Surviving the Time Warp

This past weekend, I entered a black hole. A vortex of frenetic activity that actually bent time itself and allowed me to get more stuff done than any one household should be able to achieve in 3 days. Strap on your helmets and sit down. I’m not sure how I’m still standing, but you’ll be tired when you’re done reading.





On Friday morning my Dad arrived for a visit. We almost immediately jumped in the car and headed off to Ikea to buy some mattresses. I had picked up the girls’ new Big Girl beds. Pine bunk beds from Sears and decided that Ikea foam mattresses would just fit the bill. I did have to explain that no one would “on top” because the girls are not old enough to have the beds stacked. But when the time comes, let the record stand: Calla is going to be on the top bunk. (I figure this is quite fitting as Fiona was the twin who was on top before they were born.)

So while I got the groceries, Dad started to put the new blinds and curtain rods up. Buy the time I was finished the shopping (more shopping…god I hate shopping) and put away the food and hid the surprise for the girls, we were ready to put together the beds. Pine bunk beds are heavy, so Dad and I took 15 trips up and down the stairs to load everything we needed into their room. We got the frames together and the girls helped us spread out and secure the slats. They put all the screws in the holes and we were able to quickly fasten them with the drill. Already the children’s eyes glow when they see power tools. It brings a tear to my eye just to think about when I can get them their very first power tools.

As soon as the mattresses where down, the new sheets went on (damn me, they’re expensive) and the girls were into their beds faster than I’ve ever seen them move. Finally, after a year and a half, their room is complete. Well, they could use a few pictures on the walls. I’m working on that.

This is how happy they are with their new room.

With that job done, we enjoyed dinner, the girls had a bath and then they were off to their new big girl beds for the first sleep and Dad and I collapsed on the couch and stumbled upon Transformers which neither of us had seen. What a score! The computer graphics were amazing and the story is pretty good too. I vaguely remember there was a cartoon and the toys when I was a kid, but let’s face it, my track record with the toys was not good then and it hasn’t improved any. Why is it when I pick up one of those things I don’t get a cool vehicle or plane. I get a severed head or an arm or a wheel. Really, it might just be for the best that I leave the toys alone and enjoy the movie. I’ll watch it again for sure, even though I know very well that no knitting is possible while its one. That should tell you something.

Saturday many things happened all at once. The grass got cut. It was in danger of swallowing the children, so I cut it just in time. The veggie garden was widened in the hopes that it will produce vegetables this year. Last year was a bit of a fallow year for the garden. I purchased last year’s seeds at the dollar store. That was a bad idea. The only thing that came up were inedible radishes. Seriously, there were like fire. This year, I smartened up and bought seeds every grocery trip for a month. And the number of seed packets meant that the postage stamp garden needed to be bigger. So I set Dad to work with the shovel turning over the sod. And I spent the rest of the day on my knees in the garden shaking the dirt out of the sod and throwing it into the wheelbarrow and emptying it onto the compost pile. I could have put it elsewhere, but then I’d have to mow it too.

While I was shaking the dirt (with the help of the girls who were treasure hunting and flinging dirt around in the garden), Dad went and got me my birthday present. Two new screen doors for the kitchen. Now we can sit with the metal doors open and fewer bugs will come in. Must get a couple of magnet sets to ensure the doors stay closed in the breeze.



And the guys showed up to install…drum roll please…the air conditioner!!!!! This summer the house will NOT become an Anasazi bake oven. I will sleep through the night in July! I swear it.

Three Cheers! to Carleton Clean Air Technologies!!! Rubin, Shawn and Chris did a fantastic job and I would recommend them to anyone for any of your heating and air conditioning needs. They were honest, efficient and cost conscious. They did good work fast. I am totally happy with my dealings with them. Thanks also to Gaynor and Adrian for putting me on to them. Fantastic!

Then we got out the surprise. My kids love to jump up and down. So now, they can.

So I shook dirt out of clumps of grass all day and then cleaned myself up and got ready to do a gig in Almonte at the Naismith Pub. Yes, I played drum for 4 hours with the same arm that shook out all that dirt. And I can still move it now!

And on the way to the gig, not far beyond the tracks on Hwy 29, Dad and I saw something very interesting cross the road. I kid you not. We saw a wolf run across the road in broad daylight. I’ve never seen one of those before.

