And look! The crocuses are blooming. I find that single white one with the purple stripes very dear. I love the bright yellow one but that lone one seems kind of fragile and brave.
The hyacinth bud is fully out of the ground now and if you look to the right you can see a daffodil bud just starting to swell so despite yesterday's snow/sleet/rain Spring is on the way. Speaking of the snow/sleet/rain, it was accompanied by a nasty wind and I passed a high school playing field on my drive home from work where there was a lacrosse game going on with all those young men in shorts playing and dedicated parents huddled under blankets and umbrellas in the stands. At least the wind was at their backs. It made me shiver just driving by.
After supper last night I went downstairs to scare up some sock yarn to make spiral striped mitts. I found the original sock pattern I used a few years ago (on a sock I never finished) because I thought it had clearer instructions than the mitts pattern and in searching for that sock pattern I came across the pattern for those vintage hankie washcloths I made a few years back. I was blindsided by a desire to make another one RIGHT NOW. I searched out some cotton yarn I got on clearance last time I was at Spin intending all along to use it for these washcloths. I did gather up and wind the sock yarn; I bagged it with the pattern and needles and brought it up too, but this afternoon (after erranding much of the day away) I cast on and got the washcloth started. It's a pain in the keester to start a knit-in-the-round project in the center on very few stitches but once I'm through the first few rounds it's a lot less like wrestling a porcupine. I knitted up to this point on Double Point Needles so there were eight pointy ends joyously tangling with each other before I ran out of patience and put the project on a long circular needle so I have only two pointy ends to deal with. Much easier, although I confess even with all the drama I still like knitting with DPNs the best.
March 31--Egon Schiele, The Artist's Room in Neulengbach. Gabe looked at the bed covers. They were neat and tidy, the lines of the quilt blocks parallel to the edge of the pillow. The bedside table was the same, everything squared to the edges. Even the art supplies were organized, the brushes in a row from tall to short, thick to fine. This person can't be a real artist, he thought. Every artist he had ever known lived an untidy life and more than one of them should have had "Chaos" as a middle name.
And now it's time to go whip up some shrimp fried rice for supper because I was too cold and too tired last night so we had the leftover pizza we usually have on Friday nights so I can zoom off to knitting. Hasta la vista, babies.
--Barbara
It's snowing. No, really. It was drizzling when I got up around 6:30 but by the time 9 o'clock rolled around it was snowing. Not hard. Not like it's going to stick around and make drifts. But still--snow. Ack.
I finished the last of the Black to White & Back to Black Anklets last night after supper--with a whopping 6 grams of yarn left. Here's the progression from upper left to lower right. You can follow the color changes once you know that you start at the heel and knit to the toe so it goes: black, gray, white, gray, black. It amuses me no end, but then I'm fairly easily amused, especially with geeky stuff like that.
Now I'm having a mental debate about which pattern I want to tackle using the Helical Stripe technique that's the first of the Year of Techniques by Jen Arnall-Culliford. Instead of dividing a ball of variegated yarn in half I think I'm going to pull out some of the bale of sock yarn leftovers I have and start with those to learn the technique. Yeah, that's what I'll do, especially since I've joined a bunch of different yarns together so the stripes will be totally random. I like random. Ooh, maybe I'll try three or even four different yarns. Now, where's that old sock pattern I tried? Good thing I have tomorrow off, I can go on a pattern hunt downstairs.
That's all there is. We had a bit of excitement after supper so I stayed up later than usual calming down (it's pretty easy for me to get into a flap so not to worry) and then I didn't have the heart to write a prompt. Then there's the snow. It's bringing me down. I promise to be more cheerful tomorrow no matter what. Cross my heart.
--Barbara
Despite the way it looked as the sun came up, by the time I got around to doing yoga there was a very thin layer of clouds covering the sky. It's still bright-ish but cloudy. *sigh* Yesterday was very nice. Yesterday afternoon when I hopped into the car to go deliver a package my dashboard thermometer read 57 degrees. This morning, while the grass against the retaining wall is greening up, the roofs, grass, and birdbath were frosty indeed. Yeah, yeah, I understand that it's the end of March which in this latitude means it's usually still wintertime but it hasn't been very winter-ish around here lately, well, not without the winter parts being interrupted by mild, spring-ish parts. I heard a TV weather person say the S-word about tomorrow morning and nearly fell off my chair--until I looked at the calendar and remembered shoveling a blizzard one May 2 a few years back. Okay, quite a few years back but still... We've had snow in May so March snow shouldn't faze me. Right? Right.
