ready for a deep cleansing breath

Or a good cry.

The lobster shack by the marina. Note: no eel on menu

Let's say you turn 19 on the same day you're packing your stuff because you are getting into the old Buick (a bonafide Grandma Car, but you think it's extremely cool as it is now yours, all yours), with your dad and driving to Florida, where you're moving into an apartment (for the first time) and returning to culinary college.

And...let's say your mom thinks you should stay on track and pack and finish doing laundry. And what are all those things on the floor in your room? Maybe make a list of missing essentials.....stuff like that?

Would you and the buddy helping you go out for gas, stop by the marina to say bye to a friend, take the big squirming bag full of live eels he offers you? Then return to the house, abandoning all else to kill and gut eel for cooking later? No???!!

I thought not. Me neither.

Breeeaaaaathe. Let's look at my finished Gaia shawl and forget the guys, the filleted eels, the clothes, skim boards, books, old kitchen stuff, in disorganized mini-towers and how much I'm going to miss the son going so far away again.

pattern: Gaia Shoulder Hug
yarn: 1 skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock, love this colorway # 279!
needles: size 6 us
notes: A little small as shawls go, not bad for a shoulder wrap if you're short. The pattern is written for a skein of Kureyon Sock , which is 100 yards longer than this lovely Silk Garden Sock skein. If you look on the Ravelry link, you'll see the larger ones in Kureyon. I used the picot cast off as recommended to make the little riffle on the edge.
You know what? I like this pattern so much I may just knit another one. Maybe on size 7 needles next time, it could be a little more open before blocking. It's such a good project for filling in times when you need to knit something mindless. But not boring.

I'd probably wear it this way, if I were keeping it. Which is very, very, tempting.

fish I around

Last heard from, I was clinging with a death grip to a steel ladder welded to the back of a fast food building scampering up to the roof of a Sonic - who says photography isn't a glamorous career ? And my Gaia shawl was getting a picot cast-off.

In the mix, I had the use of a fisheye lens for a couple of days. Fisheyes are gimmicky; they are the eyelash yarn of photography . Every once in a while, fun to play with. Before I handed it back, I turned it on Farley, who passes by at 7 every morning.

And on the battle of man v. nature at my mechanic's shop.

Sidenote: when you drive a 20 year old car, you know your mechanic and his yard decor pretty well. He's got a steampunk vibe going on.

And on late summer chaos out front.
The Gaia shawl is finished, on a slow dry over this wet chilly weekend. You can see from the fisheye shots that I ignored days of brilliant sun & dry breezes, giving it a dunk n' block as a storm moved in Friday. So....show & tell next time, I'll spare you the vision of a damp striped shawl pinned out on a bright patterned beach towel, draped over a floral sofa.

coookie monsters unite

The winners have been notified - I'll share blog names once they respond. Your flavor suggestions have me salivating. Mostly. Not so sure about the lavendar....although I'd love the scent. All are noted by the baker, and she thanks you !

For the 62 folks who didn't win, I'm sorry. Go treat yourself and order a consolation treat. I'm telling you, you'll like 'em.

If you want o find me tomorrow, look on the roof of the new Sonic DriveIn opening in Massachusetts. I Am.Not.Kidding.

cookie time : contest

My similar knits were saved by single mindedness: I gave the shawl a couple days of attention. It's in cast off stage now, in all its glorious Noro-ness. The asparagus Annette sweater's traveling to Florida with me in a few hours for some one-on-one attention. Because who wouldn't want to handle wool in Miami in August.
So ....what better time for a cookie break? How about chocolate chip?

Last month I had the thrill of doing a photo shoot for my BFF, a professional in the restaurant & baking biz , a cookie baker extraordinaire who's just opened her new cookie business. You can find her on etsy at Imperial Cookies.

To celebrate, I'm having a virtual cookie tasting contest. Hustle on over to her etsy shop, read her descriptions, come back and leave me a comment here saying which one is your favorite flavor. Or...what you'd want to see when she adds her next cookie to the lineup.

Since I really want to share the cookie love, mention the contest on your blog, let me know that you did, and you get entered twice.
Leave your comments by midnight Sunday August 23rd.

