The Knitting Doctor

Concessions

Miss Pearl would like to thank everyone who voted for her in the 2006 Midterm Button Elections. It wasn’t even a close race, and she graciously concedes to the jubilant winner, Ms. Rosie, who never quite got around to getting a good campaign photo taken.

The Roses will be stitched on very soon, and the Inaugural Ball will be photographed shortly thereafter. Miss Pearl promises to run for reelection in the near future.
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And now, what you really came for, more travelogue photos. After Barcelona, we had a short (half-day) stop in Valencia. I was feeling the severe effects of jetlag, and didn’t even bother to get off the ship that day. After another night at sea, we arrived in Malaga, on the southern coast of Spain. Although we had been to Granada, and the Alhambra, on our last Spain trip, we couldn’t pass up a bus tour that was offered by the cruise line. Here are just a couple of photos. The Alhambra, a 13th-14th century fortress and palace built by the Moorish rulers of Spain, is just exquisite, and well-worth a second trip.

The long bus ride home provided ample opportunity for sock knitting.

More on those socks in a future post. I promised a bear tale a few posts ago. Sweetpea is a rather unadventurous bear, at least up until now. Generally, she’s been satisfied to hang out in hotel rooms and ship cabins. Occasionally we get a room/cabin attendant with a sense of humor, and we find her perched in different places in our room when we get “home” at the end of the day. But that’s about as much fun as she usually has.

Until now. One day on the cruise we came back to our cabin after being out and around the ship, and found our room all cleaned up, as usual. Don’t ask me how, but the cabin attendants unerringly know when you’ve left the room, and whiz right in to tidy up and make the bed. This particular day I was rummaging around to find my knitting, and noticed that Sweetpea was gone. She was nowhere to be found. I rather frantically called the number listed on the card that our attendant had left. I found that she was on a break, and I had reached room service. They listened quite patiently to my rather lunatic-sounding story of the missing teddy bear, and I could almost hear the eye-rolling and snickering in the background, though the man on the phone was well-trained enough to not laugh out loud. He said he would look into it.

Not five minutes later there was a knock on the door. A young woman had rescued Sweetpea from the laundry, where she had apparently arrived wrapped up in our sheets. She was very happy to be home, and did not even think about having any more adventures for the entire rest of the trip.

Next stop:

You Guessed It…

More Pictures!

This handy landmark stands right at the harbor in Barcelona. Good old Chris pointed the way back to our ship so we didn’t get lost while wandering the city. Unfortunately, the main problem with cruises is that you don’t get to spend much time in any one city. Of all the stops on the trip, Barcelona was one of the places that I would love to revisit.

While wandering the warren of city streets, we found these cool guys.

We did the required ramble down the main pedestrian walkway, La Rambla. This is not for the claustrophobic, or for those paranoid about pickpockets.

The next day (we spent the night in harbor on the ship), we went back into the city for a cooking class. There were a dozen of us that learned how to make gazpacho, potato tortilla, and paella, as well as a custard dessert. Here’s John showing off in the kitchen.

And the finished paella. If it seems like none of us look very excited in this photo, we’d already eaten two courses, and had several glasses of wine.

Back on the ship, I’d been on vacation long enough to have to wash socks. Fortunately, there was a clothesline in our bathroom.

And sunset as we sailed back out into the Mediterranean.

On to knitting content. The buttons came! And the neckband is finished!

Closer….

Finally, you can actually see them.

Here’s where you all can help. Vote on which ones you like better. I’m partial to the middle one, though those sharp little edges aren’t going to work very well with the buttonholes I made. So which is it, the pearl ones, or the gold roses?

Edited later: I removed the poll, as it was screwing with my blog colors. If you’re reading this after the fact, the antique rose buttons won, by a landslide.

Nice Is For Knitting

Or, More Vacation photos.

I promised these photos a few at a time. We spent a couple of nights in Nice, which has a lovely old-town with a multitude of little shops and sidewalk restaurants. Of course we had to try out some of those little restaurants.

And we enjoyed the beach.

More eating.

Here’s our ship from a nice Nice vantage point. It’s the one on the left.

After wandering around Nice some more, it was time to get on board.

Sweetpea settled right in for a nap. Must have been the glass of champagne we were handed when we stepped off the gangplank.

More later; gotta go check that pie in the oven.

