Chiller for Octorer

The weather outside is frightful. TOO HOT for October 6th, in my opinion at least. I am tired of 80s. I am ready for fall. I am so afraid of climate change, I am terrified that all my unknitted wool yarn stash will languish forever as we all melt from the the heat.

Meantime, if you can't get cold weather, you can get chilling stories.
Here is one.
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King


I am currently listening to this book on audio, having downloaded it from my library. So in a way that isn't the same thing as reading it, more like having it read to me. I listen to it while I am knitting in my craft room.

First of all let me say that Will Patten, the reader, is fantastic! His voice is similar to Stephen King's, so the experience is very like having the author read his own work. And Mr. Patten's acting chops shine through in his reading of the tale. He is perfect, his voice a little raspy, but sinuous, sensuous. This voice gets into your head, and you want to return to his little warm circle of light, in a dark library, inside of an even darker house, to listen again to the next installment of the tale. He has you wrapped around his finger, the reader. And the author, as always Mr. King, he dares you to put the book down.

The tale is spine-tingling to say the least, and I am only into the 2nd chapter. I think this is going to be at least a 4 star experience. :)


View all my reviews


I love scary stories and this is right up my alley. Today I am sewing and knitting, so Will has been invited in, to read to me, and chill me to my soul. A nice antidote to too hot.

Starting my crafts with the makeup bag, because I need one!

I am a Dork, or I Am Too Young To Dye!

I am easily amused, and I love crafting. It doesn't take much to get me excited. So here is what I am excited about today:

This is my new ball of hand-dyed yarn, yes dyed by ME! I call it Jolly Ranchers because it is the colorway of my favorite Jolly Ranchers original flavors, Green Apple, Blue Raspberry and Grape.

Here is what it looked like after overdying in an attempt to get a better purple, which really didn't happen.

I used Kool-aid for my dyeing experiment. 2nd time I have ever hand dyed. I used Grape, Lemon-Lime and Berry Blue, unmixed. Is used Hannahhats Self-Striping method here Self-Striping Yarn.

The plastic bag method was so easy for doing a 3 color stripe, perfect because I could easily fit my microwaveable mugs into a larger casserole dish for heating the entire hank at once and not have the colors bleed.

Next dying project will be hand-paint, directly onto the hank, which I will lay out on plastic wrap, and paint using a paintbrush or foam brush. This I will do after I purchase Wilton's Icing Gel for my dye, as the colors appear to be more true and easier to work with.

I am really excited with the way this yarn turned out! I am thinking it will make a lovely pair of fingerless mitts or even socks, along with the rest of the white sock yarn I didn't dye. Self-striping stripes. The yarn is amazingly soft.  Will keep posting progress as I cast on.

Meantime, in other craft experiments, today I am going to sew a cotton + vinyl makeup bag and a few cotton, drawstring knitting project bags. Here are most of the fabrics I have on hand to play with. 

To be fair, the blue/green print, the solid lime green and the autumn floral prints belong to my DD (in Ravelry-speak that's Darling Daughter). She bought those fabrics for projects she never got around to making. So I am going to make things for her out of them. A skirt from the floral print and a surprise from the other 2 fabrics. All the rest is for me to play with as I see fit! I love having the time to play with craft stuff and I am smart enough to know I am very lucky to get to do this.  I am so excited because I will be getting some Giftmas presents made in the next month! 

Craft for today, Baby, 'cause tomorrow may never come!

A leap of faith

Today I started writing a story. What?! Don't tell a soul. It's just our little secret, dear reader, because I can trust you with this information, but I am afraid to tell anyone else. How dare I, me just little old me (emphasis on the "old") have the audacity to actually attempt to create something?

I have been pretty much sitting on my ass for a year, since I retired, and I don't have much to show for it. Oh sure, I knitted a couple of sweaters, one of which was a great success, shown here, modeled by the recipient, my darling daughter: 

And sure, I have sewn a few things, curtains, a robe for my little Riley for Giftmas last year. I made some PJs for me, which would be great but the fabric is crap- how can 100% cotton jersey feel like sandpaper- but I digress.

The point here is I haven't made 1 painting. Well, I did, but I hated it. I haven't written one word of value. What the F have I been doing all this time?

Going for hikes, going on boat rides, a medicinal walk every day, reading some, knitting lots, and I got hooked on sugar and Facebook. What the hell? I retire to start doing good productive things and I end up addicted to 2 things which were not good for me. The Internet was sucking my brain out through my Facebook page, and the sugar was stacking on the inches around my midriff. I finally figured out the biggest culprit on the inches was the damned homemade iced tea I was drinking, about 2 quarts a day. Sugary. Not quite to the level of "sweet tea" but still too sweet. Too many teaspoons of sugar. So that went by the wayside 2 weeks ago and I feel better already. I still eat sugar but in short controlled bursts, and only a tiny bit a day. 1 teaspoon allowed in my coffee in the morning and no more than 2 cups of tea a day. With only 1 teaspoon (very hard but I am sticking to this).

So all this time on my hands and I haven't done anything very creative at all. I made one tiny little mixed media thing. I made a bulletin board out of corks. It weighs a ton because I just did it on plywood purchased at Home Depot. It has a crappy, not very well mitered frame I roughed in using molding from Home Depot and then hand painted.

But in the department of never started art: empty computer screens, blank canvases, empty notebooks, these things are still sitting just like that. Empty, blank, never started.

Today all that has changed. Looking through my photos on my computer, I have accomplished something. I have mastered homemade bread. 

I have hosted my kids and grand kids (here they are in my great room having cocoa on Thanksgiving weekend).  

I have traveled to Tacoma to see Erin several times. I traveled to PDX once to see my dear friend Tina. And I have knitted a bunch of stuff. I even finished a BLANKET that I then turned into the top of a quilt for our friend's wedding present. 

Pep talk to self: "So, see? Me, are you listening? You have done something. You have learned some new things. Your mind is not gone and your brain has not changed to grape jelly." So there.

