It is just not my week.

This weekend my computer started freezing up. I'd just be typing away, and suddenly, the old girl just stopped, staring at me. Catatonic. I work from home, using the computer. A working computer is not an optional piece of equipment for me. The first time I thought it was a fluke. The second time, I figured it was a cue to shut down some programs. It kept happening, with increasing frequency. By Sunday, it was scaring me. How am I going to afford a new computer right now? Property taxes are due this week! So I spent too many hours cleaning my registry, searching for spyware, removing old programs, and defragging. So far it seems to have helped. I have my fingers crossed. But just in case, I'm planning on buying a good backup software today.

Yesterday morning, after some nasty storms had rolled though, I found water in my basement. A lot. My poor cats had to slog through basement flood to get to their litter box and food. They were not happy about it. The dirty laundry that was waiting on the floor was soaked. Several boxes of miscellaneous basement-type stuff were wet. What a mess. I took care of the laundry, and let Mr. Deplume deal with the remaining basement water when he got home from work.

Yesterday afternoon, While my daughter was at a friend's house, my son and I started putting away the mountain of clean laundry. I left my room for a moment, only to come back to him playing in a bottle of paint. Black acrylic craft paint. I know that a master bedroom is a stupid place for craft paints, that's where they were waiting for me to find them a new home. The boy had already attempted to play with them in their last "safe" place.

Back to yesterday-- I walk into the bedroom to find him with the lid off, sticking a brush in. Then I walked closer. He had spilled it all. over. the. carpet (the only carpet in my whole house, by the way). Black craft paint is NOT easy to clean up. I dabbed and blotted and scrubbed and cursed and rinsed for about 20 minutes, then laid some damp towels onto it until I could get the carpet cleaner upstairs to try to shampoo.

Then the carpet shampooer was spitting out more water than it could suck up. It is definitely broken. Oh well, now I can get rid of the bulky thing without thinking of all the money I spent on it 4 years ago. Had I mentioned that the shampooer didn't work? I still have three large splotches of back on the sage green carpet.

Last night, I worked on the Mystery Shawl a bit. I'm racing along, and did one wrong decrease. I tinked back, and managed to screw that up. Or maybe I didn't. I tinked and cursed some more and finally got it right. I cannot help but think that I should have ignored that one backwards decrease and saved myself an hour of anguish. I'm now on row 70. I might get this thing finished before retirement, but I do not expect to finish it in August.

The day was finally over. I went to bed.

This morning. The boy walked into the kitchen, and within 30 seconds, did something unknown with a can of RC Cola, causing it to explode. The cola shot into his eyes and hair, causing him to stand there and scream. There was also sugary carbonated spray on him and his clothes, of course, and my floor, cabinets, counters, dishwasher and oven. The diameter of the spray was over 10 feet, and splattered well over 6 feet up, to the top of my cabinets. That boy has talent, I tell ya.

This week sure has been exciting, but I think I prefer the boring life, thank you very much.

I love my thrift store.

I love vintage stuff. Unfortunately, there isn't enough room in my home for every old thing I find lovely or interesting. But books I can find a place for. It started out with some old crochet pattern books my mother got at an auction for next-to-nothing (meybe even nothing, I never really asked). I ended up selling a few of them, as I cannot crochet, nor will I probably ever learn. But those books were so fun, that I started looking in the craft book section at my local charity shop.

Most of the time, the only books there are 1980's instructions on how to crochet collars onto hand-painted sweatshirts. There are usually a few afghan books too. And macrame. But this time there were knitting books. With flair. And they leaped into my basket.

Vintage knit pattern books
Originally uploaded by robinmommy21

First three I found were quite nice. I might actually make something from one or more of these.

Vintage Doll clothes patterns
Originally uploaded by robinmommy21

Next up were these lovelies, titled "Mary's Dollies". I'm not into dolls or their clothes, but maybe someday I'll pass them along to someone who will use them.

