Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.
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| Like The Queen Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content. |
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1 Comments:
Phew! Sounds like you are back to your old self. That's great! Bess the Dragon Slayer!
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Saturday, August 30, 2008  Rats. It's not the cable. I bought a new one. It's not corrupted drivers. I reinstalled them. The camera will take photographs, but it won't talk to my computer. Bummer. Still no Lace photography to share with still more lace a-making. But this spurs me on to buy that new camera This Weekend For Sure. In the mean time, the Creativity Jar hath yielded another directive. Well. To be perfectly honest, I pawed through the slips and pulled out something I wouldn't mind doing this week and that wouldn't require a great investment of time and involved shopping, if I want, but not necessarily so. This week I am to: Buy a Coloring Book and Crayons and Color!  Of course I bought my coloring book ages ago.  And I have crayons, but I'm thinking I want to color these dragons with pencils and that would require Shopping! I am looking for excuses to drive into town today because I have to make one more visit to the gym in order for my bosses to pay half my monthly membership. Normally it's easy to fit in 2 visits a week or even double up a couple of weeks and get all 8 visits in but being sick 2 weeks in a row has kiboshed that. I don't have to actually exercise – just check in, stroll around the track a time or two and I'll be good for the month. It's only $22 but it comes out of my pay check and I resent paying that $22 much more than say – frittering away the $ on something else. That's a skein of high end hand dyed sock yarn! Speaking of gyms, I also need new gym shoes. And vacuum cleaner bags. Can't do Saturday housework (won't be doing it anyway – still too tired) without them! Hmm. So. With shopping to do and a brief gym visit and trash to take out, can't forget that. Well. Looks like I'll be hitting the road in an hour or so. I'm better, btw. Not back to full power but for all intents, ready to go back to work. And I am knitting More Lace. Burgundy mohair/silk sweet delight. I want this one to be beaded too, but I am going to buy better quality beads. Next Saturday I want to visit the folks in Richmond so I'll stop by a Real Bead Store and try some one for size – and color. So. Happy Saturday to you. posted by Bess | 7:55 AM 2 Comments:eeep. That "all good things must come to an end" scared me for a moment. Relieved to see it's just a finished project...
Whoa! You were broad-sided by that bug, eh? Glad you are on the mend -- at least enough to knit! I hope too that your staff at the library have been able to keep your desk from collapsing under paper-weight!
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Thursday, August 28, 2008  Well, my dears. All good things must come to an end – and so must the bad. For an ENFP like TheQueen, that means resistance and struggle, but even she must succumb to the inevitable rotation of the wheel. The good thing: I finished my beautiful orange lace with green beads shawl. I hate completion. I love lingering farewells with knitting projects. I could have dithered and procrastinated but I persevered and completed instead. The hardest part by far was the casting off because the weight distribution tugged on my needles and made it hard to hold the yarn. It blocked out beautifully and since I used some Euculan in the rinse water, it's soft and fragrant as well. What I would change? I'd have added 2 more leaf pattern repeats along the border. I'd like the shawl to be a tad bit bigger and I'd like the border to be deeper too – it would look more lavish to me that way. I had just over 400 yards of sock yarn to work with and there wouldn't have been enough for 2 more repeats ... maybe one, don't know. Too late to wonder now. But with 500 yards I would have enough and that's what I'll do next time. If the camera cable comes in today there may be a photo tomorrow. If not... soon, I promise. I'm very proud of this shawl and am ready to cast on More Lace! The bad thing is actually a good thing, I know. I am going back to work today. Half day, because I still get tired and even short of breath (Dr. knows and laughed at me and said “Hey – you've been really sick, not sort of sick.”) But it's been almost 2 weeks since I darkened the library door. God knows what's on my desk by now but I know that one computer died the day I went home sick. It's still dead. I'd like to have a few bills paid and a few decisions made before Labor Day week starts. But I'm no fool and I want to be realio trulio well AsFastAsPossible, so I will come home and nap away the afternoon. We got a teeeeeeeensy bit of rain last night. Enough to darken the ground, alas, not really enough to make the azalea leaves perk up. Mr.WeatherDotCom says there will be more. Let us hope so. So. Heigh Ho, it's off to work I go.
