audioknits

Birthdays

My birthday was yesterday and the first thing I did after walking the dogs was to check the cat cage on the neighbors' porch - empty.  But Cookie was in the area. After a few fruitless headlong dives into the dirt, I realized that gradually moving a can of cat food into the cage and slamming the door was the way to go - got her!  She didn't like me much before she ran away, and now I am really persona non grata on Cookie's list.  Now she is hiding out again in K's room but hopefully she will adjust to life in the Chambers household.  This evil eyed, hiding under the bed photo is all I have to show for my efforts at the moment. 

For my birthday the Fam got me the Seinfeld Season 3 DVD, a gift certificate to Knit One Purl Too, and the qiviut has been ordered and is on its way.  Woo hoo!  Since J had to babysit late, we didn't go out to eat but just ordered grinders.  BTW, today is Harry Potter's birthday.  The kids always thought it would have been much cooler if I'd waited one more day to be born.

Knitting

I emailed this knitting errata site with the correction for the Native American Aran (from Knitting Today's Classics).  I usually remember to check this or other errata sites before starting a project to avoid frustration.  Maybe I'm the only one who's ever knit this pattern as the book has been in print for several years and the error was not listed.

I've finally picked up beautiful Jarngerd again after a 3 season hiatus.  It's an Elsebeth Lavold design (Viking Knits) using her Silky Wool.  Listening to Harry Potter and knitting Jarngerd; a fine way to spend one's birthday! 

Kristen

Cookie Alert!

Remember this photo? It's Kate with Cookie at the Kitty Rescue before she adopted her.  Then, after we adopted Cookie in June and had her for a week, she must have found the kitty window and escaped.  We haven't seen her since the day D. left for Alaska 6 weeks ago.  We joked that she hitched a ride in his bag.

Until today!  I spied a tortoiseshell 2 houses down from us when walking the dogs early this morning, and I knew it wasn't look-alike Ruby because she was at home.  Tonight I went to ask the neighbors about her, and they said yes, "Midnight " had been showing up every night for about a month.  And there she was now!  I brought over the cat carrier and they will try to get her in it tonight and return her.  We'll have to board up the cat window and become doormen again.  Cookie is supposed to be an indoor cat to comply with Kitty Rescue rules, though I guess it's a moot point now.

So tomorrow I hope to have an updated photo of a girl happily reunited with her cat.

Knitting

The Aran is progressing.

I've swatched for another cardigan from VK Fall 2004.  I love stripes!  I'm changing the stripe sequence and using 4 colors instead of 2, to use some of the gorgeous Jo Sharp in my stash.  The colors are pine, dijon, yellow, and terra cotta (my descriptions).

Kristen

Thursday July 28

Working on the Peerie reminds me how much I love Dale Heilo, and why there is at least one bin full of Heilo and Baby Ull in the attic.  It's a beautiful DK weight and knits so smoothly.  Here is the first 50 row repeat.  Each repeat consists of 5 different peerie patterns, separated by rows of plain knit or purl.

I'll work some more on the Aran today.  Lamb's Pride is not as pleasant to work with.  It's a nice yarn that makes a good-looking and warm fabric, but it has that touch of mohair in it and I'm not crazy about working with foofy mohair.

Here's a modeled picture of the Dayflower scarf, which is also added to the finished accessories photo album.  It snugs the neck nicely, and the ends could also be crossed and secured with a pretty pin.

Reading

I finished listening to Bushworld, a compilation of Maureen Dowd's columns on the Bush and his administration and the mess they have entangled us in.  The book only includes columns halfway through 2004.  Dowd's column is not carried in our paper, but I've now bookmarked her site so I can read it when she gets back from "book leave".  The Sunday Prov. Journal does carry Frank Rich of the NY Times, who also can be read online.  He is another op-ed columnist who clearly writes about the lies and wrongdoings of the Bushies.

