68

I'm recovering very nicely from my latest bout of Potteritis. I'm feeling much better now, but am experiencing some slight residual effects, namely sadness regarding the end of the series. J.K Rowling did a wonderful job with the series and I wish her much success with future endeavors (because I really, really hope there will be future writing endeavors, not that I'm thinking of myself in wishing her well, nope, I'm only thinking of all of her other fans).

With the final Potter book out of the way, I know only have work interferring with my knitting. I guess it's time for my confession now. I have not knitted a single stitch for over a week. I miss it terribly. I miss the feel of yarn and needles in my hands. I miss having finished objects to show off. I actually think the lack of knitting in my life has made me pretty grumpy, too. Of course, Italian is just way too smart nice to agree with me on this. I did make some progress on the lace sock before my little separation from my yarn. I'll post a picture as soon as I try on one finished sock. With luck, it will fit to my satisfaction. Right now, it's a bit loose around the leg and I am trying to remember if my other Socks That Rock shrunk or expanded when washed and dried.

In the meantime, I keep checking my progress on the Ravelry waiting list and it looks like 68 is my lucky number.

Hmmm, do I see Ravelry in my future today????

Potteritis

We interrupt this blog to bring you an important message. The nation is being brought to it's knees as a debilitating afflictions sweeps from coasts to coasts. This virus, commonly referred to as "Potteritis" has now made its way into this blog. Common symptoms include a reduction in mobility, leaving suffers sitting in one place for hours at a time, a lack of desire to engage in others who are immune to Potteritis, sudden intakes of breathe (a.k.a gasping), and insomnia brought on by an overwhelming desire to just read another paragraph.

Fortunately, suffers of Potteritis only experience systems for a few days. If you or someone you know suffers from Potteritis, symptoms will lift soon and the sufferer will return to normal.

We will return to regular blogging (and knitting) soon.

Who will buy

Me: How does this look?
LC: Um, it looks fine.
Me: Come on, you didn't even look.
LC: Well, that pink shirt with the yellow shirt looks fine, but jeans to work, Mom?
Me: I have an out of uniform day.
LC: Oh, well then it looks good.

At a nice young tender age, Little Clover has learned the importance of appropriate dress. I feel like we have hit a milestone. I can now tell him his selection in clothing does not match the occasion and he will understand. Yay! Of course, he may now argue the validity of meeting societal standards, but I think I have a few years before he can come up with really good arguing points.

Hopefully, I can soon add two new additions to my own wardrobe.

The Lotus Blossom Tank is slowly growing. I just finished one complete lace pattern repeat which is a huge hurdle for me. I have found when I knit lace, the first full set of row repeats is always rather arduous. It is slow and cumbersome and I'm pretty much knitting blind. Sure I generally have a picture or a chart to reference, but I prefer reading my actual knitting. After finish the first set of rows, knitting the lace becomes simpler and I have a tendency to knit faster. I can find mistakes easily before I knit too far along and I pick up the rhythm of the lace and can memorize the pattern. Does anyone feel the same way?

I've also been trucking along on the Fancy Silk Stockings made out of wool. These are more socks than stockings, but I think they will be lovely peeking out from under my jeans.

(How do you guys take pictures of your socks in progress? I always feel a bit silly taking pictures of my feet with a partially knitted sock.)

As for the "Who will buy" portion of the blog, I have a bag I would like to send off to a new home.

It is a lovely Offhand Design Zelda Tote that is a year old. A new one retails for $180, so I am asking $80 plus actual shipping. It has 8 side pockets in the main compartment and three internal pockets in the side compartment. The tote can hold several balls of yarn, a knitting book, a knitting magazine, and necessary knitting sundries. The tote has served me well in the last year, so much so, I want another one. I'm sending this one off into the wild simply because I found one I like a bit better. If you are interested, please email me at irishcloveratgmaildotcom with "Zelda Tote" in the subject line. The first person to respond will be the lucky owner. It also makes a great bag for things other than knitting (such as a baby bag) and it comes from a smoke free home.

Do You Fish?

In the past, we try to go on a few fishing trips a year. The last year though has been amazingly hectic and has slipped by us with very few opportunities to relax, much less, go fishing. We are getting antsy. We need to be on/in the water. We need to fish. We didn't fish this past weekend, but we were at least, in the water.

Little Clover returned from Chicago with stories galore. Hopefully, he will do a guest blog entry in the next few days. He unpacked, and then packed again for a trip up to the family cabin. He was gracious enough to allow Italian and me to accompany him on this trip. Once at the cabin, we spent the large part of our time on the lake. Little Clover tried his hand at captaining a boat. Papa Clover acted as his first mate.