Mod knit pattern booklet
Originally uploaded by robinmommy21

And then I found this beauty. Columbia Minerva Leaflet No. 2510, "The Super-Sonics," promises handknits that will "fly off your fingers with supersonic speed." It was originally 25 cents. How much did I pay for it? 25 cents. I felt it wrong to quibble about money on such a wonderful find. The clothes. The hair. The gauge. I'm relatively sure that I'll never knit any of these. Maybe I'll frame this and hang it on my knitting studio's wall. (No, I don't actually have a knitting studio. But a girl can dream, right?)

Detail of mod knit dresses
Originally uploaded by robinmommy21

"The Portobello," the dress on the right, has a stitch gauge of 6 stitches to 5 inches on sz 50 needles. I tried to come up with something witty to write about that, but all I can seem to manage is to chuckle and shake my head at it. And that doesn't translate to the written word so well.

MS3 Update

MS3 Clue 1 chart a
Originally uploaded by robinmommy21

I've completed chart A. I was hoping to be further along by now, but it's been a nutty week. So I'm behind on the stole already. Oh well. I knew that keeping up would be a challenge. I'd love to spend the afternoon catching up, but there's laundry to be done. ick.

oops.

Remember the bag I was working on for a couple of weeks? I was so proud of having only used $2 of yarn to make it. I love thrift stores. Well, I finished it. It still was not exactly pretty, but it was destined to mainly be a project bag so I got over it. I had knit a test swatch when I began, to make sure everything would felt together, so I was confident in this, my first project including felting. I was so excited to plop it in the washer and a few hours later, have a new bag.


I threw it inside an old pillowcase and into the washing machine it went. My favorite old blue jeans and my fancy new bag. After the washer stopped, I went to retrieve it.

shit.

This is what has become of the pillowcase. I knew its contents had met a horrible fate.



And here is the bag. Poor girl. She probably never knew what hit her.



For a $2 bag, it will still be functional. She needs to have a few more wash cycles before she is fully fulled. But I don't think she gets to leave the house. She definitely is going to live out her days hung on the back of the office door. Poor thing.

Here is my test swatch for the Mystery Stole, knit with US5 needles. I'm happy with it. I'm so anxious to start. I cannot wait for Friday. I need to get the house extra clean before then, because I'll spend too many hours knitting, lol.

Hier ist mein Test swatch für die Mystery Stole 3, stricken mit den 3,75 Millimeter Rundstricknadeln. Ich bin begierig nach den Stolen anzufangen.

Wenn meine Deutsche unrichtig ist, sagen Sie mir bitte. Ich mag lernen.

Hallo, meine deutschen Freunde

Es gibt viele deutsche Strickerinnen in der MS3 Gruppe. Im Anschluß an ihre Leitung werde ich versuchen, irgendetwas über den "knitalong" auf Deutsch ebenso anzuschlagen. Mein Deutsch ist nicht besonders gut. Es ist eine lange Zeit seit Universitätsklassen gewesen.

Ich muß zugeben, dass ich einen Internetübersetzer für diesen Posten verwendete.

Post title TBA

I have begun the swatch for the Mystery Shawl 3 knitalong. I'm ridiculously excited about ti all. I have yet to complete a large lace project, and I feel like the 'game' of this one will carry me through to the end. I really want a fancy knitted shawl to show off to every one. I can imagine the conversation...
Impressed Person: Wow, what a gorgeous wrap!
Me: Yeah, I knitted it.
IP: By hand?!?
Me: Yep. With yarn, a pair of sticks and some perseverance**
IP: Wow! You are so talented! I wish I could be as fabulous as you!


But enough about my crazy inner dialogue, back to the yarn and sticks. I'm using Knitpicks Bare merino laceweight. I wound the first hank yesterday. I was a little scared of winding 880 yards of lace yarn by hand, without the aid of a swift or ballwinder. As far as I could tell from things I had read on the internet, it is impossible to wind that much yarn by hand. Time and time again I had read that a swift is a must for any yarn winding, and a ballwinder is a must for laceweight. To those people, I say pbbbtttptptp.

I've come to realize that I'm a Luddite. (Not about my computer, mind you. They can pry my keyboard from my cold dead hands.) But about fiber arts? I eschew the technology. And I'm a miser. So I do things the old fashioned way most of the time. There's just no fun for me if I don't do it the hard way.

