Directions July 29, 2005

Where should I direct this blog post?  Do you post first and title after?  Or do you come up with a title and let it flow?  Usually I write first and title after.  Sometimes there is an inkling of an idea–or direction.  I wasn’t sure what to post or what to title or how to start.  So, I went with the title first.  It’s a doozy, huh?

Vicki tagged me for a meme on idiosyncracies.  Nothing hit me right away.  When I went to bed last night, I thought about it.  I think I came up with one.  So, I IMed Kevin this morning.

katykknits: do i have any idiosyncracy’s
katykknits: idiosyncracies
kollarnyc: well
katykknits: idiosyncratic behaviors
kollarnyc: let me think
katykknits: they don’t jump out at you do the
katykknits: y
kollarnyc: not really
katykknits: me neither
kollarnyc: you have more prdictable reactions
kollarnyc: to certain situations
katykknits: huh
katykknits: it’s a blog meme…and you have to name 5

I was chatting with my dear friend Ann last night–who it seems has many idiosyncracies–and one in particular that doesn’t sit right with knit bloggers.  And she and Vicki thought I would be chock full.  You would think, huh?  I would think too.  Now, I have to think some more.

In a more knitterly direction, I am working on this little sweater.  I think this is to avoid knitting in the direction of other projects I should be working on.  Like St. Brigid or Kevin’s Dale sweater that has seen a few endless rounds.  I have also started the Lace Leaf Shawl in the lovely green yarn Margene gave me.  Started–well, if you consider my mom doing a crochet cast on for me, me knitting a row and my mom knitting a row.  Moving right along.  Anyway, this little sweater is for Kevin’s nephew/godson.  I am using Sirdar Denim Aran.  I don’t love it as much as I do other colors I have knit in this yarn and I wonder if it is the effect of the dark dye vs. light dye.  And speaking of directions…no chart.  On the one hand, I like the B and F for back and front.  On the other hand the page sometimes swims and I lose my place.  Thank goodness it is small and nearly finished. 

Then what direction?

Remembering July 27, 2005

In between other projects, I have been knitting some squares for the Afghan Project in Memory of John Glick.  When I read Kerstin’s post that day, my heart immediately went out to she and her family and I was deeply saddened for her in laws, John’s parents.  Losing a child is a tragedy no parent should face.

When we lived in Hingham, I became very friendly with my next door neighbor.  He was an older man, in his 70’s, I guess, a Weymouth guy who would help me fix broken Brio parts and squeaky swings.  Both he and his wife were widowed–separate pedestrian-vehicle accidents.  As if that wasn’t tragic enough, he lost his son and daughter-in-law in separate motorcycle accidents just miles away from one another. 

Shortly after their deaths, we received Owen’s diagnosis of autism.  Kevin and I grieved for the dreams we lost.  My neighbor and I gave each other such support.  In no way does autism compare to death but he could sense our loss. And my heart ached for his.  I miss him terribly.  I phoned him last month for the squeaky swing remedy.  He knows everything.  Whenever I visit Hingham, it involves a lengthy visit with him. 

As I do my friend, I wish Kerstin and her family continued strength and love.  In yesterday’s post she wrote, "Life.  You have to keep on living it."  No truer words were ever spoken.

July 25, 2005

Where to start?  What a week it has been!  Yesterday was my birthday.  35.  Or halfway to 70.  The latter part of the day was spent at Chili’s for dinner with Kevin and the kids and ice cream cake and the pool at my mom’s.  I received a watch and some clothes and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble from Gracie–using her own money!  How sweet is she?  Kevin also got me tickets to a Nancy Griffith concert but we have a wedding next week.  We are going to tag team the day and I will be bringing the darling Ann with me.

The earlier part of the day was spent knitting around the pool at the house of swine with Ann, Chelsea and Nancy.  Of course, glass was broken but it wasn’t me this time.  And the pool was perfect.  I didn’t take any pictures because I was too busy having fun.  Ann made a fabulous carrot cake for my birthday.  Yummy!  Thanks Ann–you are a domestic diva.  Chelsea is lovely.  And a wealth of information on Whole Foods and assorted other things. 

Friday was quite the happy day as my mom searched through her stashaster and found me a skein of Dale Baby Ull in the color I was using for the mismatched pulse warmers!  Hurray.  I can knit 2 new pulse warmers rather than rip and reknit the one.  Thanks Mom.   

Wonders never cease in stashaster.  If you are diligent you will receive.  A few more pics from my mom’s stashaster…why not?  Renovations are to be made in  stashaster, so excuse the mess. 

A semi organized shelving unit.

More books than you can shake a knitting needle at.

Vintage Rowan.