And now I have faced down the scariest thing of all. The blank computer screen, with a fresh new Word document open and waiting for my story. Not my story of me, but a story I am writing. I have taken the leap. And the net may or may not appear. It may never get published. It may never get read by anyone but me. But it is mine and I aim to finish it. And I probably won't spontaneously combust or be laughed out of existence.

National Sewing Month Great Contest

I figure I might as well enter this contest, and posting about it here on my blog will increase chances I might win.

I do love to sew now. When I was young I hated it! My Mama tried and tried to teach me how to sew and I was not good at it. Amazingly my sewing skills have improved greatly since I began knitting a couple of years ago, in part because I understand the construction of garments better now.

If you are looking for a new sewing machine this contest may be for you. Good LUCK!


Here is the link to the contest:

National Sewing Month Giveway

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day, but suddenly I'm too tired...

     Today was busy and crazy, but in a self-imposed way. I started by running back and forth through the house, beginning bread by setting things out and leaving the yeast to proof; tearing into my craft room and getting caught up on Facebook and by that I mean caught, not up-to-date; running back and discovering the poofy yeast mixture had been sitting for 20 minutes.
     I dropped everything else and actually finished making the dough and set it to raise. And good for me, this time I remembered to put the salt in. Then I cleaned the kitchen , scrubbing, putting away, organizing, throwing out. Ran back to the craft room, tried to find something to listen to on the computer while sewing and darnit I ended up on Facebook again, then noticed my computer was running strangely slow. So then I wasted spent 2 hours troubleshooting and finally said "To Hell With This". So then I switched over to Google from Firefox again. Running much faster now, but had to log into everything again, reset my Google password, found out the email address wasn't right, struggled to get that corrected and meantime verifying and re-verifying I am me etc...
      Now the bread is finished, the first loaf 1/3 consumed, I have had enough iced tea to drown a horse, and I still do not have my craft room straightened. But I did pick up all the fabric scraps that were on the floor so it looks a little better.      What is my point? I don't know that I have one. Oh wait, Yes I do, and it is simply that my addiction to electronics is causing me to lose focus. I feel strange and excited and breathless: time is wasting, and I realized there are still so many little things I want to do with my time, just tiny things like finish a short story and make a new painting and maybe go to the beach again. And start doing something for other people. More on that last, later. But you can't do any of that if you are wasting time on Facebook, or your cell phone texting, or playing games. If I want to craft, or create I have to do it. I have to face the blank canvas, the empty page, the uncut fabric. To this end, I am going on a Facebook diet. People may miss me, they can get over it.
   

I have to discipline myself if I really want to seriously create, such as writing and painting. I need to come in this little room here, which I am very lucky to have, and actually get to work. I have done a few good things today. I did make bread, I did write in my journal for 3 pages! I did catch up on Pinterest and fix my Google setup. I am making dinner, even as we speak, and I cleaned the kitchen. Now I need to follow my heart and get on with my real business. Creating. Crafting. Making things for charity. Maybe selling some stuff. The ideas are all in there, they just need to be teased out. Eliminating unnecessary distractions and time-wasters will make it possible to get something worthwhile accomplished.

Last Days

   I am in the last days of my "career". I can scarcely believe that I have exactly 1 work week left. This is my last Sunday night before the work week begins. Tomorrow will be my last "Monday Morning".

42 years- if you count when I started working part time at Mr. B's IGA as my first job. 

   Before that I cleaned houses and babysat for extra money. I learned to dry dishes at 2, or so my Mama told me. I know I helped in the kitchen from an early age, that's for sure. I remember learning how to iron, starting with pillowcases and hankies, at 7. Yes, for those of you younger than 50, we did use to have to iron things like pillowcases and hankies. Don't know what a hanky is? Look for them at estate sales, rummage and garage sales and second hand stores. Little squares of very soft fabric, usually linen or cotton. Usually printed or embroidered. I don't use them for my nose, except in an emergency: but I do use them for 

1. drying my eyeglasses after I wash them (about 5 times a day--they never scratch the lenses) and
2.  dabbing at tears

    Anyway, I digress. Alot has changed since I started working at the tender age of 15. For example, now instead of manually pressing buttons on a cash register to input the price of an item, it just slides over a scanner and automatically prints the price on your receipt, and tracks the sale in the store's computerized inventory database.

    At my first job we were required to "make change" and then "count back the change".  The point of counting back change was to ensure both for your customer and your store that you had made change correctly and thus not subjected yourself to the wrath of your customer, nor your manager, should you, god forbid, short the till.  In fact at my first job, the cash register (no it wasn't a hand crank, just a glorified adding machine) did have an "Amount Tendered" button, but I was required to count back the change regardless. Because as the manager pointed out, if I made a mistake entering the amount tendered I would give back the wrong amount of change.

    Anyway, counting back change is apparently a long lost art. Most cashiers nowadays enter the amount "tendered" (an old fashioned term for the amount of money taken in) and let the computer tell them how much change to give back. The concept of counting it back up to the amount tendered is no longer required.  

    Apparently saying "thank you" to your customer is no longer a requirement at most places.  Except at places like Jiffy Lube, where they still say "thank you" and "please" and chat up the customers. Especially if you show up in a completely original, clean, straight old 1997 M-3. The guys will be giving you instructions and discussing the beauty of your car at the same time in the same breath.

And they say thank you after they are done giving you free top-off of your power steering fluid.

    At most retail stores you are lucky to get a smile after you tell the clerk thank you. The clerks hardly ever say thank you. Sometimes they say "Have a nice day". Usually, depending on the age of the cashier, I have found they say "No problem" when I say thank you.  I gave them money, I find it rather irritating that they say "No problem" as if they went to all that trouble to take my money and frown at me. Sheesh. Customer service is gone the way of the dinosaur at many retail establishments.