I listened to Machiavelli's The Prince.  Speaking of the Bush administration, I think maybe they read it to and decided a Machiavellian government is supposed to be a good thing.  The Prince is a short and pretty interesting read (I drifted a bit in places).  Machiavelli was a contemporary of Michelangelo.

Dad gave me an early birthday present:  David Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (print) and Because of Winn-Dixie (audio CD).  I read Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty Someday which was very funny, even though he gets in his digs at the expense of my profession!

Kristen

Monday July 25

Today K. and I met with Judith for lunch at Panera's, then down to business as she showed us some of the nuts and bolts of editing the guild newsletter.  Judith will be editing the final newsletter of her two year term next week before handing the reins over to me. Computer-savvy K. will be a big help to me before she heads back to college. I share Judith's vision of eventually replacing the newsletter with a website, with printed calendars and other pertinent information available to those without computer access.  So guild members be forewarned, and ready to share your ideas!

Since we were in the neighborhood we had to stop in at Borders, especially as I had $30 worth of coupons to spend.  I'll consider these goodies as early birthday gifts to myself.  I really wanted to buy Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge, but they didn't have it, so I got P. Gibson Roberts Knitting in the Old Way instead, which was also on my list.  I guess it would make sense to subscribe to Interweave Knits again since I've bought the last 3 issues at the store.  And I bought the Harry Potter book on tape!  K. has already finished reading it, but we started listening to it on the way home.  I had to keep asking her to remind me what had happened in the previous book, who this or that character was, etc.

Cast On magazine arrived in the mail today, with some good-looking projects, so with that and IK my knitting magazine fix is satisfied; it seems like a long time since anything knitting related came in the mail.  With fall *around the corner* the catalogs will soon be pouring in.

Lilies

Cindy D. asked what the purple lily is called.  I don't know!  I get most of my lilies at Blue Flag Farm every year or two and play kind of a silly game.  The ones I buy usually aren't in bloom but just have the name and description on a tag, and you can check them out in the owner's garden.  I buy 4 or 5 different kinds and then plant them willy nilly in our garden among the ones already there.  When they bloom the next year, it doesn't matter what color they are planted next to; they all look fantastic together.  Oh- and the tags walk off so I don't know what's what- but isn't that the story of my life?

Kristen

Hey! Hey! He's a Monkee!

D. and I went to MIsquamicut last night to see The Pete Best Band (the drummer who could have been Ringo!) and...Davy Jones!  I watched the original Monkees show as a child.  I always liked them but wasn't fanatic.  However I would recommend anyone to go see Davy Jones in concert; he is great!  His band is more rockin' than I expected.  He sang for at least an hour and did sing maybe 5 Monkees songs, but the rest were a variety, including Consider Yourself from Oliver!, Is You Is Or Is You Ain't, and songs with families and kids in the audience in mind.  I was happy that he didn't stick to oldies. Davy's patter was funny and much of it was off the cuff.  At 59 he was joking about his age, but he is incredibly youthful and energetic.  Two thumbs up! 

Knitting

I finished the Dayflower scarf and here it is blocking. I stopped at around 30", enough to drape over your neck or tuck into the front of a blouse.  This is a scarf for beauty, not for warmth!  It will be a gift for someone special.

Daylilies

Now that the humidity has cleared out, we've had a perfect couple of summer days for the daylilies to shine in all their multi-hued glory.

Kristen

Mistakes, I've Made a Few...

But some really aren't my fault.  I ended up ripping the Aran back a second time, as it turns out the pattern was wrong.  On one row it zigged when it should have zagged - what should have been a front cross (FC) was written as a back cross (BC).  A little frustrating but easy enough to fix.  So I'm not that much farther than my last photo.

The other mistake I forgot to mention when I had started the patterning on the back of the Peerie cardi.  "Peeries" I recall reading somewhere are short repeating stitch patterns, in this case variations on knit/purl.  I wondered why my first peerie did not look like the one in the picture.  Then I realized that I hadn't read the even numbered rows from left to right. D'oh!  I must do that 50% of the time.  Here is progress on the front section.  This yarn color is never going to photograph clearly enough to show up the peeries well.