posted by Bess |
7:49 AM
1 Comments:Glad that you're starting to feel better. We'll be looking forward to seeing that orange lace shawl with the beads! Sounds lovely. Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Can you cope with a prolonged period of comparative prosperity? That's not necessarily a silly question. You're often most at ease when you're striving for something. Even though the sky is not about to give you all you have ever wanted, it's set to take away some of the tension and urgency you have lately been experiencing. Over the next few days and weeks you may lose a little of that 'hungry edge' which usually keeps you going. Your next big challenge is more likely to involve remembering how to relax This was Monday's advice from Mr.Horoscope which was followed up with a diagnosis from Dr.DoogieHoward of acute frontal sinus infection, followed by instructions to stay home a couple more days. And Wash My Hands Frequently. And here are pills to help with infection, nausea and headaches. And yes, it's normal to sleep 18 hours a day when you are fighting infection. Which, actually I knew, only usually when you do that you get better and I wasn't getting better. I needed the big antibiotic artillery. Thank you all, for your kind get well posts, though, and emails too. It does feel good to start feeling good again. I'm still a little listless but my sleep cycle is all out of whack. I have also watched every movie in the house, including White Christmas and Independence Day – forgot that was my crush, Will Smith, who played the fighter pilot. And just about finished knitting my orange lace shawl with green beads. The beads are what's taking so long, because I had to un-string them and now I'm adding them with the crochet hook instead. A slower process but in a way pleasant. I've enjoyed this project so much I'm a little reluctant to see it come to completion. I also cast on another lace triangle out of that blue silk I was struggling with last winter. Altogether, this has been the lace cure. A camera cable ought to show up in the mail in a day or two and if that turns out to have been the problem, I'll have photos by the end of the week. In the mean time, think rain for us. The corn was harvested and the beans can still bounce back if we get some this week. Back to bed for me, now. Ta. posted by Bess | 5:31 AM 3 Comments:
Oooh -- hope you are All Better soon, Dear Bess! I was hit like that by a Mac Truck Fever at the beginning of December -- first time in well over a decade -- so I empathize!
By Sweetie, I hope your brain has cooled off by the time you read this! Feel better soon! Feel better soon. Being sick is no fun anytime, but it seems so unfair to be sick in the summer!
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Thursday, August 21, 2008 More Lace ThoughtsI'm home sick! Me! In summer! Of all things! Weird fever hit me on Tuesday, though I'd been dragging a bit for a day or so, but it hit me, KaPow, out of the blue. No sore throat or congestion or stomach ache – just 24 hours of cooking at a temperature of 102, along with skeletal ache that kept me waking up every hour or so. I'm better today but I'm wiped out, so I decided to take off the rest of the week. If I am all fixed, all day today, I will go do Family stuff tomorrow as planned. If not, I'll cancel out because I don't want to take germs to an old folks home. I'm not really needed anyway, but my sister feels comforted when I share the load during financial talks. Funny about fevers, though. You don't really know how sick you are till you try to knit lace while your vision distorts from your heated brain. Yep. I did. At least, I tried to knit a row or two and finally realized I was way too out of it. But here I segue into the knitting stuff and start out with another major Thank You to Clara Parkes for introducing me to Evelyn Clark's book Knitting Lace Triangles. Woo woo I fall more in love with this book every day. I had been wanting to knit a lace shawl for ever but, being TheQueen, I didn't want to knit anybody else's design. Even if I wanted to, I would find all sorts of reasons why I couldn't use someone else's pattern or else I'd try to change this design feature or that one or tweak it this way or add that to it. Sick. I know. Why I just don't follow instructions I don't know but regardless of the quirks that so distort my reasoning, when someone says “Here is the basic shape, you choose the rest,” my heart is going to glow. This book is so minimalist in text that it's not exactly reading material and yet it's