Apres Stitches South

If you've ever been to a Stitches event, you know how much fun it is, and also, how much walking you have to do.  Therefore, come prepared:

That would be yours truly on the left, Mooflower on the left.  In the Market on Day One.  The last time we saw each other was also in Atlanta, about four years ago.  She is truly awesome, and it was great to see her again.  And to meet her friend, Jane.

Day One shopping filled one of my Chico bags.  I'd written down amounts of yarn I needed for specific projects, and stuck to buying those.  For the most part.

How cute is that little guy?  Shame I can't crochet --- Briton's girlfriend loves otters.

Treated myself to room service the first night, having taken a long nap that afternoon and missed dinnertime.

Fruit and cheese basket.  Followed the next morning by

my standard hotel/room service Eggs Benedict breakfast.  With tiny bottles of Tabasco again.

Bought fewer things on Day Two, as I had walked the whole market twice Friday, and had very specific vendors to visit Saturday.  And didn't take a nap, which meant I could go to dinner with Moo and Jane:

Boots are made for shopping and eating.

Got home on Sunday in time to watch Adam Scott win the Masters:

One of my favorite golfers, and definitely the cutest.

Today, I'm working on a cowl with yarn I bought Friday:

 

Oh, and fighting Con Crud.  It was inevitable.

But sort of worth it.

Stitches South

This is my second trip to Stitches South;  Hannah and I came a couple of years ago.  The hotel has redecorated its rooms, going from warm woods with real character to black and white modular which is plain tacky.

The market, which is all I came for, remains the same.  Lots of women wearing lots of handknits.  Mostly shawls.  Don't know how many were wearing handmade socks, but shawls have definitely been the project of choice for, I'd say, 85% of the attendees.

Met up with friend Mooflower once I arrived.  She and her friend Jane have been delightful company these couple of days, despite our difference in style:

The market did have a surprise or two:

This booth was empty yesterday, but there were men sitting and knitting today.  

There was also a handsome man in a kilt strolling around.  Wanted to take a picture of him, but that would have been just creepy.

Got my standard room service breakfast this morning:

Love my Eggs Benedict, and love the tiny Tabasco bottles even more.

So

Following the lead of my twinster and knitting a Color Affection shawl.  I'm always late to the game on stuff like this Hot-Pattern-of-the-Moment.  But elann.com is selling yarn packs for Color Affection, and I thought I'd dive in.  I went with Night Flower, if you're interested.

Heading off to Stitches South tomorrow.  Can't leave until after 4, which will most likely put me 1) in Atlanta 5 o'clock traffic and 2) driving into some strong thunderstorms.  But once I'm there, I'm there, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday stretch out before me.

It's possible I won't spend that much time at the actual Stitches events.  I couldn't sign up for any classes --- too expensive.  So the only place for me to go, really, is the marketplace.  Not that I'm complaining.

Hopefully, these few days away will help me mentally.  My therapist called my trip to Folly Beach last year (last YEAR?) "as good as ElectroShock."  I am in desperate need of a Reset.  Because I am perilously close to hitting the Permanently Off switch.

Hanging On

By my fingernails.  Which are slowly breaking, one by one.

Making this:

out of this:

Well. . .

Riley is now at our vet, and will be until at least Friday.  She is showing signs of improvement: she's noticeably less jaundiced, has gained a couple of ounces, has less bilirubin in her urine.  They're still having to feed her with a syringe, but that is SO much better than a feeding tube.  We miss her, but would prefer she stay with them until she is completely stable.

In addition to calling off all my travel plans for the rest of the year, I've also cancelled acupuncture for the time being.  I wasn't having the best luck with it anyway, but that's another weekly cost that     would have eaten away at the money I have.

And I'm still looking high and low for a job.  Without any luck.  Wonder if I qualify for unemployment again?

Just bought this bead from my friend Shannon.  Not so clear in the photo, but the "sky" is swirly purple, like a storm.  Just gorgeous, and so me.  The plan is to make it into a pendant.

I've talked before about how impressed I am with Deborah Norville's sock yarn.  For skeins that are marked as containing 230 yards, I can usually make a full pair of socks out of one skein.  With these socks, I went a little longer on the body, and this is how much I got done before I had to tie in the second skein.  It's just remarkable.  And the colors are nice, and there's no reason to pay over $20 for sock yarn when you can get a pair out of a $5 skein.

