Saturday, May 24, 2008

Not a quicky

There haven't been too many opportunities to knit this week with tennis, tennis, tennis, some volunteer obligations, and the outdoor chores, but I finally finished the back of my Sideways Cardigan. This project is a little more challenging than I anticipated--not a bad thing--mostly due to the shorthand instructions that are demanded by the lack of space in a magazine. The shoulder shaping is tricky to maintain in pattern and is made much easier by accessing the PDF file on the Vogue Knitting web site. I think I finally got it right, or at least in the "close enough for me" range.

This is a good example of the upside and downside of Internet access for knitters. The upside? I rarely even buy my yarn for a project before I first do some research online on the pattern, either on Ravelry or through a Google search, to find corrections, advice on yarn selection, and to get a sense of the wearability of the final product. (Let's face it, everything looks good on the models in the publication.) The downside? Publishers may rely too heavily on this accessibility and are getting sloppy about editing patterns--even in very expensive books--and are eliminating crucial instructions as a cost-saving measure. Not everyone has access or is interested in researching every pattern online to make up for the shortfalls of the printed pattern.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Countdown to Paris!

Next month at this time, we will be getting ready to board our plane for Paris. Instead of having to run errands, I will be sipping cheap wine from a plastic glass while I in a cramped plane watching a movie on the two inch screen of my iPod, but I won't even care, because I'm on my way to France.

But for today, it's Target and the grocery store.

Friday, May 16, 2008

April Showers (Sleet) brings...

On April 23, I snapped this photo of my tulip bulbs just pushing up out of the ground. Planting the bulbs in the fall is never an enjoyable process--I'm pretty much over the gardening by then, and I usually put off the project so long that I'm freezing while I'm planting them--but the payoff in the spring is worth it. Today, less than a month later, they're opening up and are beautiful.

I plant tulip bulbs like I plant annuals--not expecting them to perform for more than one season. When I'm pulling the spent tulips out of my front garden bed, it never fails that a well-intentioned gardener walks by and feels the need to tell me that I shouldn't be pulling them out. I've learned to smile and just say, "Really?"

On the knitting front, I finished a couple of the Baby Soft Cardigans from The Knitter's Book of Yarn for Birthright and have cast-on the Sideways Cardigan that was on the cover of the Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting Magazine. The yarn it calls for was out of stock on some of the websites I checked, so I found a substitute. I chose Plymouth Yarn's Jeannee which is a cotton/acrylic blend that is machine wash and dry. It looked like a good choice from the gauge swatch. This should be a quicky project.

Time to get outside and get some dirt under my fingernails. Did I hear correctly that we are going to be close to 80 degrees today?

Friday, May 9, 2008

Pretty flower, ugly name

The Bloodroots are always the first flowers to bloom in my garden, and their happy white blooms are such a welcome sight after the long winter. Their unfortunate name comes from the fact that if you were to dig up this plant and get the juice from the roots on your hands, your hands would be stained a reddish color.

The blooms close up in the evening and reopen in the morning light. Even though I have a busy day, I knew I had to get my pictures today, because the blooms do not last long. Cool weather helps, but they will be all done in a short while-- usually just in time to enjoy the tulips.

I got my Bloodroot plants from my Mom's garden --who probably got them from her Mom's garden. Even though they were planted in one corner of my shade garden, they pop up in the most unexpected places. I let them grow where they want, and they return every spring.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Fruit-Tea

Nothing like having friends and family coming to get you to clean your house. Luckily, I'm able to kill two birds with one stone this week--a friend's birthday celebration this afternoon and a family get-together over the weekend. I'd be outside right now tilling the soil in my vegetable garden, except that duty calls.

I thought I 'd take a picture of my tried and true fruit tart dessert that I made for today. I was thinking that it looked pretty until I saw the picture. I've got to say, it really doesn't photograph well. I can relate. Oh well, I know it tastes good.

A knitting first for me last night--going to a knitting group. It was fun to just sit and knit and check out other people's projects. I've heard these groups either gel or they don't, and it's still too early to see how this one will fly, but I'm just happy to spend a few hours knitting with my partner-in-yarn-crimes, Deb. My level of concentration is so pitiful, I might just end up frogging everything I do on those nights!

Back to business. Lunch break is over. Just a few more things to get to before the hen party.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

My Not-So-Crazy-About-Sewing-Seams Revised Cardigan

Looking for something for idle hands, I dug out some cotton yarn I had gotten on sale and thought I'd knit up a few baby things for the Birthright collection at church. The Baby Soft Cardigan from The Knitter's Book of Yarn came to mind, but I remembered with dread the sewing together of all those pieces. (I'm such a baby.)

Paper and pencil in hand, I revised this cute little cardigan so that when it's done, all that's left to do is to weave in a few ends, block it, and pop on some cute buttons. I wrote down my notes mostly for my own use, but then thought it wouldn't hurt to make it available on my Ravelry listing for this project. Click here for my revised Baby Soft Cardigan scribblings.

I started knitting this innocent little project last night while we watched the vampire bloodbath, 30 Days of Night. Not the greatest movie ever, but Friday nights are good for gore. Why someone hasn't thought of this premise before for a vampire movie is beyond me. The vampires go to Barrow, Alaska--no sunlight for a whole month! Brilliant! Without spoiling anything, once the ax came out, I just knit a few more rows of sunny yellow yarn.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Back to Square One!

I am a moron. Strike that. I am a very sad moron. When I meant to delete a blog that I had used for a volunteer project, I accidentally deleted every post I had on this site. Oh sure, I found a few of them cached on Google, but there's no point in spending time trying to revive old news. I'm just so bummed that when I finally took the initiative for the first time in my whole life to attempt a journal, I have now lost an entire year. I need a drink!

Here's what I have left. A list of labels! Oh, the good times.
So, now I need to suck it up an move on. Down, but not out. I still need that drink.

My Lost Year...