Other than getting distracted by the occasional bird or log, he drove rather well. I only moderately feared for my life.

Little Clover also experienced tubing for the first time and he had a ball! He loved being on the tube and pulled by the boat. We could hear his giggles over the motor and if you rode the tube with him, he talked nonstop.
Looking back, part of the fun of this weekend was being able to experience one of Little Clover's firsts. As he grows up, those first moments are getting fewer and farther between. I'm not sure how many firsts he has left, but I hope to be there for as many of them as I can.

I even had a first a couple of weeks ago. I enjoy writing and see the blog as a safe medium for practicing the craft. There is no real rejection in the blog world. There is rejection though in attempting to get a piece published. Recently, I submitted an essay to Cast-On with Brenda Dayne. You may have heard of it. If you subscribe, then you heard my essay. My essay, "Do you fish," aired on June 29 as part of Episode 51. Below is a transcript of the essay. I'm very grateful to Brenda for accepting my essay. If you get a chance, support her podcast. She does great work and adds to the knitting community. Oh, and Sage of Quirky Nomads did a fantastic job of reading! Thank you, Sage.

Do you fish?
In my youth, I was a meadow pixie. We have pictures to prove it. I'm roughly five years old running in a wildflower meadow in the Rocky Mountains. My arms are out stretched and my Peter Pan collar is highlighted by golden sunlight. Thus, my life as a camper began. I wish I could say I excelled at camping from that point forward, but sadly, my skills really didn't progress much past me running amok in a wide open field. My family left the mountains of Colorado shortly after that summer to settle in the hills of Tennessee. We continued camping and I even joined the Girl Scouts for a year or two, but my Girl Scout sash was rather devoid of badges and our family camping trips became more and more sporadic.

Then, I met the man of my dreams and he asked me a very weighted question.

"Have you ever gone fishing?" he asked.
"Not really," I replied. "Once I dipped my uncle's fishing pole into the water when I was about 9 or ten, but that's it."

I didn't realize he was not actually asking me about fishing, but rather, gauging my likelihood as a future spouse. He took me on a fishing trip with his father and brother to a river in the Ozarks of Arkansas and I fell in love again. One look at the riverbank and the burnt out campfire circles and I felt at home. We set up camp right along the bank and I listened to the gentle rushing of water and the wooshing wings of the birds. I passed the fishing test.

A few years later, and after several more fishing trips, my boyfriend and I were married. We then added to the number of campers by having a little boy. He took his first steps at the campsite, surrounded by family and fishing friends. His little feet brushed along the floor of a cabin one night as the sound of the river could be heard beneath our cheers and his giggles. He took more and more steps along the riverbank and soon, he was sitting in our laps with his very own fishing pole, and we guided his casting and reeling. We had another natural camper and fisherman in our midst and as our number grew, camping became more of an event. Of course, we still looked forward to the relaxed atmosphere of camping. We really had no schedules or appoints tying us down. Instead, we had our routines. We would begin the day with a quick jaunt into the river, poles in hand and dressed in wading pants. As the sun travelled the sky, one by one we would leave the river and return at our own times. In the quiet evenings we would gather around the fire and watch the stars and lightening bugs twinkle into existence. We would play games and talk and sometimes just sit and enjoy the quiet.

Then, one day, in between fishing trips, I became a knitter again. I started bringing yarn with me and in the quiet hours of the day, as my little one napped or by the glow of a campfire, I knitted. I knitted hats and socks and swore never again would I wear cotton store bought socks on a fishing trip. I found Knit Picks had a colorway called "Fly Fishing" and I quickly bought enough skeins to make socks for my family. As we camped one autumn, my hands shivered while I knitted and I promised myself I would have wool fingerless gloves for my next winter camping trip. Sometimes, my yarn would come home with bits of leaves and twigs from the campsite. When I found these, I would always smile as I remembered the fish we caught or the stories we told. I would then hold the yarn to my nose and my smile would deepen as I detected the faint smell of a campfire and a hint of the river. If I listened carefully, sometimes, the laughter caught in the yarn from our last trip would escape and tickle my ears again. The spirit of the trip, of the campsite, of our memories would be caught in the yarn and released with every stitch I knit.

Trying something new

In an effort to be healthy, save some money, and make the environment happy, I've decide to ride my bike to stores within a mile or two of my house. Living in the American South where sprawl is king, the number of stores within biking distance are rather limited. Fortunately me, Target and my LYS are completely within the biking radius and I've ridden to both. Both trips have given me a brand new perspective regarding biking, driving, and the city in which I live.