I’m Back

Actually I’ve been back for a week from our cruise. Life sort of got in the way of posting, not an unusual occurrence around here. I’ve decided to declare a blanket blog amnesty around here. I revved up the computer on our return, to find that you all left me about 900 posts to read on Bloglines. I finally gave up even trying to catch up today, and hit the “mark all read” button this morning. It didn’t help that we got home late Monday night and I had to be at work at 7 AM the next morning. Then I got sick with some deadly variant of a stomach virus that I believe was the “cruise ship” bug*. I ended up taking three days off last week, and only went back to work under some protest. I’m mostly recovered at present, and off work for the holiday week (hooray!), so time to dig out the knitting, take some pictures, and sort through the trip photos.

Our trip was wonderful, and we have hundreds of photos to prove it. We flew to Nice, France, where we spent a couple of days before boarding the cruise ship, where we lived for the next sixteen days. We wandered around Nice on our last day there, and came upon this shop.

If you can’t tell, that’s a yarn shop. And an Anny Blatt yarn shop, not just any ordinary yarn shop. Really, I didn’t plan that, though my husband remains suspicious. Of course we went in.

That would be a yarn purchase on the counter. I only bought a few little skeins of yarn, but only because luggage space was a bit tight. This will probably be a pretty scarf someday.

Later on, as we wandered the same street, we happened upon the Nice version of La Drogerie. Two yarn shops on one street! Did I mention that I love Nice? I didn’t buy anything there, though John managed to shoot this photo before a stern clerk came over and wagged her finger at him. Apparently they haven’t figured out the power of free advertising via knitting blogs, and don’t allow photos.

I do have several photos that proved that I got some knitting done on vacation, but I’m going to dole them out a little at a time. Otherwise the excitement might be too much for some of you. Here’s one.

That’s in the airport lounge, waiting for our flight. Note that Sweetpea got to go on the trip. Doesn’t she look happy holding my yarn ball for me? Sweetpea had a few adventures of her own on the trip that I’ll tell you about in a later post.

Jump ahead to our return home. I have finished all the major knitting on that orange Pippa sweater, and have it all sewn together. I am just a couple rows from finishing the neck band, but I’m planning on ripping that and reknitting it, as I don’t like the way it looks, but it won’t take long for that. I have buttons on the way via online ordering. Please don’t tell me that it would be far easier, and faster, to go to the local fabric/sewing store and buy buttons. That would ruin my satisfaction at finding the perfect set of buttons online (okay, three sets of buttons, I couldn’t decide). I’ll show them to you when they get here. Here’s a bad picture of the sweater. It’s way more coppery and less like a ripe tomato than this. This one needs daylight, I think, to get the color right. That means you’ll have to wait until May, since I live in western Washington.

Last but not least, I was the first one up this morning, and got a couple photos of my housemates.

Yes, that’s where Lucy usually sleeps, generally plastered up against me as close as she can get. And yes, she likes hiding under the covers.

Riley got in bed with the other two after I got up, and didn’t get out again until about 10 AM.

I’m off to rip that neckband out. Hopefully there will be a finished sweater soon, with or without buttons. There might even be a button election, if I can’t make a decision.

* This wasn’t our ship, we were on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator, but I swear this is the same bug that I had.

Cruising Along

It’s been over a week since my last post. That must mean I’ve been working. Unfortunately, there’s been little knitting in that time frame.

I liked all the comments on the Rogue wannabee brown yarn. I sense that you people know me well, as you collectively seem to have little faith that I will hold out and not cast on before I’ve finished the other two sweaters currently on the needles. Just for the record, here it is:

Still in its pristine, unknit state. The negotiating process has already begun in my head, though, so who knows how long it will stay that way.

One reason I wasn’t more tempted is that I’ve gotten virtually no knitting done since my last post. It was one of those weeks at work. I don’t talk about work much, but there were a couple of good moments. (Actually more than a couple, but these are the ones I recall.)

I got consulted to take over the care of a patient in the ICU that had been there for a few days, under the care of the critical care specialist. In the process of reviewing the chart, I picked up a diagnosis that had been missed, one that could have had dire consequences if not caught. Sometimes those of us who are more “generalists” occasionally get looked down on as somehow inferior to the fancy specialists, so it always amuses me when I catch something important that they missed. I’ve gotten to that stage in my career (I’ve been in practice for 25 years–how the hell did that happen?) when I look at some of the new young whippersnappers just out of training and just shake my head. They’re smarter than I am, I’ll grant them that, but 25 years of experience is something that you can’t replace with book learning and youth.

