?

UPDATE 2: I'll be starting over now. The knit in the back loop instruction actually started with the very first stitch of the Ribbing. NOT 10 rows later as I did the cuff.

What CAN be fixed MUST be fixed. More UNknitting ahead.
I believe it's back to the drawing board with my Sunday creation by the lake. Most of it being wrong.

At least one of my faithful readers will now utter phrase, "You're such a... ?" in that tone of voice.

Mixed & Random

SHAKE WELL!

I found the Barbara Walker 1st Treasury of Patterns book. So I'm pretending I might be able to design holy socks. Socks with lace holes. Holes on purpose!

I'm trying the Diamond Lace Chain with a Cloverleaf Eyelet Rib on either side. Sara thinks it needs to be put down so the Yikes yellow socks get finished first. Silly child doesn't understand the difference between "I'm working on them" and UFO. Not sure how long an item has to go untouched before it qualifies as a UFO but these are WIP - work in progress baby!

A SUNDAY SKY IN MAINE!
Mt. Katahdin

And that plant in the sugar bowl? Meet Dolly Dimples.
In May, this african violet came cross-country from California to Maine in a box. I've craved owning this variety for 2 years, since I first saw a black & white picture of her sitting in an antique sugar bowl, in a very old AV book A wonderful lady sent it to me and I want her to do well. Her outer leaves are looking a little peckish, so if anyone from the forums I've asked for help stop by with advice. PLEASE! Leave a comment. :)

The Pine Tree Quilters Guild newsletter I volunteer to edit 6 times a year is nearly done; 28 pages this issue and the reason not much knitting has taken place for the last couple of days. Deadline! Waiting on one last item before I can pronounce it done.

Some progress has been made on the Plant Pot Cozy Socks.

One grew by three inches waiting for VIP to adjust the headlight on the Wrangler. Thought while the fool and I had traded jeeps for the day I could have a spare key made. Perhaps have a CD player installed - because the cassette radio sucks! And have the headlight that points straight down in the dark ...Fixed.

Another one of those things repaired by the Spousal Unit.
6 months ago: headlight is crooked, son!

No CD player because VIP took forever with the headlight. My appointment was for 11 am.
So at 1 pm - when a dozen others had come and gone - I thought perhaps I might see where I was in their rotation. I'm next? Yeah, sure! Another 15 minutes went by before I said give me my key back and I'll just go.

NO REALLY... YOU'RE NEXT! I stayed.
It cost way too much, so we won't speak of it again. Light's fixed.

The HOME DEPOT incident.

I have a new kitchen stove! Finally.

The deal was: Tom splurges on a plane ticket to Florida to visit his brother and I stay home. I spend the money my ticket would have cost to replace the 22 year old electric range. Yes. This would make me happy. DEAL!

Should probably admit it's a bit of a FALSE DEAL, as I will never fly and the only way I might suffer death by aircraft is when one falls on me. What with our house being under a direct flight path to Bangor International Airport, this can not be ruled out.

Except the bargain was struck a couple of years ago and there have been 2 flights to Florida now. And then things kept coming up that pushed my desire for a new stove to the back shelf. Like college tuition payments, broken septic system, worn out Jeep pickup replaced by a loan for a Wrangler. (Which I LOVE driving. Every other Wrangler driver waves to each other as they pass in the street. It seems to be an actual rule that every Wrangler driver knows.)

But, you know? More important things than replacing a crappy stove that still works.

ENOUGH. Off to Home Depot I go on the last day of their recent 10% off sale on ALL Appliances. Yes. I would have my new stove. This day. Screw the list of things trying to push my new appliance to the back of the line again.

Of course there were none in stock. No problem. I can wait a little longer. It took about a week and a half before the call to came to pick it up. The "free shipping" actually costs $60 and they rebate only $55 of it in 6-8 weeks. No thanks! Dad has a truck.

Dad also has a golf match, but says to take the truck and go get it yourself if you want. I want. Mom tags along for the ride.

So we wait. And wait. For someone from Appliances to fetch my new appliance. Finally out strolls a tall skinny man of retirement age pulling a trolley with a very large box marked RANGE. (And a number of other foreign words, which causes me to reflect that once again I have unthinkingly purchased a GE appliance, probably made in a third world country. By slave labor. I'm sorry. But not sorry enough to send it back and search for American made. If there is such a thing any more?)