Klunk misses his big sister.  They share Hannah's room.  And he loves to play with her swishing tail.  Without her, he's had to turn to

Finn for his amusement.  Sometimes Finn is willing to play along, sometimes not.  We'll all be glad when Riley is back with us.

A Monday

Finn has the oddest habit of grabbing shoes when someone comes in the house.  Not when someone is leaving, and needs to put shoes on, but when they're coming in.

When you adopt a rescued pet, you wonder (or at least I do) what kind of life they had before.  Finn was definitely trained to "stand up" and have his leash put on.  I wonder if this shoe thing was part of his training, too.

Sort of a quiet weekend.  Hannah worked both days.  I got a good amount of knitting done.  Briton  came over last night to watch "The Walking Dead."  Obligatory Daryl photo now:

I spent a whole lot of time looking up and printing out patterns.  I've got a sock and a scarf on the needles right now: the scarf courtesy of Roxanne.  A while back, she sent me two skeins of Chunky Mochi (color 817), and one of the patterns I came across was a scarf pattern calling for --- you guessed it --- two skeins of Chunky Mochi.

Got a follow-up appointment with the acupuncturist on Wednesday.  I'm anxious to hear her thoughts on the three-day-long headache I had after our first session.

March used to be a fairly busy month for me, events-wise.  My wedding anniversary is/was March 10th.  Mama's birthday is/was March 24th.  Dale's is/was March 31st.  Now, it's down to my best friends' birthdays.  Shari celebrates hers on March 1st, though she was actually born February 29th.  Tomorrow is Lisa's.  Hard to believe we're all fifty-flippin'-three years old.

Insert Needle A Into Body K

Going to an acupuncturist in the morning.  (Why isn't that spelled "accupuncture"?  Seems more accurate.)  Decided to try some other possible remedies for my anxiety/stress/depression and my headaches.  I've no fear of needles, so that isn't a problem.  I do wonder, though, what the feeling will be like as the energy begins to move around.  There's a whole lot of bad stuff stored up in this body, and I just wonder what it's going to feel like when someone tries to take it out.

I just have to do something.  Spinning in place has gotten old.  And Briton is convinced I'm suicidal again.  All I want to do is stay in bed and sleep, which has always been, as I'm sure I've said dozens of times here already, my Worrisome Sign.

So, we'll give that a whirl tomorrow.  'Til then, Rifftrax and Noro silk:

Playing Through the Pain

My arm muscle, whichever it is, is damn serious about keeping me from knitting.  At knitting group last night, I got about 12 rows done before having to stop.  And the pain has continued through today.

This is not going to end well.  I'll either lose my sanity from lack of having something to do, or my arm will be shot from overuse.  

Hey, maybe they can come up with some sort of radical new surgery to deal with knitting-related injuries.  I could be the Tommy John of the fiber world!

Baby Steps

My self-promise to take myself on a trip each month has begun a scant 20 minutes from Athens, at a Bed and Breakfast.

Only for two nights, but away, and comfortable, and, perhaps most indulgently:

a noise machine that can make it sound like I'm by the ocean.  ABSOLUTE HEAVEN.

This is the room I'm in:

However, I'm the only guest in the house, so I've wandered around and looked at all the rooms.  Already picked out the one I want when/if I come back.

The bed is so, so comfortable --- I've knit in the parlor and read on one of the porches --- I've taken as much advantage of being alone while meeting my three goals: napping, knitting, reading.  It's been a good couple of days.

Aaaarrrggghhh

I never, ever buy the yarn that a pattern I like is made in.  It's usually too expensive, and there is already so much yarn in this house, odds are there will be something that can be used to make just as lovely a garment.

Seldom, though, do I ever have precise matches.  The pattern I like calls for more yarn than what I have on hand. or the pattern calls for considerably less, which leads to the problem of leftovers and what to do with them.

A couple of days ago, I found Perfection.  Pattern I love, yarn I'd just bought with exactly the amount needed for the project.  I foresaw a garment in a new color, easily knit and put together, and I cast on with a smile.  A fancy rib back, just a rectangle, and two sleeves that are variations on feather-and-fan.  Couldn't be simpler.

