Criss-Cross

When a friend said that she was headed to Orcas Island, I asked that if she saw any interesting yarn to buy me a skein. So she wandered into Poppies Fine Yarns in Eastsound and brought back a hank of Malabrigo Silky Merino.  Wow, what a treat that has turned out to be!  I have heard a lot about Malabrigo, and although I’d seen it in stores, I hadn’t bought any yet.  It’s so lightweight and warm and soft and it has a such a nice luster to it from the silk content, it promised to be wonderful to wear, but with one skein, it proved to be more of a challenge to come up with a pattern for.  That night I searched Ravelry and decided on Cashmere Neckwarmer.

It took a few false starts before I got the hang of the pattern stitch, which is really very easy, but I add these additional words of advice to those who want to make it:  on the knit side (right side) of the work, after the yarnover, hold the yarn in back of the work as you proceed to the next stitch, and on the purl side, after the yarnover, bring the yarn in front of the work (i.e., the side facing you) before proceeding to the next stitch.  Once I figured this out, the stitch pattern developed the criss-cross look it is meant to have, whereas before that, it looked rather odd and unattractive.  I guess I’m just one of those people who need everything written out for me.

I’ve finished the cardigan for MR and it looks pretty funky; I’m not liking it.  It’s so big it’ll probably fit her next summer.  Oh well, serves me right for trying to knit something for someone whom:  a) I’ve yet to meet, b) have no measurements on other than weight and length, c) who is 1 year old and probably growing like a weed, and d) for whom I have no idea when I’ll get to meet her.

It’s shiny and red and it’s bigger than a bread box…

It’s my new Toyota Prius!  Yay!  Having finally sold our old house*, we decided that it was time to become a two-Prius household.  With No. 2 child due to arrive this summer, we wanted a car that offered better storage space than the old Prius (which we’ve had for 7 years) and yet was more practical than my in-law’s old Infiniti I30.  We thought that SUVs and minivans weren’t called for with two kids, yet (whew!), and I wanted a VW.  Nay, what I really wanted was a Peugeot 307 like we drove in around France and western Switzerland last fall, but Peugeot doesn’t have a dealer in the U.S. and, besides, European car manufacturers don’t have hybrids.  Still, we seriously considered a diesel VW Jetta wagon, but, I still could not stand the thought of our second car not being a hybrid. And hybrid SUVs just sound like an oxymoron to me, besides, I’m pretty anti-SUV (apologies to those of you who like them), and there are a number of sedan hybrids out there, but we really liked the Prius design, flexibility (fold-down backseat) and it’s techy side.  Techy?  I can voice-command my iPhone, not unusual for many new cars, but it also has voice-command navigation system, and a solar panel in the roof that when activated can keep your car at the same temp as outside while it’s parked and you’re not in it. So on a scalding hot day when you sweat your way across the scalding hot tarmac to your car, you don’t also sweat another gallon of body fluids because you’re sitting in a car that is 200° F that takes what seems like an eternity to cool down to something more comfortable. AND I don’t have one more reason for my son to refuse to get in the car “because it’s too hot.” My son YM runs on the warm side and pretty much likes to dress cooler than most kids; this is the same 4 year old who, while walking on a chilly, windy, rainy fall day in Paris, turned heads because he refused to put a jacket on. We’d been waiting for more than a month for the car to come in, and it was looking like next week, but we got the surprise call last night telling us it was ready for us to take it home today!  I love the red.  Love, love, love it.

Happy Fourth of July!

*Note: We’d put it on the market 2 years ago after we moved into our current one just when everything went bust, and rented it out for over a year. We put it back on the market in January, priced it to sell, and still came out a bit ahead. It wasn’t easy though and there were a few heart-stopping moments when it didn’t look like it was going to go through, and it took about 2 months to close.

What we often choose not to discuss…

While in IKEA a couple of weeks ago and while passing through the food section I spotted a bottle of blueberry drink concentrate, just bought it with no plan for what to do with it in mind (typical).  It has turned out to be really convenient to have because I get to go for my very first colonoscopy and endoscopy today, and yesterday I discovered the blueberry juice concentrate mixed with water adds some variation to my clear-liquid diet as part of the preparation for the procedures.  A dash of the concentrate in a glass of water provides a welcome change of taste and just made every thing seem a little less dull and inconvenient.