Salamatu

I ran into Babe twice today, once at the grocery and then at the library.  She had gone to Namibia right after the walkathon (see June 12 entry) to speak at a workshop, but it turns out that somehow someone neglected to organize it or send out invitations.  She laughed it off as something typically African, where, as in Europe, people are more casual and less bound by time than Americans are.  She and the former Peace Corps workers with her had a productive trip anyway as they were able to travel to schools around the country and talk to principals this time as well as teachers.  She told me they raised around $1500 from the walkathon for the Salamatu Library.  Thanks again to those of you who donated!

Kristen

Tuesday July 19

After doing some errands "up north" this weekend I stopped at the library in Cranston to stock up on audiobooks, then over to Borders to use $10 worth of coupons toward Jean Frost's Jackets.  She designs such beautiful jackets.  I've made her "Amber" which is in the Finished Items gallery.

Speaking of books, I did pick up Harry Potter at Stop and Shop on opening day, no waiting.  K. finished it on Sunday, and J. is close to the end. Judith, I may wait to listen to it on tape!   They make a great listen.  The last time we drove to Florida, HP tapes were a wonderful way to pass the time.  I bought the previous HP books on tape for my library; that way I get first dibs listening.

Sunday the library knitters had a summer meeting at Phyllis's house.  She and daughter Cynthia always have an elegant tea for us, this time in Beatrix Potter china.  It cleared up enough for us to sit outside by the gardens to knit after we had stuffed ourselves with goodies first.

The first few inches of the fronts and back of the Peerie cardi are knit seperately, then joined.  Here are the joined pieces.  It' going pretty quickly.  I'm making mine shorter than the tunic length in the magazine photo, so it will go that much faster.

I had to rip out a few rows of the Aran because of a mis-crossed cable - not fun.  Plus while I was pulling the stitches off the circular needle the end yanked right off!  That's a first for me.  As Bullwinkle would say, "Don't know my own strength!"

Comments

Wow, a little shameless begging works, I see - I'm not proud!  Thanks to those who commented or e-mailed to let me know they are out there, and for your kind words.  And actually, the blog won't be a year old until August something, I'll have to look it up and celebrate then!

Kristen

Arrivals and Departures

D. arrived home around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.  I figured he might decide to come back Sat. instead of Sun. as Springfield is so close and why spend another night camping when you can have the comforts of home and family?  They brought back photos, stories, and memories to last a lifetime.  As one of the guys who was unable to go on the trip told me, he's sure he will hear the travelers' tales ad nauseum until he'll be able to repeat them word for word himself.

On a sad note for our family, my Uncle Joe died Saturday.  He was our closest uncle, married to my dad's sister.  As he was an only child, we 4 Palme "kids" were his only nieces and nephew, and he loved us.  Aunt Win and Uncle Joe would have been married 60 years in October.  Before they moved out to California 7 years ago, almost every holiday and family get together included them.  It was hard to adjust when they moved, as except for the couple of years they and my cousins lived in Georgia when we were kids, they were always there.  They and my parents did a lot together, including a trip to Europe.  It is sad that after they moved they never saw my mom again as she passed away shortly after that.

Uncle Joe loved kids and doted on his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and was so proud of his own 3 children.  I have so many good memories of Uncle Joe: piggy back rides; family vacations at Cape Cod; loudly singing songs like The Cow Kicked Nelly in the Belly in the Barn, Go Tell Aunt Rhody, and John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt on car rides; homemade peach ice cream; visiting them in GA; "dump picking" treasures; backyard cookouts; trips to Rocky Point complete with clamcakes and chowder; clam digging; not swimming in the cold Atlantic water!; the WWII flag from his PT boat that he hung over the driveway every Fourth of July (he had a Purple Heart); and so many more.  A family joke is that over 30 years after cutting off my long hair as a teenager, which I wore in braids until 12 or 13, somehow he would always manage to work into the conversation whenever we got together how devasted he was "when Kristen cut off her braids!"

