Happy Gray Alpaca Shawl

Happy kid in shawl.

Happy me in shawl.

Unblocked.

Blocking, with my new blocking/dressing wires.

I wear it a lot. I might have mentioned I wish it was bigger, just one skein more! Ah well. The Beginner’s Triangle, from A Gathering of Lace, in DK alpaca from West Valley Alpacas. Such drape! Such a silky hand! I took it to the fireworks in Sonoma. Kiddo’s first best friend kept a grip on it through the whole noisy show, working it in his hand. I kept a grip to keep it!   Come to think of it, I do need more of this yarn so I can knit him a hand blanket.  Must check when they have an open farm day again.  A very good excuse.

Lost Habit

(If I ever had the habit…)

I’ve got a memory card full of photos to sort through.

I’ve got a backlog of this and that in my head. Rapidly dissipating into the realm of lost ideas.

I’m playing with the spindle. Addictive little thing. I’ve got one or two or three somewhat active knitting projects.  Very slowly active.

I’ve got the work stress hamster wheel brain thing. Such fun!  Especially before the alarm goes off in the morning.  (I’m stealing an idea from one of the Tour de Fleece teams – Suck Less!  My goal is to suck less at work.  Not that I’m bad, but some things I’m terrible at doing, and they contribute mightily to the hamster wheel brain.)  I have a new patient in Albany.  Do you realize how much traffic is between me and Albany?  Grumble.  There ought to be an easy way to get over there, but there isn’t.  It’s not even far.  (Two nice yarn stores in Albany, but I swear I’m not thinking of them.  Really.)

The tomato plants are big! And only one tomato has set. Something is eating the few strawberries before they’re ready for us. I picked a good handful of green beans last week or so, and my husband cooked them all up for his own dinner. Sniff!

The apples are growing heavier. We now have a fig tree and a peach tree and arguments about which tree is whose. The patio ceiling is loaded with grapes. I’m optimistically planning a grape jelly making session sometime in August, preferably with friends. Who wants to join in?

Sunday, driving away from the house, we saw a chicken crossing the road.  Really!  She was going to the grass on the next parking strip.  Looked just like ours, so I had to stop and call my husband to make sure Coco (or is it Shakira?) was still home.  How many chickens live in Oakland?  More than we suspect!  By the way, our hen is teaching herself to crow like a rooster.  A hoarse rooster.  We may end up with a real rooster,  despite my adamant refusal to have such a noisy creature in our backyard.  (We’re noisy too, but not at 5:30 am.)

The kiddo is finishing up his month of Oakland Fine Arts Summer School this week.  Two performances on Thursday!  (Of course I’m taking the day off.)  As far as I can tell, he has loads of fun.  But he doesn’t tell me about it.  Ah well, separation anxiety goes both ways.

The kiddo’s first and very best friend moved back from Boston!  We are so happy.  We spent Fourth of July with them in Sonoma.  The fireworks were great!  Loved being able to walk to them.  Loved that they were professional fireworks.  Loved that there was no music, just oohs and aahs.  The neighborhood fireworks were still going when we got home after midnight.

Last night was hot.  Today is hot.  Where is the fog?!

Urg, with a nice shade of grey

Moan, moan, complain, groan, moan.

I’ve had a cold.  Feeling better, but I’m working, so grumble… Cough.

On the good side, I had a lovely grey alpaca shawl to curl up under.  Might be why I wish it was bigger.  And now it needs to hang out in the sun for a while to be de-virused.  Or I could wash and reblock.  Blocking wires work a treat!  But I’d rather just have it in the sun, next time we have some. 

Next shawl I knit, I probably won’t slip the first stitch of the garter edge.  I couldn’t block it out quite as much as I wanted.  (and maybe I should have left it until it really was dry!)  As a matter of fact, the next shawl I knit is already started.  I happen to have some Noro Silk Garden Sock, looks like browns and greys and blues on the outside, but we all know good surprises lurk inside!  And I happened to run across this Gaia Shoulder Hug shawl.  Obviously a perfect choice for the yarn, and I don’t even have to make something up!  I’ll use both skeins of yarn for it, so it will be happily bigger than the one shown here.  I wonder if I have any pictures yet?  Started it for a meeting last week.  The work spirit-week kind of meeting.  Urg.  Ripped it out to reknit without slipping that first stitch each row.  Sunday, started it up again sitting feverishly at the Adventure Playground in the Berkeley Marina (what a great place!  Free!  But not so fun if your kids’ tetanus shots aren’t up to date and you worry about that kind of thing).  Very nice carry-along knitting.  Smaller than the gorgeous (if I do say so myself, and you only have my word for it because no photos are appearing here just yet) grey alpaca shawl.

