Lazarus, Come Forth!

No, not quite. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was alive to start with. My shawl was not alive. And it's still not alive.

BUT, thanks to the encouragement of friends, I have a wearable shawl. My (and Denise's) most heartfelt thanks go to Cindy the Super Shawl Saver. Cindy gave me permission to do what no knitter ever should, and what I had never even considered (because I'm such a proper knitter, y'know), and because of that, I could tackle the holes.

Eight of them. Yes, I know I said 5 or 6 ... but eight holes got mended. The cause, near as I can figure, was wetting, blocking, wetting, and .... whoosh ... 16 strands parted like roving while getting gently squeezed. ('Scuse me while I go put my newly mended shawl into a colander so it can safely drip damp).

Here are today's repair photos. Before on the left, and after on the right. The ruler is in there for scale -- one fixed hole is above, and one fixed hole is below.













This hole, to the left, was the first one I saw in the shawl, and the first one I tackled with my Arsenal of Tools. See the tiny needle? See the thread through it? No --that's my yarn. It's tiny too. See the nassssty severed ends? My fix isn't invisible, but I think it will do.











And the last hole. The second hole I saw. The one that looked Miserable. The one that was miserable. It's not all better, but it's a rough representation of what the pattern is supposed to be. I am quite content to live with it.

The shawl is laying upstairs to dry now. I am not blocking this under tension, ever. I saw plenty of roving-esque spots that are holding together by neighborly love and kindness, and I have no wish to go through the past 48 hours again.

It's done.

Snooping around my house

While a friend and I were chatting the other day, we discovered that one of the things we most love about photos on blogs is seeing what books who has. And one of the most frustrating things is when one can't make out the titles. I am going to remedy this (hopefully) by taking systematic photos of my bookshelves and sharing them. My first three shelves are the top three of the eight shelves one is greeted with when walking into the living room. They are, in order from top to bottom, The Shelf We Can't Reach/Theology, The Theology We Really Want To Read, and Classics, Part I (of IV).

Zoomom was so kind as to share her sock yarn stash photos. I am stunned. Bona fide stunned. To encourage others (this is you, Penny) to show and tell as well, I am sharing photos of my sock yarn stash as well, and even my Whole Stash (with a few exceptions, noted.)

First, we have the sock yarns. The center tub is actuall sport weight yarns, and includes all my sport weight stuff ... primarily leftover Parade, Shine Sport, and Cotlin. The sock yarns are all leftovers from other pairs.

Next comes a profile shot of my stash. On the left, top-down, we have Sock Yarns, Fingering Weight (one of every Palette, mostly, Worsted Weight, DK weight, and on the bottom, Miscellaneous (I believe it's mostly miscellaneous fingering weight. I acquired someone else's stash BC (before children) and it was mostly fingering weight. The right stack contains Short Acrylic Worsted Leftovers, Coned Weaving Yarns, and Laceweight yarns.

Other yarns in the house, not covered here, include my daughter's stash (one box), one or two boxes of acrylic (gained from Freecycle), a box-worth of miscellaneous novelty yarns given to me 'in case I can use them' and some pre-yarn (ie, wool batts.)

Then, there is my knitting box. The sock at the bottom center is Filia's ... she'll wonder where it went when she finishes off its mate. The pale pink is Elann's Espirit, thinking about becoming baby socks. The rest has been blogged about recently.

For pictures of my Shetland Triangle, check out Journey to A Shawl. It's got my newest K'Nex yarn toy too.

Last night I spent plotting and planning for school. I think I've got a vague enough plan to last, and a concrete enough plan to get something done. I also splurged and got desks for my children, so they have their own working space. A 6x2 ft table doesn't quite work fo rus.

I'm plugging away on Martin Chuzzlewit. The book has actually gotten quite good, and I am having to pull myself away to get other things done. Like socks (finished Sunday) for the fair (entries Thursday). Hard Times is an easier read, but Martin has grown on me.

Death of a Shawl

It is with great sadness, and a good dose of bemusement, that I write this. My Alpine Lace shawl has died. The cause of death is unknown. I do know that today I spent an hour running a thread around the edges so I could block it smoothly, gave it a warm bath while I wove in the ends on the Molly Pitcher socks, squeezed it gently to remove excess water, and spread it out to block.