Speaking of yesterday's sunny warmth, look what we saw when my assistant and I went out to fill the bird feeders. Crocuses! Blooming! And as I left for work this morning I noticed that more are joining the party. Hooray! Flowers!
This morning Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal came to the feeder together. Do you think that means they're getting closer to building the first nest of the season? Maybe.
Last night after supper I knitted the last 10 rounds of Anklet #6's foot, rearranged the stitches according to the pattern, and got the first toe round knitted. So that's my goal for today--to finish the toe of Black to White & Back to Black Anklet #6 so that the series is complete. I realized last night that I'm not in danger of running out of yarn so the toe of #6 won't be as black as the heel of #1 but that can't be helped since there won't be enough left to knit a #7. The next time I decide to knit something with an unraveled sock blank I plan to unkink the yarn first. I feel like my tension and gauge has been all screwy knitting with this kinky yarn. Good thing it's superwash so I can toss it into the washer and dryer to even things out. (yes, I know you're not supposed to put it into the dryer and I don't with my fancier socks but my usual loose tension PLUS the kinks make it about mandatory with these)
March 29--Emeterio the Monk, Animals inside the Ark. Laura took a second look at the end papers of the old atlas she had pulled out of a pile of books on the thrift store floor. The atlas itself was huge, 24" by 24", and it was so heavy that she cleared a space on a nearby table to rest it on. She loved maps. When she looked at them she saw houses and people, families and businesses. She imagined how it sounded and smelled, and how it felt to live there. The old maps in the atlas had sea monsters in the oceans attacking sailing ships and countries she'd never heard of. But it was the end papers that caught her attention. The paper itself was very old and the illustration was hand-drawn and -colored. It looked like Noah's Ark with pairs of animals on separate decks. She knew that old bookbinders used even older book pages as end papers. This might be a real find. She checked the price on the atlas, $7.50. She decided to risk it even if the book was a reproduction. She loved the maps and she had a feeling about those animals.
Allrighty. Now the sky is a uniform pale gray and there isn't a glint of sunshine to be seen. Granted my only view of the outside is through the door of the dive shop but it's not sunny out there anywhere, I can tell. At least there was yesterday and it was my day off so I could go out into it and soak it up. Maybe there'll be more sun tomorrow. Or Friday.
--Barbara
No fooling around, the sun came up today all naked and cloud-free in a clear blue sky. No coy playing peek-a-boo with clouds, it rose up above the horizon as if it hadn't been MIA for the last Five. Full. Days. I can honestly say that I feel almost human today.
Bird TV was in full swing this morning. A Cardinal was so bold as to stop at the birdbath for a drink. Then a male Downy Woodpecker dropped from the suet feeder to peck at some suet crumbs the robins had knocked to the ground. I've rarely seen a Cardinal on the birdbath but I've never seen a woodpecker on the ground before.
Yesterday afternoon I took my anklet project along when I dropped Durwood off at the grocery and then waited in the van for him. See, it's too hard for him to make it from the van into the store and he misses doing the shopping. For him going to the grocery is like going to a museum is for me. He likes to go up and down each aisle and examine random items and being with him makes me crazy, so I wrote out a list for him and gave him a ride. As an added bonus I made great progress on Anklet #6. Ten more rounds and it's time to toe.
After supper I used some of the things I put on the shopping list to make a vat of Creamy Asparagus and Cauliflower Soup. Despite the name it has no cream in it, the cooked cauliflower makes the creaminess. I doctored it up a bit, added a few onions (I'll add more next time) and used DIL1's chef tip to add 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to "brighten" up flavors in bland dishes. I ran the recipe through WW's recipe create function and one-eighth of the batch costs only 1 point so I had 12 pretzel nuggets (3) and 1/2 oz. cheese (2) for lunch. Yum.