   Oh and chatting up the customers. Most places frown on the clerks chatting up the customers. At the cafe in my workplace there is a wonderful woman who treats her customers like human beings and actually talks to us, and knows our favorite orders, etc. She is a doll and she gets in trouble for being "too helpful" and holding up the line. Oh my god, she actually talks to us and gets reprimanded for it. 

   If management can no longer see the value of the human factor then we might as well all go home and order off the internet. Whatever we need to order. Having said all this, I now make it a point to patronize locally owned businesses, where they still say please and thank you and treat their customers as "valued" customers, not people for whom they are doing a thankless favor. Civility doesn't have to be dead, but it sure could use some CPR.

Little plans

If all goes well, and I think it might, my last day of work in my so-called "career" will be June 20th, 2013.

I applied for an early retirement incentive program through my work.  I am eligible to collect a slightly reduced pension one year earlier, and they will pay me a lump sum equal to 12 months of my medical insurance premiums at my current level of coverage. Not a huge amount, but decent.
So I put in for it. I work for a large employer, so all of this depends on the budget people. They want the cost of the early retirement incentive to not overrun the benefits they anticipate. "They" being the highest management who make the final decisions on the budget for the next fiscal year. In any case, I will find out by May 31 what the decision is. If I don't get the early retirement package, I will only have one more year to work anyway. I will be sad.  And why? Not because it will dash big plans. But I will have to put my little plans on hold.

I have little plans for my retirement.  As opposed to big ones. I just want to enjoy my life without duress, and stop and smell the roses, so to speak. This comment is a cliche, but it is exactly correct at describing how I feel at this exact moment. I want to smell the roses, go for walks, take better care of myself, eat healthier, enjoy our boat, go camping, knit more, sew more, read more.  Make soup and homemade bread, perhaps grow some basil. I don't have huge plans for travel, other than to camp at Crater Lake this year. Besides that? I will will hang out at home.

I plan to not get up to an alarm unless I have a doctor's appointment or something. I plan to make, create, do, say what I want, when I want. I really am looking forward to puttering. Getting my house in order, getting my yarn organized, second-handing and garage saling, sewing, crafting, playing.

I will possess freedom of thought, freedom of expression. Freedom to do nothing or say nothing without being accused of being moody or lazy.

Time to think. To be mindful. To breathe. To enjoy this moment without already moving in my head to the next, constantly running down my list of priorities I have to get done before I am can move on to the next thing or get to go home.
Whatever happens, it will be right. I will make it be so.

     Seriously overdue for an update, I think. Lots to think about, and lots to get done this year. This will be my last planned full year of work, I think. I plan on retiring on my birthday in 2014. So that's not too far off. I am terrified of course that things will go out of control and I won't be able to retire and do something else, but let's not worry about that just now.

     I have been taking stock of my highlights of 2012. I don't have a great deal to say. Much of 2012 was taken up with my darling daughter living here and her 2 kids here alot. That pretty much blocks everything else. We had a few spectacular camping trips including with both kids and grandkids over the 4th at Suttle Lake.

     I completed one grand sewing project in 2 days. This wonderful duvet cover-plaid on one side and gold on the other. It turned out quite well.

     I completed a few knitting projects. Socks in January for Gary which he wore out immediately and pronounced that he would stick with Smart Wool. I am a failure at knitting for him so far. I also knitted a 10-pair mitt commission for Mary as well as 3 bearded hats for Terry's girlfriends great-nephews. They were a hit for Christmas day, I hear. See my Ravelry projects page for photos of them. I also completed a basic raglan cardigan with stripes that needs something. Like a belt and buttons. I have to work on this more. There is no shaping so it's not terribly attractive- looks like a box. Needs a black skirt to go with.
I also made a slouchy beanie for Lavoris's daughter on commission and I made a Twirly Skirt for Trin for Christmas, which she liked but won't wear without a pink Tshirt, she announced. So now that is on my list of things to do. Meantime I have a rash of birthdays coming which require knitted presents. Brian in January, Riley in February, Trin in March, Liam in April.And I can't remember when Lily's is.
     Thankfully Joann's Fabrics is having a yarn blow out. Although I was there last week and they were well picked over, it's worth going back and looking at the yarns that are now 50 % off (and I have a coupon for an additional 25% off the total purchase).

     I didn't get one thing produced for the Ravhellenic games which were renamed after Ravelry was sent a threatening letter from the US Olympic Committee chastising them for using the Olympics word without permission. Ridiculous. But apparently the word "olympic" is owned exclusively by the IOC. But I got a lot of knitting done. So if I would just redirect my knitting at that time, I should be good. Next time they occur, though, I will be participating and completing something for goodness sake. I have also lost touch with my Ravelry pals in my Oddballs group. Since November! What craziness.

     I did acquire some new guilty pleasures (addictions) this last year. I am addicted to Words With Friends on Facebook. Play at least a little every day with Erin, Stacy and Steve.
I have become completely addicted to Downtown Abbey. I haven't even ever seen the first season, but I have watched all the 2nd season and I am excited to to see #3 which starts tonight I think...

     Bad habits I worked on in 2012: I gave up eating ice cream every night and Greek yogurt every morning. Now I only allow one OR the other, and sometimes try to skip the yogurt. It is THAT good, especially this: Zoi Honey Greek Yogurt
I have also made an attempt to cut back on the amount of sugar I use in my beverages. I think sugar is like any other addiction, you need more and more of it to produce the same effect. I was putting 3 and 4 teaspoons of sugar in a big mug of coffee or tea. I have cut back to the "normal" 2.  Otherwise I don't think I accomplished much of my previous New Years resolutions.

