Lizy Tish

New Blog Location!

2013-09-09T16:44:00.003-04:00

I've put my blog on it's own website so today's blog post is over there: LizyTishKnits.com

And don't forget to bookmark it!

Can’t Stop Starting

2013-09-03T19:36:00.001-04:00

Help! I can’t stop starting new knitting projects.

All of these have been started in the past week and a half. Warning: the pictures I took for this post are terrible. Just letting you know.

The Ecuador, which you’ve seen already, but I made a little more progress:

I know this gives you no better idea of the construction. I think it will be more clear when I turn the corner. I’ll pin it out so you can see it better then.

The Windward scarf:

And I realize that this picture is also terrible. If you tilt your computer screen just so, you may be able to get an idea of the colors. Click on the link up there to see the pattern pics and the interesting construction, which this picture does give you a good idea of. This is the yarn that I was winding, getting ready for my vacation. I love the colors.

Aaron’s Aran sweater, which I’m knitting for a doodlebug and to teach a class:

So incredibly adorable for a toddler, don’t you think? I’m making this with Malabrigo worsted. NOT a kid-friendly yarn I know, since it has to be hand-washed, but I love this yarn. It is so soft and will be nice and warm for a doodlebug. And it will come with the following washing instructions: “Give back to Aunt Liz and she will wash it.”

The Glitz at the Ritz beaded shawl:

I finally got the beads and so far (fingers crossed) all is going well.

Started and finished my next travelling socks:

Ok, so this is all great. I’m loving everything I started. And there is more I want to start. BUT, I really need to start finishing projects that were started a long time ago. Like my Bloody Mary Cardigan. Remember that? As a refresher, here are the pieces:

Hmmmm. There is a sleeve missing in this picture. I think I did both. But I don’t remember. And therein lies the problem with these unfinished things! To make things worse, and more urgent, it is now September, which in my mind means it is Fall (even though I know it’s not officially), and that means I’ll want that long sleeve cardigan soon because soon (not really) it is going to be freezing. I need more hours in the day.

P.S. I’m going to be moving my blog to an actual, official real life website of my own soon. Just letting you know. More to come.

Pit Crew Chief-ing

2013-09-02T20:40:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Musclepalooza, a bi-annual drag racing event at Lebanon Valley Dragway. It was a hot day with 150% humidity. Pretty yucky weather for racing and watching racing. Many people have asked me if I get bored while I’m at these events with Paul. The answer is: Sometimes. But mostly, no. I am the Pit Crew Chief, so there are things that I need to do. I am also the only member of the pit crew so I have to do all the things. I don’t do well with humidity, so yesterday was a little challenging in that respect.

“All the things” starts with signing the waiver that I won’t hold them responsible if get injured while pit crewing at the track. And once that is done, I get a wrist band saying I’ve done it:

Then, we find our spot to set up. I’m not going to get into how I am about making sure we get a good spot but I can tell you it’s pretty annoying to Paul (understandably). You may have read somewhere in here how I am about going to the movies. This is similar.

Next, I open up all the doors:

And set up our relaxing/waiting/eating area:

Sometimes there is a canopy, sometimes not. Yesterday was cloudy for the morning so we didn’t put it up until after this picture.

And of course, set up my things-to-do-while-I-wait-to-do-my-other-pit-crew-duties:

All this while Paul gets the car ready:

Then, we wait for Paul’s bracket to be called. He races in the 10 second bracket. That means he gets to the finish line – 1/4 mile away – in 10-10.99 seconds.

My next duty is to write on the window the time he thinks he will get to the finish line under:

And change it when needed:

Yes, three hundredths of a second makes a difference. Who knew it could be this precise?

It doesn’t end here. Then I follow him to the staging lanes on the ATV to wait with him:

…and take his water and any other stuff from him before he races. It can’t stay in the car with him because he goes so fast (122 mph) that when he brakes at the end, things will fly everywhere in the car.

Then I go sit here:

Or stand here:

…to watch him go down the track. If I can see through the burn-out smoke. Cough. Cough. If I see that he has gotten down safely, and does not need me to tow him with the ATV – which would mean the car broke and would be bad - I head back to the pits to wait for the next round.

And knit. Yesterday I worked on my next round of traveling socks. I was able to finish my section and they are ready to send on:

Somewhere in between rounds I cook lunch:

And knit some more. Or read. See? Not boring. I love to knit and read.

Then, when he gets out in the second round, losing by 14 thousandths – yes, thousandths - of a second, I put everything away and lock up all the doors and we go home. Even though he was out early, it was a good day. Except for the 150% humidity.

Book Reviews: The Book Thief and The Husband’s Secret

2013-09-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

Finally! Two books to tell you about. Very different from each other but I loved both of them. Ok, I loved The Book Thief a little bit more.
1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Here is the blurb from GoodReads:
“It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.”
Excellent, excellent book. Wonderful writing. Great story, although the subject matter is horribly sad. Interesting narrator – you’ll have to read it to see what I mean.

2) The Husband's Secretby Liane Moriarty. Again, a GoodReads blurb:
“To be opened in the event of my death
With one swift, vicious movement, she sliced the envelope open, and pulled out a handwritten letter.
love you and the girls...
so sorry to leave you with this...
cannot bear
The Husband's Secret is a funny, heartbreaking novel of marriage, grief, love and secrets.”
I listened to this one through Audible. The narrator was excellent - not dull and monotone like Molly Ringwald in The Middlestiens. The story pulls you right along, with some twists and turns and wondering what will happen next when the secrets come out. The author’s style includes leaving you cliff hanging at the end of a chapter, to go to another part of the story. I love that because it makes you want to keep listening (or turning pages). But I also hate that, because I’m impatient!