so succinct that I knew it was going to get me through the shawl shoals. My dear friend K hates lace – and has a compulsion to ravel it when she she sees it. On our Tuesday night gathering I gave it to her. She's a precision sort of person, so I knew she'd return that silky mohair confection delicately rewound. It was so funny to watch her take the thing apart. In the mean time, there was this ball of orange sock yarn that had been sitting by my bed for months. And I'd strung it all with these glass beads. And it was saying it didn't really want to be socks anyway and didn't I want a nice lace shawl of orange flowers with a swingy hem of pale green glass beads and wouldn't it be fun to wear such a design at R's wedding in September and to sniff delicately and say “Oh yes, I made this”? Wouldn't it, huh? Well, who am I to argue with Orange Lace with Beads, hmm? Besides, this soft springy wool's definition would help me see any errors in my knitting much more easily than that fuzzy silky mohair. I cast on – and then I rediscovered another one of lace's delightful charms. It's fast knitting. Where a sweater to fit me needs 200+ stitches for rows and rows, by the time I get to 200+ stitches on a triangular lace shawl, I'll be done! Wow. And the row gauge!! 10 rows = 2 inches, on size 5 needles!! This is knitting nirvana. I think I cast this on last weekend. (Honestly, I don't remember. The information was burned away in the fever.) Well, there. I just checked the calender – I did cast-on on Sunday and I'm half way through the 8th repeat!!! This is impressive progress. So. Today, while I lounge about, recovering my health, I shall knit away. I believe 10 pattern repeats makes a fairly standard shawl. I haven't got any photos because I haven't got any camera yet. I'll have something sooner or later but till then, just picture springy cozy orange wool lace with pale green glass beads. Or what the heck, any other color combination you prefer. posted by Bess | 8:25 AM 1 Comments:
I must admit that I'm a camera dunce, so I can't advise. I am a point-and-click person, struggling to take decent photos of my creations, and to learn to care about lighting etc. Sigh. Bores me to tears.
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Heh. I forgot one thing about Sunday. I haz family! And they wanted me to play with them. Be sure – I love my family and am so glad I have one to play with. And I knew that I could play hooky on Monday and be All Alone At Home. So I didn't get too much lace knitting or clay play done till yesterday. And I forgot how tricky polymer clay could be. Or how easy it is to make mistakes in lace knitting. You can't see these things because I don't have a camera yet. I do have an idea about what I want though. I don't want a teetiny pocket camera, but I'd like something lighter than the one I have. I spent a big chunk of yesterday reading on-line camera reviews. I'm still enamored of Canons and can be pushed a wee bit higher up the price scale, but I can't afford to replace the G2 I own with it's 2008 incarnation. The choice is between  This and This and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the A650. (the one on the left) Buying technology is always such a crap shoot. In the end I tend to get used to what I have. Woops. Time to walk the dogs. But before I go – how's about this lace project! Pulled from a sock challenge blog from last April – embarrassed to say I don't know whose. 
posted by Bess |
6:58 AM
0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Sunday, August 17, 2008 There is very little that I must do today; a little laundry, a little vacuuming in my room, a bit of softscrub on the bathtub. I can fit that in during odd hours away from Total Crafting Joy. I haz Fimo.  I haz sock yarn.  What I don't have is a camera – but I have decided I will have one by the end of the week. I'm still trying to select TheOne and am reading reviews of several contenders. But I'll be in the city both Wednesday and Friday this week so I can get my hands on something. I've thoroughly enjoyed the Canon G2 M gave me, but it doesn't have a zoom and now it needs a cable to talk nicely to other equipment and I know someone who would totally enjoy learning how to use one before she drops the big bucks, so it will get a good home. But it's time I got something a little more versatile and a little lighter too. Minus a camera I can't show you what a grand time we had yesterday when friends with grandchildren visited. Swimming and mud fights, eagle watching and turtle finding, popsicle eating