There'll be two winners---because I can never decide on one of anything. Drawn randomly, and each winner gets a pound of Imperial Cookies cookies of your choice.

Not that I'm trying to influence you, but these are incredibly good with tea. Or red wine.
Just saying.

in which we recall the Rule of Similars

IF you are working on two projects, both being knit flat on size 6us 32" circular needles,
AND each is around 200 stitches across per row

AND each has a few stitch border (in once case garter, in the other, seed stitch) followed by that very long row across

BUT one has every other row as YO Slip 1, K2 together PSSO , K3 repeat across row

AND the other has every fourth row (or so) as YO, K2 together, repeat across row

THEN you will inevitably pick up one project but go on auto pilot and knit the other's YO row sequence.

AND you will do this more than once.

• • • • • • • • •

still a few spaces left! September 13th......why not join me?.....click on banner for info

some class in mass!

She Shoots Sheep Shots
Photography for Knitters Workshop Afternoon
Sunday September 13th in Carver Massachusetts
workshop: 1:30-5 pm
preceded by potluck lunch (optional) : 12:30-1:30 pm
click here for all the details & to sign up
edited 9/14/09 : Thanks to everyone who came, it was a wonderful group. I'm already seeing some kickass photos posted ! More dates being scheduled, but if you'd like to have a workshop in your area
shoot me an email galeATgzuckerDOTcom

handpainted handspun alpaca yarn at Victory Ranch,New Mexico

A hands-on digital photography workshop for anyone wishing to improve their images of fiber related projects, and the world around them, and for making the photos look as wonderful as possible on a website or blog.

If you're just stopping by, hi there: Gale Zucker here. I'm a professional photographer and serious knitter. Sometimes I combine the two, when I photograph knitting books or for craft magazines. Getting great images, and then making them look terrific online, can be a challenge, right? The workshops are a chance to share my two passions and pass on some skills.

Point & shoot digital cameras welcome, I always say it's not the camera, it's what you do with it that counts.

The lunch first is just for fun, optional if you can't make it, but a good addition to the day, don't you think? Here are links to reports, with photos of course, from knitters who attended a shorter version of the workshop in Minnesota last month.

the flapotis scarf, from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines : real knits on real people we nabbed to model

Icelandic lamb at Misty Meadow in Minnesota

I'm hoping to teach more workshops in coming months. It's fun, and there's so much to talk about and show. Come learn to make your photos phabbier and your pixels perkier. And your knits'll look...nattier? ( I'll work on that one.)
Thanks to Carole for helping to set this up.

* yes, you are one of Those People

...who have a knit blog with no knitting? Unh-uh, not me.

A Gaia Shoulder Hug was supposedly my vacation knitting in Minnesota. I barely touched it there. We were too busy doing fun Twin Cities stuff.

That bridge by the Walker Sculpture garden, the aviary at the zoo, the Mill City Museum Ruins......

I can't remember a vacation trip during which I knit less since my guys were toddlers. When I did knit, it was just the right project: engaging while placing the eyelet rows at color changes, and mindless in its stockinette-i-ness. Working on it yesterday at a neighborhood brunch, I incited my friend Peggy to run over to the LYS and start four of them for gifts right away.

Carol's porch by noon yesterday , iPhone cam view

She blames me, I blame the Mimosas and an exciting storm current while swimming.

The Sage Remedy Top , finished a while ago. My gauge relaxed seriously since swatching, I modified wildly on the fly, and it's not-so-flattering . If you are considering knitting it, avert your eyes, go look at all the successful versions on Ravelry . Worse than the fit : the shoulders. I seamed them inside out. I knew it wasn't going to be fab on me by then, so I left them that way. Sometimes I amaze myself with my low standards acceptance of All Things Awry.

Clinging to the very selvedges of the NaKniSweMoDo, I cast on for a 7th sweater. This is Jo Sharp SilkRoad Tweed DK, a yarn I've been wanting to knit with since spending an afternoon with Norma last November. You'll need to scroll down the linked post.

* this post's title was a fortune cookie the 15 yo son got while out on the town in Mpls. The older son's read : "You have that horny & desperate look. It suits you, work it. " We've been teasing him ever since. Nice parents, huh?!
older son Iphone cam view, Uptown Mpls.