I am still 3 books behind schedule to reach my goal of 45 books by the end of this year. (I’ve read 26.) I’m definitely staying away from Stephen King’s 11/22/63 for now. At 849 pages, that’s like 3 books – sort of. Isn’t that a great reason for not reading it yet?

Cape Cod Vacation: Part II

2013-08-31T16:03:00.001-04:00

Lots more fun was to be had during our vacation to Cape Cod! If you missed the first part, go here.

Of course there was more eating…

Mmmmm…..Arnold’s in Eastham. Great fishwich’s, crabcake sandwiches and onion rings. (We went here twice….)

We also took a bike ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail:

Another day was a drive up to the very tip of Cape Cod, Race Point. Gorgeous views:

We also went to the Wellfleet Drive-In! So fun. A double feature for only $9 each. Of course, me being my usual hyper-about-getting-to the-movies-and-getting-a-good-seat-but-in-this-case-parking-spot self, I insisted we get there before the 7:00 box-office opening time (movie started at 7:50). We got there at ten minutes to 7:00 and they were already letting people in. So, of course I panicked more, thinking everyone else but us knew this and now there would be no good spots. However, we spoke to the nice parking attendant who told us where the best place to park was, and we got a great spot! The weather was nice, we brought sandwiches for dinner, and knitting of course, for while we waited:

And the movies were funny: We’re The Millers and The Heat.

So, that’s my Ecuador sweater that I mentioned starting in my last post. Except you can’t really see it because it was getting dark and it’s curling up. So here is a pinned out, further along version:

This picture makes the colors look more stark and contrasting than I think it looks in real life. And I know, it looks weird. It is a very interesting construction. The rectangle is the “back”, which actually is the upper back. The part sticking out of the top is actually the left front. Stay tuned.

The next day, there was a flea market at the drive-in, which we of course attended and of course did not leave empty-handed:

1950’s step stool: $10 books: $8 socks: $5 paintbrushes: $1

And every day we went here:

Every. Day. For my favorite Dirt Bombs (a plain donut tasting muffin, dipped in butter, then cinnamon/sugar ---- o.m.g.) and a danish for Paul. Yes, the last post had a place for breakfast that we went to (twice) which would imply that some days we had two breakfasts, since we went to this bakery every day. Not really. Sometimes these were for breakfast dessert (or you may call it a midmorning snack) and sometimes they were for dinner dessert. Everything at this bakery is yummy. Everything.

You are probably saying, “You went to Cape Cod. Did you even go to the beach????” We did. On the morning we left. We rode our bikes and sat with no one else there:

Watched the waves:

Looked for rocks and shells for our shelf at home:

(You may now be saying, “Hey, that looks like Liz’s blocking towel." And you would be right.)

…and took the obligatory you-stand-in-front-of-the-pretty-water-and-clouds picture:

It was a great vacation…

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Cape Cod Vacation: Part I

2013-08-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

Our last vacation of the summer, we were off to Cape Cod for four days. We crammed in a lot of activities - which is why this is in two parts - and took a lot of naps. Who knew we’d have time for naps?

Ok, but first, before we left, we had the usual hour-long how-the-heck-do-we-get-these-bikes-on-the-bike-rack session. Ugh. So frustrating. We use the bike rack once or twice a year and we can NEVER remember how we did it. Which bike went on first? In which direction? What position does the bike rack go in? Why is this pedal hitting the car? It didn’t hit before. How many bungee cords did we use? Where is the key to the bike lock? Well, after this year’s hour-long session, Paul got smart and took a picture! Then when we came home?

Easy peasy.

On the ride to the Cape there was, of course, knitting. I worked on my basic socks (with my newly awesome knitting needle obsessions: Knitter’s Pride Karbonz) and got to the heel on both:

Next up for these is the new-to-me Sweet Tomato Heel, a short row heel designed by Cat Bordhi. That was it for exciting stuff on the drive.

We had a gorgeous view from 2 sides of our room.

And from the deck outside of our room:

Where we sat and read and knit and had beverages:

We walked a lot. And what do you know? One of the walks ended at A Stitch in Thyme Yarn Shop! I’ve been there before and already had it in my mind that I wanted to go there to get some fingering weight yarn to start a new project (shocker), Ecuador, which is a swingy, drapey, sorta lacey, short sleeve cardi-type thing (click on that link to see the pattern picture). So, I found this:

You’ll see my progress on it in the next post. Ha! How’s that for a hook to get you to read the next post?

Another one of our walks was to Rock Harbor and we walked out on “the flats” at low tide. First, here is a picture at high tide:

And at low tide:

And we walked waaaaaaaaaay out there. Here is the view looking back from where we went:

And this one is even further out – so far that we got to where the ocean actually started again:

On the way out we saw:

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Thos things in the lower right corner are things that grow oysters. They can only be checked on/harvested at low tide! At high tide they are under many feet of water.

Oh, and there was breakfast:

The yummiest corned beef hash eggs benedict:

I kept it healthy with the fruit instead of hash browns. (Ha!) I’ve been on a benedict kick lately. I also had eggs benedict on a cheesey bacon biscuit. O.M.G.

Enough pretty pictures for today? The rest of the trip will be in the next post. You know you want to see how my Ecuador is coming…. (it’s actually not that far along, but don’t you want to see how that yarn is knitting up?)

What the Heck is a Fourchette?

2013-08-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

I was knitting my Treads (free pattern on Ravelry!) and got to the semi-fingers when the pattern said to cast on 3 fourchette stitches. What the heck is a fourchette???!? Actually, let me back up. I got to the semi-fingers and, dreading the tediousness of this part of the glove, put it down for a while. I have avoided knitting gloves or tipless gloves for a very long time, because I thought that knitting the fingers would take forever and be very fussy. And....I was partially right. It is very fussy. But it didn't take forever. Probably because they are tipless gloves and only four rows high.