Resolutions for 2013: 

1. Write in my journal daily
2. Knit 3 sweaters for myself this year
3. Make an art project a month
4. Complete a sewing project a month
5. Exercise 5 days a week
6. Join a knitting group
7. Take a class each quarter on a topic of interest: fitness, art, sewing or even for-credit course
8. I resolve to NOT take on any more knitting commissions until I retire, and if I do, to charge the going rate, which is 2 x the cost of materials (as opposed to figuring an hourly rate). I simply have to get the guts to charge for my time. I have found that knitting by commission in my limited knitting time turns it into a chore. I am not so much a process knitter as a product knitter and I get cranky when I have to do them under a deadline, etc. Takes the fun out!
9. Hmmm now that I think of it, I should probably bother to "monetize" my Google blog. 
10. Read a book a month. That is the hardest, because I cannot read and knit at the same time. I am going to have to substitute books on tape for part of this. Some people claim this isn't the same. Maybe it isn't but its a good way to absorb the books while doing something with your hands that you love.

Wow. Ambitious list. So we are almost one week into the New Year. Let's see how I am doing so far? Considering I have been sick since Thursday, not too terrible.

1. Journaling. I have failed completely to do this.  But starting today, I won't be skipping anymore- so no points. However, I have decided that blog entries count for journal entries too, so this gets 1 pt.

2. I have begun a top-down sweater, Wendy Bernard's pattern  from Custom Knits
My Ingenue . I'm about 1/4 done. The collar is finished and I am almost done with the increases. I guess separating the sleeves is next. So that's 1 point.
3. Make an art project? I still have 3 weeks to get on this. I did get books about painting to get my mind thinking about it again. So I give myself 1/2 a point for at least planning. I still have 3 weeks to finish this goal on time.
4. Sewing. I have 2 projects that are half finished and several projects to alter/convert to something else. What I want, of course, is fabric to make new stuff! To that goal, I have downloaded Joann's electronic coupon for 25% off the entire purchase. So that's 1/2 point.
5. Exercise 5 days a week. I have not achieved this. I have exercised 1 time this week while sick. So I give myself 1 pt for that, knowing I should have 5 for the week.
6. Join a knitting group. I still need to work on this one, Technically, I have all year to get this started. I just have a huge social anxiety around this, I don't know why.
7. Take a class...I have not registered for any classes yet. i want to start with sewing classes. There is an open sewing space that you can join for free, somewhere in Portland, I shall have to research this again. There is always Monticello Sewing Center for classes too...Kind of spendy but probably worth it. No points yet. Or I will register for a low cost non-credit course at PCC for the spring semester.

Well there you have it. I had more resolutions but threw them out, because they are totally not achievable, and I have so thoroughly blocked them I can't even remember what they were. ;p  My 7 above are totally achievable. Now I just need to get on them.
So many projects, so little time.

So here I am hawking my latest new addiction, another sort of social internet site to try and keep up with. I have Facebook (which I neglect terribly) and my own email accounts, which maybe get cleared out weekly, and Ravelry (I am on it a lot but not really keeping up very well with my own notebook let alone my friends), and Blogger (I have gone for months without updating). Not to mention other people's blogs, and sites and digests, and lists and stuff. Of course this is on top of work, where I use about 8 different web-based applications for 10 hours a day (all with separate passwords that expire with different frequency).

  There are now so many accounts, subscriptions, applications, and freaking passwords to keep up with, it's enough to make my head spin. For example: yesterday I updated my email password. I then go to my iphone settings and try to update my email passwords there so they will talk to each other. And: GASP!!! it wouldn't save the new email password! And then I panicked. Frantically trying to save it over and over. i sent myself test emails. They were stuck in my outbox. I went back to my email account on my PC, tried again. Back to my iphone. Back and forth. This went on for a frantic 45 minutes before I finally gave up and went on to other things. Somehow it was magically resolved when I woke up this morning. But before that all I could think of was all those lovely pics of the grandkids, forever trapped on my phone... Well,  at least until the next time I sync it. I have a hard time keeping up with that too, syncing, I mean. Not to mention the fact that my daughter uses my PC to sync her iphone, so now each time it thinks we are syncing the other's iphone and we end up with each others contacts, pictures, apps, etc!

Deep breath. There that's better... Ahhhh...now time for me to wax nostalgic. Consider yourself warned.

Remember the good old days when all you had to keep up with was Myspace? It was great, You could rearrange your layout, pictures, font, videos, lists of stuff, music, colors, backgrounds, post your thoughts, rearrange everything according to your whims, moods, or needs. You could thumb your nose at people, greet people, stalk people, fight with people, or shock them, or just post a bunch of blabbing that was of interest to yourself.  Then Facebook came along and edged out Myspace. I liked the way you could change the appearance of your Myspace site better. But everyone who is anyone is on Facebook. So, I am too.  Even my brother is on Facebook. And I think he just got his first cell phone. I am sure I haven't begun to explore all Facebook has to offer. "Enlisting" in Facebook is practically a law. People get kind of irate when you can't keep up with them.  Facebook seems to inundate me with people to like and things to comment on, and pictures to post, etc etc etc, but it's okay. Of course I neglect my blog, except for today, but there again I can make it my own. Kind of. I could make all this even more my own if I just made the time to research and evaluate these things. I need to research other possibilities for my blog.

So now as if all of that wasn't enough for the average person, for your following pleasure, I give you:  Pinterest! I saw references to it repeatedly on sewing and crafting blogs I follow.  So, finally I looked at it. It piqued my interest. Naturally, I scrounged for an invite to join and a little while later...yesterday, to be exact, VIOLA! In less than 24 hours I am hooked! I only have a few boards going so far, but its insidiously addicting. The first time I logged into it, it appeared I am following about a thousand unknown people and it scared me, but that was just Pinterest's home page. Now I am captain of my own fate, my own boards and my own pins. I haven't even scratched the surface of what's on there and already feel the need to add my own collection of crap, sort of a web version of interest exhibitionism. Why do I feel the need to share with the whole world, or at least everyone on Pinterest who may care to look, all of my knitting projects to date? Well, to be fair, not all of them, just my fav's. I have Ravelry for that don't I? But Pinterest lets you create multiple boards, not just for one subject. I will have a sewing project board, and a writing board, an art board, etc. All in good time.
Check it out: gramanana1 on pinterest

Eventually, I am going to delve into monetizing my blog. Not that I have any followers, mind you, but just in case, hey, i might someday. Don't laugh. Maybe. I mean I won't quit my day job (at least not yet, chuckle chuckle) but I have lots of knitting and sewing related sites that I want to share and if any passerby happens to click a link-- BOING! I'll get a few cents. Can't hurt. I, mean, can it? Probably. But let's not think of that now.

