Back in the saddle

Thanks for all your kind words. I have recovered from that little setback, and while I am not yet showing off a finished sweater, I think we're well on our way again.

Here is a photo I took a week and a bit ago, when I was cruising along on the yoke.


April Fools! It was all wrong, even then... But I was so pleased with my two skiers zipping down the back!



I took the whole yoke out, and decided, maybe rightly and maybe not, that it would ultimately be better if I worked on all the little bits one at a time.


So now I have two complete fronts, and two complete sleeves. I knitted the two sleeves at the same time and followed the slightly boggling raglan decreases in the pattern (a stitch at each end every 3 rows for a bit, then every 2 rows, but up at the top, decreases every row!) so I know they are the same, and should fit!

The back still looks like this, with the second skier's torso all in a mess! There's not even a knitting needle holding him together!



Onward and upward! I won't shock you even further with pictures of the inside, but I've got lots and lots of ends to hide before I can breath easy.

One likes to have those monthly goals written down, even if they are rarely met, so I'll tell you now that by the end of April, I will have a finished Skiers, and a finished Acres of Mesh! How's that for "onward and upward"!

Now I'm sad

No inspirational photos today, folks.

I got to the very top of the yoke of the Skiers cardigan. I cast off at the front necks, decreasing away... Then the bright idea popped into my head to count some stitches.

I had more stitches on one sleeve than on the other!

I had more little knitted tree motifs on one sleeve than on the other!

I had neglected, way back at the underarm, to cast off a few stitches before beginning the raglan decreases.

I am a big dummy and the creator of this stupid mess, and now I have to frog and reknit the whole frickin' frackin' yoke.

Luckily there is chocolate in the house.

So what's with Ravelry these days?

I was looking at one of my project pages on Ravelry today, and found a button that says, "Share this." I noticed a while ago that Ravelry is no longer in beta, and I guess I missed any fanfare they may have made about that. But I think that I can now share my projects with any old passer-by, just by clicking.

Let's try, now, shall we? This should lead you to my page about the Skiers sweater.

I guess I can only share my own things, as is reasonable, so anyone who is not yet a member should surely still become one. Then you can see who else has made such crazy and delightful things.

I will soon have a picture of the Skiers that will knock your socks off, but for now, I leave you with the wallpaper we found under all those tiles in the basement bathroom.



I won't show you what else we found, but I'll give you a hint: The tub was sitting on rubble. There doesn't seem to have been much of an actual floor. It is verrrrry scarrrry, and once we figure out how to get the tub up the stairs and out of the house, I will show you the completely empty room. Don't hold your breath.

Funhouse mirror

I picked up this abandoned teapot the other day. There was a big line of ancient masking-tape glue across it, which we took off with alcohol, and I gave it a nice polish with Twinkle. Now I think it will sit on our shelf looking delightful.

Some pictures

You may remember that Arthur's spring break job involved bathroom demolition. Well, he managed that! We had the great big cousins here for a bit last weekend and they helped carry stuff out and take down the little wall at the end of the bathtub.


Anyone want a bathtub -- Free, you carry it out of the basement! Take the harvest gold toilet, too!

Also last weekend (and I mean 10 days ago, last last weekend!) someone gave me some tulips.


I love tulips when they are on their last legs! I took this indoors, and then tried to move operations outside but a) my camera battery failed and b) the petals fell off when I lifted the pot!

I will attempt to keep these bulbs and plant them in the fall, but I have bad luck with such enterprises.

And that's all that's happening around here, folks.

A note from the archivist

About that crocus picture.... I had to check to see if I really take the same picture every year!

Last year, the crocus picture was on March 26.

2008's was not until April 7.

In 2007, the crocuses are nowhere to be seen, but we had pansies in April.

In 2006, I was in Cambridge, the land that is overwhelmed with crocuses at a certain point in the year, and I posted a picture on March 28.

So, in fact, I don't take the same picture every year, but I am always glad to see a flower or two, and this year's are early.


Here is the general scene -- no leaves on the trees, but the old guys are taking advantage of the warm days to rake out the bocce pit in preparation for the season. Last week, they could do this; this coming week is supposed to be cold and damp.