Back to what the heck is a fourchette???..... Apparently, in addition being the French word for "fork" and a part of the female anatomy, fourchettes are also the stitches that bridge the front and back of the glove at the finger, and are very easily created by using the backwards loop cast on.

Here is the glove with a couple of fingers done:

And here are a couple of pictures of the fourchettes:

Each finger has between 11 and 17 stitches - different for each finger; who knew? - and involved making fourchettes as well as picking up stitches from the fourchettes of the previous finger. UGH. VERY fussy.

HOWEVER. I love how it turned out:

Love the design. Love how they fit. Love the snugness of each of the fingers. LOVE!
In addition, knitting all of the fingers and the thumb took about an hour and a half. Not too bad.

HOWEVER (again).......

It took me about another hour and a half to weave in all those ends.

Next post: Our latest vacation!

Documenting the Potential

2013-08-28T07:01:00.002-04:00

This is how bad it has gotten: I see that I'm about to do something potentially stupid, so I go get the camera to document said potential stupidity on this blog.

Getting a knitting project ready for vacation, I found this great pattern: Windward
It calls for 560 yards of fingering weight yarn. Of course, I only have balls of fingering weight that add up to 450 or so, which is the typical amount for a pair of socks or a small shawl, which is why I only have one ball of each. However, I did find a great big skein of 1120 yards of fingering weight, way in the back of a cube.

After hemming and hawing... "Do I want to break up this skein?" "what if I find a project that needs 1120yards?" "Yes, I know you bought this 4 years ago, and haven't found a project yet, but you just never know.".... I decided to split the skein in half, figuring 650 yards for each of two projects was still a lot of yardage. Plus I'd have some leftover from one half since this project only uses 560.

So, onto the swift I pop the skein and start winding. Aha. You've probably already seen the problem.

How do I know when I've wound half? I pondered the idea of eyeballing it and quickly realized there was no way to see if half the skein was wound onto the ball winder, in a ball, while the rest was spread out on the swift. I couldn't wind the whole skein onto the ball winder, and then put the ball on the scale and wind half the weight off, because 1120 yards would not fit onto my ball winder.

The next logical (?) idea was to take the skein off the swift when I thought I was halfway, and weigh it. The potentially disastrous problem with this is the skein becoming horrendously tangled, requiring hours (trust me, I've done it) of un-tangling. Once you put it on the swift and cut the ties that keep it neatly in a skein, you really should just wind the whole thing. And no, I couldn't take the ball off the ball winder, as I would never get it back on to resume winding because the center would collapse. So I decided to semi-tie it again to help keep in in place....

Then I took it off and weighed what was left on the swift:

177 grams.

Which led me to the label to see how much the whole skein weighed:

Ha! It doesn't say. What skein of yarn doesn't say how much it weighs?????

So, I did some math. A typical ball of fingering weight sock yarn is about 400-ish yards and weighs 100grams. So, given that this ball of yarn was 1120 yards, which is approximately three times a typical ball of fingering weight, I deduced that this skein started out at 300 grams. Half would be 150 grams. Good. I could move on.

This meant that the yarn already on the ball winder was approximately 130 grams and I needed to wind off 20 more grams to get each side to be 150 grams. My next attempt at weighing the skein?:

Ha! 147 grams! Not bad. So, I unwound a few grams from the ball winder to make it a little more even, popped that yarn off the ball winder, wound the rest of the yarn on the skein into a second ball.
So, that left the rest of the second ball weighing:

149grams.... as we thought. And the first part of the skein weighing:

102 grams. Sigh. Apparently the skein weighed 250 grams. See? All nice and documented. WEIGH THE SKEIN BEFORE YOU START! (or, look at the fricking label first)

A Knitting Contest with Myself

2013-08-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

I started my second Mystic Spiral hat on Monday night. It was going really well, and seemingly quickly - it starts with 8 stitches and then you increase from there, so you cross off the first rounds really fast since they don't have many stitches. Since this will be for an upcoming class, I wanted to get it to The Spinning Room as quickly as possible. So I decided to have a contest with myself to see if I could finish it and block it in time to bring it to knit night tonight. Wednesday. Two days later.
Here is what I had by yesterday, mid-naptime:

I knitted all during nap-time, then when I got home and then I finished binding off during Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood this morning! Ran home this afternoon after babysitting, put it in a quick bath and got it ready to block using my color coordinated fiesta plate:

and blocked/dried it using my impatient method:

Luckily, this yarn is a superwash merino, so I could use a little heat in the dryer and it was ready to go by the time I left for knit night. Then, got a nice picture of it on a head at the shop:

Speaking of the yarn I used.... love. Love. LOVE. IT. This is Kestrel,100% superwash merino wool, handpainted by Liz at Peace Love & YARN in the Still Waters Run Deep colorway. Merino is so nice to work with because it is so soft, and I just love Liz's color combinations. You should get some. The Spinning Room sells it.

At any rate... mission accomplished. Contest done. I win. Blue ribbon for me.

Knitting Overload....Again.

2013-08-20T18:20:00.001-04:00

My brain is on knitting overload again. I'm knitting a lot. While I'm knitting, I'm thinking a lot about knitting. And thinking about knitting a lot of things. What I'm going to knit next, with what yarn. What things that I'm going to knit that I can teach in a class. How much time I have to knit. How much time I don't have to knit and how I can change that to more time to knit.

Remember that post where I said I loved the Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles and I was going to go out and buy more? I did and I now have a second sock going:

...which I worked on when I visited my family in Connecticut this weekend and got up early:

Can you even see that???

I will say it again. I. LOVE. THESE. NEEDLES. The tips are pointy but not too pointy that they hurt the tips of your fingers. The join to the rest of the needle is smooth and the rest of the needle is made of I'm-not-sure-what but it is smooth but not slippery. A nice combination of needle attributes. You should get some. If you knit. Ooh, and I think I'm going to try a new kind of heel on these socks. But, I'll tell you about that when i get to them...