On Sunday, Dad went home (after letting me sleep in a bit…bless you man). The girls and I planted our veggie seeds (broccoli, lettuces, carrots, beans, peas, tomato plants) and they ran through the sprinkler while I weeded another bed and got wet the more I pruned the roses. And we laid plans for the afternoon. Nicola, Andrew and Harry were coming over for a play (and a relax) and BBQ. A very nice way to round out the weekend. I learned again (after 30 years) how to play Crazy 8s and man, it is crazy. Somewhere around 10 pm I kicked everyone out (except my children who were blissfully sound asleep) and lost consciousness.

When I checked on the kids I discovered that they had decided that their night lights no longer needed to be in their windows when they’d work much better perched up here.

Surprise!

You know, sometimes, when you least expect it, a party breaks out. This is a driect cause from having musicians for friends.

What a great birthday I had. At lunch, I was treated by my friends at work to excellent Vietnamese soup and then a Second Cup iced coffee thing (I'm not a regular and has anyone noticed it is now impossible to order a simple drink at these so called Specialty Coffee shops? I mean without attending their unversity programming to learn the names of drink types and sizes).

Anyways! Many thanks to Dan, Sabine, Gaynor and Dave for a lovely lunch.

Later in the day, Bruce met me for dinner at Lonestar in Kanata where we gorged on tex mex and Corona (OK I was the one who ordered the humungous Corona) and then headed home to what I thought would be a nice relaxing evening with a couple of friends over for cake.

A couple turned into 10 in a hurry. Thanks to Bob, Arlene, Gord, Johanne, Charlie, Nicola, Andrew and Harry for making my birthday special. And extra special thanks to my dear Bruce who arranged a very tasty cake and set the whole thing up.

Music and friends. What more can someone ask on their birthday?!

Let Them Eat Cake

There’s been a whole lot of music and partying going on around here.

Corkery Road played a gig at The Old Mill at Ashton a couple of weeks ago. It was our first time playing there and it was a treat. I had worked overtime that day and was pretty wiped out by the time I got to the pub, but I had revived myself with a bit of new yarn from Kelly at the Ashton General Store (which I have yet to take a photo of, so stay tuned) and a new shawl construction book. Thank you for letting me in eventhough you were already closed!!!

When we got to the pub, we discovered it packed with a whole tournament’s worth of rugby players. What an interesting crew rugby players are. For all I know, they are accountants and computer programmers by day, but put a jersey on their backs and they become something else entirely. On the field, they can become testosterone driven animals intent on two things: killing things that get in their way and scoring goals. But afterwards, they return to the social element…beer. And lots of it.

Just before we ate, we watched these men choose the winning teams’ “man of the match” which was followed by an amazing chug contest. The trick, my lovelies is not to swallow. Just tip your head back and try not to let it come out of your nose.

When that was finished, one of the props came up. And how do I know he was a prop? Simple, he was the biggest bastard in the bar and had size 14 (or so) feet. This is important because he was there to recognize and celebrate a player’s very first goal ever. The man’s prize? ¾ of a pitcher of beer. Drunk from one size 14 “well seasoned” rugby shoe.

I would much rather have watched them perform live sex acts on a goat.

Luckily, despite these manly, barbaric acts, every one used their utensils to eat and some of them even stayed for the show. In fact the table with the big prop supplied John with a hat to wear while he sang one of his tunes. Considering the number of get-ups I’ve seen John wear in the last 2 years, I am not surprised they wanted him to put on the tam.

The Barley Shakers have been active and making much music in the last couple of months. I haven’t had the opportunity to play much with them because of conflicting schedules but on Sunday May 4, we took part in the Almonte Kitchen Ceilidh to help raise funds for the Danny O’Connell Memorial Fund to help up and coming local fiddlers. From what I heard, the show was excellent. The Old Town Hall filled up so fast during the Barley Shakers performance, we didn’t have any where to sit, so faced with the thought of nothing more to do, we went back to Bruce’s and jammed away the rest of the afternoon and then headed over to the Ironworks Pub to jam some more. Great night.

Since the weather has turned beautiful, almost an instant summer, I have been mucking around in the gardens. Because of the business of last summer and the amount of rain we had, little was done last year. One of my gardens wasn’t weeded at all, causing it to make my place look a bit like a crack house. Well after much toil and sweat, I have 4 of my 5 gardens cleaned up and some of them even mulched. I have a few more to go, but the black flies are out in a plague and are making it so gardening is a bit of a blood sport after the sun goes down. Again, no pictures yet. I promise, if the sun is still nice when I get home, I’ll take some and post them later.
This weekend past, my mom was up to visit. We had a great time doing a bit of shopping for gardening things, and she’s responsible for one of the gardens looking so nice. While she was here, we celebrated both Mother’s Day and my Birthday. Although my birthday is tomorrow, I have always been fortunate enough to spread the joy over a week or sometimes two, if I’m lucky. It’s not about the gifts, but the good times and we all like them. So there was cake, and there were flowers and there was much good cheer.