I take the same picture every year

Crocuses. Yay!

How controversial

An ad for talk radio. Do that many people really care!? Apparently we knitters do rule the world.

Tasty treats and headless skiers

I've been knitting, but I've also been experimenting in the kitchen, and I've had a spectrum of failures and successes there.

Failures:

1. I made a chocolate banana bread, but I had to go get Elaine from school just in that crucial 10 minutes, and took it out too early and it was uncooked mush in the middle. Not the fault of anything but bad timing.
2. The bread machine came with some recipes, but the plain white loaf recipe is for a slightly different model. We've had moderate success with that, but another recipe -- written for my model but on the "rapid rise" setting -- turned out to be a lump of tasty, pasty half-baked dough. It also was supposed to be ready for the next day's breakfast, but one must press the buttons in just the right order, which apparently we failed to do, so it was done at 10 pm. I think there might also have been a shortage of yeast in that loaf.

Successes:

1. I followed the recipe on the bread machine for Cheesy Cheese loaf, which uses cottage cheese, Swiss (we used cheddar) and a bit of Parmesan cheese. This was to show off at my birthday party, and it worked perfectly! Phew.
2. You may remember that I started to read the Julie/Julia project blog. A few of the recipes really intrigued me, so I put the book on hold at the library. (One can also find it here!) Unfortunately another hundred or so people also had the same bright idea, so I haven't seen it yet. However, I knew that a friend had it, so I got her to read me the recipe for Roquefort crackers over the phone. She read it correctly and I wrote it down correctly, but when it came time to actually make it, I used 1/4 cup of butter instead of 1/4 pound. They were fine, if not truly artery-clogging. I discovered my mistake and made them again, but couldn't handle more 35% cream, so used 18%. And now I present you with my delicious interpretation of Julia Child's Roquefort Galettes:
   

Mash up with a fork in a 2 quart bowl, 1/4 pound of Roquefort or blue cheese (I made it once with an $8 piece of cheese, and the second time with a $4 piece of cheese, and both were fine. Guess which I would use again).

Beat in 1/4 pound of softened butter (1/4 cup of butter will make you decent biscuits, but they will be much drier and more biscuit-like than crackery, if you know what I mean), 2 tablespoons of whipping cream (I even toyed with the idea of using milk and think it would be fine, but I had good success with 18% cream) and an egg yolk. Must get your daily dose of fat somehow.

Knead in 3/4 cup of flour.

Form the dough in to a ball and chill until firm. Roll it out very thin, cut with the rim of a small drinking glass (Julia says, 1/4 inch thick and 1.5 inch rounds) and bake at 425F for 10-15 minutes.

They are super good. As one might expect -- stinky cheese, tons of fat, and a bit of flour to hold it all together. Yummers! These were also served at my party on the weekend.

I must include one more thing in the culinary adventures chapter here. Arthur found a book at the library called A Field Guide to Candy. So we had to try to make caramels. All went well; we boiled cream and sugar at enormous temperatures, and then we poured the mixture into a pan to set. They said to line the pan with parchment paper, but we didn't have that, so used tinfoil. Ikes! The delicious candy goo stuck to the foil like crazy, and now one truly has to work to defoil the treats. Next time, parchment paper!

And now for knitting!


I have done the back, both fronts and a sleeve of the Skiers sweater, up to the underarms. One more sleeve to go, and then a ton of decreasing around the yoke and all will be well.

It's been perfect weather for this sweater the last couple of days. The gloom has gone and we have a few days of sun and warm temperatures. I even saw some snowdrops the other day.


I also saw on the streets of Toronto a Mary Maxim curling sweater! I take full credit for the new fashion trend of Mary Maxim picture sweaters, though perhaps the Olympics had something to do with the popularity of curling! I saw that some totally smitten person paid $26 for a curling sweater pattern on Ebay the other day!

Today, more March Break fun -- perhaps I'll take the kids to the grocery store to stock up on provisions! We're out of cream!

Back to seasonal gloom

We've had nice March sunshine lately, but today we are back to normal March weather. Some birds were passing through, which we haven't seen for a bit.


Make me a blanket like that!