Again, I digress. My coffee is getting cold and I need to eat breakfast. Back to the specifics: I used the back of my office chair in lieu of a swift, A 3/4" cylindrical wooden block from my kids' toy drawer in lieu of a nostepinne, and wound the giant ball while watching Barbie Fairytopia: the Magic of the Rainbow with my girl. Totally do-able. I'll probably invest in a swift someday, and the wooden block didn't feel great in my hand. Those beautiful hand-turned nostepinnes (also spelled nøstepinde or nystepinne) are calling my name. The plastic ball winders just lack flair.



** Sorry for completely ignoring the pattern designer in this imaginary conversation that will never happen. I promise that will I give proper credit in any and all actual convos.

What a failure.

I attempted to donate blood this afternoon. I'm not new to blood donation, I've given well over a gallon at this point. And this drive is held at a very good place to donate. It is in the main club room of a retirement home, and they have sandwiches, and drink choices, and cookies. Lots of them. MUCH better than the paltry generic snack selection and stale coffee at the Red Cross Headquarters. It's truly a class act there.

But today didn't go so well. First, the phlebotomist (blood taker) remarks about how hard it will be to get my vein. Not what a gal wants to hear. She does all the prerequisite steps, the vein marking, double checking that I am still who I was thirty seconds ago, double-swabbing with iodine-laden q-tips, etc. The she opens up the needle and pokes clean through to my elbow. Sorry, I exaggerated. But she did have troubles getting the blood flow to start. So she called a guy over. I remember this guy from before. He had no troubles last time he worked on my arm. But today, he wiggled and prodded without success.

This time, though, no such luck. So they called over the team leader. Her magic worked. Things started to go as planned. I was happy. In case you are wondering, having three people fiddling with a needle in your arm-- not terribly fun. But much less painful than the "Cavitron" the dental hygienist attacked me with last week. With things moving along normally now, I went back to reading my book. A few minutes later, the other team leader approached, thinking things had stalled. He was right. He fixed it (without pain, BTW). I was considering kissing him.

But, alas, it was all for naught. Because of the trauma to the vein, it clotted up prematurely, and they were only able to get 3/4 of a pint. Which means that no sick and or bleeding person will get the benefit of my travails. Instead, it will potentially be given to a company for testing of new blood equipment. I guess it's better than being incinerated.

But my arm hurts. It isn't bruised, though. And it took a lot of time away from my real priority for the evening: winding my new yarn for the Mystery Stole 3 knitalong. I really really want to start the swatch.

Aw look, it's her very first meme

My friend Jo over at Lifewithheathens tagged me with this meme. I've never been tagged before. I know these things are rather lame, but it's still nice to be included. Problem is, I'm not sure I can come up with all the random facts that this one requires. I'll try though.

The rules to play: Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

1. I usually hate my hair cut. It seems like no matter what I do, I'm bored with it. My hairdresser (and the one before her) is not to blame-- this is all me. Typically I end up cutting and cutting until I have severely short hair. I'm trying to change that.

2. I'm cheap. But then, anyone who knows me already knows that. I'm hoping that this will translate into me being a financially comfortable senior citizen, but I'll probably still be too miserly to enjoy any wealth that I accumulate.

3. I (and my family) go to church, but I usually disagree with most of what they say. I'm not a very convinced Christian.

4. I prefer plain yogurt with a little honey to the flavored stuff. It's just too darned sweet.

5. I've been knitting a year, and have conquered a bunch of different techniques, but have only finished a handful of projects. Contrary to my expectations, I have become a "process knitter". I really thought I wanted to knit for the sake of producing things. Turns out, I just like the challenge.

6. Also regarding knitting, I shop for yarn a lot. But I don't buy much. See random fact #2 above.

7. I like living in a small town. My 19-year-old self would not believe this about me.

8. This has been really very hard for me. I'm not convinced that I'm very interesting. I'm funny in person, though. Too bad I don't have more IRL friends to entertain.

Whew! That part is over. Now to tag some folks. Unfortunately, most of the people I'd consider have done this very one in the very recent past.

Jennifer seems to be meme free thus far. And I owe it to her, because she and her talk about her love of running even had me running for fun in my dream last night. And that is just. not. acceptable.

