audioknits

Be a hero

When I last donated blood, I received a 7 gallon mug.  (No, it doesn't hold 7 gallons, but that's how much has been drawn from my veins over the past 11 or so years.)  When I was in the recovery area, there was a lovely woman in her 40's, Tracy, speaking with the others seated there.  In January she had been the recipient of a donated kidney, and the story behind it is touching and amazing.  

 Tracy has polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disorder.  Her condition worsened, and the only hope was for a kidney transplant.  Her 20-something son created a Facebook page in hopes of finding a match for her.  Dozens of people volunteered to have their blood tested for compatibility.  Jeff, a man she had known casually when they were students in high school drove to the blood center in RI from CT, and was the perfect match.  Though it had been over 30 years since they had seen each other, this hero, with full support from his wife and children, chose to donate a kidney to Tracy.  The transplant was done in January, and the donor quickly recovered and has no restrictions.  Tracy is doing great, thanks to Jeff, who literally saved her life.  

This ties in nicely with this week's topic for the student advisories (small groups of students who meet regularly with a staff member to focus on character development), which is Thanking Everyday Heroes.  We'll be talking about people who unselfishly make a difference - perhaps a school custodian, a police officer, a teacher, a veteran, a neighbor - and writing them letters of thanks.  I'll be sharing the story of Tracy and her real-life hero, Jeff.

Knitting

Summer Flies is finally off the queue and on the needles.  Actually, I just have the ruffled border left.  People rave about the pattern with good reason.  It's fast and fun and beautiful; I can't wait to see it blocked.

Happy happy Mother's Day

As I was planning what project to bring to the guild meeting that night, my son John, who has been working in Alaska since November 2011, walked in and surprised me on Thursday - an early Mother's Day gift!  He was sent to work at the Warwick facility for a few weeks, and will take an extra week of vacation, so should be here until at least the beginning of June.  Old Cow is happy to see his boy, too.  Needless to say, I skipped the guild meeting.

I've been writing so much for school I haven't felt the energy for blogging, but the crush is over so I should have a longer post soon.  Much to catch up on- gun legislation activity, books, Nathanael Greene homestead tour, and even knitting!

Chinatown

On Saturday the kids and I took the train to New York for another visit with my sister Les.  We never did make it there in the fall, so it's been a whole year since we were there- it seems like yesterday that we visited Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace.  Our main activity this time around was walking, and eating, in Chinatown.  There are so many cool little shops, though we again ended up in the huge Pearl River, where you can spend a great deal of time and money, as did we.  Actually, the prices are very reasonable.  

I like going to NYC in April as the season is about 2 weeks ahead of us, and we have a taste of Spring to come.

Usually I'm the driver whenever we go anywhere, but as my SIL drove us the hour to New Haven and the train ride is nearly 2 hours, I got about 6 inches of the stockinette back of the Reverse Fair Isle Coat done.  Another little project that I'm working on is the good ol' Garter Cardi, for a co-worker.

 

Spring break '13

Well, what have I been up to...as almost all my WIPs have run into problems and there is nothing to show, and as I've been doing a lot of writing for work, I haven't felt the mojo for blogging.  So, naturally I placed a big order for Webs' April sale, to add to the yarn I'm not knitting.  Everything I ordered, however, has an intended pattern.

The weather has been appropriately spring-like for this week of vacation.  I've met with friends for lunch, shopping, and knitting; helped my dad sell his car; done some spring cleaning and stash organizing; been saddened and angered by events in Boston.  

I've also been trying to take an active part in Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.  Despite yesterday's defeat of the Manchin-Toomey amendment due to senators who caved to the gun lobby, we will continue to campaign for sensible gun laws.  I'm proud that our Rhode Island Senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both voted for the bill, and that our Representatives, James Langevin and David Cicilline, are also strong supporters of stronger gun laws.  Next Wednesday the RI Judiciary Committee will have a hearing on a state gun control package, and I plan to be there to show support.  I pray that our state legislators have the guts and brains to pass this bill.

Lunatic Fringe

 

Pattern: Lunatic Fringe

Designer: Jennifer Dassau

Source: Knitty Spring + Summer 2013

Yarn: Silk Gyred

Model: Kate, on her 27th!!!! birthday

This octopus-like shawl was fun and easy to knit, and can be worn in many ways. 

It's that busy time of year at school with lots of testing, report writing, and iep meetings.  Easter will be here this year so there's also housecleaning and cooking to get worked up about.

Back to the UFOs, though I'll also need to cast on a baby sweater for a co-worker.

