RIP

No, I’m not frogging anything, and nobody died. It is however, a sad day around here. John’s favorite hand-knit socks have bit the dust for the last time.

When I first learned to knit, I waded right into a sweater after I had done about six interminable inches on a garter stitch scarf.* Then I decided to knit socks. Knowing nothing about sock yarn, much less sock knitting, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought not only Wool-Ease yarn, but the absolute ugliest skein of brown Wool-Ease yarn they made. It was brown, and John claimed it for his own. I had a generic sock pattern from somewhere, and ended up with these.

As you can see, we have a little problem here. Here’s another photo with both socks.

The heel of one went at exactly the same time as the toe of the other one. I’ve already darned these once. The last time he wore holes in them, I tried to toss them out, but he convinced me that they were the best socks ever and that I should fix them. Fortunately, this time I have no more of the ugly brown Wool-Ease left to repair them**, and they’re headed for the trash. I had to do a little bargaining, and promised him that I’d make another pair, better than the first. They’ll be brown, but they won’t be Wool-Ease.

*The sweater eventually was finished, the scarf wasn’t.

**If any of you have brown Wool-Ease in your stash, just keep it to yourselves, OK? He does not need any encouragement.

Back From Vacation!

And what a weather shock. We had beautiful weather in Maui, except for one day that it rained hard, and another where the wind howled all day. But heck, it was warm, we had rum drinks, and I wasn’t at work, so it wasn’t all bad. It’s been in the low 30’s most of this week since we’ve been home, with rain and grey skies, and yesterday morning we woke up again to snow. Sheesh.

We did lots of cool stuff in Hawaii, as well as lots of relaxing by the ocean. We did a luau, saw whales, and drove up to the top of Haleakala Crater. It was socked in with fog on the drive up, but cleared off as we neared the summit, and was in full sun by the time we got to the top. On the way up, we saw a few miserable looking bicyclists coming down the mountain in full rain gear, looking wet and cold. It seems there are quite a few lunatic people who get up in the middle of the night so they can go to the top and stand there in the fog and rain at sunrise.

Here are just a few photos. Here’s the link to the whole slide show if you must see more.

John on the beach:

On the whale watch cruise, a big whale breached twice in the span of a few minutes right in front of our boat. We didn’t catch the whale in the photo, but caught the splash-down.

Big banyan tree in Lahaina:

Socks on the beach:

Socks on the mountain top:

Knitting by the beach. Here are two photos that show that this yarn is the same color as the ocean tidepools.

And one last sunset at the resort:

Alas, all vacations must end. Here’s the plane ride home:

What? Don’t try telling me that you’d send Sweetpea through checked baggage. She always goes Princess Class.

A World Undone

by G. J. Meyer


I actually started this one in 2008, but what the heck. It’s my blog. It’s also close to 800 pages, so I’m counting it.

This is the story of the 1st World War, and Meyer manages to cover a complex period of world history in a style that is easy to read and understand. In each section, he provides background stories of the major players in the war, enabling the reader to follow the complicated politics of Europe that led to the bloodbath called the Great War. Once you finish reading this account of the “war to end all wars”, you will more easily realize how the world was set up for a second great disaster in World War II.

Meyer includes a helpful chronology in the beginning of the book, as well as a list of the major characters. There are a handful of photographs, and only a few maps. Probably my only criticism of the book is that more maps would have been helpful.

The last sentence in the book follows a background section entitled “The Fate Of Men & Nations”, in which Meyer describes what happened to the major characters in the Great War over the next decade and a half. After discussing Winston Churchill’s eventual warnings about the rearmament of Nazi Germany, he ends the story by saying, “But that is another story.” I can only hope that he plans to write that story as well.

777 pages.

Dead Until Dark

by Charlaine Harris


This is the official first book of 2009. Dead Until Dark is the first in a series by Charlaine Harris. If any of you watched True Blood on HBO this past fall, you’ll recognize this story. It’s the story of a cocktail waitress named Sookie Stackhouse in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and of her adventures with vampires and murderers. It’s a great story, there are some hilariously funny moments, and Sookie is an entertaining heroine. There are 8 books so far in the series, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of them.