No thoughtful reflective post for you today

Hello dear blog-readers,
Today is my birthday. It's a big one... a really big one, with a zero at the end and a five at the beginning.

Nothing earth-shattering is happening here. I've been told not to go into the shed, but when I suggest to the kids that there is a motorcycle in there for me, they assure me that is not true. Who knows?

Some people get mushy about the passage of time and all that, but things seem much the same today as they did yesterday. I do get a nice dinner out tonight, and a party on Saturday, but perhaps the idea that I am now over the hill and on the downward slope just hasn't sunk in yet.

Arthur and I went to the Textile Museum this morning, and saw some wonderful quilts and shawls -- shawls that really wrap around a person, huge things! Paisley, woven, printed, light, heavy... not knitted, though! I knew there were quilts, but I got mixed up between the Textile Museum quilt show and the Royal Ontario Museum quilt show. I'll hit up the ROM sometime soon.

Since Arthur is off school this week, and since we are having a party here this coming weekend, I thought he could do some prep work, and asked Stephen to provide him with chores, like buying potato chips or sweeping the floor. Stephen's mind was clearly on other things, and he gave Arthur the following list:

• take everything out of the basement bathroom
• take all the tiles off the walls
• smash out the tub
• take down the little stub of a wall between the tub and the toilet
• smash out the floor tiles
• replace the sink and vanity

So, needless to say, this will not all get done in a week, and the basement bathroom is presently unusable. We hadn't used the tub in ages, and it was holding a 3-level shelf, full of paint cans, children's artworks, a humidifier, a lamp, with a spare mattress tucked in behind... Now all that stuff is in front of the washer and dryer.

Anyone want some tiles? There are two walls not in the picture, also covered in these tiles. We'll think of something, but I'd love to learn that someone just down the street wanted to mosaic their whole house. Meanwhile, the demolition is proving to be kind of fun!

And that's what happens when one turns 50, I guess!

ETA: It was a bread-making machine, not a motorbike at all! Much more useful -- stay tuned for rhapsodic posts about bread!

I Hope and wisH it finds a good Home

My H is done. I shall mail it off to England where it will end up sewn to lots and lots of other letters, in the Poetry Society's second knitted poem.


I would love it to be in

• Hope, Happy, wisH
• Hero, Heroic, Heartfelt
  
• Health, wealtH, birtH, deatH
• migHt, figHt, pligHt, sigHt
• tHink, tHougHt, tHunk (I would love my letter to be anywhere in a poem with thunk in it!)
• HurraH! oH! aHHHH!
  

But, I bet most Hs end up in tHe or tHis or some other necessary but nondescript word.

Good luck, my H, and go serve where you are most needed!

After the games

Thanks to Franklin for making this lovely medal!
And thanks to all of you who commented on my Birch! I'm quite pleased with it, of course!

I found myself digging in the stash to find another skein of laceweight yarn, but will not cast on a new anything until I get a few UFOs out of the way, and even then, I doubt a rational person would jump right in to another lace project.

One thing the Knitting Olympics shows us is that knitting monogamy (or monomania, as some would have it) gets things done. I think one doesn't have to set such a crazy pace, but certainly it would be interesting to try to knit 12 things in a year. Not 12 dishcloths, but a few sweaters, a few pairs of socks, maybe a few hat and mitt sets. Sounds totally doable -- if we can knit shawls and sweaters and blankets in 2 weeks with only minor stress and injury, think how breezy it would be if we had a whole month!

Last year I started doing 52 things in 52 weeks -- there are a lot of tiny objects on the list, and though I was ahead for much of the early going, I am now at 39 weeks and 33 projects. But maybe when the 52 weeks are over and {ahem} I have finished all those things I have started, I might just try to think of 12 major things to make in the next 12 months.

I could probably come up with a short list right now:

1. something with my Felted Tweed. I have a couple of sweaters from Rowan 44 in mind. Fear of colourwork is holding me back a bit, though.
   
2. the cardigan from Rowan 47 I didn't make for the Olympics -- I was going to switch and use the Kureyon Sock yarn, but perhaps it's not a decent sub for KSH!
   