I have started that freakin' back THREE times.  And have always messed up the stitch count.  So I decided to try a sleeve first.  

Yeah.

So the search for other possible patterns began.  But that shrug out of that yarn is IT.  It is ideal.  Why can't I get it right?  I think I'll try once more.  And if it doesn't work then, it's deep into the back of the stash with the yarn, and deep into the bookshelf for the pattern.

Dear. . .

. . .  Every Bag I Saw at TJMaxx That Would Have Made a Great Knitting Bag: Why were you all $129.99?  I mean, every single one of you.

. . . Little Knits:  Even though I don't have a cool new bag to put any of it in, thank you for all the great yarn in my latest shipment.  I'm already working with the organic wool:

. . . Stitches South, I made my reservation for you today.  My plan for this year is to take myself on a little "vacation" each month.  Stitches fits that bill for April.  AND I get to see some friends!

. . .   Hugh Laurie, I still love you.  This was a wonderful book, and it looks like you've helped make it a wonderful movie.

. . .  Girls who were in Barnes and Noble studying for a French test: the terms are not "bone-a-partay" and "coop duh tatt."  Neither of you, I suspect, has a prayer on the exam.  And I would love to know who asked whom to help her study.

Yuck

The stomach crud will not let me go yet.  If I'm on Briton's timetable, tomorrow should be a much better day.

When I can stay awake long enough, and sit upright long enough, I'm knitting with some great yarn I bought at knit in Charleston.  It's thick-and-thin, which is a huge favorite, and a bamboo/wool/acrylic blend that has a delightful hand.  It's called "Bamboo Bloom Handpaints" from Universal Yarn.  I'm using Reflecting Pool.

In Brief (With Pictures)

New favorite book.  Wish I weren't working on two things already.

A couple more Christmas pictures:

The traditional top-of-the-stairs-before-opening-presents photo.

Hannah wasn't having any luck explaining Christmas to Klunk, so she turned the job over to the big brothers.  (Note Klunk's Fair Isle turtleneck.)

GET IT?

Finn's favorite toy.  He has scarcely let go of it, save for an adventure or two with the "baked potato" on the left.

Eve

Yes, casting on before Christmas.  Actually, none of my gifts this year were handmade.  Mostly because most of my gifts were bought for Briton and Hannah, and they look on handknits the same way most people look on a beautifully wrapped boxed that turns out to contain underwear.

I am using knits in my 26 Acts campaign.  So far, I've been leaving things on people's cars in parking lots, so that it will be both a true surprise and a real mystery.  I haven't made an etsy sale this year, so I've got plenty of items from which to choose.  The other day, when I had my car serviced, I left a cat I had made in the children's waiting room, with a note attached that said he could be taken home.

It's a cold, rainy Christmas Eve here, which makes huddling up inside with some knitting and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" just perfect.  Hannah is working today --- when she's done, we're going to IHOP to eat, then our annual visit to a live Nativity scene.  When we get home, we each open one gift, then watch "Muppet Christmas Carol."  Traditions are rather soothing, don't you think?

The Season

So, Ann Curry began a "movement" on twitter: 26 Acts, where you are encouraged to do 26 random acts of kindness in honor of the 26 victims of the Newtown murders.  I got to it sort of late, but am really enjoying coming up with ways to randomly surprise people.  And I'm going to try to get to 27, as the shooter's mother was as much a victim as anyone at the school.

Things are proceeding well here for Christmas.  For as long as I can remember, I've liked to wrap one present a day leading up to Christmas.  It extends the spirit, and it's fun to watch the stack of gifts grow every day.

Hannah's new kitten is doing well.  He was "in quarantine" for a week, so yesterday was the first day he was allowed to walk around in the house.  He's very interested in Riley (the feeling isn't mutual), and is of great interest to Finn.  Unfortunately, it's hard to get a clear picture of the little guy --- he's surprisingly fleet afoot.  So here's one from when she got him.  He hasn't changed that much:

I am knitting --- is anyone else?  I'm working on a wrap/stole-type thing, probably for myself.  I started a pair of wristers last night, but wasn't happy with how they were going, so unravelled.  I'll pick another project tonight or tomorrow.

You know, if the world doesn't end.

Photo(ish) Day

Current project:

in terrific green tweed Nashua Isabella yarn:

while watching "Rifftrax Life: 'Reefer Madness'."