After I conquer my blog, I may get brave enough to delve into the cloud, or as I think of it, the "icloud" or perhaps the "eyecloud". I haven't created my account yet. I very nearly did create my cloud account yesterday, then I had the email incident and then conspiracy theories flashed before my eyes, and I chickened out at the last minute. I have an iphone so of course every government entity and criminal already can probably track my every move, not that anyone would be interested in an average Joe like myself. Still, its a sobering thought, and yet I am as addicted to this new technology as I am apprehensive. Ya gotta stay connected, right? Am I right?

Having said all of this, here is what I think about privacy vs the Internet. To me the Internet is inherently not private. Isn't that why we are all here? But on the other hand, I would no more give my employer my Facebook password than fly to the moon. Why? Because if they want to know as much about me as they have a right to, they can look for my account just like everyone else who wants to spy on me. But my passwords? Nobody gets my password. If you use your work computer to get on Facebook, there might be an argument in the employer's favor. But all I really have to say is, if my employer wants to know the real me, they won't get it off my facebook account anyway. They will have to look on Pinterest.

Wow! It has been forever since I have written here. Isn't it crazy, I mostly remember to read other's blogs in relation only to crafting (knitting and sewing).  I tend to ramble once I am faced with the blank page. Otherwise I can think of many things to say.

I have gotten back into sewing again. In fact, I will be "hitting the machine" again as soon as I have finished with this. Sewing is an ongoing thing. I have a goal for myself for the rest of this year. To sew one new item for myself per pay period along with, knitting one new thing for myself per month (sometimes will be little things, sometimes big projects), and all of this is regardless of whatever else I am knitting. So i had better get on it. This week I currently have on the needles a hooded raglan sweater for Riley. I only have 8 rows left of ribbing and the body will be finished. Then just the sleeves and hood. It is adorable. Erin gave me a ball of really pretty RHSS in Banana Berry so I of course am knitting something for her son out of it! Just had to. And a bunny. I am going to knit a soft cuddly bunny for Riley.
Trin is going to get a "twirley skirt" later on in April, not for Easter, just for everyday.

I am planning on knitting myself a cardigan next, long sleeves and longish black to wear with everything. After that a twinset for myself made from a TBD cardigan and the Essential Tank Pattern by Wendy Bernard in her book Custom Knits.

I mostly want to remind myself and any dear readers out there, that this year's Worldwide Knit In Public Week is June 9th through 17th. I plan to go sit in a park somewhere and knit. And then go to a coffee shop and knit. Knit something for me.

I am celebrating my entry into the world of being crafty and green. I am celebrating my new found confidence to use my own hand made items. I am making it a goal to use or wear something I have made for myself EVERY day. Even if its just a dish scrubby, or a felted bag, or a knitted iphone cozy, or my latest sewn skirt of the week. Since I have gotten brave enough to wear my creations at least a few times a week I have discovered the joy of knowing I have done a good job on making my own creations. How much more fun, then, to hear others compliments on my crafty products.  It sort of "seals the deal" for me.

Summer has fled

Yes I know some may still be experiencing hot weather. And the calendar doesn't officially turn to fall until September 23 at about 5:05 PM (in the northern hemisphere). But it's here in River City already, I tell you. There is that distinctive hint of coolness within and behind the warmth of the sun. The air has that autumnal cooling and the sunshine has the particular golden quality which signals the end of the summer.

Autumn sunlight is like no other. Firstly, the sky appears slightly hazed even on the brightest day. Unless you are looking directly at the zenith, the sky appears to have a faint pall of smoke or haze drawn across the deep blue. The sunlight is filtered through this haze. The haze could be a general casting over the whole of North America or it could be local: the haze of the many wildfires across our continent every summer, or someone burning garbage a few blocks away. The heated inversion holding the smog closer to the ground. Whatever the cause, the haze is there.

And then the light itself. The sunshine has a weakness despite a glaring golden brightness. It seems all the brighter perhaps for some trick that it is shining through the atmosphere at a different angle than it has for the last 3 months. But you can feel that it lacks the punch of intensity it had in July and August although the temp may still be high. You can stand out in the light longer, and the sun seems more goldeny bright than before but the brightness is all optical not radiant. I love this light. The sunsets are all the more tinged with pinks and blues for the gold in the daytime sun. It promises crisp cold days soon to come.

My summer flew by, despite being rather lazy. I got to go swimming a few times, thank you Tina. I got to visit the grandkids a few times. I knitted myself a dress. I read a few books.
Now I am rushing to get going with my Christmas knitting. I have started with easy things. I have discovered in the last week that I love the look of linen or tweed stitch but oh boy, I do not like to do it. Trouble is I have a half completed very densely knit linen-stitch placemat. I dont think I can bear to finish- it's killing my right hand and its yarnivorous like no other. I will finish and it can become a lone plant doily or something.
One string bag is also nearly completed. Mesh stitch, I do love you!

Meantime I am planning out the other hand knit gifts for my little family and friends. For the first time in years I am actually looking forward to fall and winter. Many fellow crafters know. These seasons are the best time for knitting cuddly stuff to give to friends, family and strangers. Keep yourself warm with the afghan you are crocheting or knitting. Create and fulfill your destiny as you select the design, the yarn, the colors, for some work of art that will be given to one you love. It is the ulitmate in creativity.