292 pages.

Resolutions

OK, I really didn’t mean to go two weeks without blogging again. That was one of my New Year’s resolutions. This doesn’t bode well, does it? Here are a few of the rest of them. These are not in any particular order.

Blog more. There, I said it. Maybe I’ll do better at it now that I’ve put it in writing.

Knit more. Knit faster. Use up more stash. I’d be embarrassed to die now; the people going through my stash would think that I was a lunatic.

Complain about work less. I have a relatively secure job, one that pays well. It funds far more than the yarn budget, not a small thing in this economy. Quit your whining.

Read more books. I signed up for the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge on Ravelry. I have no hope of actually completing this one, since I tend to pick huge books that take me weeks to read. The two books I’m in the process of reading now? One has close to 800 pages, the other has 900. I’ve decided to just keep track of the number of pages I’ve read through the year.

I even made a new blog page to keep track of the books. The link is over there in the sidebar. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Oh, and the 900 page book?

That’s where we are this week. We’re on Maui, and having a fabulous time. My laptop computer has a little weather icon that shows the temperature back home. It’s 38 degrees this morning at home. It’s much, much nicer here! Here are a few photos to prove that we’re having fun, another of my NY resolutions.

We picked this spot on a drive around northwest Maui to return for a picnic later in the week.

Rum drinks:

Knitting by the pool. I’ll show a photo of that Peacock Shawl yarn next time I get the camera out. It looks exactly like the colors of a tidepool. Oh, the drink in this one was vodka, not rum. Nothing like a little vodka tonic to get you going in the morning.

Sunset on the beach. Is anybody but me humming the song “Red Sails In The Sunset”?

More rum drinks, this time at a luau.

Yet more rum.

Yes, those photos prove that plenty of rum drinks have been consumed. There is nothing better than going someplace on vacation where they put little umbrellas in your drinks!

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! I''m posting my blackeyed pea recipe early, so those of you who haven't planned ahead can get out there and stock up before the stores close tonight. You absolutely must have BEP's on New Year's Day, or something really bad might happen.*

Lorette's BEP's

1 biggish onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Celery, about 3/4 cup chopped
1-2 large carrots, chopped
1 Bell pepper, any color will do, chopped
Olive oil
Blackeyed peas, 1 pound bag, picked over and rinsed
1-14 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained (use the juice if you like it more tomato-ey)
Chicken stock, canned
1 bottle of beer
Splash of worcestershire sauce
Ham hock or ham shank (shank is meatier)
Thyme & oregano, a couple of teaspoons each
Bay leaf
Dijon mustard, a teaspoon or two
Salt and pepper
Cayenne, to taste. I start with about 1/4 teaspoon, and generally add more.

Saute the onion, celery, carrot, and pepper in oil in a big pot. Add the garlic when the other veggies are soft, cook for a minute. Add the rinsed peas, the can of tomatoes, the beer, and enough water or chicken stock to cover by about an inch. I usually use the tomato liquid, too. Throw in the seasonings, except for the salt. Add the ham hock and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the peas are done, about 45-60 minutes or so. Add salt to taste towards the end of the cooking time. Keep an eye on it, and add more liquid if needed as the peas cook.

Pick the meat off the ham bone, if there is any, and add it to the peas. Serve with cooked rice.

My promised NY resolutions will be in the next post!

*I have no idea if this is true or not, but I'm not taking any chances.

Behinder and Behinder…

That’s what I usually am. I am always about 6 or 8 projects behind, whether it’s knitting, blogging, or cleaning my office. Oh well. You’d think I’d get used to it. If you’re in my family, you know me as the relative that buys “belated” cards on purpose, knowing that they will never get out on time.

Memes and internet games are no different. This will be a dual post, to do two different ones that I’ve been saving up (that’s the ticket, I was saving them up for a special post).