Then I had two different patients ask me if I had a private practice and would be their “regular” doctor. I don’t, and I can’t, as I only work in the hospital, but it always does my heart good when they ask. I guess I’m easily amused. One of them even hugged me when I left Monday.

Enough about work. I’m off to pack. Yes, we’re off again. This time it’s a cruise, my 50th birthday present from my husband. We’re flying off this evening to Europe, spend a few days in Nice on the coast of France, then get on a cruise ship that goes to Spain, Morocco, Madeira, then translatlantic to Florida and home again. I have all my knitting packed, as I’m pretty sure there is no yarn shop** on the ship. That is a serious flaw, but I can overlook it since they have several bars and lounges. They do have a computer room, so hopefully I will be able to update the blog here and there. If not I’ll be back mid November!

**And why aren’t there yarn shops on cruise ships? This seems like an idea that would just take off if implemented. Maybe I’ll bring it up with the Captain.

And I Thought It Was Mostly Grey

Normally I think these quizzes are silly, though I still have a compulsion to do them. Some of them are just plain dumb, like “if you were cookware, what metal would you be made out of?” **

This one is right on, though. I’m not sure what the color means, but the quiz is just a miniature Myers Briggs test, and surprisingly accurate for just a few questions. I’m always amazed at how consistent I am on these tests. Lord knows, I’m not consistent in anything else that I do. I always turn out an INTP, every time, even if I try to rig the answers.

This one came via Vera.

What Color is Your Brain?

GREEN:At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.
With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.
With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don’t make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.
Take this quiz!

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On the knitting front, I have a new obsession. Last winter I bought some lovely wool-alpaca yarn from a shop out on Orcas Island, where we had gone for a short vacation.

It looks pretty boring in that picture, but it’s a lovely pile of yarn. I bought enough of it to make a sweater, then went back the next day and bought some more in case I wanted to make a cabled sweater, say, perhaps, something with a hood, and just in case I didn’t want to run out of yarn.

I’ve been looking for the perfect yarn to make another Rogue sweater, as I wear my original one all the time when the weather is cool enough. This is it. My initial swatching matches up with the required gauge, and this might just be the one.

Here’s the deal. I am still knitting that blasted orange thing. I am about a third of the way done with one front piece, have the second front piece to go, then the finishing. I also have that partially done (OK, barely started) Jo Sharp cabled eggplant colored sweater to finish. I can’t deal with having three sweaters in various stages of non-completion. I absolutely WILL finish the other two before starting another Rogue. Having done one Rogue, I know how consuming it can be; you just want to keep knitting to see what those cables do.

“Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.”

This will be difficult. You all have permission to point your fingers at me and laugh if you see even a hint of that brown yarn back here before I have those other two sweaters finished.

**I made that one up, in case you couldn’t tell.

Before The Next Teardrop Falls

Just a quick post. Yesterday one of the great ones passed. Baldemar Huerta, better known as Freddy Fender, died. I was lucky enough to hear him perform live one time, last year. He was a legend, and will be greatly missed.

If all you know of his music is Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, pick up his La Musica de Baldemar Huerta. It’s one of the classics.

Adios, muchacho.

Birthday Update, Knitting Update

First of all, thank you, everybody, for the great birthday wishes! The day was great, even though I had to go to work. I got chocolate cake twice, so not much to complain about, really. We had dinner at the neighbors’ house, and the birthday girl got to wear a crown.

At least they didn’t insist on 50 candles. That’s my own crown by the way. Every girl needs one.

As part of my birthday present we drove up to the big city to the Tractor Tavern Tuesday night for a little music. We heard Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez, and they were fabulous. Those of you not familiar with either might recognize Chip Taylor as the guy who wrote “Angel of the Morning”, way back when. One of the highlights of the evening was that Merrilee Rush, who made that song a hit in the 60’s, did a duet with him on the song. She lives in the Seattle area, and dropped in to listen, and he invited her up on stage. Very cool.

On the knitting front, I have way too many projects going, and really need to finish something. At last count, there were two shawls, two sweaters, and 1 pair of socks, all in various stages of completion. This much unfinished-ness doesn’t sit well with me. I’m quite happy having the yarn and patterns for 900 projects in the stash, but once they’re started, I’m happiest with three. So I’ve been working away at that orange Pippa sweater.

