THE BEARS AND THE SEA AND THE MOUSE AT CHUCK E CHEESE

Tonight was the grand unveiling of my niece Aubrianna's artwork at the Lutz Children's Museum. I guess several months ago her teacher had entered a few of her students' artwork to be reviewed, and her's was one of the pieces chosen to go on display. I'm not her mother, but I don't think I could be much prouder! The silly part about this whole thing was that my niece was completely oblivious to the fact that her teacher had entered it. So when I asked her what it was that I was going to see.....she informed me that she wasn't quite sure. Hehehe.

So Jeff and I hustled our rears to get to the museum in time, and it was pouring by the time we got there, which was a total bummer. The parking for that place is atrocious, so we had to park way out in the next solar system and walk through deep, fat puddles. I wouldn't have minded so much if my shoes weren't open toed and I wasn't wearing stockings. But moving on.

I want someone to explain something to me. If you're walking into a children's museum, wouldn't you want to see something a little more inviting than this?

Seriously, though?!! SERIOUSLY! And then there's a sign next to it that says "Please don't touch me. My fur will fall off"" Why would I touch that? It's a huge, dead, stuffed bear, for the love of Peter, Paul, and Mary!!!! But I sure didn't get the "Come on in, kids!" vibe. It's a frikken bear!

Again, moving on........

The place was PACKED. Being claustrophobic, this was not an ideal situation for me to be in, especially since there were like 100 children running in every which direction and screaming at the top of their lungs. The hallway is quite narrow, and I found it super amusing (?) that mothers thought that they could just plow through the crowd with their strollers. I wanted to say, "You could try slamming that stroller through the wall too, and I'm pretty sure that won't budge either." It was like they weren't even aware that they had BABIES in these strollers who probably weren't thrilled that they were being jostled into strangers who wanted to get out of the way, but couldn't.

My poor neice looked mortified. FIrst of all, we were making a big to-do about it, because we wanted her to know that we're proud of her accomplishments, even if she doesn't remember what they are....and she's not great with a ton of attention. Secondly, she didn't remember what she made, so we had no idea what we were looking for. And then EUREKA!!!, we spotted her name, and her beautiful seashell collage.

Maybe it's because I'm her aunt, but I think this is really awesome. I love her use of color and texture. There was a lot of oohing and ahhing and many hugs. I am very proud of her.

After we found the picture, Brie Brie loosened up a little bit and started exploring the rest of the museum with her brother. To stay true to the theme of the ocean, she ended up posing for this picture:


Now, if there was a picture of THIS at the entrance, I would feel like I had entered a kids' museum!

After the festivities and the ceremony, we treated the budding artist to a night out at Chuck E. Cheese. I have never been to this place. All I knew is that this was the place to be as far as my niece and nephew were concerned.


The minute I got out of the car, and saw this beaming face of this mouse that looks like he's totally up to no good, I knew that I was one hundred percent screwed! Children, children, children, EVERYWHERE! Running, jumping, screaming, kicking,......oh, brother! I like kids, but not when they appear to have lost their ever loving minds!

But I could understand the excitement. There were games everywhere. Chuck E. Cheese is a mecca of lights and sounds, games and toys. A child's dream come true. And Aubrianna was very comfortable, weaving through the colonies of children to get to her favorite games. An hour and a half later, the really yucky pizza was just about gone, every token had been played, and we were ready to go. I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the doors of Hades.....I mean....Chuck E. Cheese, and headed home.

Now I'm in bed, popping another antibiotic for my tooth infection. Other than that, it's been a great day. I'm a happy auntie. :)


~T

FORGETFULNESS BEGETS SEEDS & CABLES

People who knit, crochet, quilt, paint, draw, whatever, have the tendency of having several projects going at the same time. It's this bizarre insanity that seems to come over us eventually. My reasons for starting projects vary. I usually have a project going where I know that I have to think about just about every stitch in order for it to come out right, and these are what I call my challenging projects. Then I have those projects where I can just knit away as I talk to friends, watch TV or listen to an audio book. These are my mindless projects.

Tonight, I went to my knitting group with the intention of finishing the second sock. If you've made a ton of socks like I have, it's safe to call it fairly mindless knitting. I had my lace scarf tucked into one of the bags, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to focus on the chart and still be an active participant. So, the sock was a sure bet. I got to my knitting destination, sat down and got settled, and realized I forgot the stupid sock at home. Hmmph.

Digging through my two bags, I had to then decide what I was going to knit. My friend laughed at me because she said that no matter where I went, every time she saw me, I always had a huge stash of yarn to knit with. Well, thank goodness, because I needed SOMETHING. I finally settled on working with the rest of the Sublime Extrafine Merino Wool that I had used to make the baby sweater with. I cast on 30 stitches, started knitting, and by row three of seed stitch, decided I needed to throw in a very basic cable and make myself a scarf.



I am using size five Harmony needles, and even though I wasn't planning on making another scarf anytime soon, I am enjoying it. I love stashes. That's all I've got to say about that.


I must have been talking about my experience of Fiddler on the Roof quite a bit, because my hubby came home from a visit with his parents bearing a gift. His mother just happened to be browsing (which means she was purposefully shopping for me) and she came across something she thought would make me very happy. Now, I have owned a copy of this movie pretty much as long as I can remember. I owned it on video cassette (it was on two tapes because it was too long to fit on one), I owned the DVD full screen, the DVD wide screen, the DVD with an hours worth of extra footage.....but I've never owned one with this particular cover. So JACKPOT!! Hehehe. That was very nice of her. I guess it's no mystery what I will be watching before I go to bed, huh?

Speaking of bed.................

~T

ARRIVING IN ESTONIA

I have my book! Yay! Knitted Lace of Estonia was recommended to me by a fellow knitter, and once I got my hands on it, it just seemed like the obvious, natural progression from Arctic Lace. I think what attracted me to these two books is the beautiful way in which they are written. It's almost not about the patterns.....it's more about the story behind the pattern. The history of lace in these regions and the people, as well as the tradition of how these particular lace patterns were made. So I am learning a lot, and have a heightened sense of respect for these amazing knitters.

There's just something about knitting with very fine yarn that makes me happy. Lace, for me, regardless of what state of mind I'm in, is a process where I am relishing every stitch, every motion, every row. I'm not concerned about speed. As a matter of fact, the scarf I am working on is probably one of the most relaxing projects I've ever made. It's not about speed and when will I get to the end. But I'm not going to lie. I love looking at each row, watching the star take shape. According to the pattern, I have three more stars to go. I might make it a little longer.

OK, so now that I know that one of my friend's is expecting a boy, I've been building a small fortress of yarn and potential patterns. You can never have too much, right? Hehehe.. Well, you know how it is. It's very hard to just make one thing. I'm going to design a little sweater for the wee one, but I also think I'm going to make the EZ Baby Surprise Sweater. I've helped a few people make them, but I myself have never made one. I have a super cute pattern for baby booties, using a fingering weight yarn, which I have plenty of. And there's a very pretty cabled baby hat in the Debbie Bliss book which I would love him to have.

Now to choose which one to make first.

~T

LUMPY AND BUMPY

There was a bit of excitement tonight at the bowling alley. A member of our league bowled a perfect 300 hundred game. It wasn't me.......surprise, surprise! Hehe. My strategy is a combination of semi-skill and talking to my bowling ball, hoping that coaxing it will help it's journey down the lane. Sometimes it works...other times it shows me a certain arrogance which only convinces me that it belongs in the gutter.

As always, Jeff had his camera handy and to be nice, he took a picture of the screen so that the perfect bowler could have a nice piece of memorabilia to place on her fireplace mantle, or wherever it is that people place their bowling moments.

And I finally hunkered down today and took a few pictures of my inspired ridged hat. After making the scarf, (which I happily wore to see Topol.....I'm still not over meeting him), my friend Sarah was devastated that I had blocked out all of the bumps that had manifested themselves in the scarf due to the short rowing. She begged me to leave it bumpy, and I said that as odd as I can be at times, I wasn't quite in the mood to don a bumpy scarf. So I blocked it. And she pouted.

Now, I was not about to make another scarf. As fun as it was, I had other things to knit. But I decided to put a little smile on Sarah's face, and I surprised her with this design:
And I left it bumpy! Not only did I get smiles, I got hugs, and she jumped around and wore it ALL DAY for four days straight! When she likes something, she really, really likes it.

I started it off in the round, but because of the short rowing at the beginning of the round, it was a very weird transition. For the first few ridges, I tried a series of alternating stitches on the needles, crossing them...but the join was still a little off. So I just decided to just work in the round where I could and then seam it up where I couldn't. Because I decided this mid-project, and then I forgot to put it together with a stronger yarn, the seam isn't perfect, but I know what to do for the next time I choose to make the hat.

After this picture was taken, I have also decided that the next time this hat is on my needles, I will make it a snood. It looks slouchy in this photo and I like how it just slumps; but in reality, it's a fitted hat. But it's bumpy, and according to Sarah, that's all that matters!

~T

THE SCROLLS, THE BEADS, AND THE GREEN FELINE

Today was another day of meds and fluids. At this point I think I must have a sinus infection and the pressure that has been building up in the cavity behind my face has proven to be almost unbearable. I will be taking a trip to a doctor tomorrow to see if I can make this go away.

I didn't do any knitting today. I couldn't decide if I wanted to work on the sock some more, or some lace work, or start something new. So, I just opted to leave it alone until I knew for certain what I wanted to play with. Instead, I decided to sort all of my beads. In the past couple of months, I have been trying to categorize all of my beads and findings, making sure that my finished pieces stay together in their own space.

I had purchased some pretty scroll pins and just for the fun of running my hands through my beads, I tried to see how many different combinations I could come up with, without making the process complicated. I was looking more for variety as opposed to intricacy. The pictures aren't great and not all of them are my favorites, but they will make great gifts for my sister's upcoming birthday.



Here is the lone ranger. I found this amusing glass cat at my local bead shop when I went shopping with my close friend. She ended up getting some pink cats and we made some cute earrings with them. Alas, this poor guy is all alone because in all the hubbub, his partner's ear snapped off. So is the life of the glass cat. But Anne (the owner of the shop) ordered some more for me, so his mate shall be with him shortly. He looks a bit regal, despite his green complexion.

Back to knitting tomorrow. But for now, good night!

~T

KNITTING FOR BUNDLES

I thought I would be feeling far better today than I actually did. All the medication really did was make me groggy and out of sorts, which in turn makes me cranky and annoyed.

My friend Karrie had a baby at the beginning of January, and for a while, I was rushing to try to get a baby sweater finished. It came out of the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book, which I think is an adorable compilation of classic, really useful baby garments, hats and blankets.



And I guess I'm in luck, because I have three friends who are now expecting babies. Not that I was fearful that I would EVER run out of things to knit, but at least now I know what a few of my projects will be. :)

Anyway, I rushed and rushed, and then ended up going over to Karrie's house for a small gathering when her baby was about two weeks old. At that point, we were all knitting, and it didn't make any sense not to work on it, so I showed her what I was planning on giving to her and her cute little bundle. Thankfully, she loved it.....and then I was less stressed and took my time. I have run the ribbon through the eyelets. I need to just finish the collar, and block it. It's a very sweet sweater. I'm hoping at least one of my friends is having a little girl so that I can make it again. Here it is.



The top of the garment and sleeves were done in a seed stitch, and it took me three separate trips to find the right color ribbon to run through the eyelets. I think I found the right one, though.



I worked a little bit more on my sock today. I still think it's amazing how it looks so different when it's worked up.


I made the leg about five and a half inches long instead of the eight inches that the pattern calls for because I hate socks that come up too high. It might have to do with the fact that I have the hefty calf of a baby moose........but moving on. I've turned the heel, and I'm just about done decreasing to the point where I can knit senselessly for a while. Let's see if I can at least get to the toe tonight before I go to bed.

More realistically, let's see if I can knit a few more inches. I'm beat.

~T

STUFFY NOSE, FLAT FEET

Stashes are a great thing! I've been working fervently on my lace scarf and I'm really surprised that I'm enjoying it as much as I am. I have three and a half stars completed. The pattern calls for nine stars, so I'm well on my way. Of course, the nice comments help, so thank you! However, I have not felt great the last couple of days. I have a terrible cold and here is what my diet has consisted of for the last two days:




There's nothing like Sudafed, fruit juice and throat lozenges for breakfast. Blech! But I'm getting better. Anyhoo, with my head feeling like someone had stuffed it with goose down, I wasn't really in the best state of mind to follow a chart to work on my lace scarf. Believe me, I tried....but the symbols kept switching places with each other.

But I couldn't spend the day not knitting, right? Right. So I went digging through my stash, because I wasn't up to going to the yarn shop either. And I found the Flat Feet that I had wanted to try knitting a long time ago but never got around to. I like knitting socks; it's fairly mindless until you get to the heel, so that's what I started tonight.

Here's what it starts off as:


I personally think it's kind of neat that it's already knit up and I get to unravel is as I go along, watching my surprise sock unfurl. My knitting friends weren't impressed. They thought it was kind of dumb to undo something that was already knit up. Thank goodness it's my sock!! Hehehe!





And here is the sock cuff (it's all I was able to do....apparently I knit a lot slower when I'm sick too).

Isn't that pretty, though? I'm excited to see the whole sock done! I'm going to try to knit a few more rows, then it's more Sudafed and I'm off to bed.

~T

Knitting Lace Like the Alaskans Do

I've been ogling my friend's hand knit lace wonders, and finally decided that I wanted to tackle lace weight yarn. I have worked some lace patterns before, but I was using a worsted weight cotton. After perusing my LYS I found a very pretty, almost navy lace weight alpaca, which I of course squished to my face for several minutes before I purchased it.

I have two lace books on their way to me via UPS (A Gathering of Lace and Knitted Lace of Estonia), so I figured that I was well stocked with patterns, since I didn't want to go too crazy. What if I don't like knitting lace? Of course, my eyes fell on a lace book, my hands snatch it, I read the first few pages, and now I own it. It is called Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas, and it is a wonderful compilation of patterns and stories of the knitters of Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers' Co-operative and their signature laces.



Here is the scarf that I would like to make:

Here's my first attempt (and by first I mean third......it's funny how things don't work out when you read the chart incorrectly - hehehe):


With my gauge on a size three needle, the scarf was a little wider than I wanted, so I am just knitting the center star without the border diamonds. And,who knew......I like knitting lace. Looks like I might need a bigger bookcase.

~T

Fiddler On the Roof, High as A Kite!!

I can honestly say that I have reached a new level of happy! Oh my gosh! Tonight my friend Sarah and I went to go see Topol (the original Tevye in the movie The Fiddler on the Roof) on stage in providence, in the play version of Fiddler on the Roof.

OK, I've always been a musical junkie. If a movie had sung dialogue, I was all about it. Watching live shows always made me giddy.....but I had NO IDEA how exciting this experience would be for me.

The first time I saw the movie I was five years old, and even at that age, I was mesmerized by the humor and the imminent sadness that was woven throughout the film. As I got older, it was one of those movies that I had to watch at least four or five times a year. When I met my husband who is a movie fanatic, I found myself not only watching that movie all the time, but it would be in my DVD player every night as I fell asleep to the music. Granted, some people would say it was an obsession.........alas, I am comfortable with obsession.

Needless to say, even though I knew I would be in this state of amazement once the show started, I did not expect the tears. I literally cried when Topol stepped out onto the stage. I can't explain it. I really can't. This man's voice is such a remarkable instrument and he is sooooo awesome, I don't understand how he doesn't kiss himself repeatedly.

The play was better than I could have ever imagined. So of course, before I left the house, Jeff hands me a Sharpie just in case I need to get an autograph from Topol. I was a bit irritated because why would Topol sign anything for me? Why would he wait around on a Sunday night for Whacky McQuacky me to get an autograph? So I put it in my purse to appease him, and went to the play.

After the play, Sarah and I waited in the lobby for Jeff to bring the car around, and since we're in the middle of Providence, there's traffic up the wazoo, so it's taking a while. Sarah and I get antsy, so we decide that we are going to walk the few blocks to meet up with him. After walking a block and a half, we see a group of about fifteen people huddling on the street corner and the entire road is barricaded with police cars and trucks. At first I thought someone had gotten into an accident.....so I ask the police officer, "What's going on here?"

His response was a nugget of gold: "If you want to see him, you have to get in the back of the line because these folks were here first". Seriously.........seriously. So you know I jumped in that line, grabbed my Sharpie, put my phone on picture mode, and thought I was going to pee from excitement.

Eight minutes later, my friend and I were ushered into Topol's dressing room, and it took everything in my power to stop myself from jumping on this very pleasant, smiling man. I walk up to him and I whisper as I hand him my playbill, "I have loved you since I was five years old." And then I did my happy dance. He laughed, signed my book, (turns out he had his own Sharpie) and said "Come close, get close to me" and with one arm around each of us, we got the picture I never thought I would ever get in my whole life.

I just laid my head on this man's shoulder like it was meant to be there from day one. He laughed at my enthusiasm, told me it was nice to meet me, thanked me for going to see him (ummmm.....yeah, NO!!! Thank YOU, Topol!) and we were on our way. I giggled and sighed happily all the way home.

I am still giggling and sighing....................

~T

SO MANY MEDIUMS, SO LITTLE TIME!

When one door slams in your face, another door opens, right? Right! And the door I opened happened to be hiding all of the hobbies and passions I have picked up over the years..... and I'm about neck deep in all of it! Hehehe. It's amazing how many things I forgot I loved to do....it's a bit scary, actually. But exciting.

I checked out one of my friend's blogs today and it only confirmed what I have known for a long time...artists are very rarely only good at one thing. This friend is someone I met through our love of knitting, and of course I know we are multi-faceted just because of the fact that we are human beings, but it was still great to be reminded that there is always more. Always more. Looking at her self designed, hand made dolls and reading about a few of the things she is interested in, it made me happy that I am actually in a place where I can embrace the other things in my life that make me complete. I thanked her for inspiring me the other day. I guess I'll have to thank her again. Hehehe.

For the last few days I have been working on a very beautiful project that had originally aspired to be an afghan, but as I continue to work on it, I truly feel that with me, it will be much happier in the form of a scarf. And I asked myself if it was a laziness thing (because after all I can get a bit overwhelmed and dread the idea of having to work on a project long term) but it turns out that I have a stronger desire to make the Great American Aran Afghan, which is something that I have wanted to do for at least the last year and a half. So, I think another two feet and the scarf will be a done deal....and then onward and upward.

My sewing machine is out and oiled and I have been making lined upholstered bags with my mother in law. She grew up in Pennsylvania and apparently lived next door to a seamstress who taught her all these nifty little tricks to make the sewing experience a fun one. Imagine that! So, I'm learning as we listen and hum to Gershwin show tunes...

Speaking of show tunes, my friend Sarah and I are actually going to see the Fiddler On The Roof (which is one of my FAVORITE musical movies) and get this: Topol (who is the original Tevya in the movie) is reclaiming his place as the original and the best. TOPOL!!!

I'm super, super, super excited, although I can't help but laugh at the reaction of both my mother and father in law when they found out Topol was still acting. "WHAT?!! HE"S STILL ALIVE?!!" Hehehe. Poor Topol. No matter; I think he'll be awesome just because.

Anyway, I'm sitting here waiting for my hubs to get back with a lightbox. We are going to spend the next couple of hours taking pictures of the jewelry that I've been making. With a lot of pushing and nudging from the nice lady who owns the bead shop down the road from where I live, I have finally decided to sell some of them online.

Etsy will be my first place to try them out, and then Jeff is working on a personal website for me so that I can really explore and continue to venture in all of the neat things I like to do while sharing it with others. So, the next few months will be busy, I think. I would like to get some of my small quilted things up, my jewelry, the cool bags I've been designing, of course interesting knitted goodies, and maybe one or two of my smaller oil paintings (although, I get a bit shy about my paintings and drawings).

The lightbox is here, so off I go. Maybe I'll be able to get some of my pics up tonight. Then again, maybe not.

~T