First, biking
Bikers (and pedestrians) have the right away. I knew this fact, but unfortunately, not all the motorists I encountered knew this fact. Well, I like to think they didn't know it. That is a much happier thought than thinking they knew it and found great pleasure in scaring the devil out of cyclists.

Also, Target and my LYS seem very close to my house if I drive there, but they are much farther away when you bike there, much, much farther away, especially in 96 F with a humidity of 76%. I should also get a bike basket instead of wearing a backpack to hold my purchases because my back gets pretty sweaty in 96 F with a humidity of 76%. I may also want to get my own bike before I get a bike basket and return my SIL bike to her, since I've been borrowing it for the last two years. After I get my own bike, I will definitely knit up the saddlebags from Vogue. Who knows, maybe the knitted Vogue saddlebags will make my biking experience more chic as well.

Now, on to cars
Bikers and pedestrians have the right of way, and most motorists are completely oblivious to this. Riding a bike on any major road in this city translates to a very exciting bike ride, and not always in the "wee, this is fun" sense of exciting. I discovered I'm very good at breaking.

I also found I envied the smug motorist with their air conditioning. "At least I was being fit and exercising," I would think to myself. Then a daunting hill would come into my sights and I quickly lost any smugness as I tiredly pedaled up the hills. I almost wondered on some of the hills if my pedaling was doing any good.

Finally, my town
My town has a lot more hills than I realized. Growing in central Tennessee, I was surrounded by hills. Living now in the delta, there is nary a hill in sight, unless you are biking and it is 96 F outside. Then there are hills every where. But hey, those knitted saddlebags are gonna luck darn cute.

In addition to biking around town, I learned how to put in a light fixture. I have this thing for lighting fixtures. In both of our houses, I almost immediately change out lighting fixtures. I'm not sure why they mean as much to me as they do, but they seem to add a very personal touch to a room. Generally, I hold the tools while Italian changes the fixture, but this time, I felt the need to be liberated and learn how to do it myself (with Italian there to talk me through it of course).


We took down the brass fixture in the kitchen and replaced it with a nice new nickel plated light. It looks amazing up! Italian and I stood back and admired our work. As we looked at the new light in the kitchen, we realized the rest of the kitchen doesn't quite match the light. I think we may have more work to do.

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Friday, June 29, was Papa Clover's birthday. As a daughter, I adore my father. He can fix anything, he can do anything, and he is one of the best guys out there, ever. He is the man I compared all potential mates to, and he will always have a very special place in my heart and in my life. As an adult, I love the friendship I have with my dad. We listen to some of the same bands and we share some of the same interest. He instilled in me a love of the outdoors and taught me how to row a canoe. One day, I will go to a concert with my dad. I think that would be a hoot! He is also a treasured grandfather to Little Clover. They have their special games and their special rituals. In a nutshell, I love you, Dad! Happy (belated) birthday.

I occasionally reread my posts to see how I can improve as a blogger and a writer. I find I have a few snoozers of posts out there and I try pick apart those posts and see what could make them more exciting to read. I personally find the "Leaving on a Jet plane" post rather dull and was going through each paragraph until I hit the "my company has a yarn closet" bit. The fact of a yarn closet existing in an office is just astounding to me. My company, aside from Project Warm Hearts, does nothing with fashion, textiles, or needle crafts, yet, there is a yarn closet. Wow! I loved my job and company before, but this is a huge bonus! If my days get too stressful, I can send a little email with the subject "Need Yarn!" and I'll have a skein within a day or two. How can life be bad if yarn is so accessible?

I did leave Minneapolis with a couple of balls of cotton. I'm researching double knitting and am jotting out a little swirly pattern.

The colors are brighter than I would normally choose, but these knits will be returning to the wild, and will hopefully brighten someone who is in need of some human kindness. I'll profile the recipient charities in a few posts.

I did finish another hat and will be shipping it to Minneapolis.

The pattern is from Knitty and I intended it to be for Little Clover. Unfortunately, my perception on his size is slightly skewed. He's a lot bigger than I want to admit. He's so big, he's out of town without me in Chicago. He is supervised (he's not that big yet), but he's still traveling without either of his parents. I've had a difficult time with this. Granted, I've enjoyed the new grown-up time with Italian. We've had quite a bit of fun and are trying to take advantage of the situation by eating fancy food and playing really tennis games, but I still miss Little Clover immensely. He even lost a tooth while in Chicago and I missed it (and the rate for a tooth in Chicago is way higher than the going rate in Tennessee. I may need to have a conversation with the Chicago Tooth Fairy). I think I'll distract myself from the lack of kids in my life and make a reservation to someplace hip and funky.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'm in Minneapolis again this week for a few more hours, which means I've been up here for winter, spring, and summer, so far. The differences between the seasons have been rather amazing. For my winter trip, the thermometer dipped down into the negative digits, double digits. My spring visit brought temperatures in the 50s and 60s. This visit has included 90 degree weather and today, the high is 71. It is beautiful and my coworker and I have tried to take advantage of it as much as possible.