3. the cardigan I've sort of started with the Kureyon Sock. Maybe #2 and #3 will end up being one item, and maybe two
   
4. a classic denim sweater -- maybe Sunday Best or Whitby or some other gansey-esque item. First I have to decide if I dare make it for Arthur, who continues to grow and grow, or for someone else
   
5. I have so much sock yarn, let's add a pair of socks
6. and another pair of socks
7. Something with that skein of laceweight I dug out today!
8. I have some lovely grey Cascade wool that would make a fancy-pants cabled scarf and hat (hat and mitts?) or maybe a giant shawl
   
9. I have some pink cotton that begs to be made into a swanky summer wrap, maybe a Clapotis
   
10. Can I come up with twelve off the top of my head, from stash? I could make one month "hats from stash" month, and likely whip up 3 or 4 in various weights.
11. I have 2 blankets that will not be finished by the end of this 52-week business. The Louvre floor needs at least 8 or 9 more squares,
12. and I have a few squares of a sock-yarn-leftovers blanket. When I get more leftovers, I'll make more squares.

There! Now, let's see what happens in the next 13 weeks while I finish up my 52 in 52, and we'll check in on this grand scheme again.

In the middle of writing this I realised that I'm not going to start polishing off UFOs right this minute: first I have an H to make for the Poetry Society. I got this far before getting distracted...


Getting distracted is the one major danger to plans like this, I find.

So, for the immediate future, I will finish the Skiers and my H. That's all I'll say just now!

La la la la LA la

Let me tell you, this is a proud moment!
I ktog'd the last three stitches yesterday afternoon, hid my ends, dunked 'er and stretched 'er, and this morning we're all dry and ready to go!

Knitting gold for me!

(unblocked)

Let me give you the full details of this accomplishment:

I started Birch in December or January, and by the 4th of January I had knit from 299 stitches down to 279. Then it sat around for weeks, and I meant to get it done sometime before now, but was distracted by the Skiers and those pre-Olympic socks!

I had planned to knit children's socks for the Olympics, but then I realised I had to finish them and mail them to San Francisco for March 1, so I did them first, finishing them on the 13th, the day after the Olympics started.

In the days leading up to the opening ceremonies, I toyed with various ideas, and finally put myself on Stephanie's list as knitting a really nice cardigan which I fully mean to knit one day, perhaps after I've swatched and got more appropriate yarn! But my coach (the good angel who sits on my shoulder occasionally) directed me to stick with a sport I knew something about, and not go running off to become a figure skater when really I'm a snowboarder. Or whatever.


And so I knit on Birch again! And knit and knit and knit, and the rows did get shorter and shorter and shorter! Once you're down below 100 stitches a row, things do happen fast. The repeats fly off the needles, as it were.

Whoo hoo! (Also, the Canadian athletes are doing really well, and we got 3 gold medals yesterday, 13 golds all together so far [one more to come, I'm sure] and any one from any country who can ski in those gloomy, damp, wretched conditions of a wet February day up Whistler deserves an extra medal!)


See you all at the game this afternoon! A little more cross-border rivalry for the hockey gold... Bring it on!

Indeed, there is a light up ahead

You can't really tell, but there's only about 79 stitches left. That's about 65 rows, give or take. And they really are short now!

Can we do it? Yes, we can!

And of course, Canada will be in the gold medal hockey game tomorrow. Too much excitement!

The blob

Here it is, my Olympic shawl:


Not a pretty sight, is it?

We have a few more thrilling hockey games to go. Elaine is having a friend over tomorrow morning, which may give me more or less knitting time -- hard to predict these things. Arthur has to be taken to a party tomorrow afternoon, which will take someone an hour. The kitchen is really a disaster. It has finally snowed a decent amount, so I think we are going sliding in the park after school.

And a shawl is not finished till it's blocked, so I have to get it finished a wee bit before the very last minute.

When is that last minute, anyways? Ah, it looks like the ceremonies start at 8:30 pm TO time on Sunday, so that's just loads of time. Right, loads of time! Right??

If I were the betting sort....

I'm not sure I would be betting on myself to finish this Olympic challenge!

I feel like the women racing in the giant slalom right now, in the snow. We all know that when it's snowing, the proper thing to do is head to the hot tub, but they are out there racing and falling through the muck, with zero visibility and icy faces.