Aging Gracelessly

Sheesh. My icon, my hero, my favorite singer, songwriter, poet and odd duck, Bob Dylan turned 70 on May 24th. I am sure you read all about this stunning event in Rolling Stone and a host of other magazines.
Since it's all about me, here, I have to tell you that this realization that Mr. Dylan is 70 somehow both magnified and trivialized my own birthday, which was Tuesday. I mean, who am I? I'm just me, and I am 55. Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan and he is important and after a lifetime of some surely hard living, he is still going strong at 70.
So my own birthday is both a milestone and just another step along a dark corridor. But I am starting to see the home stretch, to imagine the light at the end of a tunnel: you know the one where you show up every day for 30 years and then get a cake and then you are retired. If you make it. If you can survive every last minute that was wrung from your existence by a job you really just have to go to, if you don't drop in the traces and just keel over, or go out in a blaze of glory with a tragic car wreck on your morning commute, or slowly dwindle away from a cancer caused by too much stress and exposure to copier fumes.

So this little tiny light at the end of the tunnel represents the transition between 'have to' and 'want to'.

If Bob Dylan can turn 70, so can I, a concept which is both scary and liberating at the same time. I'm not 70 now, but I have often wondered if I would make it to the magic 58. What's so different about 58, you may ask? 58 doesn't seem a particularly important birthday, nor does 55. They are both between 50, surely a milestone birthday and 60 which sometimes borders on seeming dodderingly old. And I don't believe 60 is old. My mom died at 58 and I will be 58 when I can retire from my drudging civil servant job. So the thought that maybe, if I play my cards right, say the right incantations, don't tempt fate, behave myself and stay home, stay sober and stay safe, pray to the right gods, eat the right foods, drink the right water, take the correct vitamins, exercise, get enough sleep, do good works,... maybe I can get a reprieve from death for a few more years after.
If I can make it to 70 I will have lived longer than both my parents who died relatively young. If Dylan can make it to 70 and still be relevant and inspiring, maybe I can too. Perhaps I can become relevant to myself.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is possible to have a whole other life after retirement. I believe, I believe, I believe...

The life I want to live. Marsha Sinetar urged us to "Do What You Want- The Money Will Follow" and I have been struggling to do that around my job for the last 30+ years. It has been hard, the years of child rearing and working full time take their toll. Now I have enchanting grandchildren who are the apples of my eye, the reason for my existence, the closure of the full circle of my life.

Now I feel that I can finally start reaching for that brass ring: it's tantalizingly close. I want to become the artist I have always secretly hoped is inside of me. I want to transform my life. I want to matter more to myself than I do now. Stop thinking of myself as a servant and drudge and start imagining the person I want to be, who is locked inside, waiting for liberation. The creative type, the artist, or at least artisan, the crafter, the happy person I am on the cusp of becoming.
But having said all that, what if I fail at being creative? What if I just sleep in every morning and putter around all day for the rest of my life? If that's all there is, if I can't do better than that, then I might as well either keep working or just pack it in.

PS

In the blog I just wrote I tried in vain to link to Mothed by Mags Kandis which is a lovely free pattern from Knitty Deep Fall 2010. Since I am a noob to all things url go to Knitty.com and search Mothed to see the pattern I have been trying to link to!

Spring is arriving...

Want to know how I know? Last Thursday driving home from work, out of the corner of my eye as I went down the ramp where I-5 merges with I-405,I swear that I could see a faint blush of pink in the trees that grow along the ramp. These are trees that will have a definite pink bloom soon. I dont know what kind of trees they are (I think some type of plum) but I really thought I was imagining things. Not the actual blossoms yet, just the sort of coloring the branches acquire from the buds that are just peeping out from under their little covers. Then last night in my neighborhood I spotted a huge clump of daffodils in full bloom on the corner. They were beautiful in the fading light. Now I know that those distinctive chirps I heard outside this weekend were real: robins do herald spring.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was writing about spring, isn't everyone writing about spring? She was enjoying new yarn for her March socks. A beautiful bud-like spring green. I have some new yarn coming this week...any day now in fact for a nice spring cardigan to wear with skirts. I have a cardigan's worth of my first order of Wool of the Andes by Knitpicks enroute. A beautiful aquamarine that I imagine to be perfect with all the print skirts I plan on making...and that brings me to:
patterns- specifically cardigan patterns.

I still haven't decided which cardigan pattern to knit from this yarn I have coming, and I need to get on the ball. I have spent probably 90 hours over the last 2 weeks browsing Ravelry for cardigan patterns. I have downloaded probably 50 or more freebs. I have about 15 books on hold at the library that should start trickling in any day. And I still have no clue what cardigan I am knitting from my yarn!

First off, it has to be a cardigan, it can't be a pullover. Why? Because in the chaos of a hotflash, I want to be able to merely flip it open, cooling my neck and chest so that I don't expire from excess heat buildup in my upper torso. Pullovers are a pain, you have to take them off over your head and mess up your hair and usually when I am experiencing one of my "power surges" I forget to take my glasses off first, and invariably end up with those askew or one hoop earring dangerously tangled in said pullover.

Second the pattern has to be the perfect card. I don't want it too short (I look hideous in cropped anything), I don't want it too long-this is for spring remember (so not a car-coat). I don't want it too plain-you know something a little challenging, but not too hard. I don't like the look of too lacy (as in too hard or too busy) or too cabley-read as bulky appearing, nor do I want it too heavy in actual weight, nor too light, nor a pattern requiring silky drapey yarn (the yarn I am using is wool) and of course I dont' want the pattern to be too difficult. I prefer seamless, but I can do seaming I just don't like it.

Third to consider is shape. I want it fitted but not tight across the midriff-bulge area. So I'm not keen on ribbing right there. But for a cardigan I don't want the hem curling. So that means a band that won't roll. Which means something other than stockinette all the way to the bottom edge. I don't want to actually have to sew a hem either. And I don't want it so complicated that it takes a year to finish.
So where does that leave us? With diddly. I still can't decide. I have confidence I can select and execute a reasonably attractive, beautifully finished hand-knit cardigan. So long as it meets all the criteria above.