And found five holes, involving multiple strands of broken yarn. My shawl is not going to the State Fair. It probably won't go to the county fair in 5 days. And it's never even been worn.

I'm not ready to bury it yet.

Sniff.

A change of plans

God has plans for us. Sometimes those plans are similar to what we were thinking of, and other times, His plans are an abrupt change from ours. In the past week, I've seen changes of great and serious magnitude (not first-hand) and small magnitude(first and second-hand).

For the second-hand small, let me just say that Denise has a juicy blog post to write, and I won't spoil her surprise. And for first-hand small, there's the tooth my husband just broke off (actually, I suppose that's second-hand too, since it is his tooth and not mine), and the knitting project sitting in front of me.

I got a lovely skein of Mega Boot Stretch at The Yarnery earlier this summer to make mom a pair of Padded Footlets. The gauge was 7 sts/", and the suggested needle size was US 0. I laughed and reached for my 2s, since I always use 2s for socks. I generally get 8-9 spi as well, but I wasn't too concerned about that. The stitch count looked good for my usual, so I forged ahead.

After some charitable muttering about the instructions for working the padded sole, the sock and I made our peace and I knit away. When I got to the point pictured, I tried on said sock. It fit wonderfully ... but the padding only covered the middle half of my sole. And my feet are narrower than my mom's. So, it was out with the ruler. The gauge on the padded part was 10 spi. On 3.0 mm needles nonetheless (I switched to metal from my favorite wooden 2.75 mms, just in case) Some serious rethinking was obviously necessary. What needles would I use to get 7 spi with sock yarn? The gauge on the unpadded part was 8 1/2 spi ... my normal. Why was the padded part tighter? Very likely, the k1 sl1 pattern done for 2 out of every 3 rows. Did I want to re-engineer the footlet? (No. I don't like the padding. It's not circular.) Did I want to knit a normal sock, and knit some padding to go on later? (Not particularly.) How attached was my mom to the Padded Footlets? (Not very.)

And so, yesterday at our very first town Craft Group meeting (attended by just my daughter and I, standing outside of a locked community Room on a 90 degree, humid day) I frogged the footlet. Completely and unequivocally. (We had relocated the meeting back to our home at that time). And now, the Mega Boot Stretch, nee Padded Footlets, looks like the photo at right. Isn't it lovely? No nasty gauge issues at all, and all worked beautifully in the round. During a baseball game, no less.

The baseball season is over. We were around 500, with two ties. I got oodles of knitting done, but am not sorry to have the busy-ness pass. The garden is starting to kick in with produce -- namely, cucumbers. Here's a picture of our very first, surrounded by some Stash Socks for Small Feet. Isn't he cute? Filius is lobbhing for dill pickles, which I loathe (having teethed on the critters). But I have cukes, and I have dill .. so why not? I've also got some zucchini, so perhaps I'll try some zuke pickles as well. I'll make sweet pickles for me, too, of course.

In serious matters, I have discovered Dickens. (Or Thingyens, as one message board filter terms him.) I'd read A Tale of Two Cities decades ago, and remember nothing but the opening sentence. I'd slogged through David Copperfield, over a 7 year period, and found it nice, but nothing that made me want to revisit it any time soon. And then, I read Hard Times. (Saturday and Sunday, to be precise.) It was funny. It was deep. It had some thought-provoking ideas. And so I declared it to be our next Read-Aloud, and checked out Martin Chuzzlewit for my next book. So far, Filii are enjoying the book ... and they don't even know how it ends!

I have also discovered (Thanks, Molly!) that my Christening Gown came from Dale's Book #40, which has been discontinued. But ... thanks to a fabulous knitting network, I have the book on my desk this very instant, on loan. No such luck with the blanket. It can't have been from Treasures in Needlwork, since I have all six issues. Was it Threads? Was it Threadneedle Street? Shall I ever know? I will probably settle for recreating one from the original (my original, at least) and Sharon Milller's Heirloom Lace book.

And that means I need to order more yarn.