Also, Ms. Becky gets tagged, because her blog needs some attention.

I'm still here.

Still knitting, too. Not sure why I haven't posted lately. I'm working on the Luna Moth Shawl from elann.com (I really love free patterns-- who doesn't?)in a vintage fingering weight wool. The color is called "geranium red" but it looks more like dark pink. I like the pink in theory and it is fun to knit with, but I am not sure that my ruddy complexion could handle it. I might end up frogging it and re-knitting the pattern in a more neutral yarn. I hate to waste several hours of work, but then again, I'd hate to knit the whole thing up and then never wear it, either.

Meanwhile, I have signed up to start the Mystery Stole 3 over at Pink Lemon Twist. I bought the pattern for Leda's Dream Stole (Mystery Stole 1) a while back, and swatched for it, but the yarn I used, while beautiful, was too fine. I could use it double-stranded, but then I don't have enough. I'll knit it someday. But for now, I have my hands full. The Mystery Knitalong officially starts the 29th of June. My yarn should be arriving any day now. I wonder if the mailman knows I'm stalking him.

I won't get any knitting in today, I fear. My two-year-old guy has learned how to open every child-proof drawer and cabinet in the house. I need to find new hiding places for the sharpies and scissors and gum. It's going to be a massive undertaking, I fear. I know some of you will be clucking your tongues at this, knowing that I should just teach him to keep his little hands off my stuff. In theory, that would work. It worked for my daughter. I know how the books tell you how to do this parenting thing.

My son has not read those books.

The Sacred and the Profane

Yeah, that's an overstatement, but I've got two pictures to post today, and one is very pretty. The other-- no so much. I'll start with the good one.

This spring, I bought a bunch of bare root plants. I'm actually up to about 50% "promising" with them. I bought 4 astilbe crowns, and planted them this spring, before a nasty nasty cold snap that killed off their new little shoots. Now 3 of the four have finally re-sprouted, although yesterday I saw that one has gone missing. I don't know whether to blame kids or rabbits. I also bought a raspberry bush, which certainly seems to be as dead as a doornail.

I also bought a bare root rose. At out last house, there were three beautiful rose bushes there when we moved in (two dark red and one yellow). Two of the three bushes survived throughout the 7 years we lived there, we lost the yellow one a year after we moved in. I tried planting a few more, but tragedy usually befell them. Once, My toddler daughter fell right onto one, breaking it off at the graft.

But I got courageous this spring and bought one at Menards, a yellow Grandiflora named 'Gold Medal'. I figured it was worth a try here at the new home. I stuck it in the ground (also before that cold snap) and it actually took off! And now I have a single bloom on it. I'm so excited to have a new rose actually living to this point. I have taken way too many pictures of it, as there's a chance that I'll kill it before next spring.

Now to the considerably less pretty. I decided to use up all the wool that I've bought at my local thrift store this year, in a bag to be felted. I'm using a free pattern called the Felted "No Rules" Bag: I love anything without rules. So far, my total yarn cost is $2.05, but the trade off is that there is no pretty in this bag at all. It started out looking like a Green Bay Packers theme, but I did get that under control. No offense to the boys at Lambeau Field, but I'd rather not scream "Packers Fan" at the farmers' market all summer. I suppose if I had spent a wee trifle more time planning it out, it wouldn't be so ugly, but that's all water under the bridge now. I figure it will be a conversation piece. Maybe I'll give it a name like "Ode to Frugality" or "The Go to Hell Bag", so it seems like it was all on purpose. I firmly believe that in this life, you can get away with nearly anything, so long as you act like you know what you are doing.

I'm sorry I've been absent

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, life takes over. But I've been knitting again the last few days, and hope to show off a finished object again in the very near future.

Meanwhile, I had a visitor in my back yard yesterday who was so kind as to stay long enough for me to run in and get my camera. Have I mentioned that I love having a 12x optical zoom on my camera? There's no way my old 4x zoom could have taken this picture.