It’s more copper colored, and less marinara sauce colored than that photo would lead you to believe. I think it’s the yellow background that throws it off. I have the sleeves done, and that’s the back, and I’ve started on one of the front pieces. I modified the shoulders to do short row finishing, as I despise stairstep finished shoulders. They are nearly impossible to seam neatly.

I was going to show a few pictures and add an explanation of how to do this, but others have already done so, and better. I used Nancie Wiseman’s Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques, and nonaKnits has a great post on the subject. It turned out pretty well, I think. I had to do a little juggling so I wasn’t wrapping stitches in the middle of those twisted columns, but once I figured out that I could shift the wrapped stitch one way or the other 1 or 2 stitches, I was off and running. I even wrote down where I did the wraps on the back so I can match them on the front.

Now if I just can keep track of where I wrote it down.

It’s cocktail hour, and I’m off. Have a good evening, everybody!

They Say It’s Your Birthday…

Just had to announce publicly. It’s today, I’m 50 years old. Who knows where the time went?

One of my favorite aging stories is when my mom was in her late 70’s. She had severe Parkinsons disease by then and could barely string two words together, and we weren’t always too sure she was with us in the conversation. My sister and I had taken her shopping (her favorite activity, right up to the end!), and stopped for lunch. We were talking about this and that, and the topic of her age came up. My sister said something about her being seventy-something. My mother got this horrified look on her face, snapped to attention, and said very clearly, “NO, not THAT old!”.

My biggest disappointment today? Nobody patted me on the head yesterday and said, “Oh, don’t bother coming in to work tomorrow, just stay home and have a lovely day.”

I guess if that’s all I have to complain about, I’m a lucky woman.

NO, not THAT old, indeed.

Yeah, we’re gonna have a good time.

Ten Songs, Ten Bloggers

Two posts in one day. What’s this world coming to?

Damn, this one was a hard one. I got tagged by Wendy for this, and it’s been sitting in my email “to-do” folder while I was thinking. I’m still thinking.

My music taste generally would be described as psychotic by most of my friends and neighbors. I prefer the term “eclectic”. So these songs are by no means representative of my entire playlist. I’m just going to randomly pick ten songs out of my ITunes list that I’ve listened to recently and hope it gives you an idea.

1. Blue Railroad Train, by Jorma Kaukonen. The album is Blue Country Heart. You know the guy, I know you do. Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna. His solo albums are great acoustic blues.

2. Shenandoah, by Dave Alvin, from his Public Domain album. I love everything that man sings, but this is one my favorite albums of his.

3. OK, I can pick two by the same artist. From Dave’s album Interstate City, the track Jubilee Train/Do Re Mi/Promised Land.

4. Let’s shift gears. Memories Are Made of This, by Dean Martin. Very corny, I know. That’s me. This music comes on, I want to go make myself a martini.

5. Jessica, by the Allman Brothers. This one makes me want to get in the car and drive. Or Blue Sky. Or Statesboro Blues. Anything from their live albums will do (don’t get me started on which one’s the best. Who cares?).

6. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, by you-know-who.

7. Beethoven’s 7th symphony. My favorite version is from Leonard Bernstein’s Final Concert album. This one just makes me happy.

8. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, by the Andrews Sisters. Really. It’s impossible not to tap your toes while this one is on.

9. Smoking Panetelas on the Blue Mediterranean Sea, by the Aqua Velvets. Gotta have some surf guitar, and this is very seductive surf music. And I love the title.

10. Last but not least, what’s a playlist without the Greatest Honky Tonk Singer Of All Time? We’re talking Vern here, Vern Gosdin. Set ‘Em Up Joe gets played around here a lot, especially when the bourbon comes out.

11. OK, it’s my blog, I can do 11 if I want. I realized there is no bluegrass in that list. That lapse is not tolerated around here. Hmmmm, how to pick just one? OK, from Jerry Garcia, the best bluegrass picker and singer there is/was. That Grateful Dead thing was just a side gig. I’m giving you a three-fer. Shady Grove, from the album of the same name he did with David Grisman. Arabia, from an album entitled David Grisman & Jerry Garcia. It’s an incredible over-16-minute jam. And really, last but not least, Teddy Bear Picnic, from the album Not For Kids Only. I had to include that one for Sweetpea.

