This post is courtesy, my Dad. He reads the comics first thing, like dessert, why wait, clips them and passes them like fortunes from a Chinese cookie to the appropriate recipient. I look forward to arrival of these gems. Here's what I found in the mail yesterday.
for the tree hugger, granola part of me:
and the cat lover , fiber enthusiest...
and, it is a knitting blog after all..
enjoy! (and my apologies if I have stepped on any copy write laws)
Bear with me. I may have some irregular posts for the next couple days. My cd / dvd drives were on the fritz.. software not hardware problems. Something got corrupted somewhere. My Antivirus software had to be updated and I really needed to be able to finish the install on my new printer. I''ve been using it at a sort of limp as only part of it was installed. So, this morning, I took it to have it fixed, 'cause I just couldn't get it figured out without help. Now I'm screwed. When I got it back, almost all of my programs were non-functional. The monitor is nearly illegible and I can't seem to correct it the the control panel. To make matters absolutely the pits.. even when I re install the programs, it won't open them. I am up the proverbial creek. And, IT'S BILLING TIME! That's what pays the freeking bills. Tomorrow, first thing, I'l take it back to them and hope. Meanwhile.. time to get out from under my desk ( where I've been taking care of that mess o' wires that I had) and try to forget about this until morning, when I'll once again, I'll unplug everything and.... hope.
In an attempt to do a quick post, and to try not to lose the entire thing with all the pictures finally in their places like I did yesterday, here goes.
Everything is 'a work in progress'. As everyone knows, these pictures can grow to be tedious. In an effort to be good blogworthy friends, we check 'em out, we comment and we persevere.
The Vine Lace sweater back: ( I frogged SIX inches Friday night or you'd see this finished)
The Midwest Moonlight Scarf: I love working in the silk.
and continuing to dye, untangle and skein more silk..
I asked Margene and Kim to try knitting with some of this silk yarn. I happen to love it. However, before I'd be willing to offer it for sale, I wanted other opinions. So we'll see. The feel and the drape are fantastic. That's silk for you. It's also almost impossible to take a good picture of it without soft indirect lighting. Any strong light picks up the shine and well... you can see what happens.
Marcia and Anne, two sharp eyed blogsters, emailed me about the picture in this issue of Spin Off. Yes, it is me. Fresh from the garden and chores, dressed appropriately. Wish I had known. ;)
The weekend was typically March, cold, damp, windy and very gray. When fellow blogger and knit guild member, Judith, asked if anyone wanted her tickets to an Antique Greenhouse tour, I jumped at the chance. Turns out she decided to dump the rest of New England's March and high tail it down to a sunnier clime. The self guided tour was primarily on Aquidneck Island. Many of the greenhouses were on the estates of the Newport mansions.
Notice the residents of one of the greenhouses?? All in all, when it came to the plantings, mine are as nice as any. My orchids and clivia are budded up. Just like the fancy greenhouses.
( No, Sammy is NOT allowed on the table. But, COME ON!!! )
If you were looking for knitting content, you'd better pass on this entry. I fell asleep in my chair early last night, earlier than usual. I managed FOUR rows of knitting. That leaves me with nothing to update. There are a few other things that come to mind.
I've been at my desk all morning, at work, getting stuff out of the way. Not much headway has been made on the stacks of paperwork that surround me, but several eye strain rebate forms are ready for the mail and I'm finally up to the *call City Hall and talk to the mayor* $100.00 parking ticket. If it isn't paid in 14 days the fine doubles, in 28, it triples. I have six trucks trying to park, everyday, in Providence, a city not really open to business. When an economy is on the down turn, one would think that it would make sense to try to encourage business, not wipe out those that are left in the struggle. Ah well.... that would be my take on it, apparently NOT that of the Mayor, and thus, the phone call. In order to procrastinate just a bit longer, I'll post. First.
Web / Blog stuff:
Hey, have a good weekend. I'm going on an Antique Greenhouse tour. Pictures are sure to follow. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this harbinger of spring... the water striders are back. Saw this guy yesterday.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Last week I was taking pictures of ice.
My Mother always told me that as a kid, I'd join anything. Maybe, maybe not.. but there are two new buttons on the side bar. The first is the WIP Wipe-Out KAL button. I saw this after I had decided to search out old projects for completion earlier in the week. On my way out the door Tuesday night, I remembered that the only project in my knitting bag was the Vine Lace Cardi. I could have gone with it alone. Vine Lace doesn't take much concentration. It has a four row pattern repeat and the first and third are basically a purl row, garter on each side. Not much to worry about. But, when a conversation gets involved, or projects are being passed around, it is nice to have something stockinette in hand. Back to "on my way out the door".. I reached into a knitting bag I had dropped onto my pile o' bags and voila!! a sock I had totally forgotten I'd started. It was on two circs and the gusset was completed. Perfect! Here it is finished. One more sock to go.