I don't have an icy face, but conditions are not perfect for Olympic knitting. Like, for example, I should not completely ignore the needs of my family to eat, in relatively clean surroundings.

I just tell myself that though I have 140 rows to go (more or less) the rows do get shorter, so all is not lost. However, if I find myself with 100 rows still to go and no time, all will be lost.

Okay, enough dithering. I'll go unearth a kitchen counter and then resume knitting. And then I'll have to watch another hockey game tonight -- ack, no, I'm supposed to go out and actually socialize with other humans tonight -- oh, where's that hot tub?

Added some time later: Oh, was that a game! The USA-Switzerland game was way more exciting than I had expected! I just saw the last period, but hooo-boy that was thrilling hockey!

Olympic bowling

We took a break from the Olympic knitting and the occasional sport-watching this weekend to celebrate our own achievement: Elaine is now 10 years old!


We took a cake, some candles and a handful of girls up the hill to the bowling alley. I think everyone had fun -- some very careful children kept track of the score, but all rivalry was quite civilized.

And now both my children are in the double-digit ages. Arthur will be a teenager in a few short weeks. Where does the time go??

It's hard to knit lace and watch hockey at the same time

Oh, Em, Gee.
US 1, Canada 0, after 49 seconds of play.
And how can I pay attention to my Birch? Do I risk dropped stitches, or do I put it aside for a couple of hours? Eeeeek!

Time passes:

Are you watching this?! Halfway through the first period, 2-1 for the other guys. And I can tell you things are tough when you mess up the stitch over a K2tog. Perhaps I'd best just watch the game...

End of second period: 3-2, US still in the lead. Looks like I'll have to stay up past my bedtime to see the end of this. Birch progress is minimal.

Oh, boo hoo! We took our goalie out in the last minute to try to tie it up before the end of the game, but to no avail -- the Americans scored one last time to win 5-3!

Good game, guys, and .... grr, next time!!

Approximately 3 rows were knitted.

Only 200 more rows to go

It's very hard to see the colours, and hard to see the pattern as it is all scrunched up on the needles. I managed to find a decent circular needle -- on the floor, not near anything I might knit with it -- and progress is slow but steady. It's just so fiddly, this dang laceweight!

We were playing Scrabble last night, and the word "tied" was on the board. Stephen said, "ha, ha, is 'stied' a word? Like the pig was in its sty; it was stied." Just to be sure, we looked it up, and indeed to "sty" is a verb. Our actual paper dictionary gives a more full definition, which includes, as the 5th definition, "to live in or as in a sty." So, I am stied today. Must dig out from under the laundry and dishes, must go get some groceries, must unsty the place!

Rock on...

Do I spend more time blogging when I'm knitting under pressure?

Today's Birch is hardly different from yesterday's, but I've had to pause a moment to look through my closet to try yet again to find the perfect needles for the job.

I have found several pairs of needles I no longer want or need, and one pair that I will test out.

First I used the circular needle with the little bump at the end of the cord -- ick. Then I got some plastic straights which are too flexible, not pointy enough and ... straight! -- ick. Now I have metal straights.

Please stop me from going down to Romni and spending $25 on a pair of Addis.

But, enough about me! The Poetry Society is knitting another poem! See it on Ravelry, or try Facebook. I hope to get all the dope soon and add a letter to my never-ending pile of WIPs.

And now, back to work.

A day late, but done

The pre-Olympic sock sprint is over, and although I stumbled across the finish line a day late, I am pleased that these socks are done and out of the way.

Now I shall mail them off to San Francisco and they shall end up keeping some Afghan child a bit warm.

And, start on my real Olympic project. Oh, indecision and confusion! I said on the Yarn Harlot's sign-up page that I would make Sedate from Rowan 47, but I am not using the designer's yarn, I haven't swatched, I just noticed the sleeves have lace knitting on right and wrong side rows.... I think I should be prepared to give that project more time, and I should go back to idea #48c, which is work on Birch.

Also, I have that pile of UFOs to wrap up....

Real Olympic athletes don't have to fuss about whether they are skiers or skaters, do they?