12. Really, just one more, just because I love the movie it came from, and it just came up on the random ITunes playlist. Belleville Rendez-Vouz, from the movie Triplets of Belleville. If you like animated movies, go rent it. It’s in French, but it doesn’t matter, because there is little dialogue.

The list goes on and on.

OK, to tag ten bloggers. These are again just randomly selected from some of you, just because I want to hear what you listen to.

1. PJ

2. Kris

3. Theresa

4. Deb

5. Lynda

6. Jane

7. Laurie

8. Dorothy

9. Vera

10. Lee Ann

Consider yourself tagged. No go read my other post from today. I wouldn’t want you to miss it just because I got carried away and did two.

The Dog Ate My Blogpost

I have an even better excuse than that one for not posting.

First of all, I didn’t die, or get abducted by aliens, or anything like that. It was worse.

I got a new computer. An IMac, to be exact. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks with my butt in front of the computer, getting everything set up just the way I want it. In the process, I’ve become a Mac evangelist. Mic****ft s*cks, is all I have to say. You pull this thing out of the box, and after that first shock of how astoundingly beautiful it is, and where all the other cables and parts went, you put the thing on the desk, take the ONE cable that hooks to the back and to the wall outlet, plug it in, and you’re off.

One might assume that I haven’t been doing much knitting while I was playing with my new toy. You’d be right. I do have a new sock project to show you, but you’ll have to wait a paragraph or two.

I did pull my head out of the computer long enough to invite friends over for dinner this weekend. I’m lucky enough to live close to a number of knitters, one of whom is Kris. She and her husband, Dana, and their daughter, Anna Grace, and another couple (non-knitters, sorry to say) all came over for an evening of fun and food, and wine, of course. A good time was had by all. One of the best parts? Kris brought a non-traditional but very welcome “hostess gift”. Here it is:

This one shows the color of the yarn better.

How cool is that? Kris can come to my house for dinner anytime.

I also have done a bit of shopping, though that was actually before the computer came. I just had to figure out how to get photos on this thing to post it. This is from KnitPicks. Kris made me buy the chart holder thing, and I couldn’t just order that. Here’s the loot.

I’ve wanted that electronic row counter ever since I saw it. I know I said that I love my little cheap tally counters from the office supply store. I lied. I really love this one better. It appeals to my enthusiasm for new gadgets.

Here’s the chart holder. The magnets are just not pink. I have no idea why the photo came out that way. So if the only reason that you are clicking over to Knitpicks to buy this is for the pink magnets, forget it. They’re sort of lavendar, but not Pepto pink.

And what’s in that little green bag? Why, my current sock project, of course.

Isn’t that just the pinkest pink you’ve ever seen? That yarn really is that pink. It’s called Hot Flash, and is Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It’s not listed on the website, but if you email Tina, she might have some. You never know. That’s how I got mine. I think I told her some sob story about how I’m menopausal and might cry if I didn’t get some of this, and she took pity on me and sent it. I’m not above grovelling for yarn.

I promised Project Specs on that last pair of socks that I did. I’ll get it done, really. I’ll post it in the Finished Projects section when I get a minute. It’s a basic top down sock, 64 stitches, STR in Rainforest Jasper, for me. There you go.

Next post will be the “Ten songs, ten bloggers” meme that’s going around. I got tagged by Wendy. I’m just having a bit of trouble picking only ten of each. I’m working on it.

STR Socks!

I didn’t record the final details of this one on my blog. This is Socks That Rock sock yarn, the lightweight version, I believe. It’s the color Rainforest Jasper from the Sock club, though I used my own pattern. 68 stitches on size 1 needles, picot hem, heel flap and gusset. What’s not to like?
I finished these in September 2006, for me.

Ahoy, Mateys!

Just so y’all are ready for the day:

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

And my favorite part, the videos that teach you just what to say:

Avast, Me Hearties

And for a quick list you can print out and hide in your pocket:

British Pirate Speak

Don’t get caught sounding like a landlubber.

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Edited to add, direct from that other Knitting Pirate, Celia, otherwise known as Mad Bess Kidd. We’re apparently long lost sisters:

My pirate name is:

Captain Morgan Kidd

Even though there’s no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you’re the one in charge. Even though you’re not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Bess and Morgan, long lost piratical sisters. I always was the bossy one.

One More Finished Project

But first, it’s that time of the year again. We all packed up and went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday. We didn’t lug the camera along, as we had enough to hang on to already, but did take a few photos with our camera phones. (Did you realize that it takes about six pairs of hands to manage two small children at a fair?)