We decided to actually leave work at a decent time the other night and headed to a local spot for dinner. A local team member decided to come with us and act as a guide. The three of us drove out to Lake Calhoun, a beautiful part of town. The lake is surrounded with separate walking and biking pathways and the paths were heavily used. As we strolled around the lake to the Tin Fish restaurant, bikers zoomed across the biking path, bathers waded in the beach, and families strolled along the walking path. The lake was also filled with people sailing, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboating. I was amazed with all the activity on a weeknight and loved that people were outside being active. We headed down to the Tin Fish and ate dinner sitting by the lake. If you are ever in Minneapolis, go to Lake Calhoun, walk down to the Tin Fish, and enjoy a glass of beer and the fantastic food.


While in Minneapolis, I found the knitters at my company. My company has a knitting charity group called Project Warm Hearts. They knit for three local charities and my company matches their donated items with a cash gift as well. Plus, there is a yarn closet at work, so if you are in need of yarn, you can just pop by the closet and pick up a few skeins. I picked up some Sugar and Cream cotton for dishcloths. I'm thinking a dishcloth would be a perfect way to try out some doubleknitting. I did finish a hat while knitting away with the Minneapolis knitters and left that in the capable hands of the Project Warm Hearts coordinator.


Pattern: none
Yarn: Mission Falls Superwash wool
Duration: Started the hat on Monday morning on the plane, finished it on Wednesday at lunch. It is a man sized hat. The yarn is worsted weight, so the hat knits up quickly.

LA Sunshine

We just returned from a mini vacation, and the stress of being back is already getting to me. Work became more and more hectic in my absence, and I quickly felt the relaxation from the vacation slip away. In an effort to keep the stress from getting to me, I uploaded pictures from the vacation and sneak a peek every now and then during the day. Posting on the blog also seemed like a great way of keeping the trip fresh on my mind.

We arrived in LA (Lower Alabama) late Wednesday night, ready to storm the beach, which we did:

The boys played a rousing game of beach football as I soaked in the rays and enjoyed my beach knitting.

This is a tank top I began three years ago during my first beach trip as a knitter. It took two years for the tank to reach a length of 10 inches. Then, it took me just a few minutes to knit another two inches. Working on the large needles and the ribbon yarn took some getting used to after a year of sock knitting, but my hands slowly warmed up. Hopefully, I can move this knit from UFO status to WIP in August for the orange phase of Project Spectrum 2.0. Although having designated beach knitting is a bit fun, I'd much rather have a finished tank I can wear on my next beach trip.

When we got tired of the beach, we enjoyed the pool:

We also experienced the wildlife native to LA:

Little Clover found a few hermit crab during the day. Then, in honor of Big Papa Clover, we went hunting for crab one night. We found a crab that resembled a beetle and liked to bury itself in the sand. We also went in search of dolphins,

and found some. The pod consisted of approximately 6 dolphins, including one pup who stayed right by the mama.

Now, I'm ready for another vacation.

WWKIP

World Wide Knit In Public day came and went, and I had a wonderful time. I knit with a diverse group of people at a local bookstore. We meet every other week and the bookstore is extremely wonderful to us. Not only do they let us take up space, but they also let us use a very comfy sofa. They hosted us for WWKIP and we had a decent crew show up. Not only did we have a group of regulars from our Thursday knit-ups, but we also had quite a few never before seen knitters. Hopefully, the knit-up group will expand.

During WWKIP, I did knit, then frogged, then knit, then frogged, then knit on a Lotus Blossom tank from Interweave Knits. I finally got the cast on just right and knitted away for a bit. Later that day, I pulled out the Lotus Blossom tank and frogged it again because I missed a stitch somewhere. I then began casting on again. Since the tank called for casting on 200 stitches, I had set aside stitches to segment the cast on into 50 stitche sections. I wrongly assumed counting to 50 would be much easier. I discovered I can count to 50 without a problem, but I can't count to 4. Instead I keep on counting to 8. Yep, I was casting on over 400 stitches. I casted on over 400 stitches 6 times! After a week, I completed exactly 5 rows of the Lotus Blossom tank. I hope I love this sweater when it's done.