It's hard to think of Aunt Win without Uncle Joe, they were always, always together.  He will be sorely missed.

Kristen

Happy Harry Potter Day

Will we brave the crowds and hoopla and go buy a book on opening day at a bookstore?  I'm sure K. would like to, but I'm happy to wait and just pick it up at Stop and Shop.

Knitting

I've been throwing caution to the wind and washing my summer knits in the washing machine.  I place them in a pillowcase secured with a hair elastic and set the machine on knits/gentle, with my regular detergent.  After they spin dry I lay them out or hang them on the line.  It's so humid here lately that they are taking forever to dry.  So far, everything has come out fine with this method.  My winter knits are laundered much less frequently  since they are layered over turtlenecks or other shirts. 

This is the kind of weather to hibernate in my cool room and make some knitting progress.  Here is the Aran after the first 32 row pattern repeat.  I'm visually checking each row after completion to correct any boo boos right away.  Some members of the Aran Knit List have recently pointed out some cable crossing gaffes in certain publications.  The most glaring one is on the cover of the Spring/Summer 2002 VK, here.  I've always admired that pretty cover with the ice blue cabled top, and can't believe I never noticed the mistake.  Of course now it's all I can see.  The moral of the story is, I think, don't sweat over minor mistakes if Vogue Knitting, for heaven's sake, can prominently display a goofed cable and 90% of people don't notice it.  And when someone compliments something you knit, don't go pointing out every little mistake you made.

Nancy and Jan contributed these hats to the WARM Shelter.  Thank you, ladies!  I was happy to hear that Nancy will be taking over my charities chair as I go on to the newsletter position.

Here is the bracelet I made at Sandy's. Wow, I did it!

Bikers

Hmmph.  The guys were in Springfield, MA yesterday and are staying there today as there is some big motorcycle thing going on.  So even though they are only about 2 hours away, D. won't be home 'til tomorrow.

Almost forgot the Dayflower progress photo.

Comments

After almost a year of blogging, I have (only - sigh) 199 comments as of this post.  Half of them are probably mine.  Will YOU be the one to send comment #200?  I'd love to hear from any lurkers- and you know who you are!

Kristen

Crocheted Jewelry

Last night the guild met at Sandy's cozy cabin for a lesson on crocheting jewelry with wire.  Sandy had a ton of supplies for the job: beads, fastenings, wire, snippers, pliers, and instructions. The pattern was the Seaweed necklace from Nancie M. Wiseman's Crochet with Wire.  Since I just know the bare basics of crochet, I was happy that the project involved only the chain stitch.  I even ended up with a completed bracelet. Everyone had success with Sandy's patient instruction and went home with a pretty necklace or bracelet. 

I brought along the Tie One On for show and tell, especially to show Judy how beautiful her yarn looks with this pattern.  Here she is modeling it; she's even wearing a color-coordinated top!

I've added more photos of the meeting in the "July Guild " photo album on the sidebar.

I've started the body of the Peerie cardi  but it's not interesting enough for a photo yet.  The pattern is found in Knitter's Fall 1999, by the way, one of their best issues ever.  The smallest size given for the Peerie is 42", but I sized it down to about 38" by casting on fewer stitches.  The pattern is written with detailed instructions for achieving the size you want.

Etc.

I missed D's phone call last night since I was at the guild meeting, but K. told me they are in NY state.  One of the guys has to fix something or other on his bike, but they should be home tomorrow.

I had an incident of serendipity while looking through the May/June issue of Piecework I'd checked out of the library.  I've been listening to the story of the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and a woman wrote a letter to Piecework about a 40" x 80" cross-stitch replica of the ceiling which she designed and stitched over the course of 9 years - 2,872 hours of stitching!  And she's packed it away because she has no place to hang it.  Lady, I'd move somewhere else or build a house with room to hang it if I were you.

Here is a great link to see and read about the details of the Chapel ceiling.

Kristen