I also bought them in a larger size so I could start the Treads tipless gloves:

...and I still love them. However, I didn't love the yarn for this project. To clarify, I love the yarn. Just not for this project. Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca is 100% alpaca. But it was a little too dark and too fuzzy. Too dark to see the braid and linen stitch pattern, and too fuzzy for the same reason. I also thought it would be difficult when it came time to do the tips - lots of picking up of stitches in a small area. So I switched to Cascade 220 and it looks much better. See?:

Cascade 220 on the right. (ok, the light could have been
better...)

And now I'm cruising along, having just finished the thumb gusset:

Better light. That happens in the daytime.

Look at this cool sideways stitch:

It is a braid and involves all kinds of acrobatics with the needles. But, it's worth the effort because it's pretty.

And I finally finished my Cozy wrap, AND blocked it:

Blocking. Yes, I know it's uneven, but it won't be worn
so you can see the whole thing like that and know
it's uneven....see pics below...

It turned out to be about 80 inches long and 22 inches wide. A really nice size for wearing it like the model above.

I also finally got some good pictures (on a foam head) of my Mystic Spiral Hat:

I've got to get one of these. So handy for pictures, and blocking too. And then I started another one:

I'm sure you were wondering about the garden..... Tomatoes galore. And an eggplant.

Still no books to tell you about, but hopefully soon. Loving the one I'm reading and I also started listening to another good one. I mostly listen in the car, and now I'm trying to think of reasons to get in the car! Never mind that I can just listen with earphones on my phone, but for some reason that never happens in the house, what with The Food Channel and HGTV and all.

Knitting and Spinning : Fair Ribbons!

2013-08-19T16:08:00.004-04:00

Yay! Ribbons! While they aren't first place (far from it in some cases), I still had fun and love the idea of it.

As always, after seeing all the beautiful knitted items in the case at the fair, I'm overwhelmed with, "I-want-to-knit-that-and-that-and-that-and-that. Now." This year, I didn't knit something with the specific idea of entering it in the fair. I have all kinds of ideas for next year, though. Already planning...

The Spinning Bee was lots of fun as always. For those who don't know, the spinning bee is a 30 minute contest to see who can spin the longest continuous thread of yarn.

It takes place just inside the Sheep Barn:

Here we are getting ready:

Yes, we take our shoes off. Easier to work
the treadles...

I tied for fourth place, having spun 72 yards. In this contest, tying for fourth was also tying for LAST. Not many people were entered... Still, tons of fun. And again, makes me want to spin all the wool. Now.

Ready for the riveting video that Deirdre, the owner of The Spinning Room yarn shop took for me?:

(Did this take a long time to load on your computer? If so, I'm sorry....still new to the put-a-video-in-the-blog thing.)

The woman who won the contest spun 208 yards - almost triple my yardage! She is an excellent spinner and here is what she has on her wheel:

So cool. I'm sure if I had that, I would spin faster. Or better. Or something. (Or more).

Edited to add:

Oh my gosh! How could I forget????? Paul made me this great cart so I could bring my chair and my wheel easily to the fair. It started with this:

The he added some wood and nuts and bolts:

And now I have a most excellent cart!:

After using it, we have determined it needs bigger wheels, so a revision/start-over may be in the future. I'm so glad I have a resourceful husband who had all this stuff hanging around. And thanks to my friend, Lisa, for the $1 thrift store cart find!

Knitting. It's a Sickness.

2013-08-15T20:12:00.001-04:00

Knitting. It's a sickness. It really can't be helped. Here is some proof:

1) I bought these double pointed needles recently:

They are a new-to-me needle, metal tipped. I finally remembered I had them, and tried them today. I. LOVE. THEM. I already have many many many sets of double pointed needles. And three other sets of size 1. But tomorrow, I'm going to buy another set of size 1 of this type so I can knit both socks of the pair at one time. And I'll probably get some in other sizes even though I already have those other sizes.

I just can't help it.

2) And I'm also thinking of getting the interchangeable set of circular needles in this brand.
Guess how many sets of interchangeable needles I already have?:

Three. Plus a whole lot of individual circular needles in all the various sizes an interchangeable set (or three) has. But......

I can't help it.

3) Spinning is a sickness too. I bought some roving to take to my spinning bee.

But, then this was there too, so I bought it:

I just couldn't help it.

4) I have a lot of yarn:

There is more in the blue squares. And on a shelf to
the left....and the right.

But The Spinning Room recently had a sale:

I just couldn't help it.

5) I have several projects started, in progress, not finished yet:

This is not all of them...

But I'm going to cast on for this one instead:

Ravelry.com pattern picture

...probably tonight after I re-do the bind off of my Cozy wrap which I finished last night but the bind off was too tight and which I will show you in the next post (or the one after that) after I block it.

And I'll probably cast on this which I was obsessing about recently but I have to find beads for:

Ravelry.com pattern picture

I just can't help it.

See? A sickness. I CAN'T HELP IT.

How to Cut Up a Watermelon

2013-08-14T16:35:00.005-04:00

I. love. Love. LOVE. WATERMELON. I was cutting up a watermelon the other day and remembered that someone once commented to me that the way I do it seemed so fast and easy. And me, always thinking about things to put on the blog, and always seeming to do something food related, thought I could show you how I do it. If you have no interest in knowing something like this, you could read why I don't have anything else to blog about - because that might be interesting - and then skip the rest and wait for a more exciting post.