and dog loving, tree climbing and toy playing – it was a splendid splendid afternoon, but you'll just have to believe me. In the mean time – I hear crafty grownup play calling me. Happy Sunday to you and may it bring you whatever it is you're longing for. posted by Bess | 7:26 AM 0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Saturday, August 16, 2008 Whew! At last I am on the down hill slope of summer. Yesterday's luncheon was a smashing success. We had a good audience that included some folk who never come to library events. This is thanks to BH and M, who mingle, schmooze, and go to other civic events and sell tickets. They are the reason things are hopping with the Friends group. We have some big plans and some enormous goals and by golly, I bet we fulfill them all. As for our speaker, former Governor Holton, well! We all fell in love with him. I am always caught up short when a politician comes to speak and turns out to be a brilliant or charming or delightful speaker. This is absurd, because these people wouldn't be in politics or get elected if they couldn't get folk to warm to them. He was prepared, he was gently opinionated, he was sharp as a tack. He could state proudly what he believed without raising hackles on those who might not agree with him, leaving them glad to have heard from the opposition. And he told us the charming story of how his book got its title. When he was governor and living in the executive mansion in Richmond he had 4 children aged about 4 to 14. He woke them up each morning by calling out to each child "It's opportunity time." He said most of the time his kids only wanted the opportunity to go back to sleep. I love wake up routines - ours was for me to call up from the bottom of the stairs "Wake up Jacob, Days a breaking, Peas in the pot and Hoecakes a-baking". This wasn't always true - it was far more often eggs and bacon on the griddle, but that chant always brought a stirring from LD's room and a cheerful "Alright" from BD who then promptly went back to sleep. Grandma would pound out Farmer in the Dell on the piano to get her kids out of bed - and that is the one childhood song BD hates with passion. As for me, well, nobody had to wake me up, or send me to bed. I have always been my own alarm clock and am pretty smug about it. We morning people know we are superior. ;> Anyway - we had a grand time - tidied up our stuff - counted the proceeds and departed, high as kites - BH and M to relax and me to go back to work. Hmm. Somehow that was not quite planned out right. But it's Saturday now and I'm going to get around to cleaning the pit sometime before noon, when we expect friends with grandchildren for lunch and swimming. Happy Saturday to you all. posted by Bess | 7:30 AM 0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Friday, August 15, 2008 Whoopee! Friday at last. Not just any Friday, either, but a Friday that puts a period to Summer Busy-ness at last. We have a Friends of the Library luncheon today with former governor Linwood Holton as guest speaker, talking about his recently published memoirs: Opportunity Time.  (I think whoever designed this cover ought to be fired! What a color for a book Yuck!) After that, although I don't get any time off from work, all I have to do at work is library maintenance stuff. And it's not true about the lack of time off either. I'm taking Wednesday afternoon off to go play with L&L. But the Big Deal Stuff of Summer will be over sometime around 2 o'clock today. This weekend I expect to cast on that triangular shawl once again and see how far I get with it. And the yarn is called Wagtail. I called Angel at On The Lamb. It comes in all sorts of colors and in 2 weights. And it is a joy to knit with. I'm also going to sit down with the Fimo clay I finally got my hands on and make some Fun Things. Maybe beads. Maybe buttons. Can't wait for Sunday. (guests are coming over on Saturday for swimming and picnics) Alas, my camera is not talking to any usb ports any more. I am hoping that this means it wants a new cable. But I am also about ready to buy a New Camera and pass this one on to someone I know who needs one. But in the mean time, TheQueen is going to be pretty heavy on the text. Ha! and I see she had better get going if she plans to take the dogs out for a walk. So. Happy Friday to you all. posted by Bess | 7:00 AM 1 Comments:
You are under a spell of heavenly protection... That explains a great deal for me this month! The purchase of a new home in the country, and the sale of my present one in the city, for starters.
