the new tricks product report

I am happy - or does this say manic to you? does that make it a manic-quin? - to present the New Tricks Red Scarf:


Knit almost entirely, except when I couldn't help myself, holding yarn in my left hand. Sometimes the continental mojo kicked in and I knit along smoothly, if not speedily. Other times, the repetitive stress injury was overtaken by a painful spasm in my neck from clenching my teeth in concentration. To see me working on this is like watching yourself brush your hair in the mirror but using your opposite hand. (Go try it, its supposed to be good for our brains.)

The official report:
A scarf for the Red Scarf Project and let's not forget Knit Unto Others, knit horizontally, my own design aka Make-It-Up-As-You-Go-Along. It has three rows of double moss stitch along each long side to keep it flat.The rest is rows of knit interspersed occasionally by 2-3 purl rows, to make it more ridgey and 2 sided.
Yarn: A skein of red Berroco Pleasure. A skein and a half of recycled sari silk. (Cool stuff). The better part of a skein of Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb in sky blue and some Brown Sheep Lambs Pride in orange.
Dimensions: 6" wide and a whopping 70"+ length , before fringe.
Who knew it was going to come out so long? I cast on, if not with gauge , then with gauginess (sorry Colbert) and as it was squished up on the circular needles, I didn't see the proportions till I cast off. I was wondering how a not-so-wide scarf could hoover up so much yardage. Duh.

Notes:I ran low on red way sooner than anticipated, so the scarf is more blue than I would have chosen in advance. Not a color combo I am drawn to ordinarily, that bright red and quiet blue. I wasn't sure how I felt about it in finished form until my professional trend-spotting sister stopped by. She's the director and buyer for a museum shop, so she knows groovy.
She said it had a Sundance Catalog look, neo-bohemian hippy but with good materials & textures. Actually she said a lot more on the subject including what trend it followed and why but I didn't retain it . She had me at Sundance.

My mom finished a Red Scarf too, hers decidedly more manly, seen here on my nearest man model. A basket weave stitch, done in a machine washable boucle because, as mom says, what college student will handwash a scarf? My answer of course, is what college student will wash a scarf at all? I hardly remember to wash scarves and I'm an otherwise responsible adult. When you're home for Thanksgiving, that's not the conversational angle to pursue at any age, so I patted and admired and we agreed that its going to be appreciated for its cuddliness.

Back to new tricks practice. More product soon.

so, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks

But it'll really mess up her gauge.
I've got some repetitive motion stress injury in my right arm. Not saying knitting's the culprit but it definitely aggravates things.

My solution to move differently is knitting continental. Easily said. Slower going. Purling OK, knit, not so much. In the end, when my elbow and hand are better, I'll settle on the combination style that Annie Modesitt promotes, its most natural to me, and I already knit through the back by habit.

The garment taking the hit was my first version of Swell. I can't show, I ripped too quickly, but I'll tell. I started it in blue with a black wave. I reassessed. Aside from the, ahh, lets say homey-ness of uneven gauge from left handed knitting, there were issues.

Too masculine for the giftee I had in mind. She and I have talked about how when the weather gets colder, we find ourselves wearing boy clothes. The black wave was handsome but just too. Also, the pattern has the first rows with ear flaps attached as purl completely around, creating a non-roll front forehead (good) but a ridge through the earflaps (not so). You can barely see it on the pattern but on mine, it looked like the earflaps were an afterthought. And my row gauge was longer so the wave placed too high. Applying my three strikes and you rip rule, its history.


I took a while to decide on the new colors.


This time I think I like it. (woof).

my best thanksgiving

(At the end it relates to knitting and the Red Scarf Project)
My best Thanksgiving dinner ever took place 16 years ago. Far from home, far from the Land of the Pocohantas and the Pilgrims. It was in South America. These were the guests of honor :

These cuties were in the process of being adopted from an orphanage by families from the US. Dave and I had received an official adoption decree in court the day before, for the tiny guy on the far left. The US Embassy was closed to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving and we needed to wait till Friday to get our baby's green card, to take him home.
We found other families in similar limbo to share the day. The meal itself was forgettable, save for the can of jellied cranberry that a woman from Kansas had oddly brought with her. What is forever memorable is how thankful we were to have our son, and be a family, and how we marveled at the dips and turns life takes to place you in such wonderful moments.