For the record: The first words out of my mouth to the tall skinny man of retirement age pulling a trolley with a very large box marked RANGE was, "You ARE going to get some help?"

I think he may have said something like "I'll see" as I lead the way to dad's very tall truck. The next thing I knew the tall skinny man of retirement age pretends he's Superman and can lift really heavy stoves over his head.

All by himself.

As the trolley rolls and the box lists to the left I THROW MYSELF under the really heavy box to prevent it from hitting the ground. Too hard. One corner kind of clunks to the ground with a thud. I am NOT a happy shopper of appliances this day! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? I thought job safety was number one with this company. I've seen them wearing back braces for lifting watering the freaking plants for crying out loud.

Young buff man (who could have been hiding an S under his street clothes) witnesses the near destruction of my precious cargo. Talking on a cell phone, he tells his party to hold on a minute and helps put the box in the truck. He probably could have done it himself. I thanked him as he returned to his conversation about too much drama last weekend. Tall skinny man of retirement age assures me stove should be fine; just bring it back if there's a problem. Drama is not the half of it, if when I get home there is even one scratch on this sucker.

It's been two days now cooking on my wonderful new appliance. I think I've cooled off enough to have a little conversation about lifting/job safety with the manager now.

Oh, for goodness sakes...

CALL A PLUMBER!

I should start by pointing out that our house was built in 1951 or there abouts and many of it's working parts are originals. As soon as one thing gets replaced another is waiting in line to go downhill next. The fates are generally kind enough to spread things out and not to let everything go bad at once. We cope.

The water pressure had been a bit wonky for a few days. This usually means the lines need to be opened on the water pump and flushed clean.

I'm not sure what inspired the builders of this old house to drive the Water Well into a small hole at the far end of the basement. Inside the basement. Flooding during any rainy spell has been pretty consistent. It can be controlled with the sump pump. Usually.

When it's plugged in.

So when Spousal Unit declares we probably need a plumber I should know by now to call one. Immediately. Before he has time to take things apart, pretending a new occupation.

He is NOT a plumber.

7 pm on a Thursday night is not a good time to realize the fool has been missing for an hour or two and I have no idea what he's up to. A little like a toddler that's been quiet for way too long. It's not going to be good.

It wasn't.

"I'm fucked. There's water everywhere...(unintelligible utterings) ...well...broken..."

Yeah, not good.

Thank goodness we have wonderful neighbors. I bolt across street - speak to the wife, who opens door and yells: "Tom's in trouble." (again is left unsaid. It doesn't need to be ;)

Several hours later and a trip to town for more parts and all is back to normal. A new shut off valve has been installed at the source. Perhaps the cause for all the rainy-season flooding has been found, as there was a hole worn in the pipe going into the well big enough to fit a drinking straw through.

I picked up the phone and called across the street to thank them.

And to ask Marcia for joint custody of her husband.

When they first moved across the street (about 16 years ago) before a week was out, she had convinced me to babysit her boys: an 8 month old & a 4 year old. They also had a dog - part husky/shepard. It got in the habit of coming across with the boys; whenever the boys were here so was the dog. Eventually the boys grew up and stopped coming over. But not the dog :)

I got shared custody of their dog for most it's life, as she was left outside when nobody was home there. Whenever there was bad weather she knew that all she had to do was whine at my door to come in. Safe Haven. Often I would walk her home so she would remember where she really lived. Other times they would call and ask us to let their dog out, so they could call her home.

About the joint custody request: Marcia has agreed.
And she promises not to call and ask that he be let out.

A Super-Hero Day

Having a 5 year old nephew exhausts keeps me young. My brother lives an hour away so I don't get to see my boy more than a few times a month. Sunday Dinner or the occasional Kyle Day. Kyle Days with Aunt Laudie start at 7:45 am and last until well after 5 pm. By 2 pm I'm generally reminded how happy relieved I am that I get to spoil him rotten with adoring aunt-like attention he deserves . . . And then give him back!

Our latest day together thankfully landed on a day the sun decided to shine, allowing us to go outside and play. One of the many toys (most of them pink!) left over from the days when his cousins were young is a Pink Wand. Originally designed to spew velcro-backed Gems to the hair of a Princess (Gem?) Doll, it has now transformed itself into a magic wand to fight evil Shadow Villains. The villains our Super-Hero fought this day all lived in the Shadows and we Super Hero's lived only in the Sun.