We looked at more kinds of rabbits than I knew existed, rode rides (some of us), ate Elephant Ears (no, I didn’t even bother to calculate WW points for those), looked at the crafts, and watched the Mutton Busting contest. I didn’t get pictures of that one, but none of us could quite figure out why you would put a three-year old child on a terrified sheep, wearing flip-flops, no less. It was funny, but in a disturbing, watching a car wreck sort of way. Here are a few photos of the rest of the day.

For some reason, I didn’t take any pictures of the knitted items in the craft pavilion, but this crocheted doll caught my eye. I’ve blocked out the names of the winner to protect the innocent, but note that this thing won a blue ribbon. I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but WTF? I’m sure that there is some little girl somewhere who would like this on her nightstand, but this would just give me nightmares. Kris, you and I are so entering the fair next year. Surely we can beat this.

The kids rode the kiddie rides. Those of you who have been with me for awhile might remember this one from last year that George and I dared to ride.

We rode the one on the right, the Turbo Force. That was last year. We just chickened out this year. The only scarier ride is that slingshot thing on the left, and there is not enough yarn in the world that could induce me to strapping myself into that thing. Maybe next year.

Here’s Alicia and Penelope. I’m not sure either one of them realized what they were standing in front of, but John, being the guy that he is, couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a good photo.

Note that Penelope is having a very good time. So did Sam:

So did I. After enjoying the crowds, and the junk food, and the legions of screaming children, John and I needed a respite, and found the wine garden:

The people at the wine tasting booth said that the Fair organizers couldn’t ignore the fact that wine is a big agricultural crop in Washington, so had to include it in the fun.

I conned George into holding the sock for a picture. I finally figured out how the Harlot gets away with this one. You stuff the sock into their hands, jump back and shoot before they know what hit them.

And Sam, at the end of the day.

Whew, that’s over with for another year.

Here are the socks, done:

I’ll post Project Specs next time. I’m off to cast on the next pair.

Saturday Sky, and Finished Project Redux

The sun has slowly started to appear since I took that one, but clearly, fall has arrived. There’s a nice chill in the air, getting down into the 40’s at night, fine sleeping weather. It makes me want to break out all that fine wool and start knitting sweaters.

I was able to get a better picture of the completed Forest Canopy shawl yesterday. One benefit of the ridiculous amount of money we spent fixing our wood rot problems is that I have a great glass deck wall to model shawls. You have no idea how much better that makes me feel about the whole project.

And as promised, I started a new one, from the same pattern.

Those of you paying attention might note that the yarn is not Knitpicks Alpaca in Vineyard that I posted about last time. I had this Zephyr left over from another project, and there is a little more than 2 oz. of it, probably 700 yards or so. I thought the color suited the name of the shawl, so there you have it. I’ll use the alpaca for something else. (A third one, perhaps?)

I started this on the Knitpicks Options needles, but had a heck of a time with the wool silk blend slipsliding away from me, so switched to my favorite needles of all time, Holz & Stein ebonies (3.25 mm, for future reference). I bought some of these previously via a friend who lives in Germany, but the shop that used to carry them doesn’t anymore. Fortunately I found the motherlode of Holz & Stein, and after several emails back and forth with a lovely woman named Ursula, this arrived yesterday.

These are simply the most decadent needles I’ve ever used. Here is their website, though it acts a bit squirrelly if you use Firefox as your browser. Email Ursula, and these could belong to you, too. They are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but just perfect. The tips aren’t as sharp as the Options, but the join is lovely, and the ebony divine. Any of you spouses out there that are looking for a gift that will make your knitter-spouse swoon, this might be it.

I especially love that Ursula put this in the package:

It’s a cute little ebony pencil with Holz & Stein stamped on it, and a tape measure wrapped up to look like a sweet. How sweet!

The grandkids are here this weekend, so who knows how much actual knitting will get done. I’ll show you two last pictures of the day. First is Willie, as you don’t get to see many pictures of him here. Now that the weather is cooler, he’s hanging out in the house more. Yesterday was a fine day for a cat to enjoy a patch of sunshine.

And here’s John explaining the finer points of opening a bottle of wine to one of his grandsons:

Don’t worry, he didn’t get to drink any of it with his cinnamon grahams. Have a good weekend!