Edited a few hours later: I knit one plain row of Birch, then I stared at it and skimmed over the pattern to find which row I should be doing. Then I made up something completely wrong and knit about 200 stitches before figuring out what I should really do. Then I tinked out those 200 stitches and knit the one pattern row, and one plain row. And that is the evening's work: 3 lousy rows. This will be a marathon, for sure!

Read what the pattern actually says, and look at your work!

Last pre-Olympic post

I am off to see King Tut at the Art Gallery now and likely won't get another stitch knitted for a few hours. I am just on the heel flap of sock #2. I guess... oh... what to do? I think I will finish the dang sock a.s.a.p and cast on the Olympic cardi when I can!
Good luck, all!

Sock progress

This was the sock yesterday morning. It was on the floor with the ol' Dr Who mask we once got in a loot bag from a kid birthday party.

Then things got a bit silly. This is, of course, me.

And now I have one finished sock!
Can I make a whole second sock before Friday?

The emergency blue toe is because I now have a nice digital scale,
and I could tell that I had used half my yarn already.
This way I hope to have two socks that look alike, at least!

Right, back to work!

There was a party

Friends of ours had a February Deblahification (I think that was the word!) party on the weekend. Potluck, but only desserts, please.

One can get all the food groups in a meal of desserts -- cheesecake for protein, fruit salad for fruit...


From my contribution, one would get white flour, white sugar, eggs, butter and cocoa. Plus pink icing and giant heart-shaped sprinkles! It was a bit early for Valentine's Day, but it was an opportunity to publicly show off my heart sprinkles.

The pre-Olympic sock sprint is going well, though I'm not sure I can get the whole pair done by Friday. Stay tuned!

Passing it forward, and Olympian challenges

I saw this on Tempewytch's blog, and I was one of her winners! So, now I make this offer on my blog. It is a bit different from others I've seen on knitting blogs -- this just involves 5 items, and not necessarily a handmade gift.

1. Send no less than 5 stitching/knitting/craft related items per person within the next 365 days.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads. This is obviously for stitching - for other crafts do something similar! (And we know there are lots of little knitting gadgets around!)
   
3. The items must be new and not used. (Send things you'd be happy to receive.)
4. You will post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people.

So, leave me a comment before, hmmm, next Friday, Feb 12, the first day of the Olympics, and I will draw 2 lucky winners!

And speaking of Olympics, I have had to reorder my priorities about the Knitting Olympics. The socks I was going to knit need to be finished and in San Francisco March 1. And the Olympics end Feb. 28.

So I am doing a pre-Olympic dash on them now, while knitting a row or two on the Skiers here and there, and then I'll do Birch for the Olympics. (If I continue to knit with my kids in the pub, I will get nowhere, I'm sure.)

It's a plan, though perhaps not a very good one. And indeed Birch has been started some time ago, but there is still plenty to be challenging for 16 days.

Perhaps I am bending the rules here somewhat... Maybe I'll start a whole new thing and play by all the rules and never get around to poor Birch after all!

It's February -- let's make a list

I will make this month:

Skiers

Birch

some Olympic children's socks for a4A... that is, I will make a pair of socks for my Olympic challenge, which I will then give to afghans for Afghans for their youth campaign

I think that's about enough! I don't need more than three promises to fall short on...

Note to self re: PD James

I must have read every PD James book in our local library.

I often pick one up, thinking it has somehow escaped me in the past, and take it home, only to discover about 20 pages in that I know that scene, that minor character, that road by the ocean.

I always plug on, because I can't remember who the bad guy is or even who gets murdered, why they were murdered, what thrilling end game we will be treated to. I am now reading, for at least the second time, but perhaps even the third, one called Devices and Desires.

As I always need a picture, I give you two possibly dangerous items from my very own collection. Which might be the weapon: the cricket bat once discarded by neighbours who were moving, or the 100-year-old soup ladle, once owned by my Dutch grandmother? (I hope to see short stories featuring a soup ladle as a murder weapon appearing soon!)

And now I think I have to venture out in the cold to pick up Elaine from a birthday party. The birthday girl generously asked guests not to bring gifts for her, but donations for Haiti!

That doesn't stop me whining about having to go out in the cold.