Inconvenient is the key word of the preparation for the whole event.  Although I am not of the age when a colonoscopy it typically done for the first time, I cannot imagine the sense in having someone undergo such a procedure upon turning 50. I mean, most people who’ve just turned the big 5-0 are probably feeling a bit old, and then they are told that they have to undergo a colonoscopy.  It’s as if to say, “It’s all downhill from here.”  I’m told that the actual procedure itself is no big deal, and I hope that that to be the case, but the experience of preparing for it is not fun—at all.  The liquid I’ve had to drink over the period of an hour, despite its lemon scent, starts out as rather unpleasant and by the end of the hour, I am practically gagging and forcing it down my throat.  Yesterday, I popped the DVD Finding Nemo in the DVD player to keep my son YM entertained during the process, and despite his absorption with the movie, he could not ignore my face twisted in agony as I finished the liquid and offered sympathetic words.  As I am on my second dose of the liquid at this writing, my husband has thankfully taken YM off to a class he had scheduled today so I can writhe in discomfort on my own for a bit without having to maintain my composure.  Yesterday,  in between rushing off to the toilet yesterday I had to rescue Phinney, one of our arthritic 19-year old cats, from YM at various intervals.  This made everything more difficult for me, so at least today I get a little reprieve.  I look forward to getting the whole procedure done with later today, and I hope it is the last time I have to do it for a long time.  Unfortunately, the doctor’s assistant, a knitting addict herself (she’s been to more local yarn stores than I have), assured me that there will be no opportunity to knit while there.  I think having the opportunity to knit should be part of the whole thing.  Don’t you?  I think it could actually make it all worthwhile for me.

Still waiting….

I’ve been working on a February Baby Sweater for my daughter, Miss Rose (not her real name), and after having gotten only as far as the collar, ripped it out and knit it again.  This has happened 3 or 4 times, but it is finally showing signs of becoming an actual garment as I am making some progress, so I feel I it is blogworthy.  Well, I guess it would have been blogworthy from it’s inception, but it seemed pointless to blog about it because until a few days ago I really didn’t know if I would get anywhere with it.  The yarn is King Tut, which is a beautiful worsted weight mercerized cotton I’ve had hanging around since about 1990.  The only thing that really bugs me about the yarn is that the skeins are so small (66 yards/60 meters) that I am only half way through the body of the cardigan for a toddler and I’ve used 4 skeins to get there!  I’ve had to adapt the pattern to fit Miss Rose, whom we have yet to meet, but we do have monthly health updates on her, so I am able to approximate how it will fit her.  Or, at least I hope it will fit her.

On that note, we’ve received word that my fingerprint scans were found to be unacceptable, so now I have obtain police clearance for every jurisdiction I’ve lived in for the past 5 years.  Luckily, I’ve only moved twice in Washington State during that time, so yesterday afternoon my son, Young Man, and I set out to police headquarters for the two city jurisdictions that apply.  With those successfully out of the way, I now have to obtain clearance at the state level.  The whole fingerprint thing boggles my mind.  When I went for fingerprint scans the second time, the Homeland Security agent who scanned me told me that it is the vertical lines that cut across my fingerprints that they don’t like.  And my question is:  If the lines are there, as they’ve been for many years, don’t they comprise my fingerprints?  My other question is:  If a government agency has spent probably millions of dollars on such high-tech machines, but they produce such unsatisfactory results so often, then shouldn’t those machines be scrapped?  So the process of adopting Miss Rose (almost a year old) gets pushed back further.  And we all wait.

We awakened to a relieving rainfall this morning. This has to be the driest and warmest June around here, a month that is notorious for chilling temps and October-like conditions.  Let’s see, the peonies came and went back in May (I think they usually bloom in June), the dahlias are already in bloom (they usually bloom in August), and the lavender is ready to bloom (this variety doesn’t usually bloom until July).  Of course, this is after a late spring, in which the bulbs bloomed a month late.

Lavender buds heavy with rain.

My best friend?

Maybe it’s a bit extreme to say that an hot water bottle is my best friend, especially when that really could also be said of my knitting bag, but when a hot water bottle has a soft cozy on it such as mine, it is the best thing in the world to have.  I knitted the cozy back in 2000, but of all the things I’ve knitted it probably holds the place of greatest appreciation by me.

Details
Pattern: Hottie by Kim Hargreaves in Rowan 28, August 2000
Yarn: Rowan Kid Soft (Hah! That’s the wrong yarn! I’ll have to find out what I used….Sorry!)
Needles? I’ve forgotten. Probably US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 6 (4 mm)

Looking around at similar cozies on Ravelry, I still like this one best. Unlike other designs that would have you put a drawstring closure at the bottom or at the top, Hottie creates an opening in the middle of the cozy, making it something that enhances the cozy especially when pretty buttons are added for closure.

For added flourish, the turtleneck-style collar that covers the neck of the hot water bottle has a sweet ruffle to it. The only modification I made was that instead of sewing the collar up and creating a seam, I knitted a seamless collar in the round.  Along with the design, I love the yarn I used for it because it makes it super, super soft and with hot water inside the bottle, it’s like a warm Teddy Bear.  It just may be my best friend.

February in May

February Lady Sweater is done and I really like it; I like how it knits up and how it wears.  Fun knit.  I might just have to make more of these.

