Sidetracked by a Tank Top

I have bought the yarn for the Sunrise Circle cardigan, downloaded the directions from Knitting Daily, and was all set to cast on, when I decided I'd like another tank top first. I had made one using a natural color linen blend last year, and it came out well, and I had enough of the same yarn in a pink shade for a second top. So now I'm more than half way through it already. This photo shows my progress as of three days ago - I've finished the back and have two inches of the front done tonight. I used a different lace pattern for the bottom edge this time. I love this color and this yarn.

I also did something I've never done before - I threw away (literally, right into the garbage can) the turquoise shrug I had almost finished. I just didn't like the yarn, didn't like the fit, decided I'd never wear it, didn't even want to give it away. So it's gone, gone, gone!

Hubster still can't believe I did that. I have a couple balls left - maybe I'll donate them or give them away - someone else might like this yarn.

I am a sucker for colorful yarn - I just bought only one ball of this last weekend. I may never knit with it - just add it to my collection of multicolored yarns. On the other hand, I'd love to see what a scarf made from this would look like. Maybe one row of Sitar, alternating with a row of a single color - dark blue might be good with it. We'll see.

Debbie and Me

Debbie Macomber was signing her newest book "Twenty Wishes" at Foxwoods Casino last night, and I went down to see her. I heard several comments from Foxwoods staff about what a nice lady she is, and she is just like her books - easy-going, not too complicated and a little bit funny. She gave a short speech first in one of the Ballrooms, then answered questions from the audience (about 250, mostly women). I bravely put up my hand and asked if there would be a knitting pattern book associated with Twenty Wishes, as there is with the other 3 Blossom Street yarn shop books, and she said there was. Later, when I finally got up to her table (long line) with my book to sign, she asked me if I was the one who had asked that question, and I admitted it. (Imagine she actually remembered my face out of all those people!) So she snuck a copy of that pattern book from under the table and gave it to me, saying "Don't tell anyone". (and since no-one reads this blog, I'm not.) She's got a fan for life in me. And she graciously consented to have pictures taken, so here we are. In case you missed a previous post, she knits and lives about 20 miles from S1 in Washington which is how I had connected with her. Another connection is that she mentioned in her little talk that she had had 4 children in 5 years, just like me.

Next is a picture of the wonderful lace butterfly which D2 sent me on Mother's Day. This was on the cover of an issue of Piecework magazine which I saw at her house in February, and jokingly said "Why don't you make that for me?" It's a project I would never tackle myself - way too complex, but D2 likes extreme needlework (you should see her needlepoint!), so she attempted it and lo and behold - isn't it beautiful. To give an idea of size, it's about 5" by 7". I'm going to frame it.

The big news at the condo is that we're having our lawns re-loamed and reseeded, after many years of crab grass being the only green to be seen. Here's what it looks like right now. But we have hope. The second picture is my small garden in front of our unit - a few perennials, including a wonderful peony, and some pansies and impatiens for spring color in the front.

Happy Spring! Flea Market season has started.

The Eyes Have It

I don't have much time to post this week. Today was the day Hubster had Lazik surgery on his eyes, amazingly it took only about half an hour (I barely had time to read an article in People in the waiting room). Tomorrow we have to go back to Wethersfield for the doctor to check his work. Hubster is sleeping right now, hopefully for the rest of the day to help heal the surgery. He has an eyedrop and medication regime for the next week.

And my eyes are a little black and blue today, as I banged my nose with a heavy wooden shelf while packing the car after the Brimfield flea market. My show partner did very well, but I did about as poorly as possible. I probably won't be doing another Brimfield show - not much fun to spend two days alternately freezing and baking, and then not even break even.

Hubster Reunion

I got my camera back from Canon - nothing but praise for their repair service! It was back to me in a week, working perfectly again, and under warrantee with no charge. Hooray! So now I can post some new pictures and update Ravelry.

Friday afternoon, Hubster's brother paid us a visit from South Carolina. Long time no see for these two. We went out to dinner and then I left them alone and the two guys talked until the semi-wee hours. I wasn't really listening to their conversation, but a lot of it involved politics, the job market, and the state of the world today - pretty different from what women talk about when they get together. Brother is younger than Hubster, but larger, as you can see in the official commorative photo below.