March 28--Vincent van Gogh, Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy. Charlie watched from the bridge as the fisherman got settled in his boat. She wanted to fish. Granddad had taken her brother, Louis fishing a few times when Charlie was too little but Granddad had forgotten everyone including himself and had to go live in a home. People put extra emphasis on "home" when they meant not a house home but a place for old people who need extra care to live, a nursing home. You would think it would be a sad place but it wasn't, not too much, because Granddad's home was right next to her school so it was like having a whole crowd of grandmas and granddads, uncles and aunties too. Charlie thought it would be perfect if only there was a place to fish.
I got busy and neglected to finish this but now that the sun is setting and all I have to do is go sit with my feet up and knit, also watch something semi-educational on TV, I have time to finish. Aren't I the lucky one? Or maybe it's you... *taps lips with finger*
--Barbara
This morning's episode of Bird TV (no squirrels today) was filled with excitement, featuring a Cardinal, a Downy Woodpecker, and a Goldfinch molting from winter to spring feathers. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw his mottled avocado and yellow plumage. It's another gray, windy day with the promise of intermittent rain but seeing all those pretty birds kind of made up for it. Kind of.
In car news wrap-up, my car's back where it belongs, fully strutted, and with a new air filter ready for whatever little rodent keeps its winter stores there. There isn't any way to keep the little buggers out of there so I guess I'll make it a point to have CS check on it every once in a while. I mean, I knew that one of them stored seed in the tray of the hose reel cabinet thingy but I didn't think one would go all the way around the house to mess with my car's innards. Sheesh.
I got into the groove making the heel and picking up stitches of Anklet #6 last night. I suspect that I goofed it up royally since I'm supposed to have 24 stitches left and I had 19. Do I really want to frog back and see if I can't focus better on what I'm doing and make it right or do I just want to forge ahead and pick up extra stitches along the sides to even things out? Depends. I think the first thing to do is compare it to one of the previous 5 anklets to see if it's a fatal mistake or just a "design element." More later.
Today is laundry and sheet changing day. Woohoo! Will the fun ever stop? I plan to plonk myself on the couch in between bouts of laundry flopping-around to listen to podcasts or audiobooks and knit. Maybe even on the possibly acceptable Anklet #6.
March 25--Mathew Brady, Thomas Alva Edison with his Phonograph. You can see the energy and curiosity blazing from his eyes. Tom Edison might have been young but he had the mind of a titan with the drive to back it up. It must have been so frustrating to see beyond the status quo while surrounded by people satisfied with it. It was hard for him to sit still and easy to keep going after failure upon failure. He took good notes that led him to success without too many setback or detours.
And that, kids, is pretty much all I know (or made up) about Thomas Edison, inventor extraordinaire. If you're ever in Ft. Myers, Florida (hi, Aunt B!) take the time to stop into Edison's winter home and lab there. We've visited a few times and loved it. I especially love the wide porches with lazily turning ceiling fans spaced along their length. Go see it. There's a huge banyan tree in the yard/parking lot (or there was 30-some years ago anyway) that's totally worth seeing. End of travelogue. The dryer just buzzed so it's time to flip flop the laundry.
--Barbara
And not the fun, pirate-y "arrgh" either. I just took my car in for an oil change and settled into a corner of the waiting room to knit while it was being serviced. I had my hot coffee and my earbuds in listening to the new Joe Pickett novel when the mechanic rounded the corner with a just-ran-over-your-dog look on his face. "Barb, your front right strut's busted. You need new ones and it isn't cheap." "Both are busted?" I asked. "No, only the right one but we have to do both." "Go ahead," I said, "they come with a free oil change, right?" He smiled and said, "Sure." Then he asked, "Do you keep birdseed in your garage?" "No, I park outside but we do feed birds, we have feeders in the backyard." Well," he said, "a chipmunk or a mouse is storing seeds in your air filter so you need a new one of those too." Geez. Joe gave me a ride home.
Speaking of feeding birds, another robin has its own way of getting suet. It stands on the ground under the feeder, then flaps up to hover a bit while grabbing a bite. Fun to watch, hard to take a picture of.