So, I didn't have anything else to blog about today, since:
a) I'm STILL working on my Cozy wrap. I'm almost done. I decided I would stop at the end of the skein I'm working on, since it is getting pretty long (57" as of last night). So hopefully there will be a good knitting post soon...
b) I haven't finished any books to tell you about. I am reading a really really good one though...
c) I haven't cooked anything exciting. Just the Kale, Quinoa and Avocado salad again. And it's yummy again.
d) Nothing exciting is happening in the garden. Things are just growing.
e) No drag racing to tell you about. AND I'm missing a drag racing event this Saturday (Buick Day at Lebanon Valley Dragway) in order to participate in the Spinning Bee at the Altamont Fair. Which leads me to....
f) I haven't been practicing my spinning for the Spinning Bee so I can't show you that.

On to WATERMELON...
I can't remember when or how I learned this method. I used to cut watermelon into triangles, then cut it off the rind and cut it into pieces. Or just leave it in triangles and eat it that way. Cutting it into pieces is better, I think, and more portable to put into a container.

First, get your watermelon into a wedge piece:

Buy it that way or cut it up that way.
Then, run your knife along the rind, all around the edges of the wedge:

I did it with a steak knife which is a little bit flexible and that helps with the curvey parts. At this point, if you did it right and if you really wanted to, you could take the whole chunk out of the rind and cut it up. But, I leave it there because it makes it easier later. (see way below...)

Then, on one side of the wedge, make 3 or 4 horizontal cuts, all the way down to the rind:

Make more cuts if you want smaller pieces.
Then, turn the wedge around and do it to the other side:

No, I didn't use two knives. I'm trying to make a point.

Next, cut into the wedge vertically, making several cuts long the length of the wedge:

See the little grid pattern happening?

That's it! Now you can pick up the whole wedge, and let all the pieces fall into a bowl. Perhaps your new antique Fire King mixing bowl.

THAT's why you leave it in the rind to cut it.

Empty rind:

Pretty clean, but you could spend a little time getting some more of the melon out if you want to. I don't have the patience.

Yummy watermelon filling my new antique Fire King mixing bowl:

The other day, by accident, I got a seeded watermelon. It was really really really hard to cut it up the way I described because there were so many seeds. At least a million. They were getting in the way of the knife. I really dislike eating seeded watermelon. Again, mostly because of my impatience. It takes 10 years to eat one piece because you have to get all the seeds out.

How about a picture of my Watermelon Slice Socks since I'm talking about watermelon and since I entered them to be judge in the Altamont fair?:

Ok, so I didn't realize I had such a terrible picture. There are black beads knitted into the pink part to represent seeds. You can click on the link up there to see the official pattern picture. If they win a prize I'll post a better picture...

Next post: Something a little more exciting. Hopefully. Don't know what yet.

Another Little Trip

2013-08-12T08:58:00.003-04:00

We went to Vermont for an overnight trip this weekend. As many of you know, we used to live there and we love it. The trip there is so pretty...

I think that's Killngton....

I knitted on my Cozy wrap on the way there, but I won't bore you with a picture that looks exactly the same as the last one I posted. It's just getting longer is all.

We have our things that we like to do.

1) Test if we still have a fear of heights by checking out the Quechee Gorge:

We do. Both of us. This is as close to the edge as I can get, and I'm on my own because Paul can't even get this far. My legs get weak the moment I start walking on the bridge. And I can't even walk to the middle of the bridge. When cars go by, the whole bridge bounces up and down and I'm always certain it will fall down. But it really is gorgeous isn't it? And we are wondering how we will survive visiting the Grand Canyon, because we both really want to go there.

2) We also like to go to the Quechee Antiques Village/Flea Market. Here is our haul:

Paul has an eye toward decorating the new garage and I, of course, am focused on food... that cast iron pan is from the 1940's.

3) We also drive up to Bradford to see our old house:

....and the gorgeous views we had:

4) And of course there was the food. We went to the Salt Hill Pub in Lebabon, NH for a beer and pub food:

Shepherd-like pie and open-faced meatloaf sandwich. Mmmmmmm.

And a great breakfast at the 4 Aces Diner, also in NH (West Lebanon):

A magic 8 ball on every table - remember those?

... and then lunch at White Cottage (great onion rings) in Woodstock on the way home.

A very quick day and a half trip but it was fun as always! Now I'm off to practice for the Spinning Bee competition at the Altamont Fair this weekend. Riveting stuff coming up on the blog, I tell you.

Clarifications

2013-08-09T11:16:00.002-04:00

In my last post I may have lied. Or exaggerated. Unknowingly. So, here are some clarifications.

I told you the last 11 rows of my Citron shawl would take 10 years to knit. They didn't. They only took 3 days - although each row felt like 10 years. And I'm also clarifying that the rows were indeed 600+ stitches, but to be precise they were 738 stitches. Seven. Hundred. Thirty. Eight. Knitting during naptime, tv time and even during National Night Out when we went to see The Refrigerators at Tawasentha Park:

Great cover band with a horn section. Lots of fun!

As I was getting to this final section (on our car trip from Ohio), I had to make a decision based on the amount of yarn I had left. Since we were in the car at the time, and I didn't have my scale, I had to eyeball it. So I decided to end the next to last section (the one before the last 11 rows) two rows early. Just in case. Who knew if two little rows would make a difference, but it made me feel better.

So then it was on to the last 11 rows. And I was getting seriously low on yarn. So with two rows left - the one before the bind off, and then the bind off - I weighed my yarn, in case I needed to bind off right away. I had 6 grams (out of 100grams) left. Then I knit half a row and weighed it again. I had 7 grams left. ????????? So much for weighing it. At any rate, it appeared I'd have enough so I just kept knitting and all went well, with a little yarn left over. Probably enough for those two rows I cut out, but it would have been really close at the end and I'm glad I didn't have that aggravation.

Finally finished!:

Now I have to decide if I will block it. It is meant to be ruched (sp?) and the edge is meant to be ruffle-y, so I don't want the blocking to un-ruche or un-ruffle anything.

