Coup de Grace

There's a lot of talk lately about the future of book stores and libraries. I have long been a fan of both, and as a reader, I will always be a fan. But nothing lasts forever. Mowers no longer use a scythe but a John Deere. Shopping isn't done from the Sears catalog anymore. I would much rather take a car or plane than horse and buggy on vacation. And a lot of books are bought online or downloaded to eReaders. That's just the way it is. I've read a book that makes an argument that our brains are re-routed nowadays, because of all the time we spend on the internet and on our cell phone apps. I can't agree with this guy's argument 100%. It may be true to a degree, but life goes on and things change. Some call it progress.
But I wanted to test my theory. I decided today that I would go to the library and get a really long book to read, just to test my attention span. I wanted a book that had a good reputation but was also not known to be difficult to read. This book is over 30 years old and was NYT bestseller (over 20 million copies sold) and is considered a modern classic. ** Neither of my local library systems had the book. One library only kept one copy and it was out. The other library didn't even have a copy. ** It is becoming nearly impossible for all libraries and bookstores to keep copies of all books ever made on their shelves at all times. Period. So I went home and downloaded a copy to my Kindle. And as for my attention span, I'm totally into the book. Can't wait to go to bed and get back to my nearly 700 page novel.
OK, soapbox rant is over!

This throw is beginning to look like a hoop skirt.
My friend came over last night and asked me what I was knitting. I told her what it was, but I know what she thought. It looks like a gunny sack or a duffel bag!
Then I took her outside to show her what was growing in the garden and to ask if she could identify the second picture below. She gave me her best guess but the jury is still out!

Lavender Sparkle (not the Barbie)

Spinning this lavender would have been a drag, except for the terrific angelina fiber that I was able to incorporate when I carded the wool. As I spin, I'm pulling lots of 'bits & pieces' out that would certainly make the yarn not very smooth. I've kept a large paper cup on the floor because there are just too many little bits to vacuum up later. Whaddya think?
Pretty nifty, huh? There's not a lot of it, but I'm excited to think of the possibilities! Maybe a cute pair of gloves in the winter, or trim for a hat....

I've also worked a bit more on the chair slipcover. First some diagrams with measurements, and then the first cut of the fabric donated by my beautiful mother.
I know the fabric is sideways, so don't worry. I realized it right before I went to cutting on it! I've cut and pinned on the front/seat section and the back. I'm always nervous about that first cut.

When my kids were little, my sister was often around with her really nice camera taking really nice pictures of the kids in the most natural, un-contrived settings. The photos were just adorable, and I cherished them. As the babies became toddlers, and learned how to use scissors, they became aware that cutting those photos was a lot of fun, till mom found out. Fun over.

But the sad part to me was that the precious photos were ruined. Lots of chops and cuts all over, that made the photos impossible to scan or really salvage in any way. I kept them, but always remembered the cuts.
Our reputation is a lot like those photographs. We make sure that we look the right way and drive the right car and live in the right place and do the right things, but then we open our mouths and make little cuts all over the photograph of our reputation. There's a quote that says something to this effect, "Your actions speak so loudly, I can't hear what you're saying."
I pray that somebody will grab me and shake me the next time I start to open my mouth and ruin the reputation I'm trying so hard to preserve! We have so few chances to make an impression on someone, and the lasting effects of even one or two thoughtless words can last forever.

Modern Man

I have had a terrific week. I've recently left the white collar world of business and stepped into a flip flop, t-shirt world. The work is invigorating, but tiring. My muscles are sore at night but I feel great when I wake up; good hard work is just plain good. And I don't need to get on the treadmill anymore!

I'm learning something about our society these days, that I was not really paying attention to before. Some people are really, truly spoiled. Some people would rather criticize than look for ways to fix a problem. Personally I think it's just lazy. And the part that is unsettling for me is that the more 'religious' or 'moral' the person is, the more entitled they feel about nitpicking. Too bad.

So last night I dragged my old self home, showered, ate supper and parked on the couch with a really big cup of coffee and my knitting. My husband was upstairs working so I turned on a BBC murder mystery which nearly made me give back the spaghetti I'd just eaten. (They are way, further down the road of non-censorship in their programming! Very graphic.) I kept on knitting but had to change the channel.