Another week, another shopping trip

This time, we had a slightly longer doctor visit, but compensated for it by visiting Three yarn stores, one book store, one gallery, one library, and a few other necessary places (food, anyone?)

At Yarnzilla, I fell in love with the Misti Alpaca Lace, which has been calling my name for some time. The Panda Cotton seemed perfect for a pair of toddler/baby socks, so I got that too.

Coldwater Collaborative was a spot on our map marked "Yarn Store" in Excelsior. It was almost on our route to the bookstore (our official first stop) but we decided to detour and see if we could spot it. We had no name, no address ... just a circle around "Water Street". Wouldn't you know - the last block had a store saying "The Yarn Store You've Been Looking For" What was there to do but park and head on in? They had lots of yummy yarn, including the Regia above, and Mom saw some books she had to have as well. She exercised great restraint in not getting a Koigu book and enough yarn for me to make a cardigan.

Then we made it to the bookstore. Here's our loot - with a few books from the last trip. Book at this house do not stay on the bookshelf. They WANDER from room to room, and out to the van, and off to the front porch.

On the way home, we stopped off at The Tangled Skein for some Brittany needles, but they were OUT so I am still stuck with just 5 sock needles, which is really putting a bind on my traveling/home project, since socks are on the list for both. Maybe I should start spinning for my shawl? (What shawl, you ask? I don't know yet.)

Theresa correctly guessed that my mystery project was from Victorian Lace Today. But no one even thought about guessing which project it was! It was Victorian Ruby, and all is done but the blocking.

Now, some pics of old projects (ca 1995) and some questions. Does anyone know which issue of Treasures in Needlework had this baby blanket pattern? Or where else it might be? I made 3, but feel like I should make some more. Not for me ... Puella got the cream, Puer got the blue, my maid of honor's daughter got the pink ... but just for general principles.


And here's a Dale of Norway Christening Gown. Dale has discontinued all their old booklets (drat) but does anyone know which one this gown came from? I can't imagine where my booklet went to.

The baby stuff is coming out as I've been asked to knit up some things for a baby show this November. Puella is thinking of knitting some socks for it as well. And I may have found a goldsmith to make some lovely shawl pins, so I could knit shawls to my heart's content, and sell them in her gallery with matching pins.

My current WIP looks, at this moment, very much like a sock cuff. How's everyone doing on the summer knitting?

And did anyone actually get a book they wanted at the Interweave Press Hurt Book sale? I started browsing around the site at 10:04 Mountain Time and by the time I got to the right pages (running 7 tabs at a time) all 6 books that looked good were Gone.

Like I needed more knitting books.

1776

An excellent musical, and one perfectly suited to the day. I've learned more about the Declaration of Independence from this musical than I did in my scholastic career. It's pretty accurate, too (although I do believe that Ben Franklin refusing to write politics is a fiction.) And since I can look at "Our Country's Founders" and identify all the men sketched on the front, make-up must have done a good job.

Rosemary, the next two pictures are for you. Our separated-at-birth pups (separated by a few years, if I remember aright) look alike, and are both blanket hogs. Filius wandered into the kitchen one morning to see what was for breakfast. By the time he got his question out, his blanket was occupied. And Terry does not take kindly to having his 'bed' moved. That may have something to do with why he was missing most of his front teeth when we got him (age 6, 2 years ago).

Terry is also a laundry hog. Filii are in charge of sorting the laundry, and then putting their own away. Canis Terribilis does not like having to move so somene else can get his chores done. Warm laundry, fresh from the dryer, is his favorite.

Last Friday, we had to go shopping in St. Paul. A short-but-necessary 10 minute medical appointment necessitated the shopping trip. I won't share the book stack with you (but I did get an abridged version of Johnson, and it looks READABLE! Filius got a book of The Best of Dick Tracy, among other things.) I was also hunting for sock yarn, having finished off my contribution to Becca's destashing efforts. We raided The Yarnery, a new-to-us yarn store. It was accessible, and withstood our onslaught fairly well.