So we ran from shade tree to shade tree slaying the bad guys.
Followed by Super-Dog sidekick and digital camera toting blogger/aunt. (I was told NO photo allowed on the swing but our hero relented with "Just one" when told how sad it would make Steph if she couldn't see pictures from home.

Yeah, playing the Steph card works every time and I'm not ashamed to use it!!

As a mom with two daughters 21 & 23, I fully understand the hard part is over. They are now wonderful additions to Womankind and I'm pretty proud to have had a hand in how they turned out!

And as for Sunday dinner at Gram's, it's a tradition my mother holds onto fiercely.
She cooks. We should come eat it. This has never been a problem:
A) I don't have to cook.
B) When the girls were little, they got to visit their Grandparents.
C) Their Dad gets the house to himself for a little while.

Sunday Lunch at Gram's has always worked out well.
A) being the overwhelming number-one reason I see for going . . . But there you go.

Lunch is pretty much always followed by a hard fought game of Scrabble.
Oldest daughter Sara tends to win the most these days, what with 4 years of high school Latin & a Chemical Engineering degree (suma cum laude, thank you very much! Currently working on the UMaine ethanol Research project to help save the world :) She's a self-confessed cut throat Scrabble player. (Consults with the official dictionary a little too often, if we don't keep our eye on her.)

Recent game:
Having just given away the fact that my 4 letters that were left spelled GETS - as in the person who goes out GETS a one-hundred point bonus! - she offered a little help. (I would be known for often trying to make up Laurie Rules to increase my score, but they never seem to go for it?) Sara not only pointed out a word I could make but where to put it in order to go out.
She confessed afterwards her help was based entirely on the desire to keep her Grandmother from having one last turn and possibly getting enough points to go ahead in the game. I told her she was going to hell for this latest and most extreme cut throat behavior.
Her grandmother didn't hear this confession, but what with our rolling on the floor laughing our asses off, explanations were due. The truth is out!

Steph is off following her dream to be writer/editor, Interning with Scholastic Books this summer in NY. This blog actually is (mostly) about keeping in touch with my youngest kid while she's away- so we call it the Mom Blog. She pointed out in a recent comment that to actually qualify as a Mom Blog (by her new Scholastic standards) I need to post embarrassing pictures of my children as tots and describe outrageous comments they may have made in public.

I could point out that most embarrassing or outrageous moments would have been Steph's doing as a child! She'll be back home for a last year of college at UMaine in the fall.
(And to help kick butt at Scrabble as well :)

Amazing Lace Challenge 4

Are there points for being first? ;)
Double duty photo op!!

I knit this cuff up Sunday afternoon so I could enter it in the MSN Group Violet Voice virtual African Violet Show.

My actual entry shows the cuff holding a plant pot with a single leaf of the AV variety Rob's Argyle Socks rooting. (Some day mine might look like that, but for now it's one leaf trying very hard to reproduce!)

Since the sock is in it's early stage, as is the rooting leaf, I titled my entry: Propagating Socks!

And now the next Amazing Lace challenge has been posted:

Challenge #4:
Is your camera feeling abandoned, neglected, and ignored after the poetry challenge? Do you find bad pictures of yourself showing up all over the internet and wonder how they got there? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, Challenge #4 has just the answer. Get ready to take some photos!

Your question: If you bound off your lace RIGHT NOW - what could it be used for?

Your challenge: One photo of your lace in a reasonable approximation of its potential use at this very moment posted to your blog (or photohosting account) by midnight EDT (UTC -4:00), July 16. Post a comment on this entry with the link to officially enter.

Behold the Plant Pot Cozy!

I'm willing to buy another set of DPN's and sacrifice these as an artistic statement. Plant pictured is officially named a Persian Prince.
(The plant pot is making a lovely lace blocking tool!)

I'm NOT willing so much to rip them out/bind off the tiny little stitches.
Besides, Sara has already called dibs on this, my 5th pair of Amazing Lace Socks!
(Started before the 4th are quite finished, but there were photographic challenges to be met!!)

What's this?

We had a visitor today!
Yertle stopped by for a peek at my garden.

For the last several years my outside gardening efforts have been grim. Lots of excuses really.
I blamed it on the weather when spring was too wet or too cold to get started before June.

Or the old tiller that I couldn't start by myself and was hard to control when it would start.

Or insects destroyed what they could and drought got the rest. And WEEDS. They had a way of taking over by the end of July no matter how diligently I started out at the beginning of the season.