Before the strut announcement bomb hit at the car shop, I managed to add a few rows to the heel and sides of Black to White and Back Anklet #6. This is a nice pattern, easy and fast-ish, and using cleverknits' modifications so I don't have to seam the sides makes it brilliant. I can see this being one of those patterns I go back to again and again.
I've been trying to remember to do a couple rounds of Double Knitting practice a day and I've watched the Craftsy class a bit hoping to find the part where she teaches how to lock the yarns together at the sides. Maybe I'll watch more while I wait for my car to be fixed and Durwood to be ready to go to the grocery later. (I wonder if I can figure out how to watch it on the TV through the Wii console. I can use it for Netflix, that's like on a computer, right?) I'm getting a little better at holding the yarns, one in each hand. If I keep practicing, I'll get it.
March 24--Alfred Glendenning, Gathering Wild Flowers. Rena thought it was like plunging her hand into a treasure chest. Amethyst, topaz, ruby, sapphire, diamond, emerald--the colors of the wild flowers shone in the sunlight, drops of dew sparkling from petals and leaves. Her bare feet and the hem of her skirt were damp and chilly in the early morning. Birds sang, called to find a mate or defend territory, or maybe just with the joy of being alive.
That didn't come out the way I imagined it and I couldn't figure out how to make it better so I shut the notebook and went to sleep. I am the boss of my notebook. Yes, I am. It's a dreary day and the big $$ news about my car is not helping my mood one bit. I'm going to say good-bye so I don't infect anyone else.
--Barbara
... I cast on Anklet #6 last night after supper. (It's the last one of the "Black to White and Back" series so it needs to be done anyway.) See, all I knitted on at work yesterday was Sudoku Long Strip #1 and, even though I probably added 6", it doesn't look much different than the last time you saw it. The only other knitting I've been working on is trying to learn Double Knitting and how to tension my yarn in my right hand so I can knit two-handed and that doesn't produce anything but a vague disturbance in the Force from all the cussing and swearing I do (mostly mentally) when I'm working on it. I still haven't been able to remember how or figure out how to lock my yarns together at the sides to make a tube rather than a muff. I'm hoping LB knows or remembers and can show me on Friday night.
The suet-eating robin has gotten much better at balancing on the perch to lean around to get some. See? No flapping. I did snap a picture of the cardinal at the feeder again today but he had his back to me and he's not quite at his peak of redness just yet. I'd still rather see one cardinal than a herd of sparrows.
This morning I was dismayed to see that the birdbath is frozen again. It's graygraygray and supposed to drizzle or rain off and on today. Oh goodie.
March 23--Wladislaw Czachorski, Frederick William Great Elector of Brandenburg and his wife Luise Henriette. "Not a very cheerful looking pair," Detective Savannah said. "I suspect their shoes hurt their feet." She didn't say a word about the blood sprayed in a graceful arc across the canvas or the corpse pinned to it by an arrow through its throat. The newest evidence tech stood with his kit in his hand, his face pale green and sweaty. "You all right, Albert?" she said, making him jump. "Uh, sure. Sure, I'm all right." He shuffled his feet but didn't move. The other techs had bent to their tasks, taking pictures, collecting evidence, but young Albert appeared to be stuck in neutral. She leaned closer. "Maybe you could draw a diagram of the scene." He gulped and nodded. "I think I'll make a diagram of the scene." "Great idea."
I noticed last week that Office Depot has a giant shredder and there's a sign that says they'll shred stuff for you for a small fee. Every year when I toss the 10-year-old receipts to reuse the accordion file for the new year I have to sit and shred the old stuff so I tend to put it off. Finding that I can pay them a little money to do it for me has me all excited. It's not as much fun as sitting and watching all that paper get chewed up and spit out but not having to do it myself seems very attractive to me. I think I'll swing by Office Depot on my way to work; it's a mere block away. Adios.
--Barbara
For some reason there's been less time between the time my alarm clock boots me out of the sack and the time I need to leave. It could be that I've gotten into the habit of lolling in bed for 10 minutes or so to "let the room warm up" since I've shut the heat off in here and open the door when my far away alarm clock buzzes. It could also be that I've taken to reading the newspaper from cover to cover instead of just the comics and the advice columns. Whatever the reason I did manage to haul my arse out of bed in time to snap a picture of this morning's sunrise. I never tire of seeing the colors on the clouds. Can you tell?