Isn't this a lovely picture? You see some previously bought Koigu (the blue and purple) which came along so I could find them appropriate company for that lovely pink/blue tesselated sock in More Sensational Knitted Socks. That's the Louet Gems light tan. Behind that is Regia Bamboo, a most lovely, cushy, squishy yarn. I'm 3" into the second sock for that. (Our town's parade is 3" long ) . The tropical colors and pink Pony pearls are for Filia, who is aboutt 5: into her sock with them. The Meilinweit is destined for the Padded Footlets (which, along with the Bamboo, are, for my mom). The two pewter buttons are a representative of the 7 that will go on my Spinnery Jacket, the sheep is a Lantern Moon tape measure which Filia fell in love with. She talked grandma into getting it for her, so she won't have to borrow mine. Except, it's more a case of 'not having to return mine.' The question is ... will she ever be able to find her own? And lastly, some lovely Rowan Kid Silk Haze in a Pewter-with-a-hint-of-lavender shade. It's on the needles right now ... any guesses as to what it will become?

I buckled down last week after finishing these child's socks, and wove in the ends for 4 pair of socks. Tis done. And now, it's time to go work with some KSH and watch some men in wigs sing their way through the signing of the declaration.

There and Back Again

or, what I did on my summer vacation.

My vacation began Sunday. Since my flight was leaving Minneapolis at 7 PM, I ended up going to church in the morning, staying for a picnic, and heading straight up. This gave me some extra knitting time in the terminal, and time for a sock picture. Isn't the Rhapsody beautiful? Thanks, Becca!

The flight was overbooked, but otherwise uneventful. Security gave me no problems with 10 double pointed needles (5 metal, 5 wooden) in my bags, and the stewardesses had no problem with my knitting during the flight. I finished Rhapsody Sock #2 and started Tofutsies Sock #1.

I found the shuttle to the hotel with no problems, and called Lene to tell her I was on my way. She, too, was on her way, in annoyingly heavy traffic. In keeping with 'slow and steady wins the race' she beat me to the hotel, but not by so much that I didn't catch up with her before the elevator doors opened. (That's an amazing feat, you know ... rushing to catch up with someone you've never met when you can only see her from the back. I'm glad I had the right person.)

We talked and talked and talked some more, then caught some shut eye early Monday morning so we could get up a bit later and head off to the conference. I was the Book Table Lady, and so had to get a picture of the Book Table with Sock. (The sock pictured was finished before lunch was.)

Then, it was off to the airport to come home. All went well until I checked in. You know those delightful e-ticket machines? It didn't like me. It made me go see a ticketing agent. I thanked God that I was in Terminal 2 and not Terminal 1 (where Lene stood in line over an hour to check her bags). Terminal 2 had only one clerk at the Northwest desks. But there were also only 3 people on the other side of the desks. And two of them were self-checking their bags. The clerk informed me that my 8:00 flight had been cancelled. (rats) She put me on the 6:45 flight instead (hooray!). I didn't quite knit my way home, since my hands were considering staging a protest about 12 hours of knitting with only short breaks, but I still landed with only 4" of the post-lunch sock to do.

The next day, it was time to find my desk so I could get to work. Reading 295 e-mails, sweeping, unpacking, laundering ... never a dull moment. And reinstalling everything on Filia's computer. Her hard drive died, but was able to revive itself to factory specs with the touch of a button The data was unrecoverable :( and taking the hard drive out killed the touch pad (?) but the shop gave us a free mouse (computer, not mammalian) so she's set. Then came cherry picking time. Filius and I picked for 20 minutes and brought in 3 quarts of cherries. Then I 'computed' while they took turns pitting. One entire cherry pie disappeared into them at suppertime, and there's many more pie-worth of cherries on the tree.

The Tofutsie socks are lovely, but I could have done without the three knots between the heel and ribbing of sock #2.

Speaking of which ... you've heard of Second Sock Syndrome? I don't have it. I have Weaving In Those Ends Syndrome. I have 3 pair of socks waiting to have ends woven in right now. I shall have to buckle down and do it one of these days. I wasn't about to take my beloved hand forged silver yarn needle on the airplane, though, so I have some small excuse for 1 1/2 of those socks.

And on the needles now is the first Stash Sock for Micah. On the desk is Clement and Diogenes. I'm at the Answer Key generation point, which is the most time-consuming and fun part. There's another book waiting in the wings for editing, and more to come. "Of the making of books, there is no end," Solomon said, and he was right.

