except that i'm tired, worn out, bug bitten, cut up and bruised and most of all i'm tired of being hot especially when i have work to do and by work i mean hard labor.
also i don't have much to say so i'll leave you with my sleeve...at least this is what i have done so far. later...love g
and you don't hear it...does it make a sound? the guy says yes. our neighbors as nice as they have tried to be finally got sick and damn tired of my mulberry tree making a mess of things on their house and yard and they hired a tree guy to trim the overhanging offending branch. while the tree guy was at it the guy hired him to take down the whole fifty year old monstrosity of a tree. it's down...it's done...nothing left now but the clean up. before you get all offended and whiney about cutting down a tree know this. i am a tree person. i plant at least 3 trees a year on my property because i'm building a forest but this tree was too much. it was huge and it was messy and it was covered with ivy which was probably destined to kill it and then it would fall on the nice neighbors house and maybe kill them or one of their dogs...or more likely cause considerable damage. now there is peace in the neighborhood and every one is happy except me i hate having to clean all this up. we aren't supposed to burn in this neighborhood but we have burned up some of the dead wood and branches and no one is really upset or offended except maybe me because i can't breath....that's why i have no wood burning fireplace in my house...the smell and smoke of burning wood does me in and i know this because our other neighbor has a wood burning fireplace and all winter i smell his fire and it causes many bronchial spasms in my lungs. we've got wood coming out the wazoo over here now though and we haven't even taken down the trunk of the tree yet...not until we clean up the branches! my plan is to split it, stack it and season it and offer it up to those souls who like their wood burning stoves and fireplaces and who don't have asthma and bronchial issues because of it. except i will not offer it up to my other wood burning neigbor because he is just plain mean but if any one else is nice and is in need of some wood to burn next winter i'm your man. i've got wood out the wazoo!
so what i've been doing instead of knitting and blogging is yard work, fence repair and clearing brush. i did manage to knit some of poppy last nite. i ripped out the short row sleeve caps three times and decided three times is the charm for me and i'll just knit them like i'm told to do. the knitting rebel in me is exausted and has surrendered. the sleeve caps were nice enough but too tight fitting uder the arm so i'm almost up to my elbow in sleeve now. i am knitting them separatley in the round from the cuff up and me likey!!! i'm gonna have mad ends to weave in folks but i can't resist these random stripes. they add a bit of interest for the knitter...that would be me...and stockinette becomes more fun to do and really this pattern is written by lisa shobhana so it is fitting that i should stripe this in this way. she is all about color and the random stripes and the use of different yarns combined for the purpose of making it individual. so here goes...this one is is for you and speaking of lisa check out the sexy knitters group on ravelry. this months kal is designer based. we choose a designer and knit any of her designs. lisa shobhana has been nominated and i have voted to agree with the nomination and as a bonus she is having a pattern sale now on her blog!!! whoo hooo! i have nominated kat coyle for her new sweater the burnished tunic and for her wonderful knitted skirts and lets not forget about this tulips.
so go on over to the sexy knitters group on ravelry and check out the nominations even if you don't belong to the group you can at least show your support and agree with the nominations...the more who agree the better her chances of being chosen so let's try to get these gals into the mix over at the sexy knitters club. we haven't knit any of their designs yet as a group and i'd personally be happy to knit any of either of their designs...and as a matter of fact i will probably still be cutting wood when the time comes around and so i'll still be knitting poppy then too and for a change i'll fit right in and although i have finished kat's tulips and overdyed her a gorgeous "brown is the color of my german shorthair" brown i have yet to find the time to model her and totake a pic of her in her final glory so i'll probably still be on that project too. is that cheating? nah...i didn't think so either! later...love g
winters nap. she is officially out of hibernation. i have been obsessing again...trying to choose yarn for a project and when i do that i get all kinds of crazy. i considered making the burnished tunic i talked about earlier out of nature cotton. a chunky cotton rather than the bulky wool used in the magazine which isn't even on the newstands yet. it was then that i remembered that i already have nature cotton and it is being used to knit a poppy that has been hibernating for a very long time. the body in finsihed and i have about a trillion ends to weave in but she is not hibernating any more...
