Knitting
End of doldrums?
The bane of my summer existence, the Celtic festival, has come and gone so I can settle in and enjoy the remainder of the summer. I know there are among you some who simply love Celtic music, but really, two and a half days of it playing outside my living room is a bit much, don't you think? Anyway, it's done for this year.
My birthday is this week -- what I call my Beatles birthday as I will turn 64 -- so my kids were here Saturday for a little party. My daughter and her husband and my son, his fiancee and her daughter(soon to be my granddaughter!). I think being able to be with my grown up kids is an incredible treat because they have turned into such interesting and fun adults. And their chosen partners are terrific too.
We planned to have our little party outside but Saturday brought this --
Rain. And even though it stopped by noon, the grass was wet and it was pretty damp out there.
But we had a great afternoon with good food and an incredible cake my daughter made.
That would be yellow cake with butterscotch ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. And pretty purple sprinkles.
For now, the heat has abated. It is a very nice 72F right now with a nice breeze. So I plan to enjoy the day!
Oh, I was taken to task by both kids for not having posted recipes lately. I will start doing that again soon.
Unfocused Knitter
Maybe it is the heat or maybe it is the cumulative effect of having been sick a couple of weeks, but I am about the most unfocused knitter I know right now. I have so many lace projects in progress -- and I use that term very loosely -- and yet this week I started knitting the Summit stole from the Spring Summer 2010 issue of Knitty.
I am using some lovely soft silver silk from Colourmart and I love the clever way the pattern works. I have become an expert backwards knitter thus avoiding all the turning of the work to purl. I am not impressed yet with the ends and will need to devise some kind of edging for both ends. And I do miss beads. It's not like I don't have lots of them in other projects but you, the magpie in me just loves the sparklies.
Here is a shot of the sunset here the other day -- fire in the sky
I'm back!
Felled by a really nasty summer cold, I certainly have been MIA. But I am back now.
I have done almost no knitting in the last couple of weeks. I keep fretting about what dress to get for my son's wedding and then will I complete any of the stoles in progress to go with whatever dress I do get. This is not productive. I have about 6 weeks to figure this out. EEK!
I have been continuing to take pictures so for today here are a few looks at life out my window the last couple of weeks --
Ice Cube Wars
Believe it or not this is a picture of one of those trivial sources of frustration in marriage, at least in my marriage.
I just went to fix myself a nice tall glass of iced tea. We have SIX ice cube trays. And in 5 of them there remained only a single ice cube. Is it asking too much for my otherwise perfect husband to fill the trays as he uses the ice?
We have very different ideas about how to handle the ice situation. I maintain that once the tray is no more than half filled it should be refilled. And certainly a tray with one mini cube should never be returned to the freezer without filling. He claims to do so before all the cubes have been used is "wasting ice" -- Neal, the only shortage of ice is in our freezer!!
So I filled all 5 of them, which ordinarily I wouldn't do because I am just a wee bit passive aggressive about such things and would have taken satisfaction from letting him find all the ice gone. But then where would I be?
SIGH!
View from another window
My knitting is kind of scattered these days, a little on this project, a little on that one and oh maybe I'll start this one. You know -- a little unfocused. So no pictures of the knitting today.
But I do have a project I'll introduce you to. I have been thinking a lot about how much I enjoyed my photo a day from my window project. I generally sit right across from another window, this one out onto the Common, a lovely park right here in the heart of town. So I have started taking pictures of my view from this window -- not as spectacular as the view from the other window, but kinda nice anyway. And it isn't as intense and regular a project -- more like a few pictures a week. The view is roughly to the west looking toward Main St. in Belfast. Here are a few from the past week or so.
No, it didn't take that long...
No, it didn't take me 3 weeks to block the finished Snowflake Peacock. But blocking was an interesting experience. I made a more-than-a-circle version without realizing how much more than a circle it was when finished. There was just no way to make points around the bottom because it overlapped itself twice. Bad blogger that I am, I did not take pictures of it drying. Suffice it to say that my friend, for whom it was a birthday present, loves it and insists that I no longer call it The Pink Thing.
Free of you-know-what, I developed an acute case of startitis. I need a stole for my son's wedding in August. I like Hydrangea but I am also in love Amille, knitterain's wedding shawl. So using the same lilac cash/silk, I started another:
And I think this is what I will go with. Unless...
I decide to wear this one:
which is the beginning of Osetra from Goddess Knits. The color is not true in this photo. It is actually a soft sagey green cashmere/viscose lace weight with crystal beads.
Choices choices!
Roscoe says he loves them all.
Free at last!!!
I finished it!! Last Thursday I knit the final stitch and then came the interminable bind-off which I finally completed Saturday morning. Of course I have still to block it, but hallelujah, it is done!
This is how it looks unblocked --
And what I have left of a 2700 yd. cone of yarn --
What I learned doing this project --
* I will never knit another circular shawl. The rows become so long and progress so difficult to see that it becomes tedious.
* Beads, lots of beads, give a lightweight yarn like this (2/33 cashmere/cotton) really nice drape. 11/0 beads are the right size to use here -- bigger would make it too heavy and look like too much.
This was a labor of love for my very best friend. I wouldn't do it for anyone else.
Not yet, but almost
I thought I might finish this week but I still have 2 1/2 rows to go. So I can promise that next weekend I will be able to show you pictures of the completed Snowflake Peacock.
Until then, a look at May Day in my neighborhood and nearby --
Moe just cleans himself to get ready for his nap --
Maybe next week...
Just 6 rows left. Really. Six rows. And then the great bind-off. I might even finish it by this time next week!
Masses of pink and beads. And the end is in sight.
Meanwhile, green has arrived in mid-coast Maine -
Hindrances
Just 10 rows left on the pink thing now. The rows take forever -- I am afraid to count how many stitches. It is enough for me to know that it is more than 1100 stitches per row. And more beads than I like to think about. It's hard enough to get a row done but I also have these guys who like to help -- last night both Roscoe and Spike decided that they wanted to share my lap while I was knitting. Granted my lap is ample, but not ample enough!