I know I only have a handful of readers, but are any of you owl experts who can tell me what kind it is? And can I tell from the picture whether my new friend is a boy or a girl? I've not ever seen an owl outside of a nature preserve or zoo, so this is all foreign to me.

My blog as a graph

Look at this. It's my blog, in graph form. I'm lost as to how they do it, but it sure is pretty. You can get one of your own here.

Thrift Store Score!

Lately, my local thrift store's yarn section has been comprised of 3 partial skeins of unidentified acrylic yarn and a handful of bent and/or rusty knitting neeedles. But since I was out for a walk with the kids, I decided to pop in just to see what they had. And who-wee was I glad I did. Someone has recently donated a huge lot of yarn and needles. I bought a bunch, but there are still probably 30 skeins of fingering weight "baby" yarn. Part of me wants to go get that, too, because it's a bargain, you know.
Here's what I got:
11 skeins (80 yds each) of Lily Rug Yarn in Wine.
11 skeins (80 yds each) of Lily Rug Yarn in Cream
1 skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease, in Forest Green Heather
1 skein of "vintage" Brunswick wool yarn, in olive (they call it "Med Lime" but I've never seen a lime that color)
7 US1 DPNs
3 US2 DPNs
2 US3 DPNs
2 US4 DPNs
1 6" stitch holder



My grand total? $9.12 I love a bargain. Now I just need to find a place for all that yarn. The only thing smaller than my stash is my storage area.

A word of advice...

If you are thinking about buying one of those outdoor tent-canopy dealios that every store has out now, do not buy the inexpensive one from Super "Floor"-Mart. My sister bought one on clearance last fall, when the price had dropped from $100 to $25. Today, in preparation for a garage sale this week, she decided to break it out. What better way to host a sale, then under a canopy, in the shade, drinking iced tea.

However, when we went to put the thing together, the wind caught the canopy, pulling the center pin (the one that holds the entire contraption together) completely out of its socket. Since neither she nor I had a soldering iron handy, I used wire ties to get it mostly back together. We took the canopy back off the frame to avoid future damage,. and might try it again later, on a day with no wind. I hope it works by Thursday, when the sale is set to begin. Sitting in the hot sun, trying to sell used baby clothes and old magazines is NOT my idea of a day well-spent.

In other areas, I've gotten nothing done. The office remains 3/4 painted, half of the impatiens I bought last week remain in their little plastic temporary housing, and I still have not attempted to swatch the Leda's Dream Stole. The dishes aren't done. The garden is not tilled.

But at least the blog is updated, and that's the important thing, right?

A happy accident, or something more sinister??

A while back I made a shrug. Just a simple rectangle in a drop stitch pattern to cover my shoulders when I get chilly in the summer. No big whoop. At first, I made it too small, so I pulled out the cuff and added a couple more inches. Then I plopped it here on my desk to wait for me to bother weaving in the ends. Some time later, I stuck it in the bag that hangs on the back of my office door. The bag has become a holding place for all the bits and pieces that need finishing.

This afternoon, I decided that I ought to finish up said shrug, since it is sometimes chilly in here and I wear a lot of tank tops. But alas, this shrug was just not meant to be.

Somehow a hole got in it. Now I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the perpetrator is one of my offspring. I'm pretty sure my cats are too lazy to bother. If I had loved the thing, I'd be sad. But after trying it on today, it turns out I didn't like it so much.

Adventures in lace and ebay yarn.

I bought this merino lace yarn from Yarn Treehouse on ebay. It is beautiful. But it is so very very fine. At 880 yards per 50g ball, it falls somewhere between 'cobweb' and 'gossamer' on the weight chart. I started swatching with it last night, and it's like knitting with a spider webs. I think I'll try the swatch again tonight with it doubled up. It was actually not as hard to knit something so small as I expected (my previous lace-type knitting has been done with fingering and sport weight yarns), but I'd need much better lighting. Knitting by the light of a little table lamp and the television just doesn't work with this stuff. I'll post pictures when I have something large enough to photograph.

Happy Zone 5a Average Last Frost Date!

