two knits of ivory

So I decided I'm taking tomorrow off to get some things done that went undone last weekend and the weekend before. This way, this weekend coming up I might be more apt to get motivated to work on a couple of overdue projects, instead of attempt to play catch up and whine at my failure. Did I mention I was cranky? Well, I thought it was worth mentioning again. I always think it's worth mentioning. And this, really, is why I find being alone preferable. I wouldn't want to listen to anyone tell me they are cranky, but I have a congenital urge to share this information myself. So I blog it. Hopefully it doesn't do any damage out there in the cyberspacial innertubes. That's a cool word, cyberspatial. Yes, I made it up just now. That's what words are for, to communicate exactly what one is thinking or feeling. If there isn't a word to do that, I say, make it up. Language is the clay of communication. Molding it is one of my life's greatest ent...

This spring I fell off the deep end. I'm still making my way out. I hope to be back when I get there. In the meantime... Zombeh Kitteh Is In Yer Bed: Sleep iz hard Sleep iz really, really hard Rawr!

The state of fashion has been on my mind with the finishing of Blueberry Moon . To be honest, I felt a little self-conscious posting that FO because I know it represents a style that is, well, a smidge past it's freshness date. And then there's all that stockinette! Lovely for it's creator to ogle over, but really? lacking in visual interest. For this middle ager, fashion has been speeding by. Knitting Kris hit the nail on the head in the comments section. What the heck are all these people running around in baby doll sweaters and blouses and t-shirts? I always considered myself fashion forward until about five years ago. Then all heck broke loose. The clothing and shoes (especially shoes!) began to incorporate elements which were abhorred when I hit the tenderest age, the age when fashion was everything in life. It is near impossible to fight fashion aversions which have been a part of me for lo on 30 years. And like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory , I can't see...

We all know there was life before Wii. I have knitted proof. I wore said proof to work on Monday with my Digitessa socks . Woot. The kitties wanted to get in on the photo shoot yesterday, too. Right over that bridge is a pathway into the boggy woods behind my house. I take the dogs there almost every weekday. Over the winter our most scarediest of cats, Hunter (background), started coming with me on my walks. I was amazed, and encouraged him. Hunter was hit by something, most probably a car, when he was one. His leg was shattered in three places requiring an orthopedic surgeon to insert three sets of pins at each break. Three months later he had all but one set of pins removed, the poor guy, and he's never been the same. Who would be? Now he spends most of his time out of doors in the woods, or when he's indoors, under the kitchen sink. For several weeks now, since the weather has been less hostile, Hunter comes with the dogs and I every single day. Grissom joined us two days t...

I finished my Seal Rock Socks last Thursday and they are gorgeous. I haven't really worn them other than to model them in the frozen sun Saturday morning, but I'm looking forward to it. Atreyu, my Australian Shepherd, was kind enough to inspect the bridge before I crossed it to stage my socks. Isn't he handsome? Ripley gets all the photos here b/c he's the one who needs my woolen expertise, but Atreyu is the beauty of our canine family. Between our two remaining felines it's a toss up. Grissom is the king of the castle and Hunter is our scaredy cat. My socks? Not so cute, but there is something about them... I finished the first sock using a tubular cast off. I went back to Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook and using her advice I put the stitches on two needles and kitchenered them together. It worked like a charm. A week later, and about 10 stitches in on the second sock, the technique lost it's appeal. I decided to frog back on both socks and jus...

As I mentioned the other day, I picked up some Malabrigo at the Fabric Place in Woburn, MA. Within 24 hours the skein of Lime Blue was quickly transformed into this: As a kid my favorite crayola crayon was Midnight Blue. It was essentially an extremely dark teal, the blue black being modified by just a small hint of green. It was the perfect color for the night sky in childhood drawings. I don't know if they still make that crayon color, but as I was knitting this up Saturday, I was taken back to that memory. One of the shades in this beautiful colorway is a spot on likeness to my memory of Midnight Blue. Poor Ripley doesn't seem to know how good he has it, does he? Poor bubalah.

The newest edition to our family, Ripley, our chihuahua terrier mix, came to us in June, shortly after I started this blog. And as the days and nights were cool it became obvious very quickly Ripley would need some hand knits. I cast on some heathered green Lopi I had lying around and came up with this fly-by-my-seat design which doesn't look half bad. Ripley looks like a little bruiser, doesn't he? Shortly thereafter I began another off-the-cuff design with a pair of highly discounted Classic Elite Lush skeins I picked up at Patternworks. I've gotten pretty far twice, but my shaping isn't working out. The heat came to squash what little interest I had to refrog and redesign a second time. I'm hoping a post will boost my interest, or at least generate some pressure to get this out of my WIP bin. The yarn itself is great to work with. It is an Angora/wool blend that doesn't blossom until after you knit it. I thought that was pretty cool.

Thought I'd be knitting this weekend but then I realized I need to get the house ready for my nephews next week! Lots of laundry and cleaning was done instead.

Working on the Summer Set cardigan this weekend has definitely helped me get out of my funk. As of a week from yesterday I was at this point: But then, I somehow lost a stitch at the end of the row and had to frog a third of the way back. That's not something that's happened to me a great deal. Here I was earlier last night at the end of the third skein: I'm about ready to move the sleeves off the needles and connect the body. While I toiled away, some lounged. The nerve, eh? *Finally could edit post to include title. Removed reference of same from beginning post.

You're just going along and things are going great (for once!), the weather is absofreakinlutely perfect, all is right in the world, you started a new knitting project with the most luscious yarn, and then things.just.go.wrong. But not really very wrong at all. You have all your fingers and your toes, your healthy, your family is healthy. Yet you still can't help tearing up from an inner frustration you cannot put your finger on? That's today. So no yarn porn for you. Hopefully Thursday. Have you seen our Charlie? Now he can bring a smile to my face. Love you Charlie.

Lifes' tough at Chez Yarn.... :-)

I've been dying to start a blog and even moreso a knitting blog. Not sure where this will lead to, I'm HEE HO excited. Hopefully this blogger site will get me up to speed with some of the technology in an easy non-confrontation way. My favorite blogs have pictures, so I'll start by introducing our family. The hubsters already made his debut, so below are 2 of our 3 cats and our two dogs. This formatting style is giving me ogida, so bear with my poor presentation skills!!! Ripley: our chi chi mix whom we adopted by way of an animal rescue group a week and a half ago Grissom: Our holy terror and a one cat neighborhood de-rodenting machine Hunter: The scarediest cat in the world, and way below, Atreyu, our Australian Shepherd