I Made a Haul

Really, a haul.  Wait 'til you see what came home from Friday Night Knitters with me.  Donna, who moved to Minneapolis a couple years ago and is moving back, was/is in town and had bins (bins, people) of yarn and books that a knitting friend was getting rid of.  Donna drove it to Green Bay and brought it to Knit Night for us to paw through.  I pawed well and deep.

From the book boxes I glommed onto a copy of "It itches.", a book of knitting cartoons (knitting cartoons??? yeah, knitters need a sense of humor) by Franklin Habit, and Scarves, a compilation that has several interesting patterns in it. 



The least of the skeins is one black Knit Picks EssentialSolid.  It's sock-weight superwash wool & nylon.  A person can never have too much black yarn.






In the "looks like bark to me" department, we have one skein of Galway Highland Heather and one of Brown (brown!  are you seeing the trend here?) Sheep Country Classic Thick & Thin.




 

 



There was this one lonely ball of Cascade 220 Superwash in a gorgeous dark red.  Anyone who knows me just steps out of the way when I see a ball of red wool.




 
I kept coming back to this skein of Mooncake Yarn (isn't that a great name?) in the delightfully named Swimming Pool.  I'm not much of a blue girl but since my felted bowl jag I'm thinking of having various colors of wool on hand just in case I have to make something to be felted again.


 


Without a label but irresistible nevertheless was this skein of what I'm guessing might be Araucania Multy Chunky.  It's dark brown, black, chestnut, even a bit of dark teal and dark rose and will make a gorgeous scarf or hat.



 

I dug waaaaay down to the bottom of one of the bins and unearthed this unlabeled trio of skeins of worsted wool in greens and lilac.  It's freaking gorgeous.  I don't care that I don't know what yarn it is exactly.  It's in a bag that says it has 100 yds. per skein.  I'm picturing a pair of Fetching mitts.


 

But the piece de resistance (IMHO) was a bag with 8 little skeins of Ice yarn from Turkey.  It's bright yellow blending into deep indigo, and it pleases me no end.  It's 50/50 wool and nylon, really soft, a little splitty, and it has sunk its claws deep into my soul.  

 


I immediately (IMMEDIATELY) cast on a Wingspan shawlette.  Just as a practice project, you understand, so that I don't ruin my special, expensive Lana Gatto that's wool, silk & mohair, not because I couldn't not knit something with it immediately, no.  I stayed up until after 11 PM so that I knitted to the yellow.  I'm about halfway through the second of eight triangles.  See?




I have to confess that I didn't intend to take home even one skein.  That I stood looking at the bins and boxes and said right out loud, "I'm not taking any.  I don't need any more yarn."  Z-Dawg just laughed at me, and razzed me the rest of the evening as I tried to shove 10 lbs. of yarn into a 5 lb. knitting bag.  Oh well, I made a haul.  And it was free so it didn't go against the letter of my self-imposed yarn diet.  Way to rationalize!

I felted my 8 bowls and they turned out great.  I took them along last night and everyone liked them.  It was a fun night even though there was no yoga (only me and the teacher showed. next week she's teaching me anyway if it happens again.  I whined.)