Mama, does this look funny

 

This is a husky, but it's not very husky looking. I admit I did a horrible job finishing it, but at least it is finished. All the pieces were knitted up in January, but they have been lingering in my knitting bag for the last few months. Oh, well. At least I can say the husky is complete.

Stars in the grass

Mama, what does dew look like?
Well, sweetie, it looks like that.
Yes, but what does it look like?
It looks like water droplets?
Yes, but what does it look like (hoping that by accenting a different word, I would get the point)?
I don't know. What does it look like?
It looks like stars in the grass.

I am know officially, the mother of a third grader, and I feel a bit old. Little Clover's report card came in the mail and he had an excellent year. I'm still amazed at times with the little gems he throws my way, like the one above. We had that conversation the other day as we were walking from the car to the door early one morning. The ground was heavy with dew and he told me what it looks like. I was taken aback by his little bit of poetry and I smiled. Maybe, just maybe, there is a little bit of an artist in him yet.

He then proceded to tell me about how he came to this conclusion one day at school while completing a review book, and how his answer was marked wrong. He also completed the sentence "The leaves in the tree look like" with the phrase "a million dollars," which was also marked wrong. I told him I thought those were brilliant answers and he agreed and didn't know what was wrong with his teacher for not thinking so as well. I was very relieved that he wasn't bothered by the wrong marks he received, and I was also indignant at the failure of his school to take the chance to promote his creativity. Often times, it seems, schools tend to focus too much on perfect test scores and the rote memorization of facts and they forget to teach children how to think. As a parent, I can do my bit, but it would be nice if free thinking was also encouraged at school. At least I now have a summer to mold him as I wish.

On the note about feeling old because I am now the mother of a third grader, Little Clover reinforced my feelings with a flippant comment. We were out and about and he took a look at the denim mini skirt, polo shirt, and Birkenstocks I was wearing and remarked, "You look like a college girl." I asked if that was a good thing or a bad thing, and he replied, "Kinda, in the middle." I'm not sure if a mom isn't expected to wear denim mini skirts or if a "woman of my age" isn't supposed to dress in such a manner. I'm really hoping it's the mom thing. His comment is especially funny to me because when I was pregnant with Little Clover, I remarked about how I didn't want to dress like a mom. Mrs. Soprano expressed her wisdom by telling me however I dress, I would be dressing like a mom to my child, and she was right. To Little Clover, a mom either wears business attire or pajamas, but not in a mini skirt. I'll make a note of that.

Fortunately, to Little Clover, a mother does spin and knit. Unfornutely, his mother has not been knitting or spinning well as of late. I've started and ripped out the Fancy Silk Sock about five times now. I think I've gotten over what ever bad mojo I had and have now knitted a whopping half inch. Hooray! Little things still make me happy.

Where are the pictures?
The pictures are missing for a couple of reasons. First, I really don't think the web wants to see pictures of me in a mini skirt. I may be wrong, but I doubt it. Secondly, a progress of half an inch on a sock is just not that exciting. Instead, I'll post some really wonderful pictures tomorrow. Hopefully, you'll be teased into visiting the blog again. I apologize for my miserable lack of involvement in eye candy Friday, but I think the story above is worth a thousand pictures.

I heart bamboo

(and not just because I'm Asian)

This is why I love my bamboo DPNs and why I hate my rosewoods:


My bamboos have lived through several pairs of socks, being shoved into a knitting bag, and being tossed about in my purse. Only one has ever left me to live in the great big yarn stash in the sky. I lost two rosewoods in the same day and I didn't even like them much to begin with!

The rosewood needles developed a slight split at the tip almost right away. Sure they are beautiful looking needles, but for the cost, I think they should make it through a few pairs of socks, let alone a single sock before they start to split. Then to add insult to injury, I broke a needle while trying on the sock just to make sure they fit. The situation only worsened when I reached into my purse to pull out the spare needle. Instead, I pulled out a shard of wood, then the longer splinter that was in actually, the other part of the broken spare. I would have cried a little if I wasn't at work.

I'd love to show you the sock, but unfortunately, they were a casualty of the Rosewood Break. A few yarnover stitches laddered down during the break and since I'd only made two inches of progress, I opted for frogging and reknitting. Hopefully, any negative rosewood karma was released with the frogging and the socks will be happier working with bamboo. They will be my first Nancy Bush socks, made from the pattern Fancy Silk Socks from the book Knitting Vintage Socks.