But this year is different. RAISED BEDS!! Some of them were built deep enough to act as a cold frame and grow things by late April under glass, using recycled windows. So while some in Maine had to start their gardens over in June because of the rainy season that seems to have settled in this year, we were eating fresh spinach and carrot tops are a foot tall.

And bragging how high the peas were - even though I hate peas! Who knew garden peas make such pretty flowers, by the way? Planning on eating pods, but I'm still not eating yucky peas.

Starting last October I began to dig 4 X 6 foot holes in the lawn - 3 feet deep. It's a side lawn that's never really used, but mowed so the place doesn't go back to weeds. I sifted all of the dirt so no rocks bigger than a marble went back in and built all of the boxes myself. Has the look of an 11 plot cemetery going on that must look strange to low flying aircraft! When Tom asked what was planted in "this one" I suggested it was my other husband. He's been keeping the rows mowed real well for me. :)

Learned from a few mistakes how to make it better next year. And the bird boxes in the middle of the garden may not have been the smartest idea but they were there before I started.
A family of swallows are still renting the box above. I call her Grace.

And the family of CHICKADEES that were in the other one have flown away. I never knew chickadees built nest in a bird box until I saw it for my own eyes.

Amazing Lace Challenge #3: Poetry

Poetic License...YIKES!
Steph: know that you've inherited NOTHING poetically speaking from your mom!

Ran into a bit of a Roadblock with gauge so have added a few more lines.
Soon we'll be seeing double. 2 pair in progress now meant another pair of DPN's needed.

(working title has changed :)

Ode to Lace Socks
What evil is afoot?

Searching the web, keyword: Knitting
At Stitches of Violet, a sock pattern most befitting.
A novice knitter wonders if it's wise to enter the race
Last minute email sent: "Please may I join your Amazing Lace?"

The local yarn shop was having quite a sale
Fifty percent off had us back without fail.
Yes, for Old Shale 2-Yarn Socks I have newfound affections
Third Pair now underway without use of directions!

Lace cuffs knit in Hot Tamale the labels proclaim
To give as a gift, whom should I name?
"What were they thinking?" might be wondered in vain
Do all of those colors belong together in one skein?

ROADBLOCK:

Every pattern warns on the very first page
Please, take time to CHECK YOUR GAUGE!
Second Sock Syndrome will NOT be allowed
That I cast-on both right away left me feeling so proud.

My sock never saw the need to give gauge much of a thought
Until it was discovered it's mate was from a skein in the wrong Dye Lot.
How best to fix this I had to figure
Why is first sock almost half an inch bigger?

Make another pair just like the first
Hope no one was listening to hear what I cursed!
Perhaps it was Sabotage, I consider for a moment?
No, turns out gauge is our most worthy opponent.

COURSE CORRECTED!

Lace shawls & stoles of the experienced Knitter
Win most of the Amazing Lace Judges' attention - no need to be bitter! :)
Lace socks we cry, deserve some respect: almost works of art?
Next, perhaps Pomatomus ... as soon as I learn to read the chart!

Always remember - there's not so much to fear
Not nearly as frightening as it first may appear.
At times a little like juggling three balls at the circus
Lace is really just knitting these holes on purpose.



Forgive me Dr. Seuss... And most especially: Marguerite!
I don't even know when to leave "well enough alone", do I?

X-tremely Satisfied

Two pair of Amazing Lace socks in 24 days!

One of Second Socks stayed up way past our bedtime attending the annual Town Meeting so we could vote NO on a new 2-million dollar town office complex. X-tremely annoying small town politics have caused us to send a Letter to the Editor. It remains to be seen if we'll be published but X-tremely Satisfying hitting SEND just the same.

X-tremely Dangerous mixing knitting & politics?
Perhaps!

Second Pair were completed on a Father's Day trout fishing adventure on Pleasant River. X-tremely Bumpy roads of rural Maine make for interesting knitting experience.

Honey, pull over so I can pick up 3 lost stitches!


One of Second Pair suffered an X-tremely Unfortunate loss of needle as it was pulled from a pocket of a totebag at the beginning of the 6 hour board meeting it was forced to endure. As a new Lifetime Member of Pine Tree Quilters Guild we felt duty bound to drive 3 hours round trip in order to get there.

X-treme Stash Busting happening here. Amazing Socks deserve more respect!