Details
Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne (free download through Ravelry)
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease
Needles: US 6 (4 mm)

I went for my second round of fingerprint scans at Homeland Security this morning, and it was a bit more hopeful.  At least this time, I didn’t see little red boxes all over my fingerprint scans on the scanning machine monitor.  Last month, the agent pronounced my fingerprint scans done after I watched little red boxes appear all over my scans on the monitor, only to receive a notice in the mail a week later telling me that my scans weren’t good enough and that I would have to go back today for the re-scan.  So my husband and I did some homework and we asked professional fingerprint technicians about getting good fingerprints.  We talked to a private fingerprinting business, Kirkland Police and Seattle Police and they all said to use a little bit of Corn Huskers Lotion and that that is what they use when someone has dry hands.  The trick, they told us, is not too apply too much lotion because it will fill the ridges of the fingerprints.  So today, although the agent observed that I have really dry hands, it seemed like it went better because I didn’t see the red boxes on the scans on the monitor.  So, now we wait to see if we get another notice in the mail next week.

I’ll have you know…

That I did not go to the Fiber Frenzy stash-busting event at the Seattle Knitters Guild.  I thought hard about going, but I didn’t go.  I figured that I would just end up with more yarn than I already have and, since I was recovering from a really bad cold, I could use the rest.  So I stayed home.  Ordered gluten-free pizza for me and regular pizza for everyone else and watched WALL-E for the gazillionth time (my son’s current favorite).  Just so you know….

Fading Spring Beauties

I haven’t posted any photos of anything pretty in a bit, and looking at some tulips from a 4 year old’s perspective the other day gave me some inspiration, so I thought I’d share. These were taken with my old Casio Exilim (point-and-shoot) and not my fancy new Nikon DSLR.

And now for some knitting-related content—

On the way back from Seabrook a few weeks ago, I went past a few yarn stores and my husband was successful in keeping it that way, until we passed through the town of Allyn and stopped for gas along the highway.  I got out of the car to stretch my legs and, bingo, there was a yarn store right across the street!  Allyn Knit Shop is a very unassuming yarn store on the outside, but walking in, I think I heard angels sing—it’s filled to every corner with yarn.  Not wanting to leave empty-handed, especially having finished Wine and Roses Mitts for my mom, I was feeling pretty virtuous, so I bought two skeins of super soft Sugar Rush (100% sugar rush viscose) from Queenland Collection in a juicy red.

By the way, I gave Wine and Roses to Mom yesterday and she was so delighted with them she asked for another pair—cheeky!

Star Trek: The next location for knitting.

Yes, that was me in Lincoln Square Cinemas last night attempting to knit a few rows of my black February Lady Sweater in a darkened theater. I gave up after 1.5 rows. It is doable, I knitted quite a bit when I went to see latest James Bond movie last fall, and that was with dark green yarn, but last night it was just too hard keep track of what I was doing. The movie? It is excellent!

February is a Lion

Having finished Wine and Roses Mitts for my mother, I have resumed work on February Lady Sweater, which I actually just barely started on April 1, the same day I started Wine and Roses. When it took 11 days of swatching to get gauge on Wine and Roses, I decided that if I was going to finish them for my mother by Mother’s Day, I’d better focus on them solely. Now that they are out of the way, I’m making lots of progress really quickly on February Lady.

I want to have this as my wear-around-the-house sweater when we bring our daughter home from South Korea in the few months. For this reason, I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease, so that I do not freak when it gets some form of something burped-up on it and just throw it in the washer and dryer to be worn again soon.  While making Nantucket Jacket a short time ago, it occurred to me that black would be a refreshing color to knit something in, so I chose black for this project.  I love natural fibers, especially wool, but there are times when a project calls for something more practical, and this is one of those. I do miss the smell of pure wool, and this stuff has a slightly, um, hard to describe smell, but it smells just a bit like plastic or something manufactured—I just try to push through and concentrate on the finished item.

Making progress at Pacific Beach, Washington from our trip in April.

Because of the Lion Brand yarn, I’ve decided to call it “February is a Lion Sweater”.

Progress, as of today.

This is a nice pattern, and the designer, Pamela Wynne, has put a relaxed feel in it by incorporating phrases like “…when you try on the sweater, the sleeves stitches almost meet under your arms,” and “Continue until the body is 1.5″ shorter than the desired length.”  Along with such a relaxed feel, all the information I need to successfully knit the sweater is there for me, and I find such non-specifics a relaxing tone to set; just what I need for my less-than-relaxed nature.

We’ve received notification that my fingerprints failed the ever-so-efficient biometric scanning machines at Homeland Security, and now I have to go for a re-do at the end of May (you get assigned appointment times, you can’t choose them). Frustrating, disappointing, heartbreaking, annoying, sad—words that float in my brain every day as I look at our little girl’s picture on my iPhone and I think of how being able to get her sooner has been pushed back because someone wasn’t doing their job carefully and really making sure my fingerprints were accurately scanned. Apparently this is really common. Next time I go, I will watch the screen closely as my prints appear on the machine, and when I see the red boxes appear in various places on the fingerprint scans (I believe they indicate undetected fingerprints), I won’t trust the agent when she says I am done. Next time, I will kindly request doing them again unless she can explain the red boxes, and if that doesn’t happen, I will respectfully request a meeting with a supervisor to make sure that I get good scans.