But I seem to find myself with some baby knitting to do.  The best kindergarten teacher in the known and unknown universe (yes, even better than the best you’ve known) is having a baby girl this September.  For some reason, I feel like knitting a baby blanket.  I started.  It’s beautiful!  I only hope they agree, and if they don’t, I want it back for me!  Naturally, there’s a whole saga of what I started and why and what I’m actually knitting and why.  But that will wait for another post in a week or two or three.  Mom and I have already had several long discussions about the whole thing.  It’s so nice to have someone or two or three to have those long creative craft talks with.  We have more fun in person, when we can pull things out.  I’m lucky to have several friends here like that.  And one or two of you imaginary people too!  Who so kindly read through my ramblings when I get around to sharing.

Huh!  I’ve rambled myself right into a good mood!  Better go put it to work.

Chart or Knit?

No, not the eternal debate of charts v written out instructions. The other eternal debate – should I work or can I knit? We all know the correct answer, even if we don’t live the correct way. Interpret at will.

I’m so close to finishing my grey alpaca shawl! My son encouraged me last night (at bedtime! I think he was stalling). “You can finish it today, Mom!” Helpful, isn’t he? I’m 6-8 inches from the end, all narrowing down from where I am. And I don’t want to stop or end! And yet, I can’t wait to finish! (I’ve got new blocking wires to try.) Too bad I have a junta de reganos tomorrow, with an important farmers market visit before (snack week again) and a birthday party after. And maybe some grocery shopping in there. A grand day!

Mom’s blog is back. Pain and Comfort. She’s got Alabama garden pictures. The best part is that the humidity can’t come through the computer screen.  No, not entirely true.  I like talking to my Mom.  That’s the best part.

I read a bunch of Georgette Heyer mysteries recently.  So much fun!  (Penhallow’s not fun at all.  Consider yourself warned.)  And well-written.   I’m reading Joan Didion’s A Year of Magical Thinking, which is not so much fun, but also well-written, also involving death.  Maybe I need to find something goofy after this one.  I have a low tolerance for sad reading.  (also a low tolerance for utterly horrible writing, even for the brain candy)

Bits of Knitting

I owe you photos of knitting projects.  I think I’ve mentioned a couple of them already.

Like these Easy Mitts for my brother’s girlfriend.  Why, no!  They’re not quite done yet!  Such a surprise.

Once again, I adore the yarn I’m using for a pair of mitts. I really, really, really want enough for a sweater. A closer look?

Sigh….

I do have enough of this Malabrigo Sock for a sweater. This is going to take me a long time to do, especially since I can’t decide what to do.

Knit Purl. Stockinette. Cable on the edge (I love that!). Lace. What next? Clearly, I’m still swatching. Not necessarily in the active sense of the word.

When Mom was here, she brought out a shawl she’d just finished. Remember my little koigu triange shoulder shawl? Mom made a big one, with the edging pattern and everything, out of Araucania alpaca in blues and turquoise. Such a lovely thing. I got to block it with her. I’m not sure how it made it back in her suitcase. I wanted it. The girlfriend-in-law wanted it. We all used it. So I started this. It’s the Beginner’s Triangle from A Gathering of Lace. Alpaca yarn from West Valley Alpacas, only about an hour and a touch from Oakland (two years ago already!). Very simple, but I still manage to mess up every so often. It takes an impromptu fix gracefully. At the time of this writing, it’s what I’m working on most. (I’m writing ahead. I spent the day with posts in my head, so I’m taking advantage of the opportunity and knocking a bunch out ahead of time. Then I’ll have another 2 or 3 week break, but maybe not.)

I’m almost a third of the way through. I love knitting this. I can’t wait to wear it!

One of those ideas

My niece has/had her first communion on the 16th.  When my concuna called about a week and a half before to tell me about the party, I had that idea.  You know, the one about a lace shawl for a special occasion.  She’s small.  It could be done in a thicker yarn.  Such a great idea!

Decided on the Butterfly Shawl from Cheryl Oberle’s Folk Shawls.  Found some white cotton in the closet.  Cast on with some mysterious needles. Recast on after heavily modifying the pattern. Recast on several more times.

I like it, but it sure didn’t happen! Ah, it’s always worth a try. This will go into the someday pile. We’ll buy her some little gold earrings instead. We checked. Her ears are pierced. My husband says he’ll buy them. I don’t think he trusts me! I might get some to my taste instead of to his.

By the way, has anybody seen my needles? All I see in the drawer are empty envelopes. Which is understandable, given the numbers of projects breeding in the corners. But I can’t even find the KnitPicks case! Maybe it’s hanging out with those medication bottles I’m desperately looking for. What could they be doing together? Linezolid is an expensive drug, but I doubt it has much street value…

Not just microscopic wisteria

We also have one sunflower that survived the snails! (Must remember to buy diatomaceous earth and I’m not checking the spelling on that.)

Oh, all right. That’s not the whole story.

Tomatoes and strawberries in the earth boxes (in front of the lonely sunflower). So far, so good.

The patio. The rose is getting so big, you can’t see the grape covering everything thickly. A veritable green cave inside. The microscopic wisteria is over to the left. What? You can’t see it? Neither can I.

Pretty, isn’t it? This gets huge clumps of flowers, each flower lasting only a day or so once open. It’s like a bride’s bouquet on one stem. Husband swears up and down it has a scent. I smell it faintly.