Amazing Lace: Project 1 complete.

Old Shale 2-Yarn socks are complete!

Amazing Lace Novice finishes first project in under 2 weeks.
(Is the crowd roaring? There should be roaring!)

The task was not without it's roadblocks.

This novice Knitter decided to use a sock pattern designed for 2 circular needles.
The team chose to ask designer for a few directions and it was willingly given!!
Any misinterpretation that may have occurred is through no fault of the designer.

Some panic ensued when it was discovered a stitch had been dropped and ran away for 6 or 7 rows.
The CROCHET HOOK has been named Most Valuable Player.

Two socks were knit at nearly the same time, causing some whining among our sock team mates: Which sock their Knitter loved best?

Right sock whispered, "She's a freakin' liberal...she loves you left socks more."
QUIET! Knitting is allowing us to ignore politics for a while.
Inner Peace!

Both socks complained of a possible violation of the rules.
This is supposed to be a Summer Adventure! We're supposed to be taken places. FUN. Exciting. We never got past the patio table and that only lasted 10 minutes because bug season has arrived with a vengeance. When reminded of a certain solo trip to Home Depot for 8 eight foot 2X4's Knitter had to admit no stitches from that adventure made it back alive.
(See previous post with a photo of a pile of string under one of her Letter People...Q is NOT for quitter!) Plus knitting bucket stayed in the jeep and no camera was taken - so it's like it never even happened...isn't it?

Recent Ziggy cartoon reads: YOU ARE HERE * That's ALL you need to know for now! Our new Team motto?

My birthday plant lives! And the X-Men are finished. There are still 26 letters in the alphabet.

X-treme Update here.

WHY?

Why has all forward momentum of my Amazing Lace socks been halted by the letter Y. And X.

This is why!

Just when I wonder why I'm doing this for the 2nd year in a row: Thank-You notes arrive from one of the Kindergarten classes, practicing sentences and sounding out words on their own. One of my favorites reads: "Dear Mrs. Walton, I love the letter F because it is so Soft and Pereshis. Love Maddie"

Precious! :)

Why, after successfully finishing the LACE section of my Amazing Lace socks, is the Eye of Partridge heel kicking my butt?

Seen here, stitches are off the needle (first of 5 times between the 2 socks!) because the Eye of Partridge didn't look any different to me than just plain knitting.

Even though pattern was faithfully followed and when held to the light, little waffle holes could be seen.

15 rows ripped (again & again) of 32 stitches: Slip 1* Slip, Knit* across; Slip 1, purl back (all Purl rows) ; Slip 1, Knit 1 across. Repeat these 4 fours. WHY is that so difficult?

WHY can't I count and Knit, Slip at the same time? Why did I discover I had purled 2 together occassionally on the way back, for no good reason? Answer: Knit 1, slip 1 pairs slide together really close and with size 1 needles & thin yarn they look like one stitch.

Especially if you knit in the dark.

Beginner's Amazing Lace Socks

It's the first weekend of the Amazing Lace!

This Amazing Lacey Sock interrupted by the Letter Q.
Is Q for QUITTER? Absolutely NOT.

I've only picked knitting needles back up since December 2005. To learn socks from my mom. Was ready for more than the basic utility - it's okay if you run out to the Jeep for something in stocking feet - socks.

Along came the Amazing Lace.

Pattern: Old Shale 2 - Yarn Socks
Needles: 2 sets of DPN's - size 1
(both socks underway at nearly the same time)
Yarn: Lace cuff (toes & heel)/Patons Kroy Socks - Winter Eclipse; Foot/ Bernat Sox - Blue Hot
Lace Knitting Experience: NONE
Previous skill level: I knew how to KNIT & PURL. Just. There's no wrapping yarn around the fingers; it gets pinched and carried. With purpose. Like I taught myself when I was 8 most likely.

My first attempt at knitting holes on purpose got off to a bit of a shaky start. Stitches were pulled off the needles twice and carefully picked back up. Some of them faced the right direction. One complete do-over ensued. Still have a lot of knitting to do before they become socks . . . but they qualify as lacey at this point!!

2 cuffs are complete!

So this is how a new addiction starts, I'm sure? My thoughts were of lacy knitting attempts even as I finished getting the garden in. Even as I diligently worked on the Letter Q, with Y & X still waiting on the sidelines to be finished, before a sock gets done most likely. School is nearly over and we can't have our 14th Street kindergarteners heading off to 1st grade thinking there are only 23 letters in the alphabet because one of their volunteers decided knitting was more enjoyable. Can we? NO, definitely not.