Being an adoptive parent makes me forever conscious of what family means. Years later I worked on a book about what happen to kids who age out of foster care. The one thing the subjects all said, whether their lives were going well or a struggle, was they wished they had a mom or dad. Not for the big things but for the small. Someone to show up at your sports games, or know you won a prize, or to call on a bad day when your car breaks down and fail a test or have a problem with a co-worker. One man in his twenties, a huge strapping entrepeneur and former college football player got tears in his eyes telling me that no one, zero, zippo, was there to see him graduate from college.

That's what the Red Scarf project is all about. The students who get a hand knit scarf in a care package this February don't have families to send them something that says"I'm thinking of you". But they'll know that someone was, thanks to the efforts of the Orphan Foundation and the goodness of many knitters.

I'm going to spend this Thanksgiving with my family, hopefully appreciating each other during a very long car ride but let's not get too carried away, OK?. I'll be knitting something red, and warm, and hopefully lovable as a scarf with this:

For more info on the Red Scarf Project.
Or visit the Orphan Foundation website, they're the organization that sends out the care packages and arranges mentors for former foster care kids.
For more information about National Adoption Month (November) go here.

part one of a series

First giftee off the list in this year's holiday knitting jamboree


Sisterly accessories to go with the Fetchings she got for her birthday not long ago, from the pink merino yarn that was in my grabbed bag of goodness from Hopyards Spinnery. I'd made the mistake of being so enthralled that visit with so many choices that I took a little of this, a little of that...and now I'm figuring out just what to do with 100-200 yards each of the yarns I chose. Crazy! I plan to do better when I return there for this week's sale.

Fortunately I've got a sister who likes lots of color and texture. The scarf idea came when surfing along, I hit this scarf on Hedgeblog (you'll need to scroll down but you can't miss it) , she received it in a swap , and said it was Misty Garden, a feather and fan stitch scarf in ScarfStyle in variegated mohair, but here it was done in bumpy yarn.

I liked the effect, but having only 100 yards at best that fit the thick and thin bill, I put it together with some other Farmhouse Yarns that kinda sorta shared colors, and this scarf resulted. You know what? I like it. Feather and fan is always fun to knit, and on size 10 needles, it was done before I had time to think too hard and rip it out as not working.

Here's my knitter's version of the play-by-play. fyi, the yarns are named after the farm's sheep.

When I got to the end of it, I realized a couple of things.
1- if I'd wanted it to be symmetrical, I should have knit half the length, held the stitches on scrap yarn, knit an identical half and then grafted them, because feather & fan stitch is quite directional.

But, to quote one of my favorite books, The Vintner's Luck, " God hates symmetry".
Yeah, OK, I'm quoting a fictional bisexual fallen angel with a fondness for fine wine but, he's right. (BTW? its a great read.)

Where was I?
oh, yeah, that slightly peculiar hat.
2- I still had some of each yarn left over. A coordinating hat, its your basic beanie- loosely based on BonneMarie's Chichatpattern- with the raspberry Andy's Merino held together with : at the bottom edge, the Lumpy Bumpy, then with the Wool by Bessie. When that ran out, it was 2 strands of the merino itself. When I got to the very tippy top, I ran out with one round left to go. Not to be defeated, I topped it off with a yard of merino in Key Lime.So now I have 199 yards left of that color.
I'm not sure if I love the total effect but knowing that this sister walks her little dog at 5:30 am all winter, she'll, at the very least, stay warm headed in the dark.

flap happy

Somehow I left this out when I showed you my "think red " walk from yesterday:

Modern hieroglyphics.

On the gift knitting horizon I've two requests for earflap hats, from people with very different personal styles but (apparently) a shared desire for ear warmth. One is a guy who likes a point and whimsy/funky hat. The other, a woman, wants something warm and stylish yet artsy, but was clearly against a point. I bet you can't guess how much time one can spend surfing around looking for just the right earflap hat pattern? I hit Interweave's back issues, all of Garn, Knitty, lots of sites, books I own, and am still not sure. If you have one you like, send me to it.