i decided to pick up sitches for the sleeves and do short rows for the sleeve cap. i did so last night and of course made a huge error in judgement and had to rip it out...what a surprise huh? i picked up a few to many stitches and made a sleeve big enough to insert my whole thigh into along with my arm but i think i'm on the right track now...maybe. i'm new at short rows and only think i have it figured out...i may be wrong but that doesn't deter me i've been wrong before and i don't mind much! many times i end up on the right side of the experiment...you know...luck of the irish...beginners luck whatever you want to call it. i have it unless i'm holding a lottery ticket and then the irish or beginners luck doesn't usually come around! any way i'm not much in the mood for knitting with wool these summer days. too hot, too hazy, too lazy and to damn humid around these parts...air conditioner or not. i have lots of stash yarn but it is mostly wool or wool blends or it is earmarked for a shawl or gloves and i'm not much in the mood for that either. i have some arucania pomaire which may become the burnished tunic and i have some cascade pima tencel which may become a skirt...that brings me around to another thing i'm obsessing about...which yarn to use for a skirt. i think i want it to be brown or balck so i can wear it with my boots in the fall and winter. my boots which are light brown. so i might like this skirt to be the color of the yarn i just over dyed...the horrible calmer yarn except that i would like it to be linen and cotton or to at least have some linen in it...or some silk...or both. i'm on the hunt! i'll keep you posted. later...love g
i dropped the sweater into the dye pot. i considered dying a swatch first but after about 3 minutes of doing that i could no longer tolerate all the time spent dying a little piece of knitted fabric only to have to do it all over again...i am impatient at best and have little or no tolerance for wasting my time accomplishing nothing...so into the dye pot tulips went. less than a half hour later out she came...darker and looking more evenly colored. in case you haven't been following my constant bitching on the subject this yarn...which is rowan calmer in shade 463...tobacco...it was all the same dye lot but turned out to be wildly different shades resulting in a line across the front left section. the two front sides were different shades, the sleeves were lighter than the fronts, the i cord was lighter and the back was i don't even know what it was but it was too much crazy for me so i experimented with some dye. this is the sweater wet and drip drying along with a wet swatch of the original color for comparison.
i'm keeping my fingers crossed. i used a cocoa brown and dark brown mixed together and since it was such a dark color i used double the amount of dye, some salt and some detergent and voila. she is drying and looks pretty even to me but the morning after when she is completely dry will tell the tale. i only made a small mess and it was easily cleaned up and now that i am no longer afraid of the dye i may even try this again and dye some ugly gold bamboo yarn i have! i bought black dye and brown and couldn't decide which to use but the way i figured i could always dye it black over the brown but would not be able to undo the black if it didn't work out. i may still go black but when this is dry i'll do the deciding about that. at any rate more to come on this project i'm sure! later...love g
ps...and edited to add...here she is still damp and needing to dry a little more but i can tell the color is about as even as i could've hoped for and i can be happy with this...at last! thanks for all your advice and encouragement and i must confess this is not a very artistic solution but i used the readily available at joanne fabric...the everyday ordinary rit dye...next time i'll be more creative i hope but for now this works!
over dyed...
either really dark brown or...
black because as it is...
the uneven coloring of this yarn sucks! by the way tulips is finished...love it...you already know how i feel about the yarn!
the pattern is tulip kimono by kat coyle...the pattern can be found in knitscene fall 2006 if you happen to have a copy...copies are like hens teeth or it can now be purchased here.
later...love g
i thought it was cool and fun and magical and wonderful...i'm over all that now. i think it's boring and stupid and i really don't wanna.
i have finished the tulips cardi but for soome ends that need to be woven in. the i cord on the front is an applied i cord rather than a sewn on one. i like that i didn't have to sew it on. i had to use a much bigger needle to do it so that it didn't pucker and so that i didn't have to pick up extra stitches but i like it. i also picked up the stitches for the sleeves. i like that too, they are on there and i didn't have to sew them on...that's a good thing. the side and sleeve seams are mattress stitched and i am happy with that. the i cord will be the death of me and i am really so totally disappointed in this yarn that i could spit and cry and well you get the idea. the first time i ever used rowan calmer i fell in love with it. i had this yarn in my stash and love the color but it is so many shades of the same color and all these balls were from the same dye lot. it just looks stupid. especially that left front...
i think i am unwilling to rip out the sleeve so that i can rip out the whole left front so that i can try to match the yarn which i don't think i could do anyway. you can not notice the shade changes from side to side and cord to front but believe me they are there. maybe it needs a dye job to even out the color but i'm not a dye person and really don't know where to begin. i'm going to think on it though and seek advice because this yarn as it is is a waste. even if ripped it out totally and used the yarn for something else it would still be annoyingly uneven in color and rowan calmer is just a bit too pricey to discard so i'm finishing this and will try to over dye it...or i'll just wear it as it is anyway and hope no one notices! i'll be modeling this later after i finsh the i cord...and i'm already wondering what to start next! later...love g
not non existant just slow. i finished one sleeve and seamed that side of the sweater. i have started the second sleeve and am ready to start the lace section.
i knit last night until i feel asleep at the needles. i guess i was trying to catch up. to make up for lost time. time spent knitting then subsequently ripping out and knitting again. i plan to finish this today...lofty goal but a girl can dream huh? we have been busy this weekend. i did not get the bedroom painted as i had planned. i did not get anything listed on ebay as i had planned to do. i did not pick cherries or make them into a pie also as i talked about. the daughter has had surgery on her arm and is now sporting some extra metal that she previously did not have. this afternoon we plan to pack her children into the minivan and take a drive to johnstown to vist her and hopefully she will be home tomorrow. the grandkids have had an unexpected longer than usual visit here but the grandaughter and i managed to squeeze in a little people watching and window shopping yesterday and the little guy is now the proud owner of his very own recliner so it's all good!!! later...love g
not in the true sense of the word. i ride on the back. were talking motorcycles here. ever since i was a smalll child i have always loved riding on the back...we're talking at about 5 years old here. ever since then.