Way too much fun

After finishing Skeldon, instead of taking up one of multiple WIPs, I started a new project.  Lunatic Fringe is from the latest Knitty.  When I saw the funky pattern I knew it was meant for the funky yarn I bought at Knit Lab last fall.

This is nubbly, chenille-y Silk Gyred from Hand Dyed Fibers.  I'd attempted swatching it for a vest initially, but wasn't sure if there would be enough yardage. This pairing of pattern and yarn is just right, and I am having way too much fun with it!  

We went to Uncle Buck's Sugar House today for some delicious local maple goodies- maple sugar, maple cream, maple popcorn, and, of course, maple syrup.  

 

Skeldon

The Skeldon Cardigan is finished- another project that I'm very happy with.  Tweedy, bulky yarn + easy pattern + no buttons or buttonholes to deal with makes a fast project.  The photos don't show the sweater to its best advantage so I may try to get a few more, so you can see the cables along the front edges.

Pattern: Skeldon

Designer: Berroco Design Team

Source: Berroco #301, Berroco Campus

Yarn: Berroco Campus, color 2484 "Coffee Run".  The pattern called for 7 skeins for the size Medium, but it only took 6 skeins.

The PTO was looking for teachers to start some afterschool groups, so I volunteered to start a knitting club.  It's only for 5 sessions, and I only have two students, but they have both picked up the basics very quickly and are enjoying themselves.  I will probably offer the class again later but on a different afternoon to try and snag more 'customers'.  

 

Skeldon progress

Nothing like bulky yarn and 10.5 needles for some almost instant gratification.  Here is the back of Skeldon blocking.

And I started both sleeves while knitting with 'the girls' at Barnes and Noble.  Enlarge this picture for a better view of the yummy mix of blues, browns, and gray:

 

Blizzard knitting

The big storm came through Friday and into the wee hours Saturday, leaving about 15-18 inches of snow.  It would have been just another snowstorm, just a minor inconvenience, except that we lost power from 6:30 PM Friday through 10:30 PM Sunday- 52 hours.  Our good luck had run out- we never lost power in the Flood of 2010, Tropical Storm Irene or the Halloween Blizzard in 2011, or Tropical Storm Sandy just last October, when so many others lost power for days and even weeks.

Everything in our house- water, heat, lights, toilets- depend on electricity, so things were primitive.  The lowest indoor temp fell to a shiver-inducing 38 degrees.  D and I were dressed for the outdoors inside, and I felt like Auntie Wainwright in my layers and fingerless gloves.  Our usually comfy Temperpedic mattress was hard as a rock until our body temp softened it up, as we lay under piles of blankets with a warmth-seeking, bed-hogging cat.  I have an even greater appreciation now for the shoeless, ragged soldiers at Valley Forge in the bitter winter of 1777-78.

The kids' 'part-time' cat, Jasper, resting in his favorite cupboard

Fortunately, Kate lives nearby and never lost power, so Sunday morning we went there to shower, and then our friends Barbara and Eric had us over for a delicious breakfast.  We were invited to stay there, but we decided to tough it out with Cow.  I was overjoyed when that night the detector sounded to let us know the power was back on!

I started yet another project during the blizzard, the Skeldon cardigan made with super bulky Berroco Campus.  Maybe it will be done in time to layer on if the power goes off again, heaven forbid.

 

Two sleeves

Right side, above

Wrong side

The photos are actually of the same sleeve in progress (it's done now).  However, having frogged twice, I have already knit the equivalent of two sleeves.  I mentioned two posts ago that after having completed the Fair Isle section, I had to rip back to the ribbing because I'd neglected to do the increases.  Theeeeennnn, on the second try, after 7.5 inches of stockinette and about to start the sleeve cap shaping, I realized I had KNIT ON THE PURL SIDE AND PURLED ON THE KNIT SIDE.  The pattern is called Reverse Fair Isle for a reason- the floats in this case are the right side of the work (top photo), with the plain section above the floats being knit rows.  Oh well, all's right now.

On Super Bowl Sunday I met up with Rachel  at Eneri Knits for the SB sale.  I totally blame her for the yarn I bought, as I only planned to go if she was going.  I did make good progress on the sleeve while there.

Because of the blizzard, I'm home today and D is home early.  It's been snowing steadily for several hours now but grass is still poking up,  The worst is supposed to be overnight.  I've switched my bookmarked weather site from weather.com to weather.gov.  Weather.com has gotten more and more sensational in it's coverage, with BIG RED LETTERS!!!! AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! AND HYPERBOLE!!!!!, not to mention distracting ads, pop-ups, and videos.  Give me boring yet dependable and  factual weather.gov.

Now I don't know what's going on with Typepad, which is not allowing me to space between paragraphs, so this post looks like one giant run-on paragraph.