Time and Time again!!

     Back again and I am amazed! Twice in one year I have posted. Yep it looks like the sky is falling! Grab knitting, run to shelter and find the knitting chair. Its going to be a long year -smiles-

Whaaaat!?!?! This blog is still here?!?!?!?

     Who knew that one day I would be back. Somehow I've stumbled back on this blog and am amazed on how clever I was. Oh well, those days are over!! Growing older and crankier has make me the anti-blogger. lol Just kidding on the anti-blogger thingy but oye growing older is not for the weak or the easily frightened! I see why old folks keep their mouth shut about aging. Knowing what's coming is daunting however the perks are really great. Can you say involuntary napping?? smiles


     Knitting is not the number one thing in my life anymore. It's still an important part and I still carry knitting with me wherever I go but that doesn't necessarily mean that I will be knitting on that project. I now look at it as a security blanket. I know it's there and that's good enough for me.


     I have finished a few things here and there. Nothing major or to write a blog about -grin- but I finally finished Hitchhiker and a shawl I'm pretty proud of. The Dragonfels Shawl (I know that's not the right spelling but I'm not looking it up 'cause if I stop I'll never finished this entry!), and it turned out great! I think I'm getting my mojo back and have begun several annoying projects that are destined to go into the time out basket but I shall give it my best.


     I really hope this is my return to blogging. I've missed it but I figure if I do it weekly I might can ease myself back into it. If anyone is still around let me know if you liked my "come back". Back in a week fingers and knitting needles crossed!!

Spring Has Her Little Finger In My Pudding

Hey! It's been awhile. After the 2KCBW blog week, it's hard to keep up again. Maybe if it went all year??? (yep dreaming) I love writing to topics and have given this some thought. I think I want  to theme write all year. Knitting will always be a part of my blog, but I want to venture into other places that I have always shied away from. (sounds dark and mysterious) Knowing me, it ain't gonna happen (lol), but thinking (Ive been told) expands the mind and brings the horizons of the world closer. I want to be closer to the world. Spring has a way of rising the nature of awareness and making new ideas and curiosities grow. (why I love Spring) The draw back; Spring's not forking over any dollars, so I'll just be thinking and expanding in front of the computer. -smiles- (6 on one hand 1/2 dozen on the other)

Last entry I was the victim of rudeness at a deli store. It's been closed each time I attempted to go. I don't know if its closing early or its been closed all day ( I can only go late evening hours), but maybe I wasn't the only one who received the digital treatment and something happened. Or, could it be my torpedo blog of truth was read and lit fires around the Internet and the deed of rude was presented at the foot of the owner and appropriate action was taken?! (it could happen, right?!?! lol)  I think too much time has gone by, but if necessity deems I have to enter that store once more, I will not yield to rudeness again! (stern look with shaking fist raised high) (whoa, I think I had a "Gone With The Wind"  moment! heh heh)

I've decided on a yellow afterthought heel and toe. Finding the correct yellow sock yarn is a needle in the haystack. You cannot go by the pictures on the computer and after the mustard yellow skein I received, (yes the picture to your right is actually much darker, hence the search) I've decided to ask the seller first if its truly yellow or yellow gold. I was assured by the seller on etsy this time, so we shall see. The by part of my search for yellow yarn, is that I'm beginning to really like yellow/yellow gold yarn. It's amazing how one drifts to certain colors in a lifetime. Before yellow, I was obsessed with burgandyish/dark red colorways. Now I've flipped to yellow (I'm sensing that Spring might have her little finger in the tishka pudding) Could be I need tangible sunshine in my life. Mine is not to question why, mine is just to buy, buy, buy! Yellow rules! (for now) -smiles- tootles!

Where Is The Common Courtesy???

I an wondering if I am wrong about my feelings or just old fashioned?  What I'm about to write doesn't feel wrong to me, but maybe its generational. I live in Philadelphia and in the center city district on 13th Street between Market and Chestnut Streets, there is a small grocery store/ deli named Nelson. I rarely go to this store because I feel their prices are too high, but every now and then, I take the expense. Last night I went into this store and behind the counter no less than three people were on their cell phones, texting, gaming or whatever. This I don't have a problem with. The problem was when I tried to purchase a few items. First they kept me waiting, then without asking if I wanted anything else, started to ring up my items, but the straw people,was she never put her cell phone down. She kept texting or calling or whatever to the point of making me wait for her to finish her phone entries (yep, plural). I felt she was rude and wrong in her actions. Where was the common courtesy? And putting a smile on bad customer service, doesn't make it all better or all right. I would love to address this incident to the owner, but instincts tells me that she may be a relation to the owner, and that my complaints will get swept under the bridge. Should I let it go, chalk it up to the times and just avoid the place altogether? Or should I quietly try and find the owners and explain what's going on? Decisions, decisions...

My beloved book store, Borders (that is going out of business) slashed all magazines to 40% off. I made off with a arm full of knitting magazines!! Yea! Love those magazines and now I wait patiently for the knitting books to get to that point too. Right now they are slashed to 20%, but talking to one of the employees, they have 3 to 4 weeks left, I would prefer if they could stay, but nothing is constant anymore.