Can It Be Spring Now?!

Pattern by: Jennifer Hoy

All 9 Muses

These socks were born out of an intense desire for winter to be over during one of our many January blizzards. The five columns of twisted stitches provide extra stretch so fewer stitches are needed for these socks. And an eye of the partridge heel lends just a little zing.

Size: Woman’s medium (size 7.5ish)

Finished measurements: 11 inch leg and 9.5 inch foot length (but tailorable to fit any length)

Materials: 100 gr On line Supersocke 100 in Tropic colour

Needles: set of 5 3mm dpns

Gauge: 9 sts per inch

Notes: Twisted Stitches are created when you insert your needle into the second stitch and knit, then knit into the first stitch and draw them both off the needles at the same time.

Pattern

Cuff: Cast on 60 sts loosely. K1, P1 for 2 inches.

Leg Pattern

Row 1: K7, P1, K2 twisted, P1, *K8, P1, K2 twisted, P1, * (repeat from * to * 3 times) K1

Row 2: K7, P1, K2, P1, *K8, P1, K2, P1, * (repeat from * to * 3 times) K1
Repeat these two rows until leg is 9 inches long.

Divide for heel by placing stitches from the back of the leg (the ones where the column of twisted stitches run up the back of the leg like a seam) onto one needle and proceed to do a partridge heel flap thusly…

Eye of the Partridge Heel Flap

Row 1: *Slip 1, K1* repeat. End with K1

Row 2: Slip 1 purlwise, Purl to the end

Row 3: *K1, Slip 1* repeat. End with K2

Row 4: Slip 1 purlwise, Purl to the end

Repeat until your heel flap is square. End with right side facing for heel turning.

Turn the Heel

Work across half the heel flap stitches + 2 sts, K2tog, k1, turn Slip 1 purlwise, P5, P2tog, P1, turn Work to last stitch before the gap, decrease, k1, turn Work to last stitch before the gap, decrease, p1, turn Repeat until all the stitches have been worked.

Pick Up the Gusset
Pick up and knit 16 sts along the edge of the heel flap, work across the front of the sock in pattern, pick up and knit 16 sts along the other edge of the heel flap and knit to the middle of the turned heel. Rearrange your sts so that you have an even number of stitches along the gussets and heels. Proceed thusly…

Row 1: Knit to the last 3 sts of the first needle, k2tog, k1, knit across the front of the sock in pattern, k1, ssk, knit to the end of the 4th needle.

Row 2: Knit all sts on first needle, knit across the front of the sock in pattern, knit all sts on the 4th needle.

Repeat these two rows until there are 15 sts remaining on each needle. Proceed down the foot, keeping continuity of pattern across the top of the foot and stocking stitch for the bottom of the foot until the sock measures 6.5 inches (or try it on and stop knitting when the sock reaches the base of your big toe).

Decrease for Toe

Round 1: Needle 1: Knit to the last 3 sts, K2tog, k1 Needle 2: K1, ssk, K to end Needle 3: Knit to the last 3 sts, K2tog, k1 Needle 4: K1, ssk, K to end
Round 2: Knit all stitches

Repeat these 2 rounds until there are 24 sts left.

Kitchener stitch remaining sts off the needles.

© All 9 Muses 2008. This original pattern is for personal use only. You are not permitted to sell it or distribute it or sell socks you make from it. Permissions may be granted for the use of this pattern or the picture used herein.

Overall, I really enjoyed designing and knitting these socks. The pattern is easy and fun. Fewer stitches per row (even if it is only a savings of 4 sts) made them zip right along. This was my first partridge heel as well. The yarn was a good buy from Textile Traditions on a dark, depressingly snowy (no really blizzardy) Saturday in Almonte. After partaking of a good solid meal at the Superior Restaurant, I slogged across the street and proclaimed that only sock yarn would make it all better. Sunny, happy sock yarn. On Line self-striping sock yarn fit the bill and at at about $13 for 100gr, it fit the pocket book too.

I designed the socks for the Ottawa Knitters' Guild Sock Challenge (well, I would have designed them anyway, but this gave me the nudge I needed) and will be passing them over to the judges tonight. I won't see them for a month (sniff)!

I did notice, however, that when I washed them, some of the blue dye ran a bit. Something to watch out for. I think I'll dunk them by hand until they stop that nonsense as my superwash socks usually go into the regular wash.