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Wednesday, August 13, 2008 You are under a spell of heavenly protection. Powerful planets now align in the sector of the sky that symbolizes your astrological essence. It is as if the cosmic consortium has come together to form a guardianship alliance. Try to put a foot wrong. You can't. You can give yourself a hard time, of course. No force in this world is strong enough to prevent you from doing that. But you really don't need to. You are in an admirable position. All you have to do to maintain this is be kind and caring. Whew! Thank goodness for the stars, or whatever it has been that got me out of my black pit of sadness. Maybe it was MoreFavoriteCousins – maybe it is just the change of the season from dog days of summer – really puppy days this year – to the Crisp-Apple-Autumn Eve of late August. Maybe it was some resolution to some inner questions. Maybe it was finally sorting out Mount Snail Mail and getting all my family bookkeeping done. Whatever it is, it's Oh So Welcome. I'm feeling the energy at last. And I've channeled it into  Yes. Lace. I've been yearning to do some lace lately – and I've completed very little lace in my knitting career. Some time ago Clara Parkes recommended this book and I always do what Clara Parkes says. Well. At least, I always pay attention to her and she's never steered me wrong yet. And I do want one of those big lace shawls that Other People seem to be able to knit. The book – almost a booklet – is very visual, with not much text, but my brain had only been able to grasp the idea she was teaching, not the technique. Sunday, on a beautiful AfterReunion day, with time on my hands, I just decided to Cast On and follow the directions – no planning, no thinking about it, just knit away to see what happened. Well. What happened made sense, though I also made mistakes all over the place. But I knit enough to understand a few things about TheQueen when knitting lace. #1. Do not knit lace when BD is talking to you. You will make mistakes that you don't know how to fix. #2. Keep pencil and paper with the project so you can tick off each row as you knit it. Otherwise you are going to knit the same row twice and if the yarn is fine enough and slippery enough, you won't want to tink back. #3. As soon as you think a lifeline would be a good idea – it is probably too late. Put one in early. I was using a beautiful fine kid mohair yarn I bought at On The Lamb last year. I have stupidly lost the ball band and I also see, on the old archive post about my trip there, I left out the name of the yarn. But Joe or Angel will know what it is if I call the store. It's a lot like Rowan's Kidsilk and it is a fun yarn to knit with. Of course, when I realized I had done, or failed to do all three above important tips, I had to rip the whole thing out – but there had been only a few hours of knitting and they had all been exploratory. I'll cast on again in the next day or two (or tonight) and follow my own rules. When I have something to show – I'll post it. Ooops. Time to walk the dogs. Happy Hump Day. P.S. On another, sadder note - I see that people are still looking in here to see something about Barry Moore. Thanks to another library director I have a link to his obituary and offer it now.Labels: Barry Moore posted by Bess | 6:31 AM2 Comments:Delightful! I'm sure I have cousins somewhere but I don't know any of them, at least not anymore. So happy for you and all the good things this year's reunion brought. This sounds like such fun! I've lost touch with almost all my cousins through family changes, and a reunion sounds wonderful.
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Sunday, August 10, 2008 TheReunion For 14 years TheReunion has been highlighted by a weekend visit from FavoriteCousins. First they came as young parents of wee babies, then young parents of school children and now they're parents of college kids and last year they were too busy with coming home from summer jobs and packing to head off to school to get to TheReunion at all. It was the same for them this year. In addition, OtherFavoriteCousins scattered far across the country weren't going to make it. This happens. Sometimes life just has other plans. Last year we were the ones who missed TheReunion since BD was just hours out of eye surgery and was not in any condition to go to a party. But this break in what had become a loving routine, coupled with my June and July blue-devil-doldrums had left me feeling pretty neutral about this ancient family gathering. I had begun to wonder if 150 years was long enough to hold a family gathering. I didn't even need it as weather punctuation, as that annual assurance that the worst of the summer heat was over and autumn was on its way. We've had such glorious weather I don't really long for the end of summer. I could do 360 days of this stuff. BH felt the same way, I know, so it was with a mild but pleasant disconnect that we spent Friday and Saturday morning getting things ready. We have a sweet little Friday routine where we get our nails done and have a pedicure and then go shopping for paper products, always forgetting something – this year I will make a list