Originally it was going to be a pullover. There is a pattern I fell in love with and want to make, and I had successfully nearly completed, called Mothed, from Knitty by Mags Kandis. I absolutely love that pattern. I was executing it from grey and black Simply Soft just to get the hang of it. It was turning out very well and I was 3/4 done when I ran out of yarn on the sleeves and set the whole thing aside, in order to complete Christmas knitting, fully intending to get more Simply Soft after Christmas to complete it.
Which I did. And then: I accidentally brushed my wrist brace against the front of the sweater--the velcro part of the wrist brace came in contact with all that stockinette. Right smack-dab in the middle of the front. The sweater is ruined. Not only did the velcro pull the stiches as in creating a huge 2" across pucker/run, the velcro tugged actual fibers out of the yarn itself creating a clump of acrylic fuzz. It is ugly and huge and very noticeable and impossible to fix with blocking or anything else. I nearly cried, but then reminded myself that I had only lost about $5 worth of yarn, most of which can be reused after frogging and that I had learned how to execute a simple top-down raglan. And it will look good on me when I knit it again in different yarn.
But returning to the subject at hand? This new spring project is going to be a cardigan.

There are many many good candidates out there. But which one?

2011

This just in: Sandyt pointed out that this year will have a lot of interesting configurations of 1 in the dates. 1-1-11, 1-11-11. 11-1-11. 11-11-11. Hmm. We don't know what it means yet, but I like it.

List of resolutions: None.
List of goals for the year: I find goals may be more achievable than resolutions are keepable. With this in mind, I have a short list of achievable goals.
1. Finish fixing up my "studio" which of course has to double as the guest room. All the necessities are affordable.
a)This involves adding another work surface (for sewing and cutting fabric, making collages, setting out craft stuff). Whatever.
b)get some storage for yarn/fabric/craft materials
c)a bookshelf
d)make my own curtain panels for this room.
2. Bring up the length of my walk from 30 to 65 minutes by the end of the year. i can do it.
3. Make at least one art project a quarter, be it a painting, a short story, or papier mache, something in addition to knitting.
4.Don't forget to read at least 1 book a month. When I was younger I used to average 3 novels a week. I read Gone With the Wind in 3 days. I used to be a voracious consumer of the written word. Now reading is something I do before bed. I find I start and discard alot of books because life is too short and time too precious to waste finishing a poorly written book. So 1 book a month is a realistic goal.

Knitting goals:

--Finish or frog my current WIP's.
--Knit at least 1 charity item per quarter. I was going to say per month, but I am trying to keep my goals achievable, not frustratingly out of reach.
--When knitting gifts for others I have decided to keep it to a one-skein project-except for baby blankets. I get bored too easily and nothing gets done.
--when purchasing yarn to build my stash- make sure its something I will like. wool.wool blends. more wool. Silk. Bamboo. Less acrylic and cotton.

Oh yes--Happy New Year!

As it is

I need, nay, want to get something really done today for me. But as it is, I am going to do the have-tos. Outside my window is a rather pompous raven picking through the fallen maple leaves looking for a tasty bit. Every now and then he appears to look in my window- he is about eye level with me since I am half below ground level here. I wonder if he is a descendent of Poe's infamous Raven. Or not. He finally walked away.
Ravens are rather unnerving in general. First of all they seem perfectly happy to walk about rather than fly, if what they are doing is on the ground. Most birds hop or flutter about.
Secondly, ravens will actually flock together and attack eagles and other raptors. Now I am sure from the ravens' point of view, they are defending themselves, their young, their territory.
But when you walk toward a raven on the ground, they do not go away. They are brazen and unafraid and will at most fly to the nearest low branch and scold you loudly. They are intimadating. When you add this to the fact that they will try to attack a much larger and possibly more noble bird, no wonder they are a little scary.

Rest In Peace, Shevette

Monday night one of my dear friends from work killed herself. All I can imagine is what she went through those last hours of her life.

I think though, that Shevette herself would want to be remembered in those happier times. She had the best laugh, the sweetest disposition. She was kind beyond her means. She was a devoted mother, and a loyal friend.
If there is anything to be learned from this it is this:
reach out to someone you love. Reach out and mend a fence or bridge a chasm. Reach out with a kind word and a smile. You could be saving someone's life.

Dyeing to get over artist's block

Yes, I have it. I have writers block; painters block; sewers block (as in sewing, not blocked sewers). Everything creative within me is blocked except for knitting. And my hands hurt. What kind of deal is that? Is it the force of the universe reaching out to smack me upside the head for being too full of myself? Dreaming and and aspiring too much when I have no real talent, as my internal "Editor" likes to to tell me? My negative self-talk has got to go. It's very hard to get anything done when your internal nag is trying to talk you out of it.
"What?! You aren't going to try dyeing that? You can't do that, you'll just ruin it!"
"What?! You want to mar that perfectly beautiful blank canvas with that? What a waste of materials you can ill-afford...save them for something better"
"What?! How dare you ruin that perfectly lovely blank page with your sribblings/meanderings/ramblings...blah blah blah...."
This goes on in my head all the time. I know what you are thinking, that I probably need a really good therapist. But I am not actually hearing voices -- I am merely arguing with myself, trying to overcome a sort of creative stage fright. I get it everytime I face a blank anything. But a new skein of yarn? That's a different story.

I can get the yarn and cast on and get going. This goes well until 9/10 of the way through a project I suddenly run out of enthusiasm as it occurs to me that I wont be as happy with the product as I was with the process. It's not going to fit. The sleeves are too tight but the fit is too lose. Or the yarn is completely cheap and ruins what was otherwise a decent knitting job. But I now have a cure for that. I call it planning. Below goes some of my convulted planning. Or lack thereof.

From now on, after several not so great sweaters projects, I tell myself I am going to pick the pattern first, then get the yarn. Knowing what I intend to knit and picking the yarn accordingly will probably go a long way to improving the odds of a successful outcome. I've finally come to realize I need more practice at innovation and knitting before I can just wing it.
And so the last two projects I knitted, admittedly super-easy, I found the pattern then I found the yarn. And I am absolutely delighted with the results and so were the recipients' moms. The green baby sweater for Liam and the blue baby sweater for Ashyd. Both were from the One-Skein Wonder Baby Sweater. Both turned out great. Both moms were thrilled. And I discovered how much I like not seaming!