Housework Yoga

I was going to get up and do half an hour of Wii Yoga this morning, then I thought about Mardi's suggestion that I go to the Sat. AM Community Yoga at Bay Area Yoga but then over my first bleary-eyed cup of coffee I realized that I needed to clean this joint.  Next Saturday we're hosting the May Family Supper and I have to work on Saturday so there won't be time for any of our usual last-minute running around like crazed weasels since I work until 4 and they're coming at 5:30.  I needed to get organized and get on the stick.  So I started in the living room figuring it'd be an hour (tops) to tidy, dust, and vacuum.  Three hours later I steered the vacuum into the hall.  You have to understand that I sorted through things, made a pile of things to carry downstairs, put assorted things in their proper places, turned up tables and chairs to dust their undersides, drained and vacuumed the humidifier.  I even got out the extend-o-duster thing and swept it along where the ceiling and walls join and down the corners in the living room and hall. Kind of spring cleaning.  After vacuuming and dusting the hall, I swept and mopped the kitchen floor and both entries.  I did a sinkful of dirty dishes too.  By then it was noon and I was starving.  Tomorrow the bathroom gets it.  Oh, I'm back eating "real" food today and it's not as earth-shatteringly good as I had imagined it would be, although I will admit that my lunch of 1T. of chunky Jif (which is made in Lexington just down the road from DD's house) with smear of JC's homemade strawberry jam on a toasted sandwich thin with a few baby carrots on the side got more attention as I ate it than it would have before.  As of this morning I lost 5.8# on the 4-day shakes & soup diet/fast/whatever.  I suspect that a pound or so of it will find its way back just because the shakes & soup are essentially salt-free, but I'm very happy with my results and can see doing this once a month as a kind of giant step forward in motivation.  Plus next I want to make the shrimp & zucchini soup; it looks scrumdiddlyumptious.  When I went to open the patio door to let some cool air in while I cleaned there was a Downy Woodpecker on the suet, a Starling waiting its turn, and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker on the back feeder.  Cool.  (Okay, the only pictures I have has the birds on the opposite feeders: downy on suet & red-bellied on seeds.)

May 5--Balthus, Nude Before a Mirror.  Giselle frowned at herself in the mirror.  She rearranged her hair, lifting it up the back of her head and letting the long sweep of chestnut waves cascade back down.  It settled like a cape over her back and shoulders.  She turned to the right, then to the left.  Did her left breast hang lower than her right?  She cupped her small bosoms in her hands trying to judge if one was lower or bigger or heavier.  Soon she'd be going away to school and there everyone would see her.  There was no avoiding it.  The dormitory had one bathroom per floor and one pillar with shower heads on each side per bathroom, so she had gotten into the habit of standing nude in front of the mirror looking at herself.  How could she bear to be seen by all of her floor-mates if she couldn't even look at herself without blushing?

The sun's out and it's a gorgeous Spring day.  I think I'm going to run a errand or two and then go potty Porter--and Lucy.  Lucy's a chihuahua whose owners are away for the weekend so DS & DIL1 are watching her.  I'm not so sure about dealing with a strange dog.  Maybe I'll come home and pick up Durwood before going over there for a little dog-wrangling assistance.  Yeah, that's a good idea.  Hey, it's Cinco de Mayo!  We should eat a taco.  Adios, muchachos!
--Barbara 

Here, BirdieBirdieBirdie!

Durwood made fresh birdie juice yesterday so I could get the rest of the feeders out this morning.  He'd hung out one hummingbird feeder when the lilacs bloomed (that's what the birdfeeder lady told him to do) and I put out the copper oriole feeder last weekend.  So far no takers, but I suspect we won't see any hummers until the honeysuckle blooms.  There are a few random blossoms on it now but nothing like the riot that will be there soon.  The lilies of the valley are just beginning to flower, the bleeding hearts are attracting bumblebees, and the fern fronds are unfurling.  I love ferns.  I have a very small area where they'll thrive since most of our foundation's in full sun all day and I try to keep them moist like they like.  The heavy cover of lily of the valley leaves helps with that all summer.  I blew off walking Porter this morning in favor of lolling around in my jammies.  Soon I'll shower and then change the towels and sheets, get them into the washer, and sew while I'm down there.  Maybe someday I'll have a sewing place upstairs where there's light.  Yeah, when I win the lottery.  I think I'll take a walk to CVS later and buy me a ticket, or I'll stop to buy one on my way to yoga & knitting tonight.  I was in no mood to write to a prompt last night when I got to bed, so I didn't.  Hope you don't mind.  Here are some pretty pictures to distract you. 

No, I Did Not Fall Off The Planet

I just haven't been knitting or sewing or anything creative much lately so I haven't blogged.  If you get really lonely for me I blog every day over at http://crazynovelpeople1.blogspot.com/.  There're always pretty pictures.  Not of knitting, no, but of birds and dogs and garden things, ya know, stuff like that.  Today I have some knitting for you!  Real, honest to goodness knitting.  Really!

Here's the week #18 shot of the Maple Tree scarf. 