so that we can just check it off next August – and having to scramble for either name tags or ice or the address notebook. We bought lemonade, made sure the church would be open, talked about what we would wear – but really, we were just being nice about it. I didn't even plan Saturday evening's meal, since with only BH and her girls coming up for swimming afterwards, we would probably have enough leftovers from lunch to make up a meal. Saturday morning dawned crisp enough to warrant a sweatshirt on my morning walk, at least till I got out into the sunshine. It was a breezy puffy-cloud day. With no guests in the house, everyone had a shower and there were plenty of towels and all the time we needed to get dressed. We were at the church way early, even with a stop at the post office, where the Saturday clerk fumbled for 20 minutes with the rate book. We pay someone to set up and take down the tables and empty the trash so that no branch of this extended family has to bear an unfair burden and the church was all set up when we got there. All that was needed was to make the tea and lemonade, because the meal is pot luck. The tables had been set up in a slightly more efficient way so that more people could eat indoors. One of those odd twists that happens, since this was the one year we could have all eaten comfortably outside. With a smaller crowd expected (about 75 people) everyone got to eat indoors. There were fewer deserts than usual, though there were plenty of them, not enough ham biscuits but, for once, enough deviled eggs. What there was in abundance, though, was More Favorite Cousins. Not that these were unknown cousins. They're the North Carolina cousins, just as nice as they can be, sweet, lively, musical (a rarity in the H Family). But this was the year I really got to know them. This is the year they were staying at the hotel in town, not the hotel in Richmond. This is the year when I had no FavoriteCousins or OtherFavoriteCousins to catch up with. This is the year there was time to do more than smile and explain the lineage and offer a glass of lemonade. This year MoreFavoriteCousins came to dinner up at our house. When BH whispered to me that they were staying in Tappahannock, when Cousin N said she'd love to see some of the family spots, when BD offered to drive them around to see Midway and Holly Springs and Retreat, oh my. Then I knew TheReunion still had the magic. And no doubt about it. I am in love! All over again I've found MoreFavoriteCousins. Once again I'm awash in the wealth of love and pleasure and delight at having kinfolk as sweet, as fun, as interesting, with such lively eyes and happy faces and ready warmth as MoreFavoriteCousins. Best of all, these cousins sing! Cousin R helped me in the kitchen and we sang old songs in 2 part harmony, his baritone with my mezzo, alas, with me stumbling over words, but oh such fun! And he promised to bring song books next time and I promised to get the ones from the library. And Cousin A told us about his new wife and had a photo and she's beautiful and there will be a baby next year. And Cousin N talked books and literature with BH and me. And as the evening wore on, that darling southern tradition unfolded where the women gather on the soft chairs in the living room while the men sit on the porch with glasses in hands and legs stretched out. Honestly is there anything better than cousins? Wonderful, interesting, connected cousins. People you could call if your car broke down in a strange city. People who will email you photos and send you Christmas cards. Really, I can't believe how lucky I am to have these fantastic cousins. All over again I'm inspired to keep up with the (slight) chores of this reunion because that stretchy band of kinship has reached out and gathered in another branch of the family and made them mine. I can't wait till next year's reunion! posted by Bess | 9:22 AM 0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Friday, August 08, 2008 Give yourself a break if all you've felt like doing lately has been to take some time out. This has actually been the ideal time for you withdraw and retreat from the world, to take some time off the merry-go-round of life to think quietly about the deeper issues we all need to grapple with from time to time. Go with it. Indulge thyself and thy need for mental stillness. PS If you've been not just withdrawn but downright depressed, take heart - this can and even "should" be about to change very soon. Thank you MsHoroscope. I have been downright depressed and I am so ready for a change. I am ready to be energized and active and creative! To prove it, I finally pulled a slip from the Creativity Jar and here's what the birds have to say:  (Oh - sorry - should have used a bigger font. Guess you'll have to click on the photo.) Of course I haven't any Sculpy in the house and besides I want to try Fimo instead and the bead option is because I haven't any need for buttons, but I am feeling a bit of bead lust coming on. I bought a little beaded bracelet kit at Walmart that has very cheesy bead needles, one of which will not be threaded – the eye is too small. But the kit has all the correct number of beads so I don't have to buy whole packages of anything – unless, of course, the packaging is as bad as the needle manufacturing . Still and all, I have always wanted to weave a bit of bead jewelry and if it doesn't quite make a bracelet, maybe it will make something else. These two craft supply deficiencies mean I really must go to Richmond today and since I have the day off and I have promised to drive BH to the hospital in Richmond and there happens to be a craft store on the way well, maybe I will just happen to pick up some needles and some polymer clay. What do you think? Let us hope that this is the beginning of a groove, hmmm? posted by Bess | 6:24 AM 1 Comments:
