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Springtime at My House

Everything’s blooming at my house. Achoo! That means I’m sneezing a lot, but some things are worth it. We’ve been in this house 18 years, and we’re not exactly avid gardeners here, but luckily, the previous owners left their mark on us! I just had to snap a few photos today before blooming time is over:

hot pink azaleas in the backyard

lavender iris in front of the window

pink azaleas behind the back fence

The world’s ugliest azaleas; these babies are getting hacked after the blooming time

another white iris

white iris in front of the window

After the blooming season we’ll hack down the pink azaleas so they can re-grow and we can shape them. For now, they just give our home that fabulous, Addams family touch!

For now, I’ll go back to sneezing, and enjoying the beauty… while it lasts.

May 1, 2011
Huh?

I give you, on this day of sweetness in excess, the ultimate in Easter oxymorons:

Sugar-Free Peeps

Really?

Happy Easter!

April 24, 2011
I (Still) Do

My ring in the original setting
Nearly 19 years ago, the man I love presented me with this ring, and asked me to marry him. I wish I could give the romantic notion that it was a total surprise, but truth be told, I knew our relationship was headed in that direction, and I started dropping some serious hints about my taste in jewelry in the months prior to that night when he popped the question. I had fallen in love with Princess Diana’s sapphire ring years before, and I always dreamed of having one of my own. I’ve loved and worn it every day since, and had a thin gold wedding band made to rest below it so that it would be the perfect, forever wedding set.

A diamond is forever, right?

Haha, news to me, it appears that this is not true. About two years ago, I lost a diamond out of the ring and had it repaired and the diamond replaced. I continued wearing it until a couple of months ago, when I lost yet another diamond. This time the jeweler advised me to stop wearing the ring every day or have it reset, as the prongs were all wearing out after nearly 20 years of daily wear.

So, I decided to do something different. Instead of a separate wedding band with the ring, I decided to have it reset onto a wider band so I could wear it solo, as my wedding ring. It’s also now white gold instead of yellow (which is stronger), and the setting itself is flush against the band, decreasing the likelihood that I’ll catch it on every sweater sleeve along the way.

The end result? This:

My ring in the new setting

Isn’t it a beauty? I’m loving it.

April 22, 2011
Not (Really) Another Book Review

Sampler Knitting, by Barbara Walker
Recently I found this project on Ravelry, and I was on a mission. The maker of it showed it almost apologetically, saying that it was the 70s after all, and she was a teenager at the time. Well, one person’s oddball project truly is a thing of beauty to someone else, I guess. Or at least the idea of it. A couple of clicks and I found out that the concept of this design was from a 1970s book by the great Barbara Walker, Sampler Knitting. Luckily, the book is easily available on the used book market, and within a week or so, it was here.

On the surface, the book seems to take bits and pieces from other existing Walker books. I have all of the stitch treasuries, and even Mosaic Knitting. But this book goes a step further, and talks about how to take those stitches and designs, and put them together to actually make a project.

And yeah, the colors and photos in the book, and the designs themselves, really look like 1973. But, just like all of my knitting books, this one will serve as inspiration for me. I’ve been saying for some time that I want to do knitting as art, and this book has certainly given me some ideas. I think I want to play with the concept of mosaic knitting especially, because a) it’s something new to me, and b) it looks like one of those things that LOOKS hard, and looks totally like knitting magic, but it’s easy! That’s my kind of knitting.

Stay tuned… there’s knitted art in my future.

April 12, 2011
Somebody Talk Me Down…

I wanna knit a moebius.

I want to do it, NOW.

I keep watching the video of Cat Bordhi’s amazing cast on, just so I’ll be ready:

I’ve been fascinated by this knitted form for years, but have never acted upon it. I think there could be lots of these scientifically astounding things in my repertoire.

There’s just one little problem. And we all know what it is. I have a SHAWL to finish, plus at least a dozen other things. This always happens to me, when I get to the long, drawn out part of any project. My mind wanders, and I get obsessed about the next thing. Until I can’t stand it anymore, then I put the current thing down, and start on the next thing, whatever the obsession of the moment happens to be. Today, it’s a moebius. Lord knows I’ve knit plenty of them by accident. Every time I’ve ever cast on a project to be knit in the round, and I try, oh I try, to “join, being careful not to twist.” Every time, I fail. At least once. So I rip it out, and try again.

But this time, I want to twist my knitting. On purpose. In that special, moebius-y way. But….

NO! I CAN’T! STOP ME! I really MUST finish my shawl!

Sigh… This happens to me every time. Please, I beg you, you knowing knitters. Help me to stay strong. The moebius can wait.

April 9, 2011
Just Another Update on a Thursday…

Today I decided that it’s time to put the shawl on two needles, so I spread it out while I could and snapped these:

Just another photo of the shawl in progress

Shawl, up close

Yesterday, a co-worker put it on her shoulders, and it’s the size of a cute little shoulder shawlette. Another co-worker walked in while the two of us were playing with the shawl and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at it, and requested that I knit her something smallish, just like that.

People who see my knitting ask me to knit for them all the time. I used to be a sucker, and I often bit at the chance to knit for others, until I realized how rare it was that I actually finish anything. So, I’d sooner teach someone to knit than to knit something for someone. Know what I mean? They’ve actually got a chance of having a knitted item if they make it for themselves. I think I’m a better teacher than a do-er. Does that make sense?

But, I am determined to finish this shawl. After all these years, I deserve to finish something, so I can have something of my own to wear.

Wish me luck…

April 7, 2011