It might be quicker to make it in marble

Those of you who hang on my every word will remember that I once admired a certain floor in the Louvre, and decided to knit it.


I took this baby out this weekend because I needed "yakking with knitters in the coffee shop" knitting, and wasn't I good to work on this instead of starting something new?

This is not that much like the original, is it? (Just tilt your head -- I was too lazy to rotate the picture...)


I see that the stone one isn't as simple as I'd first thought. I was just making this:


But, as I now see, the colours are not uniformly distributed:


And, of course, I have 4 colours instead of 6 -- and there is a lot of variation in those 6! In fact, I have used two different light browns and a bit of silvery grey for some of the white -- aren't I clever? (No, because I have now used up all the second light brown in a different project...)

Ah well, since it is not a project I have worked on with any real diligence, I will put these issues off yet again and worry about it later!

For fun, I will continue to pay attention to my brown collection and keep an eye out for good yarn for this, but really, Must Knit Skiers! (I have the back and 1.5 fronts up to the arms, and will get everything to that point and then join in a yoke.)

I must add that I just put a batch of brownies in the oven. As I was putting the batter into the pan, I realised I hadn't greased the pan. Will disaster follow?

Now here's a paragraph

I am reading the original Julie/Julia project blog these days. I am maybe half-way through. Of course, Julie talks about her cooking, but she also talks about her husband and politics and New York and food. She has at least inspired me to put Julia Child's book on hold at the library, so I can make leeks gratinees and beef stew with anchovies in it!

But look at this -- this is perfect:

"It seems to me – and I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit – that any revolution in food and agricultural [sic] has to be two pronged. Yes, by all means, extol the virtues of the artisanal this and organic that, patronize the small farmers and the renegade cheese-makers, if you can afford it. But the goal is to make good food available to everyone, isn’t it? And that means doing more than opening a hoity-toity restaurant. That means lobbying and teaching and bringing the food to Mohammed, and otherwise getting your hands dirty. Get the peach to the inner city kids killing themselves with Krispy Kremes. Get the peach to the 22-year-old mother of three living off welfare checks, dependent on the Bargain Market in the strip mall. Do that – and I don’t know how you do – and you’ve really got something.

Otherwise, you’re just shoveling horseshit for rich people.

[And with that, Julie modestly descends from her soapbox.]"

From March 18, 2003. You can also read the comments there that offer some other thoughts.

And now, I shall go knit a sweater. Oh, I need a picture...

This will be my Knitting Olympics official cup. A tacky touristy Vancouver mug from likely 20 or 30 years ago. There are other significant things that would be on a modern-day tourist mug, I think!

The very exciting spelling bee

Elaine was in the school spelling bee last week. There were 22 kids to start, from grades 4, 5 and 6. We parents were stuck way up in the bleachers, but the spellers had a microphone so we had no trouble hearing. The whole school was watching!


That's her in the middle in the red pants, spelling one of her first words. The benches are full of kids. As time went on, the crowd of spellers dwindled.



That was her penultimate word -- I was saving camera battery power so didn't catch her last try -- "synthetically." The last successfully spelled word of the day was "muesli"!

Now we must watch Spellbound, and see what happens next year!

Finished, I finished!

Don't get too excited -- it's doll-sized!

I meant to have this under the Christmas tree and addressed to Elaine's doll, but circumstances did not allow that!

It's this pattern, and used about 1/2 a ball of sock yarn. The funny proportions make it easy to get on over dolly's stiff fingers, and she doesn't complain about the bunching under her arms. We'll see about a modeled shot, but this morning the only doll I could find had no pants on and her hair was a mess!

Far out, far away

So, there was an annular solar eclipse.

Since I am not in the Maldives, I have to rely on others to take pictures, but I have borrowed this one from Reuters...

That's the sun, not the moon!

Oh, so cool. Except that people seem to have been looking at it through X-ray film and little cardboard glasses, which doesn't strike me as correct procedure. Just FYI, NASA says: "Unsafe filters include color film, some non-silver black and white film, medical x-ray films with images on them, smoked glass, photographic neutral density filters and polarizing filters."

Enough of that! What I really wanted to share with you today is this video of Holly Cole.