As far as the yarn goes, I've got me a plan: I'm going over the river and through the woods, literally, back to the Hopyards Spinnery later this week, there's another Farmhouse Yarns sale. If you missed my gleeful haul objective reporting from the last one I went to, check here. Worth a daytrip, November 16th-19th, 8 am-4pm.

red(y) to go

The Bar Mitzvah was a crazy joyful blur. We observed, we ate, we hora'd, we Motowned, we resurrected bad dances of the seventies through nineties, we gave meaning to the vow to dance like no one was watching. I may have one hell of a messy house and be behind for work pretty much everything now but oy, such naches. (linked because although there was plenty of eating, tortilla chips weren't on the menu and I don't want you non-yiddish speakers to get the wrong visuals).

I'm returning to my usual diversions of blog reading and pattern perusing and scheming what to knit next. There's the holiday gift knitting, of course, and big, so big, in my plans : The Red Scarf Project. I was thinking red all day. I haven't decided on what red pattern to do first but am loving this new Grumperina pattern. I am very very tempted by the red dominated sari silk on Destash, I figure that'd do well mixed in as stripes with with some solid red yarn , and some other colors I have here already, to knit simple lengthwise scarves. (I am so tempted you may see that first set of skeins sold by the time you click over there but fear not, there are more below it).

I was thinking about what colors went well with what shades of red, knowing not everyone loves the primary bright red, so I took my camera along the dog walking route today. There's surely a red for everyone. I'm inspired.

life by the lists: a q&a

q: what? no knitting or yarn shown?
a: no. I've only got a partial sock to show you, and frankly, it looks like its mate did a coupla posts ago. You'd need to scroll down in the post and imagine about 2 inches before the heel.

Here's some wool on the hoof. As they say to the sheep dogs, thatd'll do.

q: what's with this format?
a: a two part answer. One: I have extreme interview envy. I mean really, is this not the best knitting author interview? Ever? Where else would you read the ugly Noro vs backordered Rowan question? I wanted to get the Yarnplay before, now I must.

q: What's the second part?
a: Second? oh yeah..sorry. Stress.When I'm stressed I lose things. Like my train of thought. A Bar Mitzvah here next week. FYI, even if you are making a Bar Mitzvah that is laid back and small by 21st century north american standards, don't leave most of the details to the last minute. You'll thank me. I am now living by the "to-do" list. One for work, one for personal, and that is it. Then we celebrate.

q: and your holiday knitting? and the miters? what happened to all those cheerful mitered squares?
a: oh! so sorry! I see on The List its time to stop blogging. Buh- bye.

knitbloggers, knitbloggers, lend me your ears

Because mine need some recommendations for knitting podcasts.

I've been enchanted by Cast-On. That Brenda Dayne does a great 'cast. Good music, with real life chat, touching essays, a sense of humor, lots of knitting talk, all seamed together beautifully. I'm through most of her backlog now. sniff, sniff. Spoiled from the start. So please, tell me what you've found to listen to!

Next lend me your eyes. I finished a little something.

Three little somethings. A friend helped out in a pinch with some graphic design, refusing pay but when pressed, admitted she'd love some handknits. Although I don't think my friend is in any way incomplete, she only wanted fingerless mittens , and something to cover her ears and part of her head, but not a hat. It seems oddly psychological to have only open ended garments but we'll leave that to some other profession. She requested them in wine. (I hope she meant the color, not floating in the liquid,now that I think about it....)

some details:
Fetching from Knitty
Yarn: Bazic wool from Classic Elite, on size 6 needles
Modifications: Longer cabled cuffs , longer hands, and more cables over the fingers, wth a longer thumb. No picots on the bind-off. Its a cute pattern as written , just too skimpy in its one skein incarnation.
Comments: Two (open ended) thumbs up for this yarn. Its a superwash, not stiff but spongey and soft. It has an extra nice twisted texture, as if one ply is fatter than the other.
The color is so rich, I'd guess it had an overydye of something dark, just a touch, for extra depth. Or maybe its the texture that makes it look that way? It took almost a skein for each mitt. Unlike last time, I remembered to make the cables face each other. Progress!