Not much knitting happened yesterday, none in fact, and on Monday all I did was work on my Double Knitting practice swatch so that's a few rows longer but looks pretty much the same. Good thing you can't see all the swear words and imprecations I heap on it. Like I said before, I'm not used to being so awkward with my knitting anymore and my vocabulary has suffered. I have, however, rediscovered the efficacy of holding your mouth just right (lips twisted, tongue sticking out ever so slightly) in learning a new skill. I have a feeling that the $19.99 I spent signing up for Lucy Neatby's Fundamentals of Double Knitting class on Craftsy will turn out to be a very good investment.
Last night after supper Durwood and I broke out the set of tiny dominoes Santa put in my stocking last Christmas and played a few games until I took myself, yawning, off to bed. One thing I want to do today is look up a set of rules a little more extensive than the single scrap of basic "how to play" that came with the set. We want to know if you can play off all four sides of a double or if it depends on the way you lay it down--parallel or perpendicular. Anybody know? I'll google it.
March 22--Vincent van Gogh, Street in Auvers. It was an old street. Narrow stone houses with red tile roofs leaned toward each other as if sharing secrets. The stone were gray and tan with moss growing here and there. Pots of red geraniums sat on steps and windowsills. The largest house turned a blank wall to the street. It had a small wooden door painted dark brown in one corner looking for all the world like an entrance for fairies. One house had green shutters, the other houses' shutters were black. Every town had to have that one resident who didn't conform. That was the person I wanted to meet. That was the person I wanted to be.
Oh, one more thing. A robin has figured out how to cram itself onto one of the end perches of the suet feeder and then crane around the end to peck some yummy fat and seed. It has to flap something fierce to keep its balance. Pretty funny but also impressively creative.
Off to the back-cracker and then work. Toodle-oo!
--Barbara
That was my motto yesterday. We had St. Paddy's Day corned beef & cabbage for supper with Pi Day (March 14, you know, 3.1415...) for dessert. We were two and five days late with our celebrations, respectively, but the food was good and spirits were high. I held off making Irish Soda Bread but now that the idea's planted I'm afraid I might break out in soda bread baking sooner rather than later. Chef John's recipe has golden raisins and orange zest in it in addition to the currents; I might have to take the plunge. Soon. Once I stock up on currants and golden raisins, that is.
Happy Spring! Look at the sun, all shiny and warm. It's funny, the air feels different today, the sun's rays feel warmer. Watch, it'll be back in the 20s, damp and dreary by the weekend.
After supper and making notes on Pinterest on the slow cooker Corned Beef recipe I used (I always change something [don't you?] and no longer trust my memory) I sat down to finish up the crocheted waffle. It's bigger than I thought (no measurements on the pattern) but then it's a potholder so I should have expected something bigger than palm size. Fortunately I ran short of yarn so I finished the edge with single crochet. Now all that's left is to weave in the tails, send it through the washer and dryer, and it can go into the play kitchen bin. I'm considering whipping up another one to sew to this one so it's firmer like a real waffle. LC is a fan of the play food I make which makes Meemaw feel pretty darned awesome.
Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal came, separately, to visit the platform feeder this morning. He tolerated a pair of House Finches sharing the feeder with him, she didn't.
Oh, I forgot to show you the yarn spinner one of the Guild members made for us. The Guild bought the spin-y part and she cut wood scraps and put them together. You poke a ball of yarn on the spindle, then use the outer end to knit with while it twirls around as you tug on it. The yarn stays put, doesn't roll all over or under the couch which will be very handy. Thanks, LP!
March 20--John Singer Sargent, Lady with Parasol. She twirled the parasol that rested on her left shoulder so fast that the tips of the ribs looked like saw teeth. "Stop that," said the older woman with her, not her mother, probably an aunt or a governess. "Sophie, a lady does not twirl her parasol like a common strumpet hoping to drum up business." The whirling silk buzzsaw stopped like she'd hit the brakes. "Yes, Miss Rogers," the girl said. I was right, governess. After a few steps, she said, "Miss Rogers?" "Yes, Sophie?" the older woman said. "Miss Rogers, what is a strumpet?" I watched the blush rise over the governess' collar and creep into her graying brown bun. "A strumpet, Sophie, is a woman of easy virtue. Quit asking questions and keep walking." Miss Rogers strode ahead. "Once more around the deck is a mile." Sophie's little feet in their slippers pattered to keep up with the quick and confident step of Miss Rogers' sensible shoes.