My husband does a lot of travelling to conferences and to give talks to physicists far and wide, and he's been to both Vancouver (that's in the big blue province on the west) and Fredericton (in province #3 on the east) this week. So, eventually, I get to singing this song...

Zooming right along

Love these 6 mm needles! I think when I am old and blind, I will just knit stocking stitch on 6 mm needles forever... deo volente et me potente, touch wood, etc.


Anyhoo, the first skier is in motion.

I would suggest to anyone making such a garment: don't start with the back! A wonky skier on a sleeve will be much less noticeable than one slap in the middle of one's back! This is not too bad, but I am sure I can get better at maneuvering the bits of colour around.

Those skis are especially tricky! And the goldarn poles! One stitch at the end, say a purl row. Fine. Then knit a bazillion stitches on the next row, fine. Then! Bring the yarn back across to purl one more stitch! Holy cow! When I have trimmed and secured all the ends nicely I will show you the back, but for now it is a bit of a mess.

My poor Birch sits and waits. I'll do this sweater, then Birch, then, I hope, it will be time for the Olympics, and then I have to make my mom a pair of socks for her 90th birthday... But wait... I meant to make myself a sweater for my birthday... I guess Birch will be my present! But I think I might give it to someone else... Ah, the knitter's life is never simple!

Big sigh, more later...

The tension is killing me

I've knitted one ball of the black yarn on my Skiers sweater already! I have 12, so, as usual, I am doing ridiculous calculations to see if I need to buy more.

But that's not the main point. The main point is, Lookee here, I made some zigzags!

The pattern says to use a separate length of red for each line, which I thought crazy at first. So I just went along with my one ball of red and my one ball of black. Eeeuw! Especially on the circular needle, twisting around with only 3 or 4 inches of knitted fabric below, I was not happy knitting one red stitch and 5 black ones across the row. It was hard to keep the tension right and I was loathe to leave a float of 5 stitches, so I had to hoick the red up in the middle, which didn't actually add to my pleasure at all.

I finally decided to follow orders, so cut myself 13 lengths of red. It worked quite well, except that instead of being too tight, that bit of knitting is too loose! Actually, I don't like doing colourwork... what am I doing making this garment at all... all is lost... gimme back my lace!

Ah, 6 rows of plain black has now calmed me down and I am about to start on the skier! I think I'll be more able to keep my tension on this part, since it's more or less one big blob of colour in the middle. Stay tuned...

Starting the year off right

Oh, the joys of back-to-school! Now I have time to accomplish all those millions of little things, right?

I have a pile of knitted bits which need to be sewn up into two sweaters.


Don't hold your breath.

I should also point out that little ball of green in the basket there: it was supposed to be a doll sweater for Christmas. Better really get on to that again soon! I would have finished it in time, honest, if only the kids stayed in school till Christmas eve!

I have started to knit Birch, out of that nice yarn I have been looking at for 2 years.



Sorry, terrible picture! You start with 299 stitches and decrease down to the point, and I'm down below 279 now. It is not too hard, but I am not giving up my stitch markers just yet. I'm doing it in garter stitch, which makes it sort of fluffy. The yarn is very soft. I am using straight needles because I like these points, but I wish I could spread it out and see the whole width. Ah, the excitement.

I have ordered yarn for this classic gem, the Skiers, which I hope to have knitted for the Olympics, mid-February. I don't have the yarn in hand right yet, but this will soon be competing with Birch for actual knitting time.


I saw one in real life over the holiday -- bright green with yellow skiers! I liked it a lot, and decided I didn't need to have white snowy background. Mine will be blazing skiers, red and yellow on black! Hoo-la!

Ha ha ha ha ha.

In non-knitting news, we got two new jigsaw puzzles at Christmas. Why oh why did we start with the 1000-piece one? The one with the tantalizingly different buildings, interspersed with identical-seeming patches of shadow?


This morning we were soooo close to finishing, having 2 holes and 2 pieces. Alas, the pieces did not fit in the holes! Those big black shadows are deadly, I tell ya!


Finally, after a bit of rearranging, success! Every dang bit of shadow is now perfect. The dining room table is still covered with this, though, and we can't sit and admire it for too much longer. Back in the box!