The Signs of Summer

Two boys, hanging out under a willow tree, fighting battles with Lego men ...






A girl, curled up comfortably, reading a favorite book ...






A Jackmanii clematis in full bloom. It's worthy of being a desktop background (although in real life, a bit hail-shredded at the moment)

and This Week in Baseball. I began and finished two pint-sized socks ... but that reminds me of the Horrible Thing That Happened on! Friday! I left my knitting at someone's house. This was truly a terrible, horrible, very bad thing. Not because the person was untrustworthy, or would put my socks on 2 circs, or anything like that. But because, for almost 48 hours, I was Separated From My Project!

I broke my monogamy, and whipped out some lace for a pillowcase edging. And then, just as I was about to start the edging for a second pillowcase (and why my husband would *want* pink lace edging on his pillowcase is beyond me, but that wasn't the point ... the empty needles were the point!), my knitting box appeared at my side. How blessed are the feet of those who bring good projects! Faster than you could say Elizabeth Zimmerman, I frogged the 4 stitches I'd cast on for the second edging, stashed all that in my box, whipped out my almost-finished sock, and began ribbing away with a sigh of contentment.

But back to baseball. We did lose to the Diamondbacks, but by a respectable score of something like 8 - 3. The next game was much sadder, and the victory margin was wide enough I have conveniently forgot it. More than 10 runs, I think. Then yesterday we comfortably beat our opponents, and Filius bears the distinction of having been hit (as a batter) by a ball in each of the last 3 games. I discovered that even simple lace patterns distract me too much from the game, so after I finish this set, back to plain knit I go!

My current pair, in Wildfoote Rhapsody (courtesy of Becca's unloved stash), has a simple chevron lace pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks , or the sequel. I've chipped three needles while working on it, and am switching over to metal (and getting replacement wooden ones). While I was examining my needles to see which were chipped and which weren't, I noticed a curious thing. Some of them were no longer round just below the tips! They rather reminded me of sticks rubbed together to start a fire. They're not half-round, but definitely heading that direction.

And another storm is definitely heading our direction, so it's time to shut down this 'puter and go knit. Hopefully by electric light.

This Week in Baseball

Admittedly, a bit late, but still ... last Monday, en route to a game, I cast on for the sock at the far left of this photo. Three games and one Monday afternoon later, I cast on for the sock at the far right.

We're leaving for a game in about an hour, and I seriously need to find two more almost matched partial balls so I will have sufficient knitting for the game.

The record is 2 and 1, and rumor has it the team we are playing tonight has some serious hitters, and will hopefully lose one game this season so their heads don't get too big. I think that means we should be happy if we keep them under 40 runs.

What can I say? I like being happy.

I have now used all my new kitchen tools. Homemade corn tortillas have been pronounced delicious, my grain mill motor is a delight to use, and gluten-free pasta is now available with a bit of time and cranking. I've enlisted Filius to build a drying rack for me. Lehmans has one in their catalog, but one made of K'Nex should suit me just fine.

I've been reading a good bit lately, and think I will plop a list in the sidebar of my summer reading. They're not Great Books, but they are getting read. Now, if I can just figure out how to DISCUSS them with my young bibliophiles, all will be well. And if I can't ... all will still be well.

Now, as to that Green Thing. Here it is, in all its Green Splendor.

Baby Bogdom

As requested, here is a picture of Filia's Baby Bog jacket.

But wait ... there are some booties with it! And there's another Baby Bog jacket! Yes, the Baby Bog Bug struck. You're looking at Projects From The Stash as well. I worked mine pretty close ... the scraps on the right is ALL the leftover I had of that yarn type (Swish Superwash). I was wondering if I'd be in the sad position of ordering more yarn so I could finish a stash project.



Bohemian Wrapsody Socks are finished as well. I hunted through my sock stash to find two yarns that would go together reasonably well, and in reasonable quantities. I wound them each into two balls of equal weight (four ball), tucked them in my sock bag, and headed off somewhere with a boy looking like this...

and by the time we got home, I had a decent amount of sock done. Nothing has happened to it today, since I have cleaned the pantry. (which would be an even bigger gasp if I hadn't caught the missing 'r' in that last word.) Things have been lurking on those four shelves since we moved into this house, I think. But, the shelves are now tidy, and the bathroom looks neat.