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Summer Is Trying To Muscle Into Spring

Spring needs to fight back now! Summer muscled its way into spring and produce a balmy summery day (there was actual humidity) I need more time before the craziness of summer arrives permanently, Illegal street bikes roared down the streets, while the young and tweeny broke the sound barrier with their eternal chattering about nothing. (this I know being a tweeny once)(sorry elders of that time.how I have learned!) I love the spring, and summers days mixed with terrible storms (the weather divas have intoned) are messing with my season. Ok that was the weather rant portion of this blog -smiles-

Now for something totally different. I'm making more socks, yeah! And ripping some back, boo. Doing the free Raverly pattern, Jeck, which is a super easy pattern to memorize, but I have to determine if I will do an afterthought heel or the basic sock heel for the blue and definitely have to rip the orange back to the cuff and drop needle size down to either ones or zeros. The fabric wasn't dense enough for nbr 2 (hee hee)(yeah, I'm still a kid in so many ways!) Though I hate to rip back, its a necessary part of knitting. I accept that, i just don't like it,

I found this huge pencil case that doubles for a project bag for socks. Our city's Border is closing or has closed by now and I got this on sale. I'm crossing my fingers that it hasn't closed yet and I can get the other one I left behind. It's absolutely a perfect sock project bag.

 My blue socks I'm working on. Making the leg 7 1/2 inches long before I do the heel. Deborah Norville Serenity sock yarn colorway Sapphire. The yellow really stands out on these socks so I'm thinking yellow heel & toe?? Might be really pretty.

Love the stretchy cuff, but the fabric is too loose. Use Knit Picks Felici Matador. Brighter than I would have thought, but I will be happy to wear them.

2KCBWDAY7: YOUR KNITTING AND CROCHET TIME

Day seven: 3rd April. Your knitting and crochet time.

Write about your typical crafting time. When it is that you are likely to craft – alone or in more social environments, when watching TV or whilst taking bus journeys. What items do you like to surround yourself with whilst you twirl your hook like a majorette’s baton or work those needles like a skilled set of samurai swords. Do you always have snacks to hand, or are you a strictly ‘no crumbs near my yarn!’ kind of knitter.

My favorite knitting time are mornings. I am fresh, awake (esp after coffee), and ready to zoom. During working days, I knit riding to and from work, but I get the most done at work. The lighting is better, I can spread out my items and things that confused me at night, seem clearer in the morning. It's also my fix that mistake and what where you thinking time. I also use the morning to pre read patterns that I might knit next just to see if there isn't a little surprise in the pattern, and to decide if I really want to make it. Lately I've been doing swatches (yes, I'm growing up, abit), but not the 4x4 size. What I'm about to say may cause severe reactions to a certain group of people, but I'm going to say it. I HATE SWATCHING. Just let patterns be the luck of the draw and be done with it. Ut-oh I think I hear screams and the rendering of garments, and the sounds of fainting bodies everywhere. Designers down!  Designers down!! lol

I mostly knit alone, at night, in front of the computer with hot coffee or a hot chocolate, surf the web, listen to my favorite John Legend CD (Evolver), and knit with the clear implications that I'll have to repair it in the morning. But sometimes I knit it right and that's a bonus for me. (I'm not sure but I think Ive defined crazy) lol

All in all, it's been a pleasure writing about the topics and reading other crafter's blogs. I am amaze at the versatility and the common ground we all share. My favorite subject was the "TIDY" issue. It's was so good to know I was not alone in my wild kingdom of yarn.

Eskimimi thank you so much for making this an annual event and the interesting topics you found for us to write about. I look forward to your creativity next year and thank you again for your massive effort on our behalf.

2KCBWDAY6: SOMETHING TO ASPIRE TOO

Day six: 2nd April. Something to aspire to.Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft? Maybe the skill or pattern is one that you don’t even personally want to make but can stand back and admire those that do. Maybe it is something you think you will never be bothered to actually make bu can admire the result of those that have.

Estonian Shawls. I look at the beauty, grace and ethereal quality of those shawls and they run chills up and down the envy part my spine. My aspirations are to one day knit an Estonian Shawl with matching delicate gloves. My biggest obstacle are charts. Hieroglyphics are easier to understand, but I am trying to better myself in that area. Recently purchased a book, "How To Read Charts", by JC Brier (I think that's her name, don't really remember, book at work) and it has good tips and tricks on chart reading.

Once I conquer charts and what to do with a double yarn over when you're not dropping it completely off the needles, I would have solved part of the skills needed for that shawl. There was a lace drawstring purse, a Knit Picks pattern, that drove me up the wall because I couldn't figure out that to do with the double yarn overs on the return row. That item is currently residing in my time out endless pit for uncooperative knitted items. I believe in tough love. Maybe now that little wayward lace piece is rehabliltated enough to go into my "I hate you, I hate you" basket and from there, knitted freedom. It may be getting a reprieve since I have more wisdom and to patience. -smiles-

I will, someday, do the Estonian, and then, modern interpretive dancing!! lol

2KCBWDAY5: NOW FOR SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT

Day Five: 1st April. And now for something completely differentThis is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.
There are no rules of a topic to blog about (though some suggestions are given below) but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog. .



PS: Yes, it is April Fool’s Day, so have fun with the post.

STICKS AND STRINGS AND OTHER THINGS


Mr Stick said to his String
What's with all that bling bling bling?
Sparkles running up and down
Makes you look just like a clown

Mrs String was hurt by this
What's your problem, Mr Stick?
Can't a girl just shine and primp
Without making me feel limp?

Mr Sticks just crossed his limbs
Mrs String tried to hug him
He kept pushing her away
But she had much more to say

When we are in rhythm, dear
Things get done and socks appear
Hats and gloves and scarves divine
Cowls and warmers make us shine

Now and then I bling bling bling
That's the nature of my string
Oh stop being in a snit
Come here Sticky, and let's knit!


Hope this make you smile.



Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog for day4. Your comments meant the world to me. Thank you so, so much.