We've sailed away to South America

Dear Steph,
Sunday dinner at Gram's has been followed up with a trip to Port Glenburn Elementary Playground. 5 year old Kyle, Sara and your mom have climbed aboard the S.S. Sara Abraham Lincoln and sailed away to South America. Gram was last seen sitting on the port bench waving us off, knitting the cuff of a sock in pretty, pretty Candy Print raspberry pinks.

According to Captain Kyle it's 3,867 miles away and there's no danger of us getting lost as he has set the controls of our ship by spinning the math wheels (NO, you can't touch them!) at the top of the tall curvey slide. (This slide has some sort of static electricity thing going on with it, as every time mom slid down it, her denim jeans created enough static that everyone touched got a shock strong enough to light up New York City. She thought this amusing until she shocked herself nearly senseless).

Captain Kyle could not convince Aunt Laudie NOT to go down the slide many, many times into the shark infested waters that surrounded our playground Ship. At the time, he refused to let Sara walk the suspension bridge plank although he has since changed his mind, as she kicked his BIG blue brand new ball against Gram's roof (the sharp metal roof?) and it fell to earth in a flattened puff of plastic/rubber.

I'M TELLING DAD!! (golfing at the time, although he forked over money for Cotton Candy ice cream at BJ's before he left.)

We had a proper burial for the dead ball in the back yard. A two sided marker was made to reflect our sadness. Kyle's side read RIP and he drew the smiley face as he had first drawn it on the actual ball. Mom included a note at the bottom: Sara is really sorry...ROOF SUCKS!
Sara's side of the marker stated: POOP HAPPENS. The dejectedness of your young cousin nearly had Sara driving to town to purchase a replacement ball - but it was a holiday after all.

Telling on her was good enough...And oh, DON'T think he didn't tell daddy on cousin Sara!

Wish you were here in South America!

(no pictures as these clueless tourists forgot their digital camera)

Amazing Lace is about to begin.

Stick around and watch me try to pull something lacey out of my Knitting Bucket!

I have just now requested to be signed up for the Amazing Lace. Knitters around the world will get up off their couches and take their knitting out for a little summer adventure. The main requirement seems to be to knitting in public and putting holes in it...on purpose!

It's called Lace when you put the holes in the right place?


Having never actually knit anything that was supposed to have holes in it, I plan to start off small.

First up will be Old Shale 2-Yarn Socks. If it goes well, I see several pairs of these socks tucked away as Christmas presents. That does mean I'll have to resist the urge to pull them on and walk around in them as soon as they come off the needles.
I suppose.

After that I intend to knit some Over-The-Knee Socks from Holiday Knits.
I have this book through the inter-library loan program and the pattern is all printed out. Perhaps I should buy it. CONCERNED? Well yes, I am. By Round 2 I'll be consulting the abbreviations & Special Techniques section to see how the hell I'm supposed to *P1, RT; Repeat from * around. RT? Mother of god. (Haven't actually specified which year someone might get these as a gift ;)

This Knitting Bucket is a gift from Sam. A Kindergarten thank you gift from last year's Letter People adventure and one of my most prized possessions! It says: This is your Knitting Bucket. ABCDE...XYZ.

An excellent use of the . . . !

UPDATE: Anxious to get started with my first Amazing Lacey Sock, I cast 64 stitches onto size 2 needles. Did I mention I knit a little tight? Pattern says to use size 1. These stitches would be a bit snug if I use 1's!! Not to mention needles would be bent into paper clips after a few Knit 2 Togethers!

By the 3rd YO I wondered randomly if I was YOing in the right direction. The 2nd SSK went dreadfully wrong - slipping off the needle, causing me to rip the first 16 stitches out and start over. Followed by frantic grabbing for a crochet hook to pick up the stitch I had just dropped.

Onward I went through the 4 rows of the first repeat and started the next. Quick check here and it turns out I was NOT yarn over'ing in the right direction and my lacy holes were not so, I don't know... LACEY? I tore out 6 rows and managed to pick 64 teeny little stitches BACK UP - most of them facing the right direction!

I was ready for a lie down while I reflected on my ability to knit holes on purpose.

