Vacation is over, and it’s time to get back to the grind. I’m still working from home this week, so it’s not a *total* shock to the system. But today was still pretty brutal.
Archive for the ‘Fibercrafts’ Category
Colors of June
23
Jun
New Zealand impatiens
The color of June at my house, this year, is PINK. My son is getting married here next month, and his bride’s favorite color is purple. We started looking for purple flowers, and there aren’t many.
Double impatience!
So we’ve gone with hot pinks, pale pinks and white. The gardens looks so pretty, especially after the last few years where they’ve gotten so little attention.
Snapdragon
The wedding will be small (intimate!), casual, and that’s totally in keeping with the happy couple. Two more laid-back people, I can’t imagine. We’ll celebrate, then they’re driving to Colorado where Sean is interning on an organic farm.
Potted herb gardens - centerpieces
He’s a chef, and I couldn’t resist bringing a little “spice” to the party, with these dish gardens. They smell wonderful, too.
Pink and white dahlias
I’m a little bit frazzled, thinking about getting this little party together. Not as much as Paul, who’s in the middle of drywalling the downstairs bath (after discovering a leak, and extensive water damage, inside the wall). But we’ll get it together, and it’ll be magic.
Nonstop begonia
This post inspired by Sue at Life Looms Large. Check out her photography and weaving – I want to be Sue when I grow up!
Is this really June?
09
Jun
Listening to Traffic, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. Delicious memories. I can feel an iTunes crawl coming on, looking for more Steve Winwood.
I’ve just put on wool socks, and wish fervently that I had a sweater and my fingerless gloves with me here in Rexford. It’s raining, around 50F, and feels like early April. Which is all the more difficult to bear, since we’ve already had several 90F days this season.
Weather aside – It’s a great year. I feel marvelous, juicy and full of creative energy, and a kind of … understanding … about projects taking time. About how a little bit every day adds up. Yes, I’ve always known it to be true. But this year I know it in my heart, too. A kind of grokking knowledge.
I keep looking for the middle-aged balance. The time when I’m not blown about by life’s gales, the time when I can walk serenely through life. I’m getting closer, I think. I’m also sure that I’ll read this in five years and laugh at my immaturity. (Why would now be any different?) I can hardly bear to read some of the crap I wrote here, for example. Yet I keep it up. Again, the day-at-a-time thing. Today’s post is number 1,415. That’s a hell of a lot of writing over the last nearly-eight years, more and longer than any journal I’ve had.
What are NOT progressing, are knitting projects. Not for lack of excuses: I’ve yet to make peace with my eyesight. As much as I love contacts, they just don’t cut it for close work. Neither do my glasses – they’re old and scratched, never mind the prescription is old. This is my excuse, anyway. There’s also the lack of idle time, and the warmer weather, and my fascination with the computer/iPad/Facebook/ebooks, and the wedding, and and and.
Of course, if I had either sweater with me this week, I’d be knitting – instead of blogging.
Wild and breezy
08
May
Being plugged in has its benefits. My phone, iPad and MacBook have all been warning me of today’s wind warning. And no surprise, here it is.
So long, January
01
Feb
It was tougher than most. Seems like I got the worst of both cities’ weather, wherever I was. I’m glad to be shut of it.
Winter knitting continues. The traveling cables sweater is two-fronts-and-a-sleeve from finishing. (Sounds better when I say it that way, instead of “The back and one sleeve are done.”) I forgot to take a picture today while the sun shone (Yes, the sun made a rare January appearance again today) but maybe next week.
Except that I’ll be away next week, on an island where they have no sheep. And I’ve decided not to bring any knitting.* There won’t be much time when we’re not on the beach, or exploring, or swimming, or ??
That’s it for this quick drive-by. Sorry Mom, I’ll try to be more regular about posting! Enjoy the Superbowl tonight, if you are so inclined. And think of Lisa and Adam, down in the midst of the festivities.