and the headband is from Garnstudio Drops site, whatta treasure trove of patterns that is. Hopefully most are translated better than this one which had some major mistakes. Easy enough to see in advance though. That no such thing as a free lunch thing again. I suspect its the same pattern that showed up on Craftster as Panta , if not, they're close cousins, but the Panta write-up is too convoluted for me. Same yarn as above, also took one skein. Based on testing on my own and another visiting head, this could be the new go-to quick gift of choice around here. FYI, way cuter on a live being than it is laying flat.

Now I know I use to show off finished sweaters, then it was shrugs, then scarves, then hats, now, headbands. Do you sense a trend of diminishing returns? The downsizing of FO's? Soon I'll proudly exhibit a fuzzy string wrapped twice around my pinkie. Check back soon.

out there

While I haven't been blogging, I've been living up to my name.

I've been out of town working on location for about 12 days of the last 3 weeks, not all in a row. When I get back home, I've been filling my time with more working like crazy, catching up on the family life : school! emails from teachers! a son who grows 2 inches in a week and has nothing , nothing I tell you, to wear! . And ack! bolting awake at 4 am to obsess over details I haven't taken care of for the Bar Mitzvah we're having here in 3 weeks. Yup, that's three. No, I haven't figured out the cake or painted the pots, planted mums in them for the decorations or figured out what to wear. Or, now that you mention it, lost the 10 pounds gained this year to make said what-to-wearing more fun.

But, the sheep..lets talk the sheep. A bunch of my time's been on sheep farms. I've learned a lot of fibery- life facts. For instance, farming doesn't leave a whole lot of time for knitting this time of year. Oh the irony. Surrounded by wool and not a minute free to knit. I think I might have spent about 20 minutes aggregate knitting. Most nights I was keeling over exhausted, and I wasn't actually doing the real work, just photographing it.

For instance, take Nanney Kennedy of Sea Colors.

If you're going to Rhinebeck? Stop at her booth. Swoon. It took heroic measure (and repeated mental reminder of Big Event needs, see above Bar Mitzvah reference) not to come home with a carfulof her gaw-jus yarns.

My brilliant plan to do tons of knitting while on the road and get ahead with the gifty/holiday list pretty much tanked . Instead I got close and personal with all kind of critters.

Including a conference with my fellow agency members, none of whom believed me when I said what I was working on. They were like "Sheep? Knitting? Really? No..you're kidding. Knitting? Heh, heh. ". Which only makes you wonder if we exist in a bubble, a very lovely dyed and spun bubble. We're talking some of the world's best adventure outdoor photographers, people who over breakfast mention they were just in Mongolia shooting flyfishing , or documentarians who tell you they're heading back to Cuba on Thursday, and hope Fidel kicks soon, so they can witness the change over in government and how it affects society. And I just shrugged and said. "yeah, knitting. Its, ummm, not just for grannnn.....new yoga...no, I mean it, knitting, and wool, like with needles..."

knitted out, socked in

Sunday at KnitOut NY. The weather, a last hurrah summer day, was screaming BEACH but off I went to deliver a poster for the Red Scarf Project (get one yourself for printing out and hanging up at your local kntting venue, see info in my last post) to Annalisa from the Orphan Foundation, and catch up with friends.

Who would have thought that so many many people would choose to throng around yarn on a hot sunny day?

Two non-knitting friends & I met up just as the doggy fashion show launched. Furry animals in acrylic knits in 80 degree F? We went scurrying to brunch on a shady side street and that was it for a couple of hours. I love knitting, I can talk knitting any day, I'll knit anywhere but there's your proof. I'm not truly hardcore.

My favorite planned sighting? Kay and HaikuPanderer Cara, later, while the KnitOuters carried on stickily. You'd think being a photographer and all I'd be showing you a photo of them smiling, right? OK, they looked just like (if you scroll down a bit) this image of them over at Yarn Harlot's NYC roundup but I bet Stephanie saw them earlier in the day, by late afternoon we was all a bit wilty. So I thought I'd point the lens only at, y'know, real strangers. . Whatever. Friends don't let friends appear wilty.

