hand eye crafts

The new Knit Picks catalog got here today, and there is so much  tweed! Not sure when I'll be able to buy some, but I do so love tweed yarns.  They may be a sort of Autumnish, but I love them year round.  Tweed yarn and confetti yarn --- which are sort of the same thing, I suppose. I'm non-tweed knitting right now.  The blue shrug I showed last time, and a green raglan pullover that had to be restarted because I was following the wrong pattern. Also, I'm to "I" now: I read this book years and years ago;  even taught out of it regularly.  This seemed like a good time to revisit it.

 I'm working on this Florentine Shrug, which won't really be Florentine because mine will be a solid color. What I'm wondering is, though, does anyone else keep count of rows on a piece of paper like me?  I've never had luck with stitch counters, so it's old school tally marks for me.

Have you heard Wanda Sykes' run on a woman's moment of silence ?  Well, here's mine. Did you know there are caramel Tootsie Roll Pops?  If something has caramel or butterscotch or toffee or sour cream or sour cream and onion in it, I'm in.  Sour cream and onion chips are the only potato chips that should be put on a sandwich.  Did Mama really never know I stole penny candy from Ben Franklin?  If Daddy didn't give me a quarter and a dime for lunch, the whole day felt off.  A quarter and two nickels, or three dimes and a nickel just felt weird. When does that Kroger coupon expire?  I need to put those tow socks together before they get separated again.  But I'll think about that in the morning.

  You can see the circulars jog in the bottom photo.  Still, the character the short rows give the design is really creative.  It's big enough to pull up and use as a hood.  The yarn is real wool, and I will admit that it got little scratchy on my fingers past a point.   When I work short rows, I don't do the wrap-and-turn thing.  It's never worked for me.  So, yes, there are visible holes there, but I choose to call them "eyelets" and move on.

 I go through the day, not posting, then look at the clock and it's 11 or so, and I still haven't come up with anything to say. Sorry.

 I started a new sweater.  Not until the raglan sleeve shaping did I realize I had been following the chunky yarn instructions instead of the worsted.

A short rows cowl.

With the finish of the two-sided sweater, I now move on to one of the best parts of knitting: picking the next project.  You get to go through all your yarn, and you get to look through all your patterns, hoping to match the two.  Right now, I'm leaning toward a short rows cowl.  If I can find the ideal yarn mate . . .  

And it's purple and everything.

 On the two-sided sweater: The front and the back have been put together.  Sleeves and side seams to go!

The absolutely perfect amount of dip on almost all my tortilla chips at lunch. The advent calendar I ordered arrived. The Vandy football game is being televised.  (Watching as I type.)   My nail polish is on point. I'm making good progress on Fiona Hill's book. These Went Badly Today A third day with a broooooootal headache.  Thursday and yesterday, I managed to get it under control after a while, but nothing's working today. My put-the-pieces-together mojo is gone.  I finished the solid sleeve for the two-sided sweater, but haven't felt like finishing the thing.  (Blame the headache, probably.)                                        

If you see a book this thick, are you put off?  (Ignore the SUPER cute dragon for now.) If the book is about someone/something you are interested in, you probably aren't. It might shock you to find out that Lincoln is not my "L" biography.  You'll see what is when we get there. (I won the dragon in a claw machine.  It's so adorable I can hardly stand it.)

 Like, I'm guessing, many of you, I love old books.  Used books.  It's such fun to scrabble through shelves or stacks and find goodies.  Like these: Torn covers I figured I'd use in collages, found at a thrift store.  They've been resting on my nightstand for a few days.  It may become one of those deals where something stays in one place long enough that it would feel weird to have it moved somewhere else. In another book, this was used as a bookmark: A membership card with lots of information I assume shouldn't be posted.  Just interesting, thinking about whose hands have held these books and where these books have been.

As in where there's nothing for you, my next memoir/biography/autobiography.  Also as in Hannah, who sent me this photo of Chops having what she called "a very personal argument" with a Dr Pepper.

Really cute washi tape from Amazon  and dulce de leche cheesecake from a local Italian restaurant. Next up, a home game weekend.

Why do we "watch" TV, but "see" movies? Last night, I watched one of my favorite movies:  "Metropolis".   ("Watched," because I played the DVD through my television.)  It mesmerizes me every time. We have always made lists in this house;  it's always been a pastime.   Favorite Songs, Best Books, Favorite Restaurants. . .  Last week, Briton and I talked about "comfort movies," and the first thing that came to mind for me was the Marx Brothers.  Movies I have the DVDs for, can play, and know I will enjoy, more than receiving actual comfort from.  "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is one. Even movies, though, have fallen short in the past week or so.  Very down stretch of days.  I'm part of the last sleeve away from finishing my two-tone sweater and haven't picked up the needles.  Kind of plodding through the Gardner books.  The only thing that has any appeal is sleeping, which is not a good sign for me, mental-

Well, in the first collage,, "Paint," there's a  Paint horse .  Wordplay done.  (And points to Twinnie.)  (And I had to write the word "paint" again and again until I was satisfied with how it looked.  I am a real stickler about some things.)   In the second, "Song," there are song birds, and there is a key.  Like a key in music, which I've never understood, even though I played the clarinet for one year.

 Can you find the puns/double meanings/plays on words in my latest two collages? First, "Paint". Second, "Song". Sorry the stickers of the little fairies aren't showing up too well.  And I completely overdid the water part of my water coloring.  Live and learn.

Stopping at G on my tour of the biography/autobiography alphabet.  This time, I'm reading two at once, both about the same person   I am such a fan of Ava Gardner.  In my own collection, I have three books about her.  One is a "standard" biography, one  is an autobiography , and  one is based on interviews with her.   I couldn't decide between the last two, so, both it is. It's turned just a touch cooler this weekend.  Not a fully Fall feeling yet, but heading in that direction. No special plans for tomorrow.  Growing up, this would have been the time of year to pack away Summer clothes, take them up to the attic, and bring down the Winter ones.  It was always fun because there was invariably several things that had been forgotten.  It was like getting an all-new wardrobe.

 The Internet is functional now.  I have a big tabletop screen, though, and finding a new space for it (near an electrical outlet) is proving worrisome.  All the new cords on the new router ate up the spaces on the surge protector, so the screen has to find a new home.  A computer screen has thrown my den arrangement all askew. I know --- First World Problem. This week's Seek, Gather, Create requirements were seashells, mustard, stitching and the letter "M." I stitched an "M" in mustard yellow for the plane's banner, knocking 3 out right away.  (The plane could easily have been the "mustard," too, though.)  Scattered some shells in the sand, and I was done. This I did a couple of weeks ago, and kept forgetting to take a picture of it. It's called "Ladies at Lunch."  I like it.

Even though I was told three times by two different people at AT&T that my new router was going to be here yesterday, it didn't arrive until late this afternoon.  I've gotten my TV back, but can't get my desktop to work.  Thankfully, I can connect to some of the Internet with this (my Kindle) or my phone.  Still, there are some things on the desktop that I genuinely need to get to. Also, football season here starts tomorrow.  I've made my stance on home games quite clear in the past.