Next clarification: I also told you that I'd be spinning up a skein of yarn to submit to the fair. I even showed you my two bobbins resting and waiting to be plied. And ply I did:

Looked great. I was really happy with it. I took it off the bobbin and tied it in two places like the submission instructions told me to. I was about to put it in the bath, when I realized I should weigh it and count my strands (to determine yardage) so I could write that down on the tag I'm supposed to submit with it. The skeins are to be at least two ounces in weight and at least 40 yards in length. Can you see where this is going?

See that? 1 7/8 ounces. And it was 38 yards. AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH! No way to add on. No time to start over. No submission to the fair. That's what I get for waiting until the last minute.
How about a cute "Look what we saw on our walk to the pond the other day" picture?

Got Buick?

2013-08-05T21:30:00.001-04:00

Here's where we were this past weekend:

11 Hour drive to Ohio! Whoopee! Lots of knitting time....
I worked on my Oak Trail hat. What is wrong with this picture?:

That there is my new ball of yarn, joined to the tail at the beginning of my hat, rather than the end of the yarn where I need to keep knitting. Yup, I (again) wet spliced the new ball to the wrong end of yarn. So annoying. Got that fixed up and finished the hat:

....all except for the little sewing up part where that piece of yarn is sticking out. And the blocking. Cute, don't you think?

Then we got to Ohio:

That's Paul's friend Rob's car in front of us.

....and we had several hours to go, so I worked on my Cozy wrap:

...and saw this at a gas station stop:

We were sorry to have missed that festival.

....and ate these at another stop:

Mmmmmmmm.

I make cookies for every racing trip. Before Rob and his dad, Ray, even say hello to me when we meet up with them, they ask, "Did you bring the cookies????"

We finally got there and made a run to JEGS (car guys' equivalent of a yarn shop), then had a whole day of racing on Friday:

....except for Paul's friend Rob who blew up his motor on his second run. Booooooooo. Paul got some good runs in, as well as changed out his carburetor and got some better (meaning faster) runs in with that.

Then it was Saturday! The main competition day!.....

....which was cancelled.

So we went home. On the way home we saw this:

A huge golf ball.

And I kept knitting on my Cozy wrap until I ran out of yarn. Ran out of what I had with me, not the yarn in general. I know you are breathing a sigh of relief for me.

So, I worked on my Citron shawl.

...until it got so dark I couldn't see. Can you see this?:

Neither could I. I was knitting only by feel for the last 50 stitches or so because I was trying to get the last increase row done. The one in which I now have 600 plus stitches on my needle and now I have to knit 11 rows and then I'll be done! ....in about another year.

In the meantime, at one of our stops, I got one of my latest obsession:

Dulce de Leche Caramel shake. Mmmmm.

And since we were home a whole day early, I picked this from the garden:

Mmmmmm..... tomato sandwiches.

And also, since we were home a day early, we got back in the car and went for a drive to Sharon Springs to see the new Beekman 1802 Mercantile:

Of course, I had to get a couple of things:

We haven't tried them yet, but I'll let you know when we do.

Then we made our way to Cooperstown for our favorite pizza:

And THEN, as if the weekend couldn't get any busier.... I got some spinning done, so I may actually have a skein of yarn to enter into the Altamont Fair by the August 9 deadline.

Resting, relaxing, waiting to be plied:

Hopefully, plying will be done tomorrow so the yarn can then take a bath and have time to dry.

Ooh, and ALSO, since I had some time in Ohio, I read and finished The Lion's Game by Nelson Demille. Great book. Exciting, suspenseful, and funny. Love his books. That was a quick review.

books Books BOOKS

2013-07-29T07:20:00.001-04:00

Finally! Some book reviews. Two of the books below were audiobooks. It's so different listening to a book. Some of whether I like it or not has to do with the person narrating the book and whether or not I liked their voice or if I thought they did a good job. But I like to listen on long car rides to pass the time. Or while I'm knitting so I can do two things I love at once. Do you listen to audiobooks?

The Good House by Ann Leary: Audiobook. From Goodreads "Ann Leary's The Good House tells the story of Hildy Good, who lives in a small town on Boston’s North Shore. Hildy is a successful real-estate broker, good neighbor, mother, and grandmother. She’s also a raging alcoholic. Hildy’s family held an intervention for her about a year before this story takes place—“if they invite you over for dinner, and it’s not a major holiday,” she advises “run for your life” — and now she feels lonely and unjustly persecuted. She has also fooled herself into thinking that moderation is the key to her drinking problem."   The story takes us through how she deals with this "moderation" and how it affects her life, family and friends. It is at times sad and at times funny.   Plus, there is an element of small-town scandal in which she tries not to get involved. Overall, I enjoyed the book. The narrator was pretty good, and had a very distinctive voice, and I just can't help but wonder how I would have perceived certain things if I was reading the actual book. I keep thinking of the narrator's voice when I think of the book. (Click down there to get on Amazon...)

The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg: Another Audiobook. From Goodreads: "For more than thirty years, Edie and Richard Middlestein shared a solid family life together in the suburbs of Chicago. But now things are splintering apart, for one reason, it seems: Edie's enormous girth. She's obsessed with food--thinking about it, eating it--and if she doesn't stop, she won't have much longer to live." The story is told alternately through Edie's eyes, as well as the eyes of Richard, her two children and her daughter-in-law, how her declining health affects them and how they try (or not) to help her. I enjoyed this one too, however, could not stand Molly Ringwald's narration! Monotone and horribly "acted", especially in contrast to The Good House, whose narrator was good at acting out the parts and narrating. Looking past the narration to the story, the writing was very good.   Sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, and very good at relaying each character's emotions.