My mothers’ day present from last year (my choice!). Bloomed so beautifully. And look! Tiny apples!

Ah, I feel better just looking at it all again.

Spit is best in the right place

I used a spit splice for the first time last night. I’m working with this lovely alpaca yarn, and thought it would be the perfect opportunity and place for a spit splice. I very carefully overlapped about 5 inches of yarn and used lots of spit and friction. I continued knitting, satisfied with myself, for about two stitches. Then the end of the working yarn reached my hand. I very carefully spliced the new ball to the cast-on tail.

Belly laughs for all!

(Yes, of course I fixed it. Easy enough to do.)

Happy Mothers’ Day

Speaks for itself, I believe.  Not that I can leave it alone!  Now I know why he’s been asking how old I am.  I hope he means the yarn store or the book store.  Or the chocolate store.  Certainly not the grocery store.  Please note that he spells ‘knits’ correctly.

Here are a couple things found around the house this evening.

The cousins came by. They decided it would be a wonderful thing to play with the hose. Then they found a bottle of shampoo and washed the slide. And covered themselves in suds. Came in shivering, so I dumped them in the shower, clothes and all. The kids melted and went down the drain. This is what’s left. I suppose I should wash the clothes before they mold.

We ate here. I spent a good bit of time in that back chair between a book and knitting.

On the other side of the patio from the grapes. This wisteria has grown significantly since last year. I believe it has three more leaves. Maybe it will grow to be taller than the grass this summer.

Seems like a nice day!  Too bad I haven’t been able to shake the grumps. (Weeks of grumps! Contributing to the dearth of posting.)

Snapshot of a good day

Time to take down the Easter eggs hanging around the house.  We celebrate Spring, and spring means painted eggs brought by fertile rabbits.  Very confusing thing, Spring.  But it was more like Summer early this week, and nobody could move or think.  Now we’re back to normal weather, of a sort.  Much more pleasant.  We have no heat tolerance.  I don’t want to go to the beach in hot weather and walk on hot sand and get burned by the hot sun.  I like foggy mornings.

Today we have a tower of empty berry baskets on the dining room table.  I made biscuits this morning to eat with strawberries and goat milk crema from the farmers market.  Only half a batch, because my unnatural child doesn’t like biscuits.  Truth be told, I made half a batch, except when I added the milk.  Then I had biscuit batter.  Cooked up just fine as little flat cakes, but not the fluffy biscuits I meant.  It’s all my brother’s fault.  Somehow.

Very low energy for a couple of days, even with cooler weather.  I’m aimlessly swatching for a sweater (for me!) with beautiful eggplant (almost black) Malabrigo sock yarn.  A little knit purl texture.  Nah.  Stockinette.  Okay.  How about a cable edge?  That’s nice, but can I figure out a decent button band with it?  Lace.  This one’s too open.  About three rows of another lace.  Can’t keep my mind on it.  A couple rows of garter.  But I’d rather have stockinette.  And so on.

I have a few things around to mend for my brother’s girlfriend.  I fixed the hat already.  I’m taking apart the mitten.  I’m not ready for the scarf yet.  I pulled out a lovely yarn from Black Mountain Artisans in Pt Reyes Station.  Autumn red orange all together.  Worked nicely to fix the hat, but I don’t want to use it all up on the other stuff.  So I started another set of easy mitts.  Now this is what I feel like working on!  Very little thinking and practically no decision making.  Fast.  I’ll probably finish the first one tonight – the 2 day mitt.  And shows off the yarn beautifully.  Instead of having everything else mended, I’ll get these done for her maybe even before they leave.  Is it still snowing in Telluride?  (Yes, so I should get going on the mending!)  She’s one of those supposedly rare people – the perfect recipient of handknits.  If we make something for my brother, she claims it.  I have no doubt that if I ever finish my brother’s mittens, she will be the one to wear them.  She wears things out, and wants to keep using them.  So we mend for her.  And make her more.  It’s so satisfying.

The chicken is out, scratching for bugs.  The dog-in-law is curled up downstairs, healing his injured pad.  My boys are watching NASCAR and Mexican soccer (in empty stadiums).  My brother and girlfriend are off to Tomales Bay with friends.  Maybe they’ll bring  back oysters.  I hung up laundry.  The bathroom is clean, even the wastebasket.  I watered the plants.  Dishes to do.  Chile for enchiladas to make.  Self to bathe.  Groceries to buy, but I don’t want to leave the house.  Hard to settle back into doing things once I leave.  But I need chiles and avocados and probably tortillas too.  Definitely some chicken.  I haven’t cooked dinner in several weeks, and we ate prawn curry last night.  Made with the family curry powder brought back from South Africa.  (See why they get handknits?)
Dishes next.  I wish you could hear the birds outside.  And eat enchiladas with us.  (I don’t mind if you offer to help clean up the kitchen afterwards.)  I’m storing up good day for the workweek ahead.