Over filled–lost it’s vacuum seal Koigu.

Where to start?  What a week it has been!  Yesterday was my birthday.  35.  Or halfway to 70.  The latter part of the day was spent at Chili’s for dinner with Kevin and the kids and ice cream cake and the pool at my mom’s.  I received a watch and some clothes and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble from Gracie–using her own money!  How sweet is she?  Kevin also got me tickets to a Nancy Griffith concert but we have a wedding next week.  We are going to tag team the day and I will be bringing the darling Ann with me.

The earlier part of the day was spent knitting around the pool at the house of swine with Ann, Chelsea and Nancy.  Of course, glass was broken but it wasn’t me this time.  And the pool was perfect.  I didn’t take any pictures because I was too busy having fun.  Ann made a fabulous carrot cake for my birthday.  Yummy!  Thanks Ann–you are a domestic diva.  Chelsea is lovely.  And a wealth of information on Whole Foods and assorted other things. 

Friday was quite the happy day as my mom searched through her stashaster and found me a skein of Dale Baby Ull in the color I was using for the mismatched pulse warmers!  Hurray.  I can knit 2 new pulse warmers rather than rip and reknit the one.  Thanks Mom.   

Wonders never cease in stashaster.  If you are diligent you will receive.  A few more pics from my mom’s stashaster…why not?  Renovations are to be made in  stashaster, so excuse the mess. 

A semi organized shelving unit.

More books than you can shake a knitting needle at.

Vintage Rowan.

Over filled–lost it’s vacuum seal Koigu.

What do you think? July 20, 2005

Alright, I have got a bit of a problem.  I finished my wavy pulsewarmers.  However, it seems I may have cast on more stitches for one than the other.  I think I did 30 and 34.  Brain freeze?  Vacation insanity?  I don’t know.  Of course I noticed this after I bound off and ran the ends.  I showed my mother this morning (we went out to breakfast with Cameron and Gracie).  She says since it is a gift–I should do it right.  And I supppose she is right.  We tried to block it a bit wider but it didn’t work completely.  When I put them on, I don’t think it is really noticeable.  That was the last skein of the color at Granny’s–I checked today.  So, it means undoing the ends and reknitting it.  What do you think?

Harry Potter and the Half-Finished Birch July 19, 2005

I am sitting here enjoying an iced coffee from Dunkies.  Guess what?  I drove Owen to school this morning!  His bus did come–but about 20 minutes early.  He had barely started his breakfast and wasn’t fully dressed.  It was a substitute driver.  I said I would drive Owen myself and he asked what time he was supposed to be here–he didn’t want to be too early for the other kids.  Duh, then come back in 20 minutes for Owen.  But there was an iced coffee up the road for me, a Coolata for Cam and an extra 50 minutes at home for Owen.

 

I should have added these pictures to yesterday’s post but here they are today.  That Owen can be so stinking cute. I am not sure how Kevin got Owen to look so cute in these pictures.  Could he look any dorkier with the globe?  And that face in the second one–I love it.

With all of the Birches floating around the blogs, I figured I would resurrect mine.  Kevin had picked up a skein of KSH on a business trip in London.  My mom kindly acquired two other skeins in the matching dye lot and knit me Birch.  At the same time, I started my own.  I worked on it on my flight to Paris two years ago and botched it.  It has sat in the closet ever since.  I had Cameron take a picture of me in Birch and I think I have a new photographer.  He barely got any of my butt in the picture.  And it’s kind of got an artsy look to it.  There was a defect with the KSH.  It had some bleached spots but it is doesn’t look so bad.  I am not sure what I will do with my yarn.  I don’t think it will become Birch though.  One is certainly enough for me.

And sure half finished is a bit of an exaggeration…but I had to go for the title.

July 18, 2005

I finished The Half Blood Prince yesterday.  Gracie, Kevin and I have been sharing fighting over the book since Saturday morning.  I didn’t care for the first chapter at all.  I don’t know if it is my resistance to change or…I don’t want to potentially ruin it for others who have not finished.  While I loved the bits of romancing and that awkwardness that comes with finding your place and fitting in…the book just seemed a bit forced.  And choppy.  Much like my little review.  I cried.  I laughed.  It had its moments. 

Gracie enjoyed the party at Barnes and Noble.  She and I waited on line to get our bracelet to buy for an hour and a half.  And she and Kevin waited short of an hour to buy the book after midnight.  Gracie had her fortune told–she will face a challenge.  Oh really?  But she made a cute little  book mark. 