I finished the 3rd repeat this morning - I hope I'm not last at the check-in.
Will this be an elimination pit stop?

2nd Update: Went to ACMoore's with 40% coupon in hand to buy 2nd set of needles so that both Amazing Lacey Socks might be completed at the same time. The 2's were the wrong color? Bought another set of 1's because they seemed to be the correct color. Disregard the paper clip comment. Apparently my knitting has loosened up a bit.

I was knitting with the 1's all along. I'm an idiot? No, that's harsh.
I'm clueless.

Alphabetically Last !

Alphabetically last is okay by me :)

My name is among the Acknowledgments on page 2 of the new book just out: fast, fun & easy: Fabric Postcards by Franki Kohler. The first fabric postcard I ever made and sent to a stranger is on page 42!

We both discovered the fabric postcard concept through Quilting Arts magazine - issue 14. We both tracked down the group the article mentioned, joined and started begging for another round of swaps to form. Franki took the initiative and started a yahoo group, Postmark'd Art. They're now doing round 4 but I'm sitting out this one, as I have too many things going on. Plus I like finding people I haven't already gotten cards from to trade with.

This fabric postcard is one of my latest:
Prince Charming Kit!
*Kiss NOT included. Use caution opening the lid as we are not responsible for escaping frogs, or defective prince.

I have a thing for African Violets!

African Violets & Friends on the internet

For 20 years my idea of growing African Violets was going to mom's house and liberating a couple in full bloom and bringing them to my house. To finish blooming. And then they usually died. I'll admit it was my fault. I often let them go dry and then watered the crap out of them to make up for it. No matter!

Mom had more; often blooming and in 3 or 4 colors. One that Aunt Vena gave to her often had 2 different colored blooms on the same plant? Turns out that's called a "sport" and not actually a desired result. Leaves from these plants had been passed around relatives and friends for years. So why couldn't I keep them alive for more than 6 months?

I went to the internet several years ago to find out more about the care of African Violets. Figuring they're not supposed to be disposable at the end of each blooming cycle, perhaps I could do better? What I found amazed me. African Violets have NAMES! People trade leaves and collect varieties to the point of addiction. AND host flower shows specifically for AV's. There's even a national organization, African Violet Society of America, that puts out a magazine and hosts a website with loads of info.

I started out on the GardenWeb site and soon found there were several online groups offering advice. Some of the groups were well established, some a little clicky; some actively feuding with each other. A friendly, older gentleman by the name of Fred seemed to be all knowing and everywhere. Always above the fray and wise in the ways of AV care, dispensing logical advice.

And then I discovered an MSN group, The Violet Voice just starting up by a lady in Montana. Mrs. John. I posted a note announcing the news of my find on GardenWeb and was promptly yelled at by Spike the moderator; my first run in with the "we don't play well with others" attitude. No matter! I tried several of the online groups on for fit. This group is the best!

I went into a funk over the winter and lost a bit of my first enthusiasim with growing AV's. I think I took up knitting? There were no blooms and I had way too many plants. Each day I walked past them with a promise of "tomorrow" and it's a wonder any of them survived. An email from Montana to the original Charter Members snapped me out of it and once I owned up to being lazy and ignoring everything I had learned, I renewed my effort with AV's. Just a few short months and the turn around still has me joyfully surprised. Repotting & consistant care did wonders. Plus the golden rule: Grow only the number you have time to care for.

In memory of my sister

Nola Jean Grant
May 16, 1960 - July 3, 1983

Today my sister would be 46; next week I'll turn 47. For 5 days we were the same age (a lot alike) for complete opposites. She was the laughter. The free spirit. Often the leader finding some form of trouble for all of us to get into - a neighborhood full of kids; lots of cousins. It usually seemed like a good idea at the time. She was the one we sent to "ask mom" for something; if it was the only hope. Encouraged with "Mom will say yes to you; cry if you have to!" often she went to get us the response hoped for. She had a temper. She was no angel.

At 3 our tricycles were hung up in the rafters of the spare room. Out of reach for a month. To this day I'll swear it was all her fault! She bit my face. Little angry teeth marks covered my entire cheek; because I took MY bike back. The one with NO missing shiny hubcap. I saw a tricycle on the side of the road yesterday, waiting for trash day. I almost rescued it.

Nola was a unit secretary at Eastern Maine Medical Center; on the fourth floor - where cancer often ended the lives of strangers she grew to love; in a very short time. And their passing would break her heart. Until another needed her smile. Her cheer. And their smile back was the thing that made returning to work where people died. Nearly everyday. Bearable.