yesterday i bumped into my older cousin at a motorcycle rally and my own past memories flooded my conciousness and i was 12 or 13 again and he was riding around town with his two buddies and me on the back of his first motorcycle. he's been asking me ever since then if i'm riding yet and why not. i don't know why not. i thought about it of course many times but the older i got the less likely it seemed to be in the cards for me.
they don't make a bike small enough for me. that's my story and i'm sticking to it besides the guy has never encouraged this activity and in fact has frowned on it because he likes the fact they we ride together and talk while riding and so do i.
yesterday we rode. we rode in a pack. the guy and i rarely do this mostly because we are too busy doing our own thing but riding in a rally is usually for a good cause...some charity or another and it can be fun to spend time with like minded souls on a beautiful sunny day. it makes me nervous. it always has. riding with a pack that is.
i've already talked about going from wearing flip flops & a bathing suit to jeans, boots & leather jacket and every combination in between but even though the helmet and i will forever have an antagonistic relationship it will now be a permanent fixture on my head. i wasn't riding with one yesterday. until the ride home. back to riding with a pack. it makes me nervous.
bikes and noise to the left and to the right and in front and behind kicks my claustrophobia into high gear. old men in sedans who insist against the direction and hand signals of the traffic cops on driving into the middle of a line of bikes makes me really nervous. the daughter and cousin dan have found themselves and few friends that they meet up with and ride with at these rallies. good friends. friends who watch their backs.
motorcycling is a risky business. many...myself included feel the joys and benefits outweigh the risks and we take care as best we can. no one takes more care than the daughter who rides with helmet and armoured jacket and heavy boots...always. still...things happen. at the end of the day it is the friends who watch your back and the community of like minded souls who help out when asked that make all the difference.
a broken wrist and cracked ribs will heal. a bike can be repaired. a torn jacket can be replaced. but you can't put a price on good people who watch your back. riding in a pack still makes me nervous but maybe it's just me. there's a lot to be said for having folks nearby to help out when you need a hand. i guess this is a tribute to community and cooperation and lets not forget about cell phones and emergency personal who take that extra step which always makes an otherwise difficult ordeal easier to ride through.
so thanks to dan for an even head and craig for finding us when we were off somewhere and riding with us the entire day and dave and lucy for the escort home and all the folks who saw to it that the bike was in good hands and the lady in the van who drove up behind us got out of her vehicle and ran over to us at a stop sign to make sure we turned back and even though he gave us the wrong directions the helicopter pilot for having the foresight to give us the phone number to the er so that the security guy at the er could give us the turn by turn directions right into the parking lot when we were lost and wet and tired and stressed and all those who pulled over or got off their bikes to lend a hand and of course aunt woz on the homefront with the kids.
we are forever grateful. a broken wrist and cracked ribs will heal. a bike can be repaired. a torn jacket can be replaced. you guys can not. lets keep our fingers crossed for the daughter today that her hosp stay goes well. we and the kids will be picking cherries. more biker pics here. later...love g
aaahhh! click to make these bigger...
one of my favorite captures...
the grand finale...
a little street photography...
and some snaps of the family in the family pics photo album. hope your fourth was as spectacular! later...love g
to be coy or sneaky or evasive. i'm not just showing you bits and pieces to tease you . it's all i've got. i only have bits and pieces to show and to add insult to injury i have less and fewer bits and pieces to show as time goes on and i rip things out! yep when i rip and rip and rip things out. i seamed my sleeves and tried on the sweater. then i pressed it with a hot iron and a damp cloth and tried on the sweater. i fussed and hemmed and hawed and finally unseamed the sweater and ripped out the sleeves.
my idea to make the sleeves shorter was not the issue and was not necessarily a really bad idea. the fatal mistake i think i made was making them narrower. this is a kimono after all and the sleeves are supposed to be wide and if they are not then you have a whole other set of problems with bunching and ugh never mind i won't bore you with the horrible details. this time i decided to go with the necessary...no seriously the really and truly necessary 99 stitches for each sleeve and figured while i was at it...you knew i wouldn't cooperate entirely...i thought i'd pick up the 99 stitches and knit the sleeves right on to the side rather than all the seaming i so dislike but have mastered anyway. i like this better...so far any way but i can now only do one sleeve at a time. it is so much easier to do though because i don't have any cyphering of the stitch counts at the end or at the beginning of a row to slow me down. at any rate i am here to announce a bit of of a delay in the eta of tulips but she'll be coming around the mountain...soon.
that's not the only problem i have. the knitting gods must be trying to tell me something...this is not the first time i have done damage to one of my essential to knitting fingers but even this doesn't keep me from knitting...it too justs slows me down! have a happy wet sloopy gloomy fourth. later...love g
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