Bathroom? Didn't I say I was cleaning the pantry? (there goes that r again.) I was. The pantry is scant inches from the necessary feature of the bathroom, and opposite the washer. Which is not a front loader, since there is roughly 18" between the front of the washer and the vanity. And next to the vanity? The basement door, opposite the dryer. In a room that is about 4x8. It's snug. I have delusions of making it more w/c accessible some day by changing the vanity to a pedestal sink.

I am also DISPOSING OF 2 boxes of medical supplies (to a health clinic rather than the landfill, yay!) and sending away four AFOs, 1 KAFO, and 1 TLSO to a medical mission. (And if you can read that last line without blinking, you probably know what SB, HKAFO, RGO, and ACMII stand for also, and don't think Private Eye when you think Ace Malone. ) That will free up some space for more dryer lint to collect in.

And to round out the hats I wear, this evening found me studying some directions on my computer, waving scissors around, and looking at the back (sides, and front) of Filia's head.

She's quite pleased with the results. Tomorrow, I'm going to let her trim my hair. And maybe then I'll find time to open a book.

Spring Fling and Socks

Spring Fling is finished now, and I've been wearing it every chance I get. The color isn't really me, but it was the only color KP had available for a Whole Month. I may have to buy some more Cotlin in another color and make a second one.

My gray striped socks are finished as well. They took forever, and I'm not sure why. I think the ribbing, fluctuating as it did with k3tog and k1p1k1 in one stitch, just disagreed with my fingers. But still ... a few baseball practices, and they are now in the finished bin (aka 'sock drawer') The next pair is going much faster, so much so that I expect to have them done tomorrow. Did they have any choice? Baseball practice last Monday, last Wednesday, baseball photos today, game today, practice tomorrow, and then three games this week. Plus it's summer break from school. I *really* need to get some more socks lined up. I don't think I have enough of any one sock yarn to make two socks. Jinkies.

Filia has finished the Baby Bog Jacket, and is plotting her next project. The Baby Bog had some pitfalls ... such as discovering some serious errors while seaming, and having to frog back to the armpits. There were some other small issues as well, but she persevered through them, let me do the frogging, and it is now a Done Deal and ready for the county fair.

We are starting to make the transition into summer, and I have the high ideal of keeping tabs on what we read all summer. My list so far reads:

• The Yearling, by Marjorie Rawlings. For some reason, I'd always thought this book was a dry book about juvenile writing and awards, and have avoided it like the plague. But it kept popping up on Good Book lists, so I took the plunge. It's a good book. Filia and Filius will probably both read it this summer.
• The Lottery Rose, by Irene Hunt. Sad, sad book. I was crying even though there was a happy ending. Filia has read it as well. I'll give Filius a few more years before dangling it under his nose.
  
• Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt. Nifty Civil War book. Filius will definitely be directed to this one.

And that's it for June so far, unless you count the work I've been grading today. The last week of school had greater liberty than usual, and a large amount of work was left undone. The caveat was "No summer vacation, and no computer time, until your schoolwork is done." Filius spent 3 hours today trying to get a week's worth of math and Latin done. He's got more to go, but his to-do list is much shorter than Filia's. She knit.

Two pictures seems like such a small amount for a blog, so I fished around in my archives for an appropriate photo. Without further ado, I present to you a 3 year old Filius, practicing the smile he does so well...

Home Alone

The rest of the family is off to a baseball game this evening. At the last minute, we discovered we were given four tickets instead of three ... so I could have gone, but being the homebody that I am, and being quite desirous of some hours at home by myself (which has not been doable since the children's midweek church program finished for the year), I stayed home.

I've just about polished off my list of Things To Do, too! The last event is the Kitchen Floor Scrub. After that comes crafting, which is not an event. No, siree ... it's leisure! I think I'll listen to the next lecture in the Ancient and Medieval Church History class too, from Covenant Worldwide.