First is a very nice “I Love Your Blog” award, given to me by Miss T quite some time back. That was very sweet of her, and I’ve been remiss in thanking her publicly, and in posting my own choices. I of course love Miss T’s blog, and especially her lovely cooking posts with gorgeous photos. Here are the rules, and a few of my faves:

The rules:

1. Please mention the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Here are my four. Oh my, how to pick just four from all the talented bloggers that I regularly read?

Part Two: The 6 Random things meme; I was blackmailed challenged to do this one by Jocele of Knitting on Call. Here are the rules for this one:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Randomness, in no particular order:

1. I am sort of a procrastinator. Can’t you tell? 🙂

2. I still wear my high school class ring sometimes. The town I grew up in is small, and has only one high school. The ring design is the same that it’s been for decades. Oh OK, here’s a photo.

3. I also still know all the words to my high school “fight” song. Prove it, you say?

Edgeley High School, hats off to thee!

To our colors, true we will ever be

Firm and strong, united are we!

Rah! Rah! To Edgeley High

You Rah Rah Rah!

Hats off to Edgeley High!

4. I sleep with a teddy bear, you’ve all met her, Sweetpea. What you might not know is that this isn’t a lifelong thing. She joined the family only about fifteen years ago. She’s my first ever teddy.

5. My current hair color isn’t natural. (Shhhhh!) Though it’s actually pretty close to the color I was born with, my hair turned a plain very dark brown as a child. Then the grey started creeping in. I’m not ready for that, so now I’m back to a warm dark brown with a little red in it.

6. The last random thing is that parts of this post got eaten by Typepad, where my blog usually lived. I’m not going to try to fix it. There you go.

Back From Vacation!

The blog vacation, that is. I hope everyone is having a great holiday! Christmas was busy around here, but fun-filled. John and I decided this year not to buy gifts for each other. Instead, we’re keeping lists of little things we’ve always wanted to do together, like more walks in the woods, and more movie dates. The plan will be to choose things off the lists throughout the year instead of buying junk that we don’t really need.

We had two big holiday parties at our house. One was our annual Winter Solstice party with neighborhood friends. We had a dozen fine people around our table for a huge prime rib dinner, with plenty of wine and laughs.

Here’s how I plan and execute a huge meal for a dozen people:

Riley loving the whipped cream:

The table set for dinner:

And the aftermath:

The second event was with family, and we had another dozen for that set of meals. We did prime rib again for Christmas dinner, since it was such a hit the first time around. We have enough meat leftover to make one heck of a stew, which will be tonight. Nothing like using prime rib in stew instead of tough stew meat!

For some reason we did not get one single decent photo with all the kids and grandkids in it. A good time was had by all, though.

On the knitting front, I’m still working on the same projects. No photos, since I’m too lazy to take new pictures. True Blue, John’s sweater, is getting bigger, and I’m almost at the underarms on the first half. The Peacock Shawl is slowly growing. The dog mittens are about halfway up the dog legs on the back of the first mittens, and Wicked Witch socks are proceeding.

I’m working on some New Year’s resolutions, and will hopefully have those in my next post! Have a happy and safe New Year’s holiday!

Ten On Tuesday

I know, I know. To my knowledge, I’ve never done one of these TOT things. By the time I get around to doing them, it would be Ten on Thursday, which I suppose would work. I couldn’t resist an opportunity to list my ten favorite Christmas songs, though.

We have a subscription to Rhapsody, which allows us to listen to all the music we want for a flat monthly fee. Believe me, this is cheaper by far than when I was into buying albums. And this way, they have to put the albums away, not me. My holiday playlist currently has over 3500 songs on it. How to choose just ten?

1. Gesu Bambino, my current favorite version is by Ying Huang, who has just a heavenly voice.

2. Sleigh Ride, the Mitch Miller version, from the album Holiday Sing Along With Mitch. Corny, but very singable.

3. Jing A Ling Jing A Long, by the Andrews Sisters, on the album Sing & Swing. Very catchy tune, as only the sisters can do it. Ha ha! Ho ho!