The second button is the NEW Maryland Sheep & Wool 2006 poster. Once again, beautiful job guys. So, who's going? Taking classes??
Knitting: Because it was pointed out to me that my knitting was hidden at the end of yesterday's post, today's update will be first. .
Just sayin'... (Not knitting and things I've been meaning to ask)
And one more thing for those of you who attended SPA last month. Did anyone find a little plastic zippered case, say 4 x6? Inside it had a Panasonic camera battery (flat rectangular thing) and an SD card. I called the hotel, housekeeping says they didn't find it. Thanks.
Fish on Fridays is a Rhode Island tradition. Pass by any smallish diner in the state on a Friday and the cloying smell of frying scrod, bought from the fisherman in Galilee, Point Judith, Fall River, or some other place locally, is a given. Go in for a helping and you'll wear the smell on your clothes and in your hair until you wash it out. It's a rare Friday that I miss Fish with friends. "My" diner for the last ten years (I don't know, more.. less...hey.. who's counting) makes a mean baked fish, layer upon layer of sweet white fish with a Ritz cracker and butter topping. Before that, there was another diner that specialized in a "red" fish.. a tomato, mushroom and garlic baked scrod. But always, ALWAYS, the menu starts out the same. FRIED FISH & CHIPS. While I waited last Friday night for my order, I complained to the cook that there wasn't anything left on TV that I was interested in watching after Monday night's 24. Right, I lead an exciting life. No need to elaborate, is there, after all that's NOT the story.
Then Dave (the cook) says to me: "Starting tonight there is."
Me: Oh yeah??? what s that??
Dave: The Doctor.....
Me: What?? Where?? What Channel? I haven't heard about this. That's something!
Dave: 9pm, tonight's the premier and it's a double feature.
DR. WHO! If you don't know about the Doctor, well.... it's not for everyone. It's British, it's silly, it's low budget, and it's science fiction. It's, well okay, it's pretty stupid. If you can't be happy watching actors running around in helmets obviously made from aluminum colanders, this is probably not a show for you. Dr. Who has also been around since the early eighties, probably before that. Considering he's a time lord, long before and well into the future.
Saturday evening there's another new show is running, HUSTLE. It's also from the BBC. C's happy with it too. He's got a new heart throb in the character of Stacie Monroe . This week was another double feature. It's as much a reason as I need to turn on the tube while I knit. Okay, oKAY, so it wasn't a very interesting weekend. I could tell you about the time I spent cleaning the garage and emptying all of those old ball jars full of jams and pickles years and years old that we never got around to finishing. A waste and a shame.
Umm... and then there was the nightly excitement of trapping those Freeking Flying Squirrels in the attic. The problem we have is, they're kind of cute. Soft grey coats, tipped with black, white accents, very large eyes, nocturnal, and very verbal. Someone suggested that rat traps work well.. I bought a $30.00 Hav-a hart. I can't kill them. Luckily, neither can C. I loaded up the traps with sunflower seed coated peanut butter and a bit of apple, he reloads it and talks to them while they watch in between catches. Darn things. They're a pair, we didn't want to separate them. Too sad. Maybe they mate for life, I wouldn't want that on my karma. We let them out in the yard last night, so that they could '*find* one another. They did, and they found their way back in. We've checked out our screen work. It's secure. They must have more than one entrance. The next round ( in desperation), we took the first one caught to the orchard at the end of the street. We're feeling pretty bad about this, the other one is still up there. For now they've been separated. It'll be morning before we take the next one to the orchard. If it gets in the trap, that is. I have a feeling that we need to take them farther away. If so, I'll need a holding cage, I can't do this separation thing again. Freeking bleeding heart, right? Maybe if I could think of them as flying rats. No... too cute. I've got a problem.
And F is for Finish. As in, I Finally Finished the Funnel Neck. 
That stretchy yarn really did me in. In spite of it matching the gauge, it is, as C kept pointing out, Form Fitting. I nixed all the other shots as being too graphic for this blog. Maybe some new Foundations..
For me, this is wishful thinking.
However, for those of you (Tamara... you must be seeing my buddies by now) in the south, get your feeders out. These little buggers must be starved after their journey northward, particularly the hummers that cross the Gulf. They need food. With much of their habitat wiped out in last autumn's hurricanes, this year please be particularly attentive to the early arrivals. If you want to report your first sightings of the Ruby Throats this year and have them included on the migration map, go here and include your information. I love watching the migration movement each year. My Mother just told me that she listened to a robin sing last evening and saw one get a worm while we spoke on the phone this morning. No such luck for me. I heard flying squirrels in my attic last night. hmmmm..... guess I'll be out buying a Hav-a-hart trap this morning. They are little buggers and can eat their way through almost anything. I need to get them out, and soon.
Progress report on the Funnel Neck: Both sleeves are in. Side seams, tonight. This stretchy yarn better not let me down. The sweater and I do not look like much of a match.