Nothin' like family hugs and great food and making memories to restore One's Groove. :-)
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Thursday, August 07, 2008 Thank you to all who have left me encouraging words as I wallowed through this heavy summer. Your comments have really cheered me up. Proof of Kniting I really like this sock. First of all, it's a springy yarn with lots of body – not limp and lifeless like the Christmas sock I'm slogging through - and may give up on because if this has stopped being fun, why am I doing it, right? I mean, knitting is supposed to bring me pleasure! Well. Suddenly I am so much lighter! I have GOT to remember this. I wonder what puritan was hiding in my ethnic family's woodlot to put such a streak of “If it hurts it must be good for you” in the family DNA? Or should I blame the stars. I'm sure there is some culprit out there I can dump this one on. Anyway – the above sock is a joy to knit and it's one with a surprise in it. There are short rows on the sole. Yup. Seems like my sock knitting is growing ever looser and the yarn that used to knit up nicely on #3 needles now needs to be knit on smaller needles. For the cuff, the looser knit looks alright and I didn't want to radically change the gauge on the instep by dropping down a needle size, but the sole had to be knit on something much smaller. I went to a #1, liked the density of the fabric and began motoring down to the toes. Only. Only the sole became a lot shorter than the instep and I didn't think it would feel good when worn. Since these socks are for TheQueen herself, well, there isn't that much puritan blood in me nor catholic guilt either. So I put in 2 short rows just before I got to the ball of the foot and everything evened out. I knit the whole toe on #1's and I'll do the second sock with the same needle combination, but I think, unless I have a sport weight yarn, I will not be knitting socks on #3's any more. You would not believe how many #3 needles I have. This is TheReunion weekend and two branches of Favorite Cousins are not coming this year. Their absence will create a big hole for BH and me but we will do our dooty and buy lemonade and plates and napkins and be there early to smile hello. And there will be dear cousins we'll enjoy seeing. And heck, we were absent last year. Not every year works for every branch of the family. What we will get is glorious weather - a week of it if the weather dot com guys are telling the truth. And good weather is enough to make anybody feel sprightly. Who knows – I may even get my groove back, hmmm? posted by Bess | 6:46 AM 0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Rats! I no sooner feel like we're crawling out from under one rock when another tumbles down the mountain and lands on our heads. I'm not using any sort of royal we this time, since I'm talking about a blow the library community just took. For a lot of us small operations, the best solution to our technology needs – MrComputerWizard – was Barry Moore from Vitrutech and I just got an e-mail that he died suddenly on Sunday. This was a fellow my age or maybe even a year or so younger. The vulnerable age when bad things come on lightening bolts – for men, more often than for women. Not only is the loss a cruel blow at life, it's a major hit for the technological security of a good dozen Virginia libraries. Ratsratsratsratsrats. Do I feel like waxing eloquent? I do not. I'll give it a try tomorrow. posted by Bess | 6:44 AM 4 Comments:
It's good to see you back!
By Oh yes, still stopping by. And, you know, at least for me, summer tends to slow the knitting down a little anyway. It will wind up again when it's ready.
What was it about July? I've never felt quite so out of touch with almost everything. It was a drudge. I hope I'm over it.
Great to see you've surfaced from under July! (I've been checking almost daily...)
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Monday, August 04, 2008  A post is coming soon. I had no idea July would be what it was - and I can't really describe it other than to say it was a mixed bag of Dickensean best and worst of times. I'm glad it's over now that it looks like it's landed softly. That is me at 14 in the lower corner of this picture. I have actual knitting content and photos to share but oh la - not tomorrow. Have to be in town early tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. Just in case, you realize. In case there is anyone who still looks in here anymore. posted by Bess | 6:12 PM |
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