4. In Dulci Jubilo, by just about anybody who sings it.

5. Blue Christmas, only the Elvis version. Anybody else is just an imposter.

6. Merry Christmas From The Family, by Robert Earl Keen. The version on his “Live” album is the best.

7. The Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah, the Mormon Tabernacle version is my favorite.

8. Santa Baby, by Eartha Kitt. Again, anybody else singing this is just not doing it right.

9. Away In A Manger, currently I’m listening to a version by Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers.

10. O Holy Night, by the Irish Tenors. Or Il Divo. I’ll take either one. Now that I think about it, pretty much anything by Il Divo would do. They could just stand there and I’d be happy. 🙂

No links, you’re on your own finding these!

Better Get Out Those Sunglasses!

Or,

Project Update

Since I have one less thing on the needles by finishing those Arctic Monkeys, I started two new things. The first is a pair of plain socks. Here’s where you will need the sunglasses. This yarn is so bright, you don’t need a pattern stitch.

This is Tempted Good Grrl sock yarn, in the color Wicked Witch. Even that photo doesn’t do this stuff justice. I think it glows in the dark. I got mine here, and there’s still some left. This will just be a plain sock, that same old pattern.

By the way, I did have another sock on the needles back in September, that orange Trekking stuff. This was in a burst of excitement over knitting something besides plain socks. I got so sick of the pattern that I ripped them out, in a fit of pique. I’ll re-do the yarn eventually as a plain sock, but this skein just called to me when I opened the yarn box to find a new sock.

Next up is the second new project, Dog Mittens!

These are just the cutest things I’ve ever seen. They will be for my sweet dog-walking hubby. The pattern is by Jorid Linvik, and the Ravelry link is here. Here is her pattern shop. Of course, while I was shopping, I bought the Cat Mittens and the Talullah’s Heart Mittens too. The yarn is Rauma Finullgarn, purchased from Nordic Fiber Arts. It figures, I get excited by patterned mittens and have absolutely no yarn in those fourteen boxes that would work. That’s why the Stash Knit-Down counter moved.

Just as a warning, these are a little on the small side. As written, the pattern would probably fit a small woman’s hand. I’m going up a needle size, and they will be snug on him, but should still fit. (Did I just say that out loud?) I also put a little longer cuff on them. If you want to make these in a larger size, you could go up to a bit heavier yarn.

I have gotten a little done on True Blue, though I haven’t even looked at anything else since I got that mitten yarn. Here’s a photo. I’m not saying anything about whether it’s going to fit or not. At this point, I’m thinking that it would be easier to find a new man that the sweater would fit.*

The Peacock Shawl is still in the rotation, it’s just taken a back seat for awhile. Maybe I’ll show you a photo next time.

*Just kidding, dear. You know I wouldn’t trade you in!

Arctic Circle Monkeys!

I’m not far enough into Version 4 of the True Blue sweater to tell for sure if the size is good this time, but I’m happy to report that the Beaverslide yarn is holding up well to all that ripping and reknitting. And I’ve decided to think of the whole thing as my economy knitting plan. I’m really getting my money’s worth out of that yarn.

And I’ve finished something else!

New Socks! How Exciting!

Project Details:

Yarn: Three Irish Girls, Beckon Super Merino, from the Sock Yarnista Sock Club. The color is Arctic Circle, with plain black for toes, heels and cuffs.

Pattern: Monkey Socks, from Knitty, by Cookie A.

Needles: Celtic Swan Forge sterling silver needles, size 1.

For: Me

Started: September 4, 2008

Finished: December 1, 2008

Modifications: I changed the heel flap to a standard slip stitch flap, and the contrasting heel/toe/cuff option, otherwise, it’s as written.

What I learned: I can too knit something besides plain socks. The pattern was fun to knit, though I still love that plain sock. And I love the Sock Yarnista. Her yarn is just fabulous. Go buy some!

Crap, Crap, Crappity Crap

Or,

It’s A Good Thing I Took It Off The Needles To Measure

Or, Fourth Time’s A Charm?