This Macy's Gray throw is one of the all-time-easiest projects I've done. BIG needles, BIG yarn and rows that get longer and longer as you go around the circle.

I'm using three long circular needles like DPNs. Work stays on two circs and the third is the working needle.

It looks like a rastafari hat for an elephant!

Before I go, I have to show you my little friend here in my home office. The girl who replaced me at my last job highly recommended this and as odd as it looks, it's a great idea.

You use all your core muscles while watching tv or sitting at the computer. My friend had previously worked at an office that manufactured athletic products. She said everyone in the office had them and it's apparently the newest ergonomically beneficial thing!

I try

I love that song by Macy Gray, "I try" and I think I'm naming this little thing Macy's Gray. Okay?
It's become the project lying on the ottoman in the living room. I don't take knitting with me much anymore, although I did take it to church a couple of weeks ago and made some pret-ty good progress!

The yarn will run out soon but lo and behold, look what I found in the garage! (But wait, there's more/ I heard someone say)

The yarn is cabled but I've got some un-cabled yarn that could be plied together to make more, and I'm sure I'm gonna need it.
What can I say? I try.

Today I had to learn some new tricks and am ever aware that I'm old as dirt. In every sense of the word. My body doesn't do the things it used to do, or at least as easily. I feel like I'm in really good physical shape, for my age. Emphasis on the word age.
Fourteen year old girls can eat candy, stay up late, get up early and run around a school gym and not really complain at all. I know cause I used to be that girl. I cheered in high school and junior high, rode in buses with stinky ball players to opposing schools full of our enemies to play ball games at 7 o'clock at night. Then leave the game sweaty, go out to a steak place with all those same kids, eat awful food, pile back into the bus and head back to our hometown. I could make it home, do homework and get up and do it all again the next day. And do really well on a test.

Today is a WHOLE other ball game, so to speak. I am grouchy without coffee, complain if I can't get to bed on time, and gripe when I have to do anything taxing two days in a row. How's that for being 'fit for my age'??
Like I said, I try!

Weaving with Patti

Some people don't like Patti LaBelle but that's okay. I don't like everything she's done, but it's easy to listen to, especially when you're weaving. (keepin' it on the DL)

I spun some lovely lavender with other leftover bits of carded wool and came up with this yarn.

The loom still has lots of warp left on it, and I have found I need to use weft yarn that has a similar thread as the warp, in this case white. So the leftover yarn is plied with white.


When you weave, as I have learned, there is an up and down to every pass. When I pass from left to right, the reed is in the 'up' position.

From right to left, the reed is 'down'.

In order to be consistent with tension, I make a small concave shape with the yarn before beating it with the reed. To pull it tight draws in the outside warp threads.

I've enjoyed being inside during the hot part of the day today, since the temps are hitting 100 degrees or so. I watered the garden this morning and am proud of my produce. Here are some brag photos, including a cantaloupe I didn't even plant. It just came up, probably from my composted soil from last year.




I had my first deep fried Twinkie last night. Oh my. It's what you'd imagine; very rich and surely regrettable calorie wise. But very tasty anyway!
We brought homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream to the 'company picnic' last night and I never got to taste it. I'm assuming it was good, since the container was empty when I went to retrieve it before we left. I will have to make some more tomorrow after church!

Granny's Square

The last few days I've been in a nearby town doing some work with an acquaintance from my previous job. She owns a company that specializes in doing any kind of work a client might need done, and those jobs range from errands, cleaning, shopping, decorating and dog walking to waiting for the cable guy.
So she put together a team this week and I came along. We cleaned a prison.

Yes, a prison. The buildings are newly renovated and there's a lot of sheet rock dust when construction is over with. I have mopped, cleaned, wiped, carried buckets and sprayed stainless steel until my fingernails are down to nothing. I am truly, deeply tired today. And anxious to get back to my knitting.
I started this several days ago and I'm thrilled at how fast it's coming together.
The yarn is naturally colored gray wool - cabled, which means two strands of plied yarn spun back together in the same direction as the single.
The yarn is fat and the pattern is something I kind of made up. The equivalent of a knitted granny square. I got the idea from Knitting Rules.

