Monthly Archives: November 2009

Knitting in the Car

Posted on November 8, 2009 by | Comments Off on Knitting in the Car

I e-mailed a friend that I had the best lunch hour – in my car.  She wrote back that that must have been uncomfortable but clearly I made the best of the situation.  

I love knitting in the car.  The window acts like greenhouse glass  warming the space.  I control the climate by opening the window.  I feel like I’m in a cocoon.  I push the seat back, put on NPR and am able to focus in a way I can’t anywhere else. 

And I think I have a great view. 

Dashboard

DASHBOARD


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A Visitor on the Prairie

Posted on November 4, 2009 by | Comments Off on A Visitor on the Prairie
Saturday morning I came home from errands to find this on the porch.



Uh oh, have I ordered something and forgotten about it?? Nope. Inside this box was a slightly travel-weary sheep named Ramble. A friend on Rav is moving to a new place and while packing up stuff this guy was mentioned. It was decided that while she was making way for a new space, he would have his own adventure somewhat like Flat Stanley.

Groceries put away, we headed off to our first adventure. To the LYS of course! I had already planned to run over and get some Cascade 220 for the Red Scarf Project and well...he wanted to go.

He immediately struck up a convo with this guy telling all about his adventures so far. And, I understand that the other sheep regaled him with stories about all the unique personalities he's met at the store. Then it was home and time to watch a bit of football because there would be more adventures tomorrow.



Sunday was a sunny, warm, gorgeous Indian Summer sort of day. And we were off to help my friend Suzy with a bit of sheep deworming. Ramble was a bit hesitant. This was far away from his normal life. But with a quick shake of his fleece he 'sheeped up'. And off we went. Initially he was slightly intimidated by these larger members of his 'family'; but after Tank had a serious moment with him he sat placidly on the crate and watched all the fun. Let's just say that the score was Suzy 1, Sheep 2. He was really happy though to make the acquaintance of Tank, Lucy, Bob and a few roosters.





Monday, it's back to work. Amidst the chaos of end-of-month and teaching my replacement about my job (12 more actual work days since tomorrow starts vacation), he managed to have some up close and personal time with my friend Jackie.



You'll note there is someone standing on his back. She's a tiny little needlefelted goat named Linda. Jackie's a huge LambCam fan and Linda is her favorite so I got her the little goat to tide her over while the LambCam is quiet. And then he waited patiently staring at my desktop while I took care of the end of day business.



Early tomorrow morning we leave on our adventure to Juniper Moon Farm...airplanes and every thing. So while I run around like a chicken looking for Cheerios, he'll have a beauty sleep. And now back to my never ending lists!

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do i still exist? day 5

Posted on November 3, 2009 by | Comments Off on do i still exist? day 5
on friday afternoon, i attempted to log in to facebook only to find that my account had been disabled. i was given no warning. all traces of me were apparently immediately deleted from the site. i am told that i have disappeared from all my friends' lists, all comments made by me are gone, etc. friday morning, i was there. friday afternoon, it's as if i no longer existed. how stalin-esque.

i was rather unceremoniously informed that i have been de-facebooked. when attempting to log in, all i got was this message:

Account Disabled. Your account has been disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.

that's it. the faq page informed me that i have, apparently, violated facebook's statement of rights & responsibilities. there is no specific information as to what i specifically did to do that. i was given the option of filing an "appeal" by sending an email to facebook. i sent the email on friday afternoon. i think it's reasonable to expect them to tell me the reason why i've been de-facebooked.

it's day 5 and still no response.

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Swatching, Gauge and needles

Posted on November 2, 2009 by | Comments Off on Swatching, Gauge and needles

Swatch I started asking questions last week and am again floored by what I don’t know and what I should consider.  Consider this:  different manfacturers’ knitting needles, label ed the same size, are not created equal.  I discovered this when diligently swatching a new yarn.   How could it possibly be that a size 4 needle and a size 6 needle give virtually the same number of stitches per inch?   After much frustration,  I got out my trusty needle gauge and discovered the nasty truth.  This is one more reason why we need to swatch!   You just can’t trust that going up or down a size will get the result you anticipated.   

To complicate it even more, I learned why it is recommended that you swatch with the type on needle you will use for the project.   You may have planned to use Lantern Moon circulars and because the straights are staring you in the face you decide to swatch with these.   Aha!  What you may not have realized is that you may get a different gauge on straight needles because you knit and purl for stockinette.

And don’t forget that a swatch is not complete until you’ve finished the wool but blocking it as you would the finished project.


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