No worries about a frost today. It's going to be 85 degrees! I planted a few beans this weekend. I dug out the space by hand, and even built my own tepee. Those better be some good beans, as that was very hard work. They are Chinese Red Noodle beans that a friend sent me. She also sent me some Principe Borghese tomato and Jelly Melon cucumber seeds, but those seedlings aren't ready to be planted outside yet. (I finally looked up pictures of the cucumbers-- they are really scary-looking fruits!). I am so very ready for fresh vegetables: one of the worst things about living in the Midwest is the lack of real tomatoes eleven months of the year.

In the new little plot I created last week, the raspberry bush seems to be dead. I don't know why I even attempt bare-root plants. I have about a 10% success rate with them. I need to go ahead and learn my lesson: it is worth the extra money to buy regular plants. I planted some lettuce and spinach in the same plot. I have a couple dozen little lettuce seedlings out there, but no sign of the spinach. I know you are all on the edge of your seats, waiting for news of my spinach; I promise to keep everyone posted.

In knitting news, I have not picked up needles in three days. (I know!) I plan on making a rectangular lace shawl next, but won't have the yarn for another week at least. I hope it is as pretty in person as it looked online. We don't have a whole lot in the way of local yarn shops here, so I am learning the "joys" of internet yarn shopping. One of those joys is not knowing if the seller's photo accurately shows the color of the yarn. Oh, the drama!

And now for a joke. My mother sends me jokes in her regular emails, and I admit to not reading the long ones. But this one was short, funny, and knit-related. So here it is:

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER! "

"NO!" the blonde yelled back, "IT'S A SCARF!"

What is going on here?

First, it was the horrible burned thumb and fingers. Then the other thumb got slammed in a door. Then I reached into the dishwasher and bruised thumb took a fork up under the fingernail. (I really understand why torturers used to do the thing with the bamboo under the nails. yeeowch!) The other day, while trying to reach a water bottle on the top cupboard shelf, I managed to fling the other cupboard door open onto my cheekbone, leaving a cheek bruise. (luckily it is more pain than visible bruise, so no one has called the domestic abuse line on my behalf yet).

Then last night, my son decided to hop into my lap just as I was sitting down. His head and my nose made contact. The crack sound was sickening. DH heard it from across the room. Yes, my 2.5 year old broke my nose. I felt like Marcia Brady, with my hand over my nose, doubled over in pain. There is a huge red spot on the bridge of my nose and some swelling. Thankfully, the break is pretty minor and my eyes aren't blackened, but the usually dark circles are a little darker than usual today. And it farking hurts. I took some tylenol, but it didn't help even a little. every time I try to blow my nose (which is a lot during allergy season), or scratch an itch, or even bend down, it hurts. And the pain is referred to my forehead and teeth.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why is it that nearly every day some harm befalls my body? is the Universe pissed at me? What did I ever do to deserve all this??????



And to add insult to injury, we later watched Celebrity Fit Club, on which Maureen McCormick is a participant. And they showed the "Ow my nose!" clip. DH laughed out loud. At least I don't look as bad as she did after her football incident.

An FO and a new bed

I've finished the little scarf that I started a few weeks ago. I made it long enough to tie at the back of my head instead of being just a headband. In fact, if push came to shove, I could use it as a belt. I might have gotten a little carried away. It's made from Omega Sinfonia cotton from Hobby Lobby. Since my previous cotton knitting experiences were all with dishcloth cotton, this sport weight mercerized cotton was really nice. But I do wish it were a little narrower.


In outdoor news, I created a new flower bed yesterday. This had previously been a weedy patch of weeds, with weeds growing all over it. But now, after a whole bunch of time getting my fingers dirty, it is home to a new raspberry bush, and some spinach and lettuce. I 'm thinking about extending it along the fence and putting in a bunch of asparagus and rhubarb. I still need to figure out how to edge it. I don't like those little plastic flower bed edge thingys, but I need to do something to keep the weeds (and my husband's lawnmower) out of there. My poor trillium were decapitated last weekend in a horrible lawnmower accident. I'm still not over it.

Some giant yew bushes to the left of the picture will be removed in the next few weeks, thus allowing much more sunlight to the area. That is going to be a humongous task. But the bushes are huge, and serve no purpose except to steal valuable sunny real estate in my mostly shady property.