I worked on Saturday.  It was good to see Granny but what a ton of work to do.  My back was killing me by the end of the day.  She got a good sized delivery of Noro.  So we decided I should move all the Noro to one–more accessible area.  I closed out, shuffled yarn, threw out a weeks worth of garbage.  And still there are three huge boxes I didn’t get to.  Plymouth yarns, Swedish yarns and Fiesta.  I took a skein of Noro Daria home to knit up a sample belt.  That Linen stitch is driving me nuts.  And I plan to knit a hat with Transitions.  I wish I had gotten more done.  Granny’s granddaughter packs the bins.  If you touch a ball, it all jumps out–like a jack in the box.  But I am down to just Saturday’s now. 

Owen got off to school, Cameron and Gracie are sleeping…and I should be knitting.

I finished The Half Blood Prince yesterday.  Gracie, Kevin and I have been sharing fighting over the book since Saturday morning.  I didn’t care for the first chapter at all.  I don’t know if it is my resistance to change or…I don’t want to potentially ruin it for others who have not finished.  While I loved the bits of romancing and that awkwardness that comes with finding your place and fitting in…the book just seemed a bit forced.  And choppy.  Much like my little review.  I cried.  I laughed.  It had its moments. 

Gracie enjoyed the party at Barnes and Noble.  She and I waited on line to get our bracelet to buy for an hour and a half.  And she and Kevin waited short of an hour to buy the book after midnight.  Gracie had her fortune told–she will face a challenge.  Oh really?  But she made a cute little  book mark. 

I worked on Saturday.  It was good to see Granny but what a ton of work to do.  My back was killing me by the end of the day.  She got a good sized delivery of Noro.  So we decided I should move all the Noro to one–more accessible area.  I closed out, shuffled yarn, threw out a weeks worth of garbage.  And still there are three huge boxes I didn’t get to.  Plymouth yarns, Swedish yarns and Fiesta.  I took a skein of Noro Daria home to knit up a sample belt.  That Linen stitch is driving me nuts.  And I plan to knit a hat with Transitions.  I wish I had gotten more done.  Granny’s granddaughter packs the bins.  If you touch a ball, it all jumps out–like a jack in the box.  But I am down to just Saturday’s now. 

Owen got off to school, Cameron and Gracie are sleeping…and I should be knitting.

Gone to the dogs July 14, 2005

I have been trying to figure out this beaded pulsewarmer for a while.  The yarn is by Norsk Kunstvevgarn.  I love the color–it reminds me of the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk #3.  The bead pattern is Model Dogs.  But I don’t think the yarn and beads are working.  I started out on a US0 but I just knit a few rows on the US1 and it still seems really tight.  Any thoughts?

I wanted to thank everyone for their support and understanding regarding the bus issues.  Owen was picked up this morning and the driver was really friendly.  However, he was picked up at 7:30am…a one hour bus ride.  I hate that.  If he gets dropped off last–after being picked up first–I am going to go nuts.  The district called this morning to see if he got the bus and they apologized.  The other family demanded compensation for gas and mileage.  I guess that’s why they got a bus a day earlier. 

One last thing, gosh I have been a posting fool this week, but have any of you tried Coke Zero?  Oh my gosh, I love it.  I had really cut back on my diet soda intake.  I wasn’t even buying 12 packs.  It seems I have been roped back in.  I still enjoy a nice Pepsi though.  Oink Oink!!

BEWARE! Complaining ahead July 13, 2005

I have been taking Owen to and from school this week as our district forgot to submit the paperwork for bussing.  This totals about 3 hours a day of driving.  Ugh.  What’s especially aggravating is that other kids in the district got their busses.  Owen and another student did not.  Having experienced this crap before, we called the district last week–before school started–and were told it would take several days.  Owen should be getting a bus tomorrow.  The other student is new to the the program.  His parents only called Monday when no bus showed up.  He had a bus today.  I don’t ask for special treatment from the district because I volunteer for their special education meetings.  They are mandated by the law to have a parent member there.  I am–technically–doing them a favor.  Could they at least give my child equal treatment?  I am so disgusted.  Yet, I am reluctant to make waves…I still need their support in getting my child the appropriate education.  Both Cameron and Owen.    I am sorely tempted to tell them I can’t volunteer at the next meeting as my car will be in for an oil change due to all the mileage I just put on it. 

In other new, I will not be reorganizing my stash closet.  Kevin signed the papers for our construction/remodel today.  We are having a custom modular dormer built for the house.  They will remove the whole entire second floor and put a new one on.  We have looked into moving and traditional remodeling but this seems the easiest option for us–and Owen.  He was rather put out when we had the hard wood floors refinished.  And got a new couch.  This whole remodel should be done in a couple of weeks.  Of course, it takes about 6 months to build the dormers.  Kevin is planning a huge New Year’s party.  Me, I am just wondering where my stash is going.