About halfway through that I realized that "we" were on an old ocean liner and "I" was a Miss Marple-type spinster strolling behind them. Wonder where "we're" off too?
--Barbara
Today I had time to go out to pickup all the trash blown in last week and be on stick patrol to gather up all the branches fallen from our maple tree. The poor tree is on its last limbs and flings twigs and branches to the ground in the lightest wind. I got a good-size bag of trash and a nice pile of sticks.
While picking things up I uncovered daylily sprouts, poppy sprouts, and swollen buds on the forsythia. The buds of the blueberries are swelling too but there's not enough contrast for them to show up on "film." Those blueberries are growing despite my laissez-faire method of cultivation. They're lucky to get a dose of fertilizer in the spring and I promise to go out later to trim off the dead branches. Cross my heart. (oh sure, now the sun comes out, now that I'm done being outside)
In yarn news, I finished crocheting blueberries and raspberries for the play kitchen, and got started, ripped out, and restarted the waffle. I had to watch YouTube videos to learn to do a back post double crochet and a front post double crochet. Turns out I got confused so I've done a front post one in the first two rows instead of a back post. Do I rip it out yet again and start over? Or do I trust that I'll remember to do the opposite when the direction comes up again? ...I'd better rip it out, don't want a schizophrenic waffle.
Even though it's two days past St. Paddy's Day today is the day I had the time and ingredients to make corned beef and cabbage. I got it into the slow cooker this morning to spend the day getting all tender and yummy. I even have the cabbage all chopped and ready to stir in for the last hour, although cabbage tends to soak up fat and I'd rather have my cabbage a little al dente and not soggy, so I might just steam it in the microwave when the time comes. I'm sorely tempted to whip up some Irish Soda Bread to have with it but have managed to resist--so far.
Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Idyll. The orange dog lay under the blue tree while girls in white sarongs play music to the red sea. Either the artist was painting in the grip of a fever dream or his latest paint order hadn't arrived. The painting lacks dept and perspective. It's flat, two-dimensional, without a vanishing point in sight.
There was more to that prompt writing, really there was, but it evidently got trapped in my head and never make it to the end of my pencil. I think I'll go prune the blueberries now that the sun came out. Happy Sunday.
--Barbara
And look! The crocuses are blooming. I find that single white one with the purple stripes very dear. I love the bright yellow one but that lone one seems kind of fragile and brave.
The hyacinth bud is fully out of the ground now and if you look to the right you can see a daffodil bud just starting to swell so despite yesterday's snow/sleet/rain Spring is on the way. Speaking of the snow/sleet/rain, it was accompanied by a nasty wind and I passed a high school playing field on my drive home from work where there was a lacrosse game going on with all those young men in shorts playing and dedicated parents huddled under blankets and umbrellas in the stands. At least the wind was at their backs. It made me shiver just driving by.
After supper last night I went downstairs to scare up some sock yarn to make spiral striped mitts. I found the original sock pattern I used a few years ago (on a sock I never finished) because I thought it had clearer instructions than the mitts pattern and in searching for that sock pattern I came across the pattern for those vintage hankie washcloths I made a few years back. I was blindsided by a desire to make another one RIGHT NOW. I searched out some cotton yarn I got on clearance last time I was at Spin intending all along to use it for these washcloths. I did gather up and wind the sock yarn; I bagged it with the pattern and needles and brought it up too, but this afternoon (after erranding much of the day away) I cast on and got the washcloth started. It's a pain in the keester to start a knit-in-the-round project in the center on very few stitches but once I'm through the first few rounds it's a lot less like wrestling a porcupine. I knitted up to this point on Double Point Needles so there were eight pointy ends joyously tangling with each other before I ran out of patience and put the project on a long circular needle so I have only two pointy ends to deal with. Much easier, although I confess even with all the drama I still like knitting with DPNs the best.