*It almost hurts to type that
Serious questions
01
Oct
Naturally, since I have a real blinger of a cold, this is the week when everything happens. Most notably, I drove downstate yesterday for more interviews (same job), and I’m feeling pretty optimistic. I am too superstitious to say more than that. The won’t be making a decision for a couple weeks. I hate being patient!
The big thing today is, I have some questions I hope every Congressperson asks themselves before another revised “bailout” bill is presented for a vote.
- Have you ever been told by a used car salesman or real estate agent, that it’s critical that you sign a contract today? Did you buy it, and sign? (If you did, how dare you serve in Congress?)
- When everyone around you is losing their heads, do you tend to throw yours away too? (If you do, how dare you serve in Congress?) Or do you think clearly and calmly about a solution?
- Are you happy that you were pressured into
– - sending our troops to Iraq?
– - allowing people to be terrorized by the Patriot Act?
– - gutting the budget by passing “tax relief” plans without the corresponding budget cuts?
– - the Surge*?
- To Obama and McCain: When will you stop pandering to the polls and take a stand you truly believe in?
I’d hoped to be able to vote for a mainstream candidate this election year. Instead, the Libertarians and their Presidential candidate, Bob Barr, will most likely have my vote.
Read the latest Libertarian press release on the bailout here.
Learn more about the Libertarian Party and its platform here.
* I was stunned to hear this called a success. I suppose that bringing the body count back down to 2003 levels is enough to call it “success”.
Project promiscuity
12
Sep
I switched projects again yesterday. Although more linen will be here today, and I still haven’t finished the cardigan, the lovely Fern Lace was tossed aside for some Hillswick Lumber.
Wait a sec. That sounds as if I was called by the fair isle’s siren song. That’s not quite what happened. I’ve been lusting after a new project. Symptoms: adding projects to my Ravelry queue; trolling yarn stores, both online and local; beginning the convoluted rationalizations required for a major stash acquisition.
To stop myself, I pulled out all my stash
(ok, all my yarn stash) (well, except for sock yarn) and spread it on the floor. And there’s quite a bit there. Sweater-sized portions of Cascade 220, Sierra, and Harrisville Shetland, all the yarn for Feitelson’s Sandwater Jumper; tank-sized lots of misc. cotton; two shoe boxes of leftover Shetland, with no more than 400 yds of any color; and many leftover skeins of DK-to-worsted wool, perfect for hats, scarves, mittens, or perhaps an afghan.
I can knit for a year or more without buying any yarn.
Looking at this pile o’ yarn, I was rightly ashamed of shopping. So I convinced myself that finishing one of my UFO’s would be just penance. Irish Moss is almost out of yarn, which means I have to spin more … which will happen, but not today. Fern Lace has already been ruled out, because it’s not summer here any longer. [Looks like we'll have plenty of cool weather for Lisa when she gets here.] So Hillswick was elected.
To cure the itch for something new, I found this video showing how to hold both yarns in my left hand. I practiced all day, but it was annoying. I kept having to re-wrap and re-tension the yarn. I’m looking for the Aha! moment today or perhaps tomorrow.
Remembrance
11
Sep
I’m keeping my mourning to myself, today. I’ve written about this day before, and I don’t want to rehash it. But others are speaking out, not only in support of the victims and their bereaved loved ones, not only for the loss of innocence of several generations, but in support of the future.
(Text of this speech found here)
Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?
08
Sep
What a fun game! Very entertaining, with so many highlights. Here are my faves:
Roscoe Parish’s punt return
Lee Evan’s great catch
Marshawn Lynch running, and running, and scoring
Trent Edwards does it all
As for the garden: I did a little research on cucurbits, primarily because all my early squash blossoms have just fallen right off their stems*. The answer helped with the cuke-bounty problem in my last post: many or most of the cucumber blossoms are male blossoms, and cannot produce fruit. However, a quick check revealed over a dozen fruits growing, and there’s still 6-8 weeks till the first frost.