Back at the ranch, the Rodeo socks are finished. I'm happy, but wish the cuff were an inch longer. Entry level sock knitter that I am, I was so excited to get to the heel I started it too soon.

I'm not sure what this says about me, or my neighbor: Monday morning, she comes upon me sitting on my front steps in the sun, in shorts, photographing wool socks on my very own feet. Not batting an eye she walks over and starts talking about unrelated business, never letting on that anythng slightly odd is going on.

Soon as she left, I whipped this out. With the Rodeos done, I cast on for my next pair. In the throes of first sock enthusiasm last spring I pounced on this Lornas Laces stripey yarn from the DeStash site. Six months later I'm thinking..."what was I thinking? Egg yolk and Playdoh blue? why?" but its coming along cheerfully and less garishly than anticipated. Might be just the thing on a grey winter morning. Such very nice feeling sock yarn. This time, no skimping on the cuffs.

get out your red yarn and dance

Its time to start a scarf.


More info, an FAQ, links to buttons and plenty of company knitting along here .

The piece above is available as a big honking ready-to-print-as-a-poster hi-res JPEG. I'll send it to you. Strings attached (of course. are we not knitters?). You must promise to print it out & bring it to your local yarn store and get them to hang it up. Or anywhere else knitters are found. Send me an email at: ezisus at snet dot net .

loose ends

Some literal.

.

Some figurative. What better time than Labor Day weekend to tie up the strings of summer left hanging?

The mitered square collaborative afghan , with my sister, started with a Memorial Day weekend cast-on. In a brilliant flash of knitting symmetry, I knit the last 2 squares today, the Saturday of Labor Day weekend . I could do more. I never tired of knitting these. Seaming, screaming and border scheming to follow.

For those who commented on the possible trauma to our sisterly relationship I'm happy to report we're getting along as well as ever. She joined us for dinner last night . We bickered opined opposing only over 1) how to cook the crabs
2) whether to make pasta or if bread & corn were enough carbos
3) whether I baby my younger son too much
4) whether a certain friend is nice but shy or has annoying social skills
and, finally, 5) whether Lauryn Hill's version of Killing Me Softly with The Fugees is really great or should be turned off immediately.

But the afghan? We're totally getting along over the afghan. Phew. Not to worry.

In other loose ends and I believe we're getting literal again here, the dog's has successfully healed back on . I'm going to spare you any dog butt imagery. Before or after. The word ass-meat ,however, keeps getting stuck in my head.

Continuing...last June I tempted my mom into sock knitting (you'll need to scroll down to the last 'graph on the post) on a visit when I tried the magic loop and sucked her right into casting on a pair. In poetic knitting justice, her first socks came out in a size that only fit me, amongst the five women in our family.

My lack of competition for ownership may have everything to do with our voting them "Most Ugly Self-Striping Sock Yarn Ever Invented or Sold" . Mom wasn't very happy with them, she didn't like the sport weight yarn look, and so here's what I saw during my visit last week, with some fingerweight

:

My socks from that June visit, fyi, are an inch from completion.

The remants of Ernesto are blowing hard, it looks like summer's about washed up here in the Northern Hemisphere. I hate to see it go.............

my vacation? it was...Fetching

It really was.


Pattern: Fetching from Knitty

Yarn: Hopyards Spinnery Farmhouse Yarns. Andy's Merino in Magenta....I think. This was part of the grab bag I, umm, grabbed.

Notes, modifications and an excuse for why these look quite different than the pattern as written:
First off, the yarn is heavier, so I went down to size 5 needles. I cast on 40, instead of 45 stitches. When you're talking mitts, it gives them a different look with one less rib.

And speaking of needles? It occured to me that the magic loop could be used well here. No dpns were lost in making these mitts! Admittedly a cable needle took the leap into sand at surf's edge. With the tide rising before I noticed, it was covered and gone. It was one of those small curved metal ones, so when it shows up piercing a skim boarder, I bet a fisherman will get blamed instead of a knitter. I am torn between feeling guilty and smirking over this.