The Heist Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg. For this book, Janet has teamed up with the writer of the Monk tv series (which I loved and I'm sad it ended). I've enjoyed Janet's Stephanie Plum series for many years, so I decided to try this, which is "the first adventure in an electrifying new series featuring an FBI agent who always gets her man, and a fearless con artist who lives for the chase."  Two more fun characters and a fun story line. Action, adventure and lots of humor. I found myself laughing out loud several times. The FBI agent is, like Stephanie Plum, a flawed quirky woman who you can't help but route for.   Light and fun, and a quick read.

Long Gone by Alafair Burke: Another exciting and suspenseful book. Couldn't put it down at times, but at times wanted to put it down because I was getting worked up about the suspense. Lots of twists and turns, making you try to guess what is going on. Alafair's style is to switch gears/points-of-view/story lines in each chapter so that at first you are thinking, "How can these things be related?" but then you slowly realize, chapter by chapter, how they are terribly, horribly, unfortunately related.

Next post: Spinning and knitting.... the Altamont Fair Spinning Bee is coming up! I know... the excitement is killing you, too.

A Maine-ly Short Vacation

2013-07-26T11:23:00.000-04:00

See how I did that with the title? They do that all the time up there.... Mainely Meat BBQ (which we didn't go to), Mainely Vinyl (which we also didn't go to) etc.

So, we went to Maine for a long weekend last weekend and had a wonderfully relaxing time, although altogether too short for our liking. We had a nice view of the water, so we spent a lot of time looking at it:

Had our usual fried and blueberry stuff:

Crab cakes and fish sandwich in
Wiscassett on the drive up

Blueberry beer

Blueberry soda, Fried shrimp and fish & chips

Then there was blueberry pie and blueberry cake and whoopee pies (not blueberry).

After all that.... we went for a loooooong walk! We walked the carriage roads in Acadia National Park, around the top of Cadillac Mountain and across the low tide sand to Bar Island. Ha! And I just realized those pictures are on Paul's phone. I think I've just discovered a problem about us both having these new phones. That's annoying.

Ooh and also, we went to Jordan Pond House for lunch and had their famous popovers which are so incredibly delicious with their strawberry jam and butter. So of course:

And here we are nice and relaxed and rested:

....trying to figure out how to take our picture with the new smartphone with the function that you look at yourself on the screen so you know how it's going to come out. It's harder than you think.

In Knitting News:
A better picture of one doodlebug's finished vest, while it is blocking, so you can see the pattern better:

Pattern is Sweaters and Slipover Vest.

Now that birthday knitting is behind me, I'm going to continue work on the Citron - I'm currently on a 642 stitches per row section. And I'm slightly concerned I will run out of yarn. Next task is to weigh what I have left and then determine if that gives me any information as to if I will run out! Also going to finish the Oak Trail hat. Stay tuned.

In Gardening News:
While we were away, squash bugs got my zucchini plants. Full disclosure: they were there before we left but I didn't know what they were. I saw one or two. Now, there are gagillions of them. They seem to be way too overrun for me to do anything about them. I was able to rescue two zucchini though and made this:

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parm cheese, salt and pepper. Toss slices with olive oil, coat with crumbs, top with leftover crumbs. 400 degrees for 25 minutes. YUM!

Two cuties

2013-07-25T15:08:00.001-04:00

Ready to give to my favorite doodlebugs at their second birthday party! They are going to look so cute in them.

That's it for today. Short and sweet. Next post: Maine!

546

2013-07-18T20:08:00.000-04:00

546. Five hundred forty-six. That's how many stitches are currently on each row of my Citron project:

(matchbox cars are all the rage in the babysitting venue these days...)

Would you just LOOK at them all?

Oh. My. Gosh. It takes a loooong time to knit a row. I have only brought this on myself since I decided to add two repeats to this pattern. I had a lot more yarn than was needed and the project as it is ends up rather small. So, why not make the most if the yarn I have as well as making it bigger, right?

And 546 won't be the largest number of stitches. In the next, and last repeat, I will have 642 stitches on several rows. Six hundred forty-two. I already said I was a little bored knitting this and it may only get worse. On the positive side, except for 3 of the 20 rows I am repeating, this is very easy knitting and good for in front if the tv. So, on I will knit. And knit. And knit. And knit.....

Also, it is so hot here, we have resorted to this to keep the house cool:

I have to fix this sideways thing!! Anyone know how?

Reheating leftover pizza on the grill. It worked tremendously - nice crisp crust!

Excavation extravaganzas

2013-07-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

Recently the craft room has gone through an excavation and re-model - "after" pics to come soon - but that's nothing compared to the real excavation going on outside. We are building a pole barn. Or in other words: a garage to hold Paul's cars. I showed you the excavation that Paul and his brother did:

This is a trench for the essentials. You know water and electric. And apparently the other essentials - phone and cable.

Now we have this:

View from the house

View on the other side, looking
toward the house.

View on the other side looking toward the house.

Check out that last picture. Because our yard slopes, they had to build this end up six feet to make it level. Crazypants.

Also, I made these Italian Meatball Sliders the other day:

Meatloaf mix, Italian sausage, other stuff, and basil on top. YUM!

In Gardening News
Something is eating my cabbage:

But the tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant are going strong:

And the green heron has been around a lot still.

argh! --- sideways. The heron is way
over there on the rock.

We saw it catching and eating a frog the other day. Ewwwwwww!

The usual summer stuff

2013-07-16T21:20:00.001-04:00

Paul and I did some of our usual summertime things this past weekend. First, we went to see Spamalot at the Washington Park Playhouse:

This is my usual picture of knitting-while-waiting-for-the-show-to-start-because-we-got-there-an-hour-and-a-half-early-because-I-get-obsessive-about-not-getting-a-good-seat. Apparently other people do too, because there were A LOT of people already there when we got there. It was a terrific show - hilarious! See the below knitting update for what I'm knitting in this picture.