The second reason I love bamboo has to do with the lovely green yarn I pulled out of the stash. I was intending on making a purse in a basket stitch pattern, but Mrs. Soprano remarked that the yarn is too beautiful and should be a top of some sort. Now that I've casted on 250 stitches for a bag, I am wondering if she's right. Hmm, what tough choices a knitter must tackle. What do you think? A bag in the spirit of Bamboozle or a tank top of sort?


Finally, I love bamboo because I finally figured out how to spin it. The bamboo fiber has not been easy for me. It wants to grab and pull while I am trying to draft it. The yarn has quite a few slubs that I am hoping I cam tame when I ply it. Originally, I wanted to create a single ply yarn, but my spinning just isn't consistent enough yet.

Now, I need to wrap a wee little hat and ship it off to a brand new baby in Texas. Welcome to the world, Hannah! You put up a great fight this past month. Keep up the spirit.


The Pattern: My own. I think I will call it Elaine. It's a smaller version of the hat I sent to Italian's aunt in Illinois.
The Yarn: A cotton I had in my stash. I has long since lost it's ball band. I'll try to find the information on the yarn and update the post.
Duration: Three days. I casted on May 30 and weaved in the ends on June 1.
Pattern details to come.

Yarn and BBQ

I first met Xavier Guy when he was twelve. He was this very cute little kid brother of the guy I was completely in love with. It was evident he really thought his big brother was pretty cool, and since I thought the same, we have always had something in common. As Italian and I dated, Xavier Guy became more like a little brother to me. Not only did he graduate from college this month, but he also grew another year older today. Happy Birthday, Xavier Guy. You are a fantastic person, and I'm lucky to be able to call you a little brother.

Now, I know how great he is and do not need reminding, yet, he continues to be thoughtful in very many ways. For example, the Italian family and spouses gathered together this past weekend for a Memorial Day celebration. As part of the conversation, the upcoming visit by Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle came up. My obsession with knitting is no secret and my friends and family will sometimes pass along tidbits of knitting related information to me. When we began talking about Ann Hood's book signing at a local bookstore, I enthusiastically exclaimed I would be there and had been waiting in anticipation for about a month. Then the date of the event hit me. It would be on Xavier Guy's birthday and during the time we would be celebrating as a family. Yep, Ann Hood's book signing was tonight.

Xavier Guy looked at me and said, "You should go. I'll have another birthday next year, and besides, how often does a knitter come to town to sign her book?" See, I told you he is a fabulous guy. I told Xavier Guy there was no way I'd miss his birthday, and I didn't. We met for dinner and we had a rousing great time eating good food and drinking good beer.

I didn't miss out on meeting Ann Hood either. How did I pull that off? I have one of the best local bookstores and Ann Hood has a great publicist. Our local Davis Kidd humours us knitters every other week. They allow us to take up a small area of the store and knit and drink for our bi-weekly knit night. When they heard Ann Hood was coming to town, they let us know and passed along the publicist's information. Diane and the publicist worked some magic and scheduled a little lunch at a local BBQ place. To my utter amazement, my crazy work schedule actually slowed down this week and I had the lunch hour free and spent it with some great local knitters and Ann Hood.


Ann is very personable. She is sweet and fun and a great conversationalist. She also enjoys BBQ which is an important quality if one wants to hang here. Lunch today was like having lunch and hanging out with a group of friends. She is a wonderful addition to our knitting group. If you have the chance to see her in your city, please do. She is worth it. Not only is she worth it, but her book, The Knitting Circle worth it.

I had some reservations about reading The Knitting Circle. I'm try to avoid the knitting books because they seem to rely on a gimmick. After hearing the reviews by other knitters and reading up on Ann Hood's other accomplishments as a writer, I decided to take a chance on the book. I am quite glad I did. The knitting in the book is true knitting and is deftly woven into the story, but it doesn't overpower the story, either. Instead, the story of Mary and the knitters provides the life-beat to make the book an engaging read. I found myself worried about Mary and hoping above all hope that she would find the solice she needed. Ann's own experiences make the story more poignant and tangible. The loss she share's with Mary is harsh, but their stories provide hope for others. Their story is a good one. Go read it.

As requested, here is a picture of the socks I finished for Xavier Guy:


Oh, and as if my day couldn't get any better, when I came home, a nice little package from Cafepress was waiting for me. My Sheepie Tee and WWMDfK Tee were finally here. Hooray!