Secondly, I finished the first mitt. It was skimpy. I took a good look at the pattern sample photo and I'd indeed re-created the item . It wasn't what I had in mind. More coverage was in order.

I am very relaxed on vacation, it bothered me not a grain of sand to rip it out and start over. This version has more length before the thumb to make the wrist longer, and an extra repeat of the cable round, after 7 plain rounds, before I cast off. The thumb, too, was extended.

Thirdly, that cast -off. I love the picot cast off on the pattern. It somehow looks raffish and polished at the same time. Not in a heavier yarn though. In this lovely yarn it looked too rough and hung away from the hand. I tried a picot-every-three-stitch cast off. That looked plain old strange. I went with a cast off in rib pattern. I'll save the picot for a Fetching pair knit in a lighter weight yarn.

Finally, the alert amongst you'll notice the cables are the same on each hand, although the designer cleverly made them cross in opposite directions so there'd be a Left and a Right. I love details like that! But apparently, not enough to cut through to my brain while I was knitting them. With no gussets, it hardly matters, the fit is identical. So, my left handed sister will receive two left hands for her birthday later this week. Does that make me extra thoughtful? Or what?

seaside

The pears, the guys, the long ignored sock knitting, the cameras, the lighting, the clothes, the music, we have all hit the road. Our first stop , DC for some work. A shoot that had, in part, this knitterly charm.

Then everything back in the car, on to the family rendezvous at the Delaware beach. The single category of Item Not Along for The Week? The miters. My little square friends and companions this summer are sitting it out at home, to save the surprise of their existence from my parents who will, someday not too far in the future, receive the squares in afghan form.

So there I was in my beach chair right at the edge of the surf, knitting away on a sock, when a woman jogging by in a bathing suit smiled, nodded her head, and as she passed, this trailed out toward me from over her shoulder "hey, good beach project!"

csi local

I don't need Horatio Caine (who makes up these names?). I have all I need to identify what's going on here. Process this:

evidence of a good outing

Julie & I went to the Hopyard Spinnery's Farmhouse Yarn sale. Its exactly on the way to nowhere, just past the charming village of East Haddam, CT. If you can't get there this week, at least look at the yarns and ask your LYS about them. Heavenly. I may have mentioned in the past how jelly-like and spaced out indecisive I am in a normal yarn store. I am not stash prone. Without a project in mind, pointed at an array of fiber, I am jello left too long on a sunny picnic table. I'm the one who walks out empty-handed.

So there I was, with a meadowfull of rubbermaid tubs of half price yarn ( how many tubs can a meadow hold? like, I dunno, a few hundred in case you're wondering), behind which sits a small barn full of mixed up tubs of handyed yarn of many weights and styles, which , we were told by the dyer herself, we should stuff into a shopping bag and pay $ 89. for the whole lot. Really? I hesitated. Julie plunged. We shared a bag. I think she could see I might just implode otherwise. It was a Very Good Outing.

When we unstuffed the bag later, our juicy assortment included this selection of mine.

Do you think I still had beet juice on my mind when I picked up these? This'll take care of that itch, in a way that only beautiful dyed merino can. I just love it, I'm thinking simple striped lengthwise scarf for me.

This morning, grievous evidence of a tiny fruit thief. This, on the left,

is what I saw on the back deck this morning. I practically flew over to the tree to make sure it wasn't stripped bare. Its our 14th summer in this house, it came equipped with 2 spindly pear trees out back. Each year we watch 2 or 3 lonely pears develop a bit, then rot or fall off or just lose their will to thrive . This year? A bounty. A mystery of green speckled beauty. We decided the crime scene should be taken as a hint, not an affront

.

Harvest time!

miter diplomacy Round 1

Our call to Kofi Annan for peacekeepers went unanswered. We read the papers. We understand. The first round of mitered square afghan assemby had to be handled all by ourselves.

Our plan was, start out calmy with a limited square swap, no need to attempt a full afghan layout. We'd mix up our use of colors and stripes, sew them into sets of four independently and meet again in two weeks to lay out the whole she-bang.