That’s Big Grey in the background, the sweater that fits John like he wants this one to fit. That’s True Blue in the foreground, off the needles. That would be the third attempt at getting this thing up and running. I can’t explain this, except the gauge that I’m knitting the real thing is just a tiny bit tighter than my swatch. Even counting for the very tiny bit that my swatch grew when I washed it, this is not going to work. I also had problems with the increase row from the ribbing to the body. I was to increase 13 stitches, and given the instructions in the pattern, I did that row twice before I figured out that the instructions were wrong. It required pins to mark where those increases should go, and a little math-head to get it past the ribbing.

Somebody asked in the comments to my last post about the tape measure. Here it is:

I don’t remember exactly where I got this one, but I have a couple of these in different patterns. You can get them here.

And here’s a photo of Lucy to distract you from the destruction in progress. Lucy hardly ever comes downstairs any more, as she is a coward and likes her master suite upstairs just fine. She perched herself on a chair in the kitchen next to me yesterday.

Go ahead, tell her how pretty she is. I think she was saying, “Dude, that sweater is going to be too small for Dad.”

And here we go again.

It would be easier to go buy him a freaking sweater, but not nearly as entertaining.

Recalculating

If any of you have a Garmin Nuvi GPS unit, you will immediately know what I am talking about with that title. “Jill” is the woman who is the voice of Garmin on these units, and if you make a mistake or don’t follow her instructions, man, she really gets on your case. Jill says “recalculating” with a really bitchy attitude that makes it sound like you just gave her a dog turd to eat. John says it’s like having two wives in the car telling him how to drive.

I’ve had to do a bit of recalculating of my own with the new sweater. I’ve named it True Blue, as it is indeed pretty blue, and it’s for my true blue husband. I’ve ripped this sucker out and restarted three times now.

I didn’t take a photo of the first version. I wanted to use the pattern for the Father/Son sweater that I used for John’s Big Grey sweater, but completely ignored that fact that the Beaverslide worsted is a lighter weight yarn than the Peace Fleece that I used for that one. I actually did knit a swatch, then squinted sideways and decided that if I just knitted the size one size larger than the previous grey version, that all would be well. Denial is a lovely thing. I got almost two inches of twisted rib done on the back piece before reality hit. Way too small, out it came.

Recalculating.

I then dithered about it for a week, and finally decided to fire up the old PC laptop and make a pattern using Sweater Wizard. It’s the only software package that I use that has no good alternative in a Mac format (yet! she’s designing it as we speak!), and I’m not about to pay for and install Windoze on this Mac just to run one program. Out came the pattern, and I cast on again. This time I got about an inch done of the ribbing before I realized my newest mistake.

Most sweater patterns have the sizes listed as the actual finished measurements. That is, if you want your finished sweater to measure 24 inches across the chest, or 48 inches around, you would pick the size that said “48”. That’s the size I made for John with the Father/Son sweater before. SW does it differently. It has you enter your actual chest measurement, along with other info, including the weight of your fabric and desired ease, and it calculates away.

Do you see where this is going? I forgot this, entered 48 inches in the little box that asked for chest measurement. I had embarked on a sweater that would ultimately be 52 inches around, not quite the look he wants.

Out it came, again.

Recalculating.

Back to the drawing board, now with a new, resized pattern. I’m sure by this time tomorrow I’ll have found something else that I’ve screwed up.

A Good Cause

First, thanks for all the lovely comments on my Not Cobblestone. I still haven’t blocked it, but I have worn it a few times. The way the weather’s been, it might not get washed and blocked till spring.

Kris from Sonny & Shear, and the Knitting Wannabe, is having a blog contest for a very good cause. I know that the economy is horrible, and that many of you don’t have a lot of spare change around. However, whatever you can afford to give will help immensely in helping one family out in their time of need. I’ll let Kris tell you the story, go check out her blog post. And don’t forget to look at the awesome prize that she and Dana are offering as a reward!

I just got done with another seven day stretch of work, and I’m still groggy and in my jammies. I didn’t get much writing done last week, so this week will be all about NaNoWriMo catch up. I’m off to make up more scenes!