Then we went to the Brimfield antiques show where we got a few things:

That would be:
1) A dolly for a 55 gallon drum. I don't even know if we have any of those...
2) A Buick hubcap from the 1940's.
3) A Murray pedal car for Paul to restore. This was the best one we found - in working order with only one thing missing that we could see. And which we don't know what it is. There is simply a hole where something should go. We need to research.
4) Not shown - because we didn't find any - a dress form and a head model, for me to display and take pictures of my knitting.

No pictures from while we were there since it was HOT and I didn't think about it. And when I thought about it, it was raining. We got away with no rain for about 3 hours but trudged around for another hour while it was raining on and off. Good times. Mostly.

Then, we drove up to Lake George to see the lake and get ice cream from Martha's Dandee Crème. I would put some pictures here but I took them with my newfangled "smart" phone but I can't find them. That's not smart.

In Knitting News
Pictures of my blocked Mystic Spiral:

This picture is the best representation of the true color.

Like you really need three pictures, right? The one I took of me wearing it came out terrible, so I spared you.

While at Spamalot, I worked on my latest obsession, the Oak Trail hat from Alana Dakos' latest book, Botanical Knits. Here's the picture again, because I forgot to get a better one (click on the link for the official pattern pic):

In Book News:
I'm gearing up to do some book reviews, I promise. However, I must tell you that Goodreads has informed me that "At your current pace, you're 4 books (9%) behind schedule." And by "informed me" I mean shouted it from the sidebar as I scrolled down the page when I went to my Goodreads homepage the other day. To remind you, my goal is to read 45 books in 2013. I have only read 20. ONLY.

Five years and nine months

2013-07-11T09:47:00.001-04:00

Five years and nine months. That's how long it took for the deer to find the hostas in the front yard:

If you look closely, you will see that the stems in the foreground have no buds on them..... argh.

So. A closer look at our yard. Remember this from the last post?:

Paul and his brother digging trenches for the electrical wiring and water to go to the new garage. They cut the phone wire, which Paul patched up.

This one is the beginning of the excavator's work for the garage site. Our yard is going to be a huge muddy mess for a few months. The excavator also cut the phone wire (in a different place), which the phone company will be coming to fix today.

In Knitting News:
I made this Mystic Sprial hat a while ago:

It's currently blocking with a plate in it. That's what the instructions said to do in order to give it the right shape. Another picture to come once it's dry. I haven't shown it to you because I bound it off too tightly and it took me about a month and a half to shake off my annoyance and then take out the bind off and re-bind it off more loosely. How annoying is it when you think you've finished this great new hat and then when you go to put it on the brim is too tight? So annoying. Cute hat though. Probably an upcoming class for me to teach at The Spinning Room.

I can't remember if I told you I started a Citron shawl(ette):

I am on section 5 of 5. Then there is a ruffled edge. However, I have a lot more yarn and this shawlette is pretty small, so I'm going to add 2 more sections. I'm getting to the point, though, where I'm getting a tiny bit tired of this project and knowing that it's "supposed" to be done soon is making me re-think if I want to make it bigger. I keep thinking, "Maybe it won't be that small." or "Small could be better." I'm trying really hard to overcome this. Hopefully by the time I get to the last row of the section, I'll go right on to row 1 of the additional section and not cave in and got to row 1 of the ruffled edge. Apparently it will depend on my mood at the time.

Here is the next pair of Travelling Socks that I'm sending on to Oregon:

Pretty funky looking but that's pretty much the point of these socks! I just received the next pair so those will be posted soon too.

And check out my sister-in-law Anita's sweater!

Isn't it great?! I think it's her first sweater. I love the yoke pattern. I forgot to ask her the name of the pattern....
I seem to be back in knitting mode and thinking of patterns to teach for classes this fall. But I can't get any of that together until I get the craft room put back together. That's on the list for today...

More DIY.... and pizza.

2013-07-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I lied at the end of my last post. I said there would be book reviews. But there are no book reviews in today's post. I have finished some books but..... well, there is no "but". I just don't feel like writing about them yet! So, instead, I'll tell you about this:

Last weekend, Paul and I made a trip to IKEA for shelving for the craft room. While we were in New Haven, we of course had to make a stop at Frank Pepe's Pizzeria on Wooster Street:

Mmmmmm. The. Best. Pizza. EVER. Hands down. Bar none. I wish wish wish wish wish WISH we had pizza like this here. Sal's Pizza in Cooperstown (an hour from here) is close, but still just not the same.

While Paul was at work the next day I tackled putting the shelf together by myself:

I looked and looked all over the garage, ransacking Paul's tool boxes for the lightweight hammer and rubber mallet, which would have been very helpful in putting this together. I could only find the heavy hammer and a folded up cloth to protect the wood since I didn't have a rubber mallet......until I took this progress picture. Check out what is laying on the desk at the top of this picture. Lightweight hammer and rubber mallet. Sitting there the whole time. Putting the rest of the shelf together was much easier from here.

Stay tuned for an upright shelf, filled with all my yarn-y, knit-y, spin-y things.

Then, remember the windows in this picture?:

We got them at Brimfield in May 2012. So, finally, over a year later, we did this with them:

Paul cleaned them up and painted them. Someday, added to our long list of household projects, we will put real windows there. And built-in bookshelves underneath them.

Finally, this lone lily bloom:

Oh, and this:

July 4th Celebrating

2013-07-06T10:14:00.001-04:00

Some hamburgers, hotdogs and potato salad. And some fireworks:

....courtesy of our neighbors who do this every year (and throughout the summer) so we just sit on our deck and enjoy.

Also:

In the middle of the pond...

In the yard...

....courtesy of Paul's brother, John, who brought these from Virginia.

Lots of fun!