Now for the exciting knitting news. This is my completed scarf, using the pattern that Pat sent me, after I admired hers at the Knitting Guild. I've gotten compliments galore on it and two people want me to make it for them (I refused gently, but offered to teach them to knit.) They might get it for Christmas, though, who knows. I love it myself and will wear it a lot. It would be excellent in a heavier yarn also. Thanks again, Pat!

This is what I currently working on, and I can't wait to finish it, because I don't like this kind of knitting. I have to concentrate on every stitch. It looks like a real mess right now, but when it's seamed and blocked, it should look like the one in the picture. The yarn is from my stash, which I've had for ages. The blue scarf above was stash yarn also, so I'm making a small dent in what is in the boxes.

But I had to buy some new yarn for the next project. It's the Sunrise Circle sweater, and the yarn I got at almost half price at Webs is so gorgeously soft and beautiful. I haven't started the sweater yet, but every so often I just squeeze the yarn and pet it a little.

The next post will be about butterflies, grass and Brimfield.

The Cutest Model Ever

My California daughter just sent me pictures of my GD5 wearing the purple cotton sundress I finished for her last month. It's a little big, which is good, and the buttons on the straps can be lowered to allow for even more growth. I couldn't choose which picture was the cutest, so I'm

including all three of them. Love the little ballet poses!

My camera had to be sent away for repairs - it's under warranty so I might get it fixed for free. I have pictures to take for Ravelry of new stash and new projects, so I'm hopeful I'll get it back next week - Canon Service promised to be quick - 7 day turnaround. I've started a turquoise cotton shrug, and bought some marvelous Debbie Bliss alpaca/silk for the Sunrise Circle Cardigan (almost 1/2 price at Webs!).

Another issue here at home is that our automatic garage door opener isn't working - in fact, most of the the whole condo's garage doors have the same problem. The serviceman worked on it for a while and concluded that something with a very strong frequency signal in the neighborhood is interfering with the signal from the remote. He tried to install several different frequencies in the door equipment but nothing worked. Hubster has contacted the electric company and the phone company and walked around to neighboring houses to ask if they had anything new which might be the cause of our problem, but nothing was discovered. Not a major problem, but definitely a nuisance.

Harlot at Webs

Sunday was Yarn Harlot day at Webs in Northampton. It was worth $20 in gas to drive there and hear her speak. It's like stand-up comedy with a knitting theme. Her style reminds me of George Burns routines which I've seen on TV, where he just stands on a stage and tells stories and you are laughing softly all the way through, and then he leisurely gets to the punch line and it's just hilarious. Her point this year was that knitting induces a meditative state (Theta brain waves) which lets your mind go free and stimulates creativity and stress-relief. It's marvelous how she can make that so funny. Isn't it just great to learn that something you enjoy and results in beautiful things to wear or give away is also good for you! And didn't we learn last year that chocolate and wine are also good for your health? We can eat chocolate, drink wine and knit all at the same time, and become Super Heroes. The chocolate and wine has to be in moderation of course, or we'd all be fat drunks, and then how would we knit?

Here's a picture I took in a store window on Main Street in Northampton. You can see my reflection taking the photo. I had not heard of this movie but I definitely want to find out more about it.

Here's a picture of Stephanie signing her book. I took this picture because of the Red Sox jacket the woman is wearing, but now looking at it I see she has my hair, so maybe we can pretend it's me. I actually got a pre-signed copy this time - didn't want to wait in line for over an hour and she signed my book last year anyway.

The second photo is some of the mob scene at the Webs store after Stephanie's talk (which was at the Calvin Theatre) - you could hardly move in the aisles. Fortunately I got there before her talk when the shop was relatively empty and scored some beautiful pink yarn for my planned sweater, at half price! I would show a picture of it, but I stupidly dropped water all over my camera on the way home, and now it isn't working very well, to say the least. I did manage to recover the pictures I took, as you can see above, but I can't take any more until the camera dries out (I hope!)