If you noticed the beautiful chair, and I hope you did, you might like to know where it came from. It is an antique that was newly redone by my brother and my mom. The piece was my husband's grandmother's and the springs had come apart long ago. I'd always meant to fix it and never did once I went back to work.

When my son told me he was getting married, I thought it would make a lovely gift.
I took it to my parent's house in June and we re-worked the straps. The rest was done without me and that's probably why it looks so darn good. I take no credit whatsoever!

Stating the obvious

Okay, so my son got married last weekend. No need to expand on that. But for a mother, when your child leaves the country for a week and you don't hear anything, at all, your mind begins to play tricks on you. Little voices come up with scenarios that have no basis in reality. It's just a mother's worries. So there, I've gotten that off my chest.


Now, onto some knitting and spinning from the Harpeth River Spinsters. First let me say that I had no idea that the co-founder of our group, Vicki Knechtel, was the wife of Larry Knechtel. And the meetings I attented for the first several years were at Kaye's house - and Kaye bought her house from them. (Kaye and Vicki have both moved away, although Kaye did call yesterday during the meeting at Susie's to say hello to everyone; she lives in Maine now.)

Here are the pictures:





I apologize for not cropping or photo shopping anything - I know they're dark and need help but I am only now getting my programs back on my computer.

Here's what I spun:

My garden is growing pretty well, just in case you asked me, "How does your garden grow?"
I will be working in a nearby town next week so it's been good to enjoy the warm, sunny weather. I took advantage of the summer breeze this morning and set up my wheel on the patio. Perfectly lovely morning!!

Thank you, Tennessee! And thank you to the Guard-Kitty who kept all the dangerous birds from bothering me while spun this morning.

Summer at Stoney River

Today has been a God-send kind of day. Do nothing, relax, and eat junk kind of day. I’ve completed the foot of the Stoney River sock, with a start on the toe shaping.

I finished the majority while watching a DVD of Julia Child from 1962. Things were so different back then. People hosted shows based on their expertise and knowledge of the subject, not on their measurements, hair color and age (or lack of). Julia was a professional in every sense of the word. Her ability to translate a love of cooking to her audience was unmistakable.

The last episode I watched dealt with making a fish stew, very rustic by today’s standards but completely authentic to the cuisine she knew so well. This was a Mediterranean soup that let the diner remove bones and shells. That’s the way I grew up eating seafood. We ate fish off the bone, shrimp from the shell and whole crab backs were left in the gumbo. The pots and bowls were big and you needed a fork as well as a spoon to eat most meals.

Last night my husband and I made a long drive to NC and back, dropping off his father who stayed with us last week. We arrived back in time to check out an Asian restaurant for supper that served lots of seafood in its buffet. Now I know what you’re thinking. How could a girl like me possibly eat seafood from a buffet? Well, I’m here to tell you it was delicious and perfectly cooked in every way. Boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, seafood casserole and poached salmon, all quite freshly cooked. I could not have been more surprised, but will definitely go there again. Julia would have been so proud!

Anyway, getting back to knitting and the Stoney River socks. The cotton and the light blue-gray color are perfect for summer knitting. The color even reminds me of fish at a seafood market! And the bamboo needles are the right kind of summertime tool as well.

On Friday night after the wedding rehearsal, I gave the June Bug wrap to my new daughter in law for a wedding present.
(blocked and dry)
I guess it wasn’t that big of a secret, but I tried my best not to knit on it out when she was around. She and my son are on their honeymoon now; a cruise to the Caribbean. I thought since the wrap was silk and white, she might be able to use it as a light shawl with a sundress.
She made a beautiful bride and is quite a lady. I was so proud of her last week, for keeping high standards when some friends really hurt her feelings. She maintained dignity and never let on how she felt. And with many friends and family members vying for answers to countless questions prior to the wedding, she kept her cool and was the picture of femininity. Only in the confines of our kitchen did she shed her little tears of frustration. God bless her!

As I took today off to regroup from the company and the obligations of last week, I made time to card some wool.
I haven’t spun in a while and I miss it. I will be going to Spinning Group on Friday and I really want to take something to spin. What a treasure to have boxes of wool in the garage, ready for my hot little hands to grasp!