Our Guardian Angel watches over us. Her name is Nola.
Nola died at 23.

Five minutes from home. Five minutes from a picnic area on a sunny afternoon. Her boyfriend Lance and our cousin Dwight were in the back seat; his wife Sylvia was driving and baby Faith Ann & Nola were in front.

She volunteered to work on that July fourth weekend so co-workers with children could have the day off. A quick outing after work.
Best Friends together.
Today Dwight remains in a wheelchair. From that day to this.
Sylvia has remarried.
Nola's Annie has a family of her own now.

Witnesses said afterwards the 19 year old was passing everything in sight. The state trooper put William Haney Jr.'s drivers license in my hand the next day. It was said he had been partying, woke up to discover he was late for a job at KFC; so he drove fast. And recklessly. Hitting them nearly head on. Less than five minutes from home.

I was home with our new baby Sara, born March 18, 1983. Tom had gone fishing for the afternoon and had actually driven past the accident scene, not knowing it was someone he knew. Someone I loved. On July 3rd all of the newness & wonder of having a brand new baby was smashed by grief. Sorrow. Despair. ANGER. Loss. I can still hear a wailing scream in my head when I remember being told the news.

We couldn't find mom and dad. To tell them this awful thing. They'd gone for a ride, met up with friends with an extra bed in their camper and stayed overnight. An impulse drive in the opposite direction we thought they might have gone. An all-points bulletin by the police failed to find them. The vigil began. Waiting in a little trailer next door for mom and dad to come home.I can still hear the scream in my head when I remember telling daddy on his birthday.

They could tell something was wrong. Something was bad. No, Grammie Grant was okay. So much worse. I don't know how parents get through something like this. I've only experienced it as a sister. Dad took up golf because his older brother recognized he needed something to save his soul. I think it helped. He still plays.

Mom. Today is hardest probably on her. I couldn't bring myself to pick up the phone today. I stopped in yesterday but she wasn't home. I'll call tomorrow. How can another year slip away?

One of the last pictures I have of Nola is of her holding Sara. I knew what LOVE looked like the first time I saw Sara's Aunt Nola hold her. Look upon baby Sara with love. And I knew what Love (and that look) felt like the first time I held our brother Kevin's baby Kyle.

With sadness and some guilt I know that everything new, every first for our 2 daughters has been measured by me, at least for a moment, by the absence of Nola. Whenever there's a moment of uncertainty at how long it's been without my sister, I remember it can be measured by the number of birthday candles on Sara's cake. Stephani Nola is enough like her namesake to be a little frightening. Laughter and free spirit. And NO angel!

But I have to believe one watches over them.

Plus I'm deluded.

I admit it.

I'm grinning ear to ear because the Yarn Harlot sent me an email, in reply to a comment I posted on her blog entry: Curse of the optimist.

"The baby sweater is at such a fine gauge, that the adult sweater actually has way fewer stitches in the whole thing than the baby sweater.

Plus I'm deluded."

It's clearly a case of Procrastiknitting - casting aside a current project for something new. Her word: FAST SUCCESS. I understand completely, even being new to knitting. Plus the Teeny Needles Takes Lots MORE Stitches concept has just started to sink in as well. Size 2 is about small as I ever want to go (with socks at least) anytime soon.

And my newly enhanced yarn STASH has taken on dimensions that frankly have me CONCERNED. A local yarn shop with a sign in the window that reads "BRING IT ON! Every item 50% OFF" caught my attention on Monday. Unfortunately the sign next to it said CLOSED Sunday & Monday. Seriously. 20 minutes each way and gas at $2.89. Made me (almost) glad the patio table I bought on Monday had one leg that was an inch shorter than the other 3, all the screw holes lined up in the wrong place and it's curve bent at the wrong angle. Making a return trip excusable? No. Reasonable.

Some assembly required:
I noticed right away that one leg seemed a "little off". This should have been a heads up, so why the freaking table still tilted 3 hours later should not have been a mystery. Back we trooped to the store for a one chance only replacement. Went together in about 10 minutes.

And $50 worth of sock & felted bag yarn has been mixed in with all the rest of my stash before anyone might notice she's buying more yarn when she's already got more than she can knit in 6 months. The real CONCERN is that the sale goes on through all this week.