Special thanks to Bruce, for taking the pictures of socks on the foot.

What Book Are You?

You're The Mists of Avalon!

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

You're obsessed with Camelot in all its forms, from Arthurian legend
to the Kennedy administration. Your favorite movie from childhood was "The Sword in
the Stone". But more than tales of wizardry and Cuban missiles, you've focused on
women. You know that they truly hold all the power. You always wished you could meet
Jackie Kennedy.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Well, maybe not all that, but how could I resist posting this?! Funny, I've read it at least 3 times all more than 15 years ago now and usually when I see something like this I want to rush right out and do it. However, as this is well over 500 pages and I'm averaging about 1 chapter a night out of a kids book (The Dark is Rising Sequence) it might be imprudent to start Mists now.

Victory Over the Heartbreaker

This is the odyssey of the Aran Accent Vest. It is a cautionary tale for all of you who would knit this vest. There are many lessons I have learned including those taught by perseverance, stubbornness, optimism, hope and bloody-mindedness. All of which I possess in spades.

In the vest’s defence, I whole-heartedly declare that I love it. I loved it when I first spied the Paton’s booklet Cables which I purchased after a trunk show at Yarn Forward and Sew On (Kanata location) in the Year of Our Lord 2006 (?). And the number of cable repeats I have done for this finished object have engrained an unholy love of the pattern and given me a recurring eye twitch.

The yarn was a lovely gift from Bruce’s mom, Joyce, who was destashing and divesting herself of a few things (a hat form, a Cowichan sweater coat and a poncho). It is Briggs and Little turquoise and tweedy (and barky and twiggy) and offers lots of good stitch definition. However, this is not the yarn called for in the pattern. With a stash like mine, I rarely use the called for yarn. This is where adventure and fearlessness begin.

Lesson 1: Swatches Lie

Lesson 2: Balancing Christmas Knitting and Selfish Knitting is Tough to Do

So, back in October, I set out to knit this with the hopes of having it to wear for Christmas. This was my first blunder. I thought that I could knit something like this in between my Christmas knitting. Not so much. Still, I cast on for a swatch, because I was being good and thought swatching would help. Got gauge and knit the front, meticulously ripping and picking back where I had made errors so that it would be perfect. At one point (at Thanksgiving, in a posh spa hotel room) I took the piece in progress off the needles and measured it only to find it was a bit too big, but using well-known Knitter Denial, I kept on, thinking that I could compensate in some way.

So when I got it finished (the front, after Christmas…like in February when my Christmas knitting was done…don’t tell me this doesn’t happen to you…those of you who are actually knitters), I laid it on the table and took out my measuring tape. Only to find that in the intervening months during which I had concentrated on my Christmas knitting, like a good little knitter, that it had not shrunk while sitting in the Bad Corner. Imagine that. The universe had not conspired to shrink the fabric like it is so fond of doing to my pants.

Lo, it was 2 inches too wide. And I had intended for it to be a curve hugging, bodaciousness enhancer (‘cos I got some of that to enhance…whereas the starving stick model Paton’s has used to illustrate the design in the booklet does not have so much of). I had thought that I would be able to go for that elusive quality, “Negative ease” which draws the fabric in to the hour-glass waist, to accentuated the round bosom and hips. To show it all off.

2 inches too much on the front, having used the right size needles, meant that I would also be 2 inches too wide on the back. Which meant 4 inches too large all around and frankly that meant I wasn’t knitting a size large (which is what my bust measurement said I should knit, for the sake of the general population, you understand). It meant I was knitting wide enough for the XX-large. Now, no one will mistake me for an emaciated, half-starved stick girl model. No Siree, not in this lifetime. However, I am not inclined to believe I need to wear a 2XL for my sweaters. Especially not when I’m going for some of that Negative Ease.

I didn’t have enough yarn to continue the way I was going. So I did the only thing I could think of doing. I RIPPED IT OUT. Fear not! I was fortified by stiff drink and moral support.

Lesson 3: Cast on Again Right Away

It was then the vest became known as “The Heartbreaker”. But, I’ve had my heart broken before and I have soldiered on. So, I unravelled the SOB and strung it out on my niddy-noddy to straighten it out (I put it in the shower for a go at the steam which really made our babysitter laugh. She appreciates my entertainment value…as I know the rest of you do too.) Little did I know however that I would have my heart broken by this design repeatedly. Good thing I’m stubborn or it might not have happened.