Ongoing project:

My babies.

Can Do, Can't Do

One of the members of my knitting group has offered to teach me to crochet.  Specifically, to crochet Granny Squares, as I'd like to make an afghan that is one huge square.  But then, today on facebook, one of my friends posted this photo:

Isn't that pretty?  If I get the hang of the Granny Square thing, I just may have to make one of these, too.

The group met last night, and I passed out donated worsted to everyone, asking them to make 6" squares that we could put together for an afghan or lap blanket.  And it was decided that, at our next meeting, everyone will cast on socks.  I was flabbergasted to find out that hardly any of them have ever made socks before.  My experience with knitters has always been that socks are a regular go-to project.  Everyone but me will be knitting them in the round, unless I brush the rust off my two circulars skills.

The people are at Mama and Daddy's house, preparing for the estate sale.  It still looks like it's going to be the first weekend in August.  I suppose it's very telling that the house has scarcely been on my mind at all since I left last time.  Everything I could do, I had done, I guess.  No need to worry.  Now, once the sale is over, we'll see where my thoughts go. . .

Shopping

Several weeks ago, I ordered some of Kollage Yarn's square knitting needles.  I've used them a couple of times since getting them, and there truly is a difference in how my hands feel (as advertised.)  Never good with physics, or kinesiology,  the explanation for that eludes me, but it is true nonetheless.  When I can, I plan on getting some Cubics to see how they handle.

Yesterday, and so far today, lots of my time is being spent on Patternfish.  As if I need more patterns.  With all the free ones available, no one should ever have to pay for a pattern.  But there are a couple there that I just might have to give in to.  Like this one:

Now, I am nowhere near as top heavy as our model here;  hope that won't be a problem.

There are tons of gorgeous, intricate lace shawl patterns on the site.  For some reason, I've never been inclined to knit lace.  Don't know why, exactly, unless it's that most lace patterns are charted, and I cannot follow a chart to save my life.  When I see a pattern that has any chartwork involved, I do what I do when I see that double-points are called for --- move right along to the next pattern.

(For the record, entrelac has always given me trouble, I'm uninterested in Fair Isle, and my hats never have pom-poms because I'm bad at making them.)

Halvsies

Upon completing Until Tuesday this morning, I am now exactly halfway through my Authors' Alphabet. The book was touching and funny, as expected, but also rankling, as the author described the treatment of troops by the Bush White House both during and after their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  

My next book may be a sort of cheat, as there are two authors.  But, the lead writer's last name begins with "N," so I'm forging ahead with Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John Nicolay and John Hay.

Knitting continues apace.  The third Wingspan was much, much shorter than I wanted, and anticipated:

It is also decidedly none of the colors shown in this photo, save the gold.  It is a deep, rich plum and a velvety maroon and an emerald green.  So much for natural light. . . 

Also made this top-down shrug out of some pale pink tweed worsted:

Too small for me, I'm afraid.  Suppose it will go up on etsy.

Still awfully, awfully hot here, though a break is supposed to come perhaps as early as tomorrow.  Our air conditioner has been running non-stop these past couple of weeks, and any days I've had to be outside longer than what it takes to walk the dogs out, I've come down with brutal heat-induced headaches.  Ugly all around.

Hannah and I are going to have Super Girly Time tomorrow, as I have booked facials and massages for us both.  It's something we've talked about doing forever.  With both of us stuck in the house, looking unsuccessfully for employment, now seemed as good a chance as any to give ourselves a treat.

Hope you're treating yourself well.  You deserve it, you know.

Thursday Pastiche

Fewer and fewer gardenias now --- they're getting scorched in the heat.

Speaking of which --- over  100 degrees here the next several days, and Briton has no air conditioning in his apartment, and the upstairs unit here has stopped blowing cold air.  Doubt there's any chance of getting a technician out here tomorrow --- I would imagine they're slammed right now.  Hannah may have to move herself downstairs for a while.

Last Friday, she and I went to The Mall of Georgia, and I bought myself something I've been wanting for years --- cowboy rainboots.  Found them on deep clearance at Charming Charlie.  So blasted happy with them!

The picture of me knitting in public was taken at MoG, as I rested while Hannah shopped and shopped. I've finished the Wingspan since:

Love, love this pattern!