My son has been using the camera more than I have lately. I have socks on the needles - but no pictures. I have the Spring Fling on the needles (last sleeve) ... but no pictures. What I do have pictures of is the lovely outdoors.

We have baby grackles traipsing around the yard...

There are baby bunnies hiding in the yard (especially when their momma takes off when I'm 30 yards away, sending one little one flying. I think he may have been nursing. Another little one scampered across the street.)


We've been spending most of our lunches on the front porch. It's not very large, nor picturesque, but it's big enough for us to sit and eat at. I think my son especially likes having a large area to roam while I read to him. Sometimes he roams with a camera. (And gets the First Decent Picture of the Spinnery Jacket ... still without any buttons).

Filia has been in a knitting mood lately. First, she made a baby hat for a local shelter, using the Sugar on Snow pattern (with modifications, of course ... she's my daughter!) . Npw she's working on the Baby Bog Jacket, and is past the neck split. She tells me she's taken to knitting when she can't fall asleep at night. Could I possibly be raising a night owl?

This past Tuesday I got out my loom, vacuumed it off, dusted it off, scrubbed the crayon off (it was used as a car when my children were 2 and 3 years old, and I think they decorated their vehicle), oiled it, and took a picture. It is now sitting in a fiber studio in the town south of us, looking for a new home. If anyone wants to buy a Harrisville Designs T6 loom (36" wide, 4 harnesses) with all the accessories except for the hot chocolate, drop me a note!

I'll toss in a free knitting lesson.

As far as the green banner goes ... Theresa is the closest. And she doesn't even know about my 'other life' which is necessitating the banner. I'll post a picture when it's finished.

Firewood, anyone?

There's still not much happening here, but I did upload some photos of what happened Sunday morning during church.



























One of a few trees that lost some limbs or trunks in my mom's yard. Fortunately, they also missed the house. The 60+ mph winds did in enough of her garage shingles that a new roof is in store, however. We didn't lose anything major in our yard, but we have a few gross of pinecones laying around.






















































And a cute dog photo. Meet Sarge. Katie, his housemate, is totally uninterested in the tree. You can see her in the yard to the right of my mom. Sarge is too young to be disinterested in anything yet. He likes exploring trees, especially when they're close to his height. Wandering out from the confines of the fence they destroyed and coming in the front door is even better.


One last photo ... any ideas what this is going to be?

Not much happening here

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Amazing ... I've never tried one of those 'cut and paste' quiz things before. It seem to work!

It feels like summer today. The window thermometer tells a false tale of temperatures in the low 100s, and a person sitting outside near an open window would feel a cool breeze emanating from the house. Rhubarb Tapioca is cooling in the fridge, and football-playing boys have been warned away from punting practice in my already-planted garden.

I am currently trying to read Boswell's Life of Johnson. I am finding it incredibly dry going, and almost read myself into a nap this afternoon. The book is a biography of sorts, but I am caught in the nitty gritty and not learning much, except that Johnson seemed to be having a hard time ekeing out an existence translating books and writing freelance while having seizures and an incredibly undervalued intellect. From the praises I've heard sung of him, he seems to be a pattern for anyone who would wish to be educated ... but the book isn't giving any useful support for that. A good bit of the problem is likely my total lack of appreciation for nuances in poetry and his skill in translating Homer. Here's a sample of the book: It has been circulated, I know not with waht authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him, "Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties." That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram, and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him." (Here follows an example of his correspoendence with him, which references 4 individuals I've never heard of and Johnson's publisher, plus a word from the vocabulary quiz above.) I hope the book gets better.

Meanwhile, I read the whole of Henty's The Young Carthaginian. I hesitate to think what the book would be like if written in Boswell's style.

Knitting proceeds apace. The back of my Pink Thing is completed, the front has languished while I read Henty, and the Danish Socks are 1/8th done.

For profound things to think on (and how beneficial the lack of electricity can be), I will point you to Cindy's blog entry of a few days ago. The electricity part comes in because we had no power for half of church on Sunday, and it was delightful. I'll be the first to admit that electricity and electrical gadgets come in handy ... but the world is a lot less busier without them in my opinion.