Baa, Baa

 

I don't have the opportunity to attend fiber festivals, so I don't usually have a chance to see a real sheep. Naturally, when I heard my nephew was having his fourth birthday party on a farm, my thoughts did not turn to what would be a perfect birthday present for my nephew. Instead, I thought of the chance to see a touch a sheep. What can I say? I'm a knitter. The farm did not disappoint me. Not only did they have a sheep, but they had two, and I got to pet them! Oh, happy day! Little Clover, Papa, and Nana Clover were all happy for me as well. I have a very great and understanding family. The sheep were newly shorn and in my excitement, I forgot to ask about the breed. I think the natural wool fumes intoxicated me and made me too giddy to think clearly.

In addition to petting the sheep, I finished Xavier Guy's socks. The second sock really zoomed off the needles. I began the first sock in January, early January. I finished it last week. I started the second sock last Sunday, and handed off the pair to Xavier Guy in time for his birthday and the muggy delta summer. I think he likes them.

In the red

I started writing this post about how I wasn't knitting with Project Spectrum 2.0 for the months of June and July and I was just going to do a photo journal of red. I anticipated bowing out of PS 2.0 this go round because I'm taking Project Spectrum as an opportunity to reduce my stash and the red yarn I had in mind is for a lovely long sleeve wool sweater. Wool sweater and long sleeves should not be part of a Southerner's vocabulary in June and July unless it is to describe the oppressive heat and how it feels. Then the word wet is usually added. Then, I remembered the lovely red lace Schafer Andrea I just received. I could knit a shawl. Even better, I have some fabulous red Socks That Rock and I've been itching to knit and the Interweave Favorite Socks book just happens to have a pattern I've been eying. It looks like I'll be knitting in the red after all.

I also then realized it was still May and not June (can you tell I'm a bit frazzled still?). I have some time then to knit a little green baby hat for a little newborn in Texas. With any luck, I may finish the hat and the socks before PS 2.0 Red begins.

SSS

I'm not sure if my crazy work life is truly slowing down or if I just have let go of the stress and said "Screw it." I think it is more likely the latter. I also discovered this weekend that Italian's family commitments and software deployments have an uncanny knack for occurring at the same time. It's rather remarkable really. For the first launch, we had a lovely wedding at the same time. For the second launch, we had a lovely graduation:


Xavier Guy officially has a diploma! We requested to see the diploma as proof and were quite proud of him. We drove up to Cincinnati Friday after Little Clover's Field Day (where he won first place in the 50 yard dash).


The graduation ceremony was early Saturday morning and I was armed with coffee, water, a book and GameBoy for Little Clover, and knitting for myself. As a knitter, I love graduations because it means at least 2 hours of uninterrupted knitting time. I was happy. (The fact that I have a small child who is perfectly content sitting for two hours at a time is also a beautiful thing and the sheer luck of this is not lost upon me).

We celebrated the happy day with lunch and Italian, Xavier Guy, SweetPea, Little Clover, and Mrs. Soprano all went to the aquarium while I returned to the hotel to do some work. Little Clover returned to the hotel with a beaming shark painted face and told me all about the amazing things he saw.



He is convinced that Cincinnati is a fantastic town and that we just needed to stay there instead of going home. He agreed to let us take him home the next day when I promised him we would return.

The sock also enjoyed the time in Cinicinnati. He was the only project I packed and he loved the singular attention. He thanked me by letting me finish up the first sock (after ripping back an inch and a half) and I even finished the toebox of the second sock.


Now, I know a lot of knitters suffer from Second Sock Syndrome, but for some reason, I am immune to SSS. Instead, the second sock is usually a treat for me and I generally finish it quickly. I think the second sock is like running down hill towards the finish line after running a crazy long distance. It's the signal that the end is near and I can begin to pay attention to all the other sock yarn in my stash. I begin to get excited about the prospect of adding another FO to my list. My fingers get excited, and the stitches fly. Let's hope this second sock continues this streak and continues to prevent SSS.

BFF

I have been in a love affair for over a decade, now. Today, Italian and I celebrate the day we made the love affair official. We were much younger then, but I love him more today (if possible) than the day we were wed. Looking back at this picture, we almost look like kids playing dress up or getting ready for a silly dance instead of two people making a commitment to love each other forever. I still smile at our youth then. We had no idea of the pains and joys our life together would bring. The journey to this, our eight anniversary has been filled with unexpected excitements as we've grown up together. On our wedding day, Italian was my best friend. Today, our friendship, just like our love, has only grown stronger. I can't wait to see what the next eight years will bring. Happy Anniversary and I love you more than four.



As if I need any proof that Italian is a wonderful catch, today, when I awoke, he had laid beside me a skein of Schafer Andrea laceweight silk. Yippee!

