Aunt Barney Rides Again

As you may remember, I was headed East to take a knitting class with Youngest Niece. Her Little Guy was all excited to see me, as you can see. He's three and is still working on pronunciation. Therefore, Aunt Barney. Thank G-d I didn't wear purple (and I hate that song).
The whole reason for the trip was to take a knitting class (or three) from Annie Modisett. Now, I have been knitting since I was four. That's more that 50 years. I learned a few new tricks. Whee.
Wednesday night we knit with wire. Not something I will do a lot of, but we all learned that some 26 gauge wire is thicker than others. Naturally, I had chosen a thicker one. YN chose a thinner one and her sample was gorgeous. Annