woe is me

MY COMPUTER!
May it rest in pieces.
It expired Thanksgiving morning. More to give thanks for? I think not! Since then I have been twitching and generally miserable, pie does not even cheer me up.
Derek took pity on me and took a late night drive to college and picked up his computer to be our substitute for the weekend. Ours hit the repair shop this morning, only to be informed that they could not look at it until Monday or Tuesday. Tis the season, I guess.
So, forgive me for being out of touch.
Now, pass the pumpkin pie.
Can't hurt!

Please rise

My kitchen is coated with a fine film of flour, my hair has highlights of white (I'd like to delude myself that it's the flour, please, play along!), it must be Thanksgiving!
The groceries are bought, the food awaits preparation, parents eagerly await the arrival of the college son.
And the bread also rises:

The traditional Thanksgiving rolls getting their start!
I kneaded with my own little hands. What's Thanksgiving without homemade rolls? Just the smell alone will transport me to a thankful place!
Sign seen on the local Chinese food restaurant door:
"Closed Thursday for Thanking Day"
Thanking day indeed!
And as an aside, some didn't believe that the stripey mittens were not wonky. The proof is in the picture.

Yes, it's true! I did the old blogging trick of hiding the evidence in yesterday's photo. I feel better now that I've come clean!
See? The tops are different sizes. No matter. I will ignore away! Ignorance is bliss.
I'm too busy being thankful anyway to worry about mitten tops.
Our thankful lists are endless. Look hard, you must have a list yourself, whether or not you have an official thanking day of your own.

Thank you!

mittenly

New Mittens!

Blast the lack of light! I don't like the colors in this photo! Oh, well! Here they are in all their stripey thumbed glory! Something went a bit wonky in that they don't exactly match, size wize. But I won't tell if you won't. It just doesn't bother me enough to do something about it.
Pattern: my favorite mitten pattern that I can't find anywhere online
Needles size: US4 for cuffs: US6 mitten body
Yarn: Cascade 220, various colors
Stripes: Imagined in my mind
Value? Priceless?
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If you can strain your eyes to see through the November grey one more time, I started this scarf.

It is the wonderful Brooks Farm Fiber yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck. I have had it lovingly hanging on a shelf peg since October. I wish you could feel this yarn. That would be great, wouldn't it? A Feel-O-Blog? Could get interesting, I must say!
The pattern is one I found intriguing and had to try. The personal jury is still out on the love factor. I'll let you know. I don't hate it and I guess that is a good start. The pattern can be found here. I just loved the story she told about the pattern. It made me want to knit it for storyline only.

Musings of a monday

This has to be my favorite week of the year! Turkey week! Short work week combined with lots of cooking and family time makes me a happy person. Most of the time. If I plan it right, I can remain relatively stress free. Believe it or not. These are the good times. I try not to let peeling potatoes get to me, you know?
Now, if only someone would come and clean my house for me, life would be perfect!
We had a movie weekend. Rented Shrek 2. Loved it as much as the first. We re-watched the Santa Clause and then watched The Santa Clause 2. It's good to get the Christmas cheer to begin. You'd think I would have knit alot during movie time. You'd think. One thing is for sure, we need a DVD player. We always watched DVD's on the playstation II but since that has gone to college with Derek, we are left dvdless. I hope Santa is listening when I say I NEED one. NEED!
Okay, not Need. But close!
And speaking of need. Do I need THIS?
I think I may!
Fig Update:
Thank you for showing so much compassion for Fig the cat's little incident. I don't know what it is that frightened him so much, the cat's got his tongue! (so obvious, but I couldn't resist!) Yesterday he went out for about 4 1/2 minutes and came slinking in. So, the fear is still with him. He has calmed down inside though, thank goodness. For the first day and a half, he was a bundle of nerves. It seems he is going to be fine.
More to be thankful about.

Blast from my past

Wave bye bye
To Tagboard! It's been having issues and slowing my site down, it hardly got used and to prove the point, no one noticed it was gone yesterday. Go ahead, wave it good riddance!
Blast from my past!
In lieu of any knitting, I have a story. :)
The last time I visited my Mom, she handed me a little bag with slides in it. Remember slides? I brought them to the photo store to get them converted to the 21st century and was delighted at what they contained!

This is a 3 year old me with my Great Gramma and Grampa Kucinskas, circa 1964. They were from Lithuania. According to family story, they escaped to the US through the iron curtain, which as a girl I imagined to be a huge bead curtain made of iron hanging at the gate of Lithuania. The only thing I know about their escape from Lithuania is that it was just that, with only the clothes on their backs. They never wanted to talk about it and their stories of history have now died with them.
They lived in Athol, Massachusetts in their own home. The American dream! Their only son married a woman who was not "one of their own" (she was a French Canadian immigrant) and this set up a family war of sorts. They wanted nothing to do with my Grandmother, Simone. This difficulty was exacerbated when their son, my mother's father, was killed on the job when my Mom was 10 years old. Seeing their granddaughter took on a bit more poignancy.
I remember as a girl visiting them, all dressed up in my finest. I had to sit in a chair and be quiet. I watched their cuckoo clock with great childlike interest, the crazy little cuckoo announcing how long I've been sitting there.
I remember Gramma's hugs were soft all encompassing. She would talk to Grampa saying strange words, fast and mysterious to me. In Lithuanian they would speak, back and forth, the words getting sharper and more forceful. Then they would go into their bedroom. I would hear the rustling of paper. Gramma always came out of her room holding a Dollar Bill. She would press it into my hand, "For you!" To me, it was riches beyond compare. Today I know that it really was a fortune to them. Money was important to people who had left everything behind and to Grampa, giving away one of his hard earned dollars was careless.
They are gone now, all that's left is this photo. But I remember that house in Athol like it were in front of my eyes now.
Richer than many dollars.

Feeling a little Screwy!

Corkscrew fringe! How fun is that? Although one corkscrew cannot technically be called Fringe, can it? This is from Knitting on the Edge that I borrowed from my library. I was unsure if I wanted to pay the hefty price of this book ($29.95US). I'm glad I checked it out first. The book is nice. It has some good things in it. But not enough great things. Corkscrew fringe is the one thing that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. What can I do with this newfound knowledge? Am I really the kind of corkscrew kinda gal?
I guess we'll see. Maybe not.
Cat Story
You've been warned. If you don't like cat stories, I don't want to hear about it! :)
Fig the cat went outside yesterday in the late afternoon. He usually only stays out a small amount of time. Especially in the cold. Every time we opened the door to let him in, he wasn't there. We'd call. We'd shake the cup of his food (usually gets him running every time! "OH, Yeah! I AM hungry!") Nothing. Over and over we shook and called. Our neighbors must have thought we had finally went over the edge. But that's another story. 8 pm. No cat. 9 pm. Nothing. I decided that I would go for a walk at this time. What I really was looking for was cat on the road, if you know what I mean. Nothing, thank goodness. Then Andy started opening the door and looking out and I knew that I had the right to be worried. If oblivious husband notices how long kitty has been gone, we must send out a search crew. 9:30, he came running up the stairs and into the house. Hugs all around. "Where have you been?" No answer, the little creep. But he wasn't acting right. He was scared. Very scared. Running from window to window, ears on the listen, eyes big and darting, slinking around. We'd comfort. Still scared. Instead of curling up on my new fleece blanket like he usally would, he took his post at the windows. I finally pulled the shades down. Yes, that's right! I usally don't pull the shades at night. Peeping Toms beware! There's not much to see here! Peep away!
I went to bed around 11:30 and he was still on guard.
This morning he seems a bit better, but the ears and eyes are still darting around. He's listening for that monster.
If he doesn't calm down he's going to need a kitty psychiatrist. And some meds to help him out.
Or maybe that's me!

Feedback time!

A reader left a comment the other day that I need help answering. Gypsee asked, "What is your take on the Morehouse merino? Other blogs (?memory fails me here) mention a concern about fluffing out. I want to make a sweater with a patterned yoke in the bulky weight, and worry about too much fluffing so that it will obscure the patterning. Any thoughts? Thanks!"
My Peacock mittens (November 5th entry) are intended to be a gift and they sit unwashed and unworn, so I have no answer about how the morehouse merino wears. How about you? Have you tried this yarn? How goes it? MaryBeth, do you have any thoughts? Anyone else?
We can get to the bottom of this question together!
I have no progress to share with you on the multitude of knitting problems shared in my last post! Inishmore sits untouched. Freaky thumb mitten sits untouched while I knit it's mate and I have not even unraveled the doomed shedir hat. All in good time. Every knitted mistake has it's moment!
Today, I dig back into my digital camera for some looks back to our mini snowstorm of last weekend. Some of my favorites:

Snowflakes falling in the dark
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Snow falling on Rose of Sharon
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"Lookit the birdies!"
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Snowy bird tracks on our porch
~*

Knitting, Take 2!

Muchos Gracias!
First off, A Great Big Thank you to each and every one of you who commented to me. I appreciate your words. They really do mean a lot to me. And now, on this fine Monday morning, aren't you left with the feeling of, "Cripes, she's such a drama queen??!!"
Yeah, I know!
Knitting Outtakes~
I share with you the best of my knitting. It usually looks pretty good and I'm pretty proud to share. But what about the rest of it? You know what I'm talking about. What about the crappy knitting? Shouldn't I share that too? Well, it just so happens that this was crappy knitting weekend. And I thought I should share with you the bad along with the good. Warts and all.
Ready?
First up, Inishmore. I guess I started to feel a bit sure of myself so the knitting deity had to strike me back a couple of notches. I noticed this:

See, on the left? The 3 lines are supposed to turn in and start making their ascent to diamondshapedness? Yeah, well. Where are the lines? 3 whole rows I have to rip. That hurts. In other knitting I would just undo those stitches and knit them back up, but I don't think it's possible in this knitting. Too may twisted stitches. And I'm unclear on how my stitches should be sitting on the needle when I'm tinking them back. Any ripping advice for twisted stitch mess is appreciated. I'm afraid I"m going to make a huge pile of mess. And that would be a shame.
Shame, Shame, Shame.
Second, we have a project that you don't even know exists yet. Now you do.

This is the beginnings of the Shedir hat from Knitty. I had 2 balls of Calmer in my grubby hands and had the brainstorm that this would make a great gift. Yeah, well, this is the good side. First off, the increases were done wrong and they leave a gap. I can live with gaps. Just blissfully make believe they are supposed to be there. As a foreshadowing tip, see how the cables cross each other? Just like it was planned, eh?
Get a load of the other side:

Where the heck are the nice little crossed stitches? Not here! They have left the building. This piece of knitting is history. Literally and figuratively. I have changed my mind on the pattern. I think I will buy the Calmer Collection book and do the cap that Alison has done. So purty!
Mitten:
Yes, there's more. But I"m not going to show you a picture. Oh, okay, I am. Let me go take it ....

My decision, by the way, was to keep the small thumbystripes. And hence, I knit up on the thumb. But it was apparent to me after a couple of rounds that short thumb is not the prob. No self respecting mitten would be seen in public with a thumb that freakishly long. The mitten is short in length. It needs to be taller in the finger area. That is why the "crotch" of the thumb sits like a rapper's pants. baggy.
The plan now includes taking the thumb back to where it was before and then trying like the dickens to find the cast off, woven in end. I'm not happy about this as I'm a bit of a fanatic about weaving in. I don't want it come loose you know.
And speaking of Dickens!
It's almost time for my yearly read of Dickens, The Christmas Carol.
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Insignificant Blatherings

There has been so much intelligent, thought provoking, self searching talk as of late on the blogs. I am hesitant in this atmosphere to post anything unless it has WORTH.
Do I have opinions on the state of America? Heck yes! Pretty strong ones too.
Do I have opinions on the election? HELL YES. (mmhmm. You read that right. A swear, however mild!)
I read all these entries with a certain passion born of curiosity. I am willing to hear all sides, willing to learn more. I am a sponge.
But I don't feel educated enough with facts on any of the hot button subjects as of late. I have opinions, sure, but who wants to read them? They will echo some of the sights you already read.
A curious thing has happened. While these friends of mine are stimulating my brain, I am left feeling insignificant. Really.
I honestly DO see the world through happy, rose colored glasses. This is my world. The world of Sandy's Knitting. I like, nay, need to stay on the light side of life. The dark side is too scary for me. I can be dragged down by pessimism and negativity.
So where does this leave my blog? If I post my knitting or beautiful sky pictures or just plain get silly (hey, it's happened) I feel like I don't have anything important to say. I guess I never really did. But I went ahead anyway.
I have been struggling with this insignificant feeling and I have to admit to you that it has grown instead of lessening. I don't welcome it. I don't want to encourage it.
Decisions, decisions:
I have pondered this for about 2 weeks now. And I have come to the conclusion that I will force myself to go on. Embrace the insignificance of me. Revel in it, in fact. I will not feel bad about it any longer. (yes, yes, easier to say, I know!)
I will knit! I will be happy. I will be hopeful. I will read other's sites and be intellectually stimulated there.
I guess I"ll just go on being myself.
Hope you don't mind.

IT makes the world a prettier place

SNOW! And COLD!
I love it!

It Grows!

Your gentle reassurance was indeed correct. The Inishmore pattern has become a tad more easier. Not easy. Not set in my memory. But I"m up to a stunning speed of 3 rows in one hour! Yes, I know. Such lightening speed. I'd better be careful or I may just set myself on fire!
Take a peek at it's growth spurt.

Inishmore, from Fisherman's Sweaters knit in Cascade 220, color Rainier Heather
The lessons I've learned:
~Stitch Markers. Leftover lesson from The Charlotte's web. I don't need to be hit over the head twice. Well, sometimes I do. They are invaluable between each chart. Easy Peasy checking on myself. Did I drop a stitch? Add one? I can count only sections now instead of the whole scillion stitches on the needle. Yes. Scillion. What can I say? I'm not a petite person!
~A Magnetic Board to keep my place. If you don't have one, you should run to get one. Go ahead. I'll wait.
*whistling, or trying (I can't whistle. True story)
Back? This simple tool saves all the fumbling during the pesky glancing at chart, glancing at knitting.
Anything to make my knitting life easier.

do or redo

The first thing you should know about this mitten with the rock star hair hanging off it's thumb is that the thumb is history. Well, not history persay but it is too short, so at this fork in the road it needs to be elongated or redone. That is the question. Do or redo? I have lovingly gazed at it for 3 days. My jury is still out on the mini stripes on the thumb. I can't decide whether I like them or not.
Decisions. Decisions. What do you think about them?
When I first posted them, I was asked about the pattern. I am using any old mitten pattern and just striping them as my mind dreamed up. Feel free to be inspired by the big stripes. Apply them to any of your mitten patterns!
Lately, I have been concentrating on knitting small things. Knitting fits my need, whatever it may be. Sometimes I am not even aware of any inner turmoil, but my knitting gets simple and satisfying. I have had a blast with socks and mittens. Last night, however, I felt the need to sink my teeth or rather needles into something substantial. I picked up Inishmore that I had started a while back. It took me ONE hour to knit 2 rows! Yipes! I hope the pattern becomes a bit easier for me! At that rate, I should get the sweater done sometime in the next decade!
Here's a craptastic picture of the blooming patterns.

It's hard to take decent pictures with the limited light of late!
Here's to hoping that this wonderful piece of knitting doesn't end up on the bottom of some pile, eh?
Natures' Splendor!

I know. I'm a weather/sky freak. I can't help myself!

Safe and sound?

Every Mother worries about her children. Whether they are in the same room or far away, we worry about their safety and happiness.

I wonder about the mothers of the soldiers in Iraq. The military have started a huge invasion in Fallujah. They are boys,not men. Girls, not women. Most are around 18 years old and if you know an 18 year old, as I do, they may think they are grown up, but they are not. No one can convince me to call an 18 year old a man. Those mothers not only have to worry if their sons are happy, they have to worry if their son is alive. Do their daughters have enough protection to keep them safe? Enough protective gear? Enough healthy food to eat? Enough to keep warm or cool, clean and dry? How will they be protected from the fanatics of the world? I don’t know how they are able to sleep at night. The worry. The fear. The anxiety.