 I think I might scale back to a sock-weight brown once the leaves are leafed out since the bark kinda takes a backseat to the leaves come Summer.  Then I'll ramp the brown back up in late Autumn once the leaves start to fall and the trunk and branches are more visible.  Plus I'll be able to blend together all of the various shades of green I have assembled.  I am determined to maintain interest through the long, green time by using a lot of different shades.  We'll see how successful I am.

I'm still knitting Color Stripe Vessels.  I think #8, the orange one in the lower right, will be the last, partly because the bowl jag is lessening and partly because I am finally running out of the gray heather Cascade 220 that I'm using for the bowl bodies.  I will finish it today (yes, I will) so that I can felt tonight, let them dry, and take them to Harmony Knitting tomorrow.  At least that's what I hope.  No, that's what will happen.

Did I show you the yarn I bought at ReBelle when we were in Lexington?  It's Lana Gatto (wool cat? please tell me it's not cat hair), according to the label it's merino and silk with a little mohair thrown in for good measure.  Oooh.  She had 4 skeins on the "reduced for quick sale" table (I head right there in any shop) and I scarfed up all of them.  I'm hoping to make a Wingspan shawlette with it--hoping I have enough yarn.

I think that's everything for now.  I've got a sewing project I'm working on but it's kind of a secret.  You'll get to see it soon enough.  Patience.

I Farmer-ed After All

It was drizzly yesterday morning and there was the possibility of rain during the day.  I couldn't bear to miss out on the free water so I got my patio planter "salad" garden planted before work.  It was so easy since I had empty planters, a big of planting soil mix, and some seeds.  Zip, bang, boom--instant garden.  See?  That's a rosemary plant with basil seeds behind it, and scallion seeds closest to the patio doors.  The other planter has mixed lettuce, then Black Seeded Simpson (Durwood's go-to leaf lettuce choice), and spinach at the patio doors end.  Durwood used his best printing to make the label sticks for me while I played in the dirt.  (No, soil.  My Grandma Angermeier, a gardening pro, scolded us and corrected us when we called it dirt.  "Dirt's what you clean out of the house, soil is what you plant in."  Sorry, Grandma, I played in the soil.)  Mrs. Mallard came to see what we've got in the way of snacks out for her the other day.  The Mr. wasn't along the first time, came the next time just for a walk through, and now she's back today.  I've got some loose corn out in one of the birdseed cans but of course if I go out to get it and spread it I'll scare her away.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  And if I put it out when she's not here the *&%$# squirrels will eat it before any duck gets even a smell.  I want Durwood to make lots of birdie juice today so that I can put out the rest of the hummingbird and oriole feeders tomorrow.  We have out one of each but we like to cover lots of bases.  We get very few orioles, I think because there's not a lot of denser woods nearby, but we get some and I don't want to miss them.  Day 2 of the shakes & soup diet (geez, I don't want to call it a diet because that word has such negative connotations; any suggestions?) proved a bit more challenging.  I was starving in the late morning at work and wanted something crunchy after supper.  I suspect the problem was with the wimpy snack choice I made.  (actually I'm following the menus in the book)  On Day 1 the snack was a green pepper, quartered and seeded, with 2 T. of fat-free ricotta in each quarter/boat, topped with a grind or two of black pepper.  Yesterday's snack was 1 lowfat mozzarella stick rolled in 2 romaine leaves; a pale selection after the bounty and crunch and pepper of the day before.  I'm going back to the pepper/ricotta combo today.  I'm loving the kale & garbanzo soup; it has lots of garlic (6 cloves!) and red pepper flakes so it makes a big impression in my mouth.  And there's a sprinkle of feta cheese on top.  Mmm.  I can't wait to make more of the soups.  One has shrimp!  What's not to love?  (Oh, and I dropped another 1.3# according to the Wii Fit measuring thingy; that makes 4.2# and I know it's not all going to stay off once I get back to normal eating but it's a leap in the right direction and I needed that--badly)

May 3--Thomas Crawford, Genius of Mirth.  "Lily, goddammit," Esther grabbed at the teetering marble statue, "Lily, you have to settle down."  How many times had she said that?  A billion times it seemed.  How many times had Lily ignored her?  Every time, she'd ignored Esther every time.  Esther couldn't remember a time when her petite, dark-haired daughter had been still.  In the delivery room she'd bobbed her head up off her mother's shoulder to look at everything, brightly watching the world around her.  As soon as she was put down she started moving through the world as best she could, rolling at first picking up dust bunnies that had Esther trying to gather them before Lily ate them, the baby keeping up a constant stream of coos and gurgles.  Lily walked early and talked earlier; and had seldom been still or silent since.