Inspired by this recent success, I was casting about (no pun intended) for another project. I had the yarn my daughter selected for a fall lightweight cardi for my granddaughter. But here we are again: I had yarn but no pattern. Selecting a patten involved 1) finding a toddler size, as my recent successes were for some vague 6 months size. and 2) My daughter couldn't decide on a pattern she wanted-she could tell me what she didn't want, but not in a considered analytical way. What I have gathered from her rejections is that she doesn't want it too boxy looking. I presented her with a whole slew of pattern ideas from 10 different library books and hundreds on the net, nearly all of which were promptly squelched with "Not that" or "No!". The one pattern she was slightly okay with involved...shudder: seaming! So I had to search pattern books and Ravelry and Knittingpatterncentral for days until I found a free Lion Brand pattern. I don't know if my daughter will like it but I do like the construction methed: pretty much the same as the One-Skein Wonder Baby Sweater but sized for worsted yarn and bigger kiddo. I have started and I am ready to divide the body for fronts and back. So I guess I am nearly 1/3 done. If nothing else this little jacket, which I intend to line, will be good for very casual trips to the playground or store.

Meantime I wanted to reward myself on the good job with the little-baby sweaters, delivered just in time for fall, and make something for myself.
So I decided to experiment with dyeing and felting. I wanted to use what I had on hand, because I am trying to be frugal. So where to begin?

1.I had an unused skein of Debbie Stoller Full O Sheep in that natural color that I thought would be perfect for my experiment.
2.I had some time.
3.I had some Kool-Aid. Or at least I thought so, as I searched the cupboards, convinced there was alot of Kool-Aid. But guess what? Apparently someone drank it all (it was August of course it was consumed)!
4.Instead I settled for food coloring-- the 4 little bottles in the box?

So about 2 days worth of research later (mostly on Ravelry), I took the plunge, tee-hee! With no further ado I unwound the yarn around the back of a dining chair. Then I tied the ends into the bulk of the yarn. Then I washed it with gentle shampoo. I didn't have baby shampoo or Eucalan or Soak so I settled for my own shampoo..horrors. I can hear some of you now, gently chiding me for being so callous about my yarn. Its pretty sturdy yarn. I think it can stand up to the same stuff I use on my own head!

Notice I skipped an important step, I forgot to tie it off with cotton yarn every so often. Thank goodness it wasn't a huge skein of yarn (just under 200 yards). I forged ahead not thinking about that step until much later.
Recipe:
1 tsp of red coloring
1/2 c vinegar
1 tbsp of table salt
Water to just cover the yarn

I just sprinkled, dripped and poured all this in on top of the yarn/water mix in a Corning Ware casserole dish. I nuked it in the microwave on high, rested it 2 mintues, nuked 2 minutes. Then I took it out of the micro, set it on the counter, put the lid on and left it over night.

The next morning virtually all the dye had soaked in. It wasn't bright red, more like a varigated coral color, yet I really like the result. The color varies from a light pink to an orangey reddish. I gently washed and rinsed it, (my shampoo and conditioner again).
Then I rolled it in a towel to gently squeeze out the excess water and laid it out on another towel to dry. Other than turning it occasionally I let it alone for several days. I had the smack-myself-in-the-forehead moment when I found it to be dry and realized I had some work to do to get it rewound into a useable ball. It was almost starting to felt, apparently I had agitated it a bit agressively when I was dyeing it trying to mix the color through. Anyway, I very carefully untied an end and separated the starting strand and followed it through and finally got the ball hand-wound into an outside-pull ball. I dont have a yarn swift or any sort of help for this. But it was a nice relaxing 2 hours of winding while watching something on PBS, I think Mystery.
Anyway, the end result on the dyed yarn: I am very proud of it. It's sitting on my desk displayed like a trophy, just begging to be used.

Here I am gain: back at square one. Yarn with no pattern. I want to take my experiment a step further and knit it into something to felt. The yarn isn't terribly soft so I don't want to wear it. It will make a great felted...something. But there is only about 197 yards. Now what? Make a teeny tiny cell-phone cozy, a felted bowl, or...of course I found a pattern I fell in love with- Noro Kureyon Felted Scraps Bag. This bag would be big, and luxurious and gorgeous and the perfect shape and I need alot more yarn. I have yarn. I have a pattern. The two don't necessarily go together. So I think I will use the yarn for a teeny tiny felted project or dye another skein or two in colors that will go nicely and make something this or??? Then I will buy Noro Kureyon to make that bag I have fallen in love with!
But look- I have gotten over my block. I wrote something. True I have written alot of self-centered twaddle, but it was good to cough it up and really get it out of my system. A start, that's all I needed.

If you want to write, stop the screaming!

Oh my god. My granddaughter who lives with us, seems to always know just when I am settling down to read, or knit or write or paint, and picks that very moment to start screaming. I love her dearly, sometimes she overwhelms me with her needs. She isn't my daughter, I have to keep reminding myself of that. She is my granddaughter, and as such do I have to be responsible for every need? No.
Time to pull back!

Time to knit. I can knit if I want to. I have to knit if I want to. So many things to do and so very little time.

Top 'o the mornin' to ya!

It is a Happy St. Patty's Day here in Rivercity. Somewhat sunny, somewhat chilly spring weather. The flowers are bloomin' everywhere! 'Tis truly a lovely mornin'. Okay enough of the ersatz Irish brogue.
I'm glad to be alive and working and have a lovely family gathered close by. That's really the best thing about today.
I am thinking about my darling granddaughter, my little leprechaun girl, my new grandson who should be arriving in early June. I am thinking today about knitting and sewing projects for the wee children.
Happy Spring and St. Patty's to you