We have no restraint. 30 seconds after I walked into her place:




Tendencies quickly emerged.

There was reconsideration.........

and we found an agreeable first layout, knowing we still had options, when we meet again with these in sets of 4.

We have five squares left to knit, we wanted to see if any color combo was obviously missing. Umm, yeah, right.
After I showed her a really lumpy demo of how to do mattress stitch (not), we decided to see how long it'd take to steam/iron and weave in ends of a couple of squares.
Its not so bad. Really.

had to, want to, won't

Had to: buy this shirt.
I spent most of the weekend shooting a tourism job featuring an arts festival. With vendors. Sure the theory here is make money, not spend it, but how could I pass this by?

Want to: koolaid dye a big pile of sturdy Newfoundland gray worsted wool that a friend gave me in May. I was so happy with my light gray overdyeing last year and looking at Kathy's dyeing successes inspired me . I keep thinking of beets and the juice they make in such tempting deep red tones....

Won't : No beet dyeing! Here's why not. How much do I love the internet? I could easily have spent a whole day and a big honking red mess of cooked beets to end up with crappy brown on gray. mmmm-mm. Note that the site, which looks immensely helpful if you are interested in dyeing, opens with "novice dyers assume that beets will make a good dye" . Oh heellloo? over here? That's me you're speaking to!

I wonder if anything in my garden would make a good dye? I wonder if I'd be better off tucking a tiny sign in the flowers that says " KoolAid! Aisle 5. Go Now"

p.s. go click on the Yarnival button in my side bar, its a great idea by Eve . She must be a whiz at this editing/blogging/linking speed warp thing or maybe a lot of time on her hands..either way, I'm looking forward to learning about some new blogs this way. Check it out.

rekindled

Waterfire in Providence last Saturday night.

(Note the subtle titling to work this in. ) If you can, go. Schedule here. The image doesn't come close to the impact. Several city blocks of bonfires, lit in an old canal/river downtown, while music speakers set above the water line play haunting accompaniment: monks chanting, opera, world music. Its awesome in the true sense of AWE. Thousands of people show up to stroll & watch but its just about silent as this shirtless guy in the jean skirt - yet somehow looking extremely macho- lights the braziers from a black boat, except for one end of the canal, here, where he walks on old bridge supports. There's close to a hundred fires blazing by the end. Even the teenagers along reluctantly on this Mandatory Family Outing were blown away.

OK, we turn now from tribal togetherness and beauty to miters. A few more completed, clearly I was on a cream jag here. So far no two are alike.

I've been finishing miters and sticking them into plastic bags casually, when last week the mitering sister called to say she'd finished about a dozen, how was I doing.

To our surprise, when I took them out to count, our project is just like my mental state this week: only ten squares short of a full afghan.

No Mo SloMo

I could tell you what happened to me in July if only I knew what it was. Not doldrums, not lack of inspiration, nothing bad or sad or nasty. I apparently went into slo-mo. I have unfinished blog entries that document the condition, but I'll spare you.

Instead I'll show this baby hat and booties.

Pattern for the hat is from AlterKnits, the booties are a basic Lion Brand pattern and in real life are the same size as each other, I am a bad stuffer. I'd choose a more refined pattern for the next pair. An aside: do not do a search online looking for "booty". Trust me. I love this yarn. The colors are wonderful, the feel is soft & spongey, all this from one skein with a bit left over, and the hat reminds me very much of the tie-dyed new mama its going to.

The house refilled with guys, the camping son returned with a gimp addiction "Mom, its just like you with the knitting. I can't stop when I'm sitting around"


I managed to turn out one squoosh hat. Its KnitPicks Shine again. Love the stuff. I could be their poster child knitter. This specific hat didn't expand enough for the big headed friend it was supposed to cap, it was snapped up by another guy , so my squoosh backlog remains static. NO complaints, I like making these from time to time. Its nice to be appreciated by the sweaty teen boy herds. History of the squoosh hat here , toward the bottom of the post.

So if its productivity you're looking for, try the farmer's market.
Or my maybe next blog entry, I feel like the lethargy is lifted. Or maybe its the deadlines I have this week.........