Better than a child that stays put and doesn't make a peep, I say.  I need to get to bed earlier, before 10:30, I keep falling asleep at the switch.

--Barbara

 

Not the Farmer in the Dell After All

I didn't plant my seeds (boo!) but I did get all the dead stuff cut down and out to the street.  And I speed-mowed the lawn after supper when I learned that it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow.  For once the weatherman is right, lightning woke me around 4 A.M. and it's drizzling right now.  I'm tempted to go out in my raincoat and get them planted right now to take advantage of the nice rainy day... hm, maybe I will, once I get this posted.  Well, I didn't starve and I didn't cheat, I was my standard level of crabbiness (I think) and got through day one of the shakes & soup days.  Actually I think it might be something I can do every once in a while.  One smart thing I did was get out a bunch of small plastic containers, and then measured out the dry ingredients for all the days' shakes so I dirtied the spoons once (and had to wash them once) and I won't have to blearily measure in the mornings.  I have terminal blear these days, and it hangs on and on.  I did half an hour of Wii yoga this morning to try and stretch out my aches from last night's mowing.  Of course they could also be rainy day aches and stick around all day.  Bah.  We have a funeral to go to after work today.  It's so hard to know what to say but it means so much to see people.  I have no recollection of most of what people said to me at Mom's funeral but I remember every face.  We having the devil of a time finding a day when the M's, Z's, and Z-M's can get together for the May Family supper.  I might have more luck fixing the meal, plating it, taking a picture, and faxing it to the others--wouldn't be as satisfying though, would it.  But I have faith that we'll figure it out.  We can be flexible.

May 1--Paul Gauguin, A Farm in Brittany.  Michel walked down the road toward the farm.  It was a blazing October day, bright with sun, and with a hint of chill on the breeze.  He amused himself trying to calculate how many different shades of yellow he saw.  The aspens were that bright yellow of a child's crayon, the maples were cycling from red through orange to a pale, lemony yellow.  The wheat in Antoine's field was a rich gold, and the sunset had washed everything else with ochre.  Anything to keep his mind off his day, anything to delay having to tell Sophie that he'd lost his job.

Now I'm either going to go play with dirt and seeds or read the paper, do the crossword, and eat, well, drink breakfast.  Oh, and according to the Wii Body Test I lost 2.5# yesterday.  An excellent and encouraging start.
--Barbara

Hooray, Hooray, the First of May...

(You can finish that little jingle all by yourself, I'm not going there, at least on the blog I'm not.  In my head's another story, but you're on your own here.)  It looks gorgeous and sunny out there.  In about an hour Porter & I will be meeting Maggie & Skully for a walk along the Fox River Trail.  I like that trail best because of the river and all the birds.  It's a little busier with bicyclists and skaters but it's worth it to me for the scenery.  Today I'm embarking on a four-day shake & soup diet, part of the new Digest Diet from Reader's Digest.  I ordered the book (of course) and read through it but I think it's too drastic for me where I am right now.  Durwood suggested that I just do the "fat releaser" days to kind of kick-start myself.  I thought about it and decided that I could maybe do 4 days.  We'll see how it goes.  Four days isn't very long, that's my mantra today.  Lately time's been flying at supersonic speed so those 4 days will be over before I know it and I'll be back to my mounds of veggies with a little meat, lots of fruit and some yogurt meals.  Today I'm going to plant leaf lettuce, spinach, and basil in pots, and then clear out the dead things in the rest of the garden and beds.  It looks too nice out there to be inside for much of the day.

April 30--India, A Lady Playing the Tanpura.

eager fingers
wriggle, reach
pluck the strings
that call the birds
from the trees
pull a man
to his knees
           --bam
~~~~~~~

Sorry for the brevity, I was so sleepy last night I could barely get those on the page and there's a jumble of squiggles between, over, and beside the words to prove it.  Get outside and play today.

--Barbara