I immediately cast on again. I made a second swatch on smaller needles and with a smaller size in mind. My gauge was a tad shy of the mark this time and I thought, “Eureka! I’m headed for negative ease for sure.” And blithely cast on for the front a second time. At least I had the pattern pretty well down by this time and it went better the second time with fewer ripping events and less swearing. Front done, measuring well within acceptable range for the desired effect.

Cast on for the back as for the front until you get to *** in the pattern. Now this point in the pattern coincides with having 3 of those funky diamonds done. And I was thinking to myself, almost there. Maybe done this weekend. Ha. Not so. Look at the pattern and see these words, or words of a similar nature: “continue in pattern until 32 rows centre cable pattern are worked 3 times.” Now, I was at 3 times already so I thought long and hard about how long this freaking thing would be if I worked another 3 repeats. Albeit, the neckline on the front was lower than the back. So I worked 2 more repeats of it (extending beyond the weekend) and took another look. Consulted Raverly which told me that I’d gone too far, but liked how it was looking so I modified my plan a bit for a short and sweet vest. But I did stop at the 5 repeats of the diamond cable and extended the front armstrappy things 2 inches to meet the neckline in the right spot. Sewed up the shoulders and put on the neck ribbing. Then did the arm ribbing. Then sewed up the side seams. And measured the whole affair top to bottom, with consideration for the increase in length for the extra lozenge pattern.

Lesson 4: It's OK to Deviate from Patterns

It was long according to the schematics. That was ok. However, it was still wider than anticipated. After switching to the smaller needles and going down a size in the pattern, I would have thought that it would fit Twiggy. However, this was not meant to be. After washing and blocking, I tried it on and cried. It fit as well as a horse blanket. Good stitch definition. Close attention paide to details in the pattern. Looked great. I just needed to put on another 100 lbs. Since I wanted to show this off at Guild in less than 2 weeks, the all Oreo Cookie diet wasn’t going to make this sucker fit.

Lesson 5: Modifications are Possible After You're Done the Knitting

So I threw it in the dryer. That freaked y’all out didn’t it. I’ve felted projects on purpose by washing repeatedly in hot to great success. I’ve also shrunk things inadvertently in my teen years. I just used my judgement and drastic measures were called for. I very carefully timed things so that it would shrink. Afterall, with too much fabric, I had room to move. So I let it go for 20 agonizing minutes (checking after 10) to find that shrinking was indeed going on. But not enough. A bit of felting was going on too but not so much to be unbecoming.

Still, too big by a lot. Definitely no negative ease. So I moved on to more drastic measures. I sewed the side seams farther in. Like by another 2 inches on both sides. And as the neckline was gaping so much that newborns were crying for lunch, I wove another line of stitches under the cast-off edge to snug it up. Plunging is ok, however, it doesn’t do to have infants throwing themselves out of their buggies or car seats to get at a total stranger’s goods (babies are not fussy when they are hungry.)

After redoing the seam stitches, I tried it on again to see if the snugness was better. Yes! A small victory against the Heartbreaker. However, the excess fabric on the inside had to go.

You know what that means… If you have a faint heart, just leave now.

Lesson 6: Sometimes You Have to be Brave

I had to
Cut
The
Vest

With
Scissors

I’ve never had to cut steeks. But I understood the theory. Use wool because it has a memory. Reinforce your seams. No unravelling. So that’s just what I did.

Now, the Aran Accent Vest and I can be friends. Victory! Mission accomplished. And now, I want to figure out what cabled sweater I’ll knit Bruce. Although, I might just use the recommended yarn this time.

Lesson The Last: Broken Hearts Mend. Knit On.

A Question of Loyalty

I am astounded and flattered this morning. Eventhough most of you lurk quietly on this site, I have a little tracking device that registers your activity. Now, before y'all get freaked out by that statement, this is a benign thing that tracks hits to my site: what city you're from; how long you stay; how you got there (i.e., did you do a google search on some related word and my site name caught your eye so you followed it down the rabbit hole only to discover I've used the search word as "tongue in cheek".), etc.

Now this little blurry image tells me that a number of you (almost 20) check in from time to time, but 7 of you are looking often. Almost like a little legion of angels keeping checking out what I'm up to. Do you have any idea how that might make someone feel? Did you know you could have such a positive affect just by stopping by? I scarcely knew myself, until now.

Let me make this very clear...I don't know who you people are. But there are a precious few of you who return again and again. To you, I make this solomn promise...I will try to write more often. Let's call it a little spring resolution. And if you ever feel like leaving a message...drop me a line.

Thanks for reading. And thanks for making this blog a regular part of your week. And thanks for watching my back.