Catching up

Me: How does my hair look like this?
Italian: Fine. It looks good.
Me: It doesn't look bad.
Italian: No, it looks good.
Little Clover: Uh, I wouldn't exactly say it looks bad.
Me: Oh, what would you say?
Little Clover: It looks a little weird. You aren't going to put on lipstick are you?
Me: I was planning on it. Why?
Little Clover: Well, when girls do things to their hair and then put on lots of make-up, their faces look a little crazy.


I dont' think Little Clover is accustomed to me getting dressed up to go out. The above is the conversation we had while getting ready for Engineer's wedding.

Little Clover looked spiffy in his suit jacket and Engineer was a beautiful bride.


The dress was elegant and the shawl did not clash with it! Yay! After the ceremony, we partied at the downtown train station which had a large amount of historical and local flair. Little Clover showed us that dispite his young age, he can really groove to funk and R&B! He ruled the dance floor with his little moves. I tried to dance with him, but I couldn't keep up. After a few hours, he was finally ready to go home.

After the wedding, I set my focus back on work. We are in the middle of a huge project and work is temporarily hogging all of my free time. I haven't even had time to knit. I know, the thought of it still makes me cry a little bit. My life is pretty stressful without yarn.

I knew things were bad when I left the office late one night and called home to see what my guys were doing. They weren't home yet either, so I immediately changed course and went to my LYS. I didn't need anything and I didn't have any knitting with me. I just needed to be around yarn and knitters. I walked in, said "Hello" to the owner and then proceeded to walk all around the store touching and sniffing everything I could. When asked if I was looking for anything in particular, I told the Spinning Guru I just needed a yarn break. Then I sat on the sofa and talked to everyone there as I leafed through pattern books. I left feeling rejuvinated.

I did pack knitting with me for my flight to Minneapolis and the knitting goddess was smiling on my. I just grabbed a bag with Xavier Guy's still unfinished socks and stuffed it in my carry-on bag. I got through security, both flying there and back, with a set of metal DPNs and darning needles. I was shocked, but very happy. Other than the flight, where portable electronic devices must be turned off, I didn't get to knit at all.

I did get to go here:


Where we saw:

An indoor amusement park
(It really is huge!)

LegoLand Store:


And fish, lots of fish.


The Mall of America has an aquarium and my traveling companion and I took some time of for a mental break one night to bum around the mall. If you are ever in the Twin Cities, go to the mall. You will not be disappointed. Besides, there are plenty of stores to exercise the "No Sales Tax on Clothing and Shoes" rule.

I may not have knitted much the last two months, but I made up for the lost time this weekend. After finishing the wedding shawl, I needed something mindless and easy. I picked up the Picovoli again and wove in the ends yesterday. I'm still not sure how much I like wearing it, but it was a quick and easy project to knit, the perfect antedote to lace.

FYI

The wedding was fabulous!
Engineer was a beautiful bride.
The shawl was delivered on time.
Minneapolis has no sales tax on clothing.
I found the Ann Taylor Loft by the hotel :)

More to come with pictures.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Between work and personal deadlines, my week has been extremely crazy again. I've been working long hours and have had a few late evenings at home. I've outsourced meal preparation to local restaurants, all house cleaning to either Italian or a service, and taxes to Italian. I have even sent those super short emails. I'm sure you have seen them. They are fragmented messages missing nouns, articles, and verb: messages that are limited to:
Busy. Send more later. Lunch?

Little Clover has responded to my busy schedule and stress by stepping up and becoming a little gentleman in a pint sized body. After a long and stressful day at work, I came home late the other night and hit my limit within 15 minutes of walking in the door. The dinner Italian had called in for me to pick up on my way home was not ready. In fact, they had not even put the order back to the kitchen. The washing machine had forgotten its purpose in life was to clean clothes, and my favorite hair clip broke. I was stressed and tired. Little Clover took one look at me and said, "Mama, I'll fix dinner tonight? How about a grilled cheese sandwich?"

I smiled and said, "That would be lovely."

Since he is still little and not allowed to use the stove, I asked if he would like for me to cook it. He said, "Yes, please," and we had a wonderful dinner.

In an effort to meet my pending deadlines, I've eliminated sleep from my schedule. Other than the bags under my eyes, my new twitches, and a propensity to be a bit edgy, it's coming along swimmingly. You can get a lot done, like a Wedding Shawl.


Yes,sirree bob! The shawl is blocking! The knitting was finished late Tuesday night and the ends were woven in yesterday. I made three mistakes while knitting but only one is really visible. I hope The Engineer loves it. I also hope the off white of the shawl doesn't clash with the off white of her dress.