And what of the Iraqi mothers? They have children that they love just as much as we love ours. What can they say to their children tonight as the bombs start dropping? How will they keep their children safe?

How indeed, Mr. Bush?

Remember to look up

Beauty makes me happy.

Peacock Friday

Peacock Mittens (photo positioning shamelessly stolen from MaryBeth, who has the sister peacocks)

Kit from Morehouse Merino, bought (where else) at Rhinebeck.
Cascade 220
Yeah, okay, raised your mittened hand if you thought I was going to make mittens out of those gorgeous colors! It's probably unanimous.

I love it when an idea just hits. I knew I wanted a striped mitten and when I walked into the yarn store, these colors just popped out at me.
A word about swear words
Yesterday was so fun with the comments to my little swearing story. Thanks to all for making my day. And what I didn't make clear is that I do not judge those who DO choose to use the word. So, sure! Come on over here and use the "F-word". It's okay! Just don't use it in every sentence.
I mean really.

Prude or lady, you decide

There has been some talk around some of the blogs of me not liking the EFF word. It's true. I don't say it. Ever. Okay, okay, in the effort of full disclosure, I said it a couple of times as a teen. I was a rebel, what can I say?
So, you may be thinking..What's the deal with that? Am I some kind of prude or something?
Perhaps. You decide. Another try at voting. Welcome to my special polling place I like to call" I won't get my mouth washed out with soap!"
First, before you vote, you must know the facts.
I grew up with a Mom who has a truckers mouth. (no offense to you truckers out there) My Mom was loud and abrasive. If she did not agree with something, ANYTHING, she let it be known with a stream of LOUD, cursing, degrading, stream of conciousness. And there I was, standing right next to her. Usually trying to shrink into the woodwork, or wood colored paneling. I was a child of the 60's and 70's yanno! Now, the therapist amongst you might have a field day with this bit of info and realize that this reason and this reason alone is why I'm so flipping nice to people all the time. But let's not get into the psychotherapy today, okay?
As a small child, that EFF word overstayed it's welcome. It was used as every conceivable word form. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and heck, even a prounoun or two! When my brother started swearing up a storm, Mom wondered aloud, "Where the fudge did he learn that?!" No fudge there, of course. I wonder, Mom, I wonder.
To this day, my brother's manner of speech is worse than my Mom's ever was. That apple did not fall far from that tree! He is now the proud owner of a pizza joint in the town I grew up. I can imagine his version of customer service! But I digress.
Fast forward a couple of decades and here I am. All grown up with children of my own to humiliate. I may do a good job of this but embarrassment is a huge country, just ask any teen with parents of their own.
Go ahead, you decide....
Prude? Or lady?
Here's something to look at:

Betcha can't guess what these will be made into!
I'm so predictable.
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I really really wanted to write F-ING predictable. I planned it all morning, but I just couldn't do it.

The mitten

Room for one more?
Peacock Mitten from Morehouse Merino Farm.

Productive Monday

We had 7 trick or treaters last night and I bought 30 full sized bars for the little darlings. Minus the various taste testing during the day, you do the math at how many candy bars we harbor in this house. All fugitives from the calorie police.
I got mittens
Now that I am the owner of the world's warmest mittens, the temperature soared into the warm 60's yesterday.

Specifics:
Yarn: Cascade 200
Fluff: Llama roving from Midnight Llamas, a vendor at Rhinebeck
needle size: US4 & US6
Warmth factor: Off the charts
Pattern: Thrum mitten pattern
Go ahead, make some! You know you want to!
More finished stuff! or don't stop reading yet.....

Treasure Bag by Mountain Colors
Specifics:
pattern: Treasure Pouch
Yarn: Mountain Colors Mountain Goat 1 skein
You can find both at: http://www.threadbearfiberarts.com/
Needle size: US 8
Finishing touch: Drapery cord and tassles. No respecting treasure bag would be caught without it's tassles.
This is a gift for a friend. I hope she likes it!

Come on over, I've got candy..