AN ODD SPREAD

So tonight I had a very interesting culinary experience. My friend has an Australian penpal (and by pen pal, I mean chat partner....everything is done via internet these days) and he sent her a small care package that contained a tube of Vegemite.

The only time I have ever heard of this mysterious Vegemite was when I would happen to be listening to the eighties band "Men At Work" who composed the very strange song "I Come From A Land Down Under", where the main character in the song apparently partakes in a Vegemite sandwich with a lady friend.

I come from a family where my parents told me to try things at least twice, once to experience it, and the second time to make sure I really loved it or hated it. So, I tried it. Um.....it's a bit strange. First of all, it's description on the actual tube says that it's a yeast extract. That didn't really sound all that appetizing to me. But again, I'm game for just about anything, especially if it's food. It's a very thick, dark, dark brown substance, a bit sticky, supposedly chock full of vitamin B, incredibly salty (reminded me of a bouillon cube), and actually not all that bad on a Ritz cracker if used in moderation. Jeff wouldn't touch it. I wasn't surprised.

I finally buckled down today and started knitting the first of the many baby sweaters I will probably be making in the next few months. The thing that I have noticed is that I can make plans on what to knit. I love looking through books and patterns, and I have purchased several cute patterns in the last week. But for some reason, once I get started, I just find myself changing the pattern. What is wrong with me?! I think that I get a bit irritated having to look at a pattern maybe, or I just get restless and start to wonder what would happen if I did it this way instead of how it was written. I haven't figured it out. But that is indeed what happened today. I started a Debbie Bliss pattern, realized that I didn't want to do it that way, and ripped it out and started my own design. Let's hope it works out.

I've opted to work with Dreambaby DK, which is very reasonably well priced, acrylic/nylon blend. Since I know that I'm making a full basket of knitted goodies, I didn't find it necessary to spend fifty dollars on a baby sweater. Here's what I have come up with so far. I apologize.....the pictures are atrocious and the color is nowhere near the actual pretty blue I'm using, but I'm still posting them. I'll take better pictures when the sweater is completed.


I love cables, but I get bored doing the same cable over and over again. But I also wanted to do something easy. So I I alternated the length of the cables to give the sweater a little interest. I like the effect so far.



This will be the front of the sweater because it seems to be the part of every garment that I don't enjoy making. So I figured I would just get it out of the way. Isn't that weird? Anyhoo, I can't wait to see how the rest of it comes out. I have a few more ideas that I am going to try to incorporate. I'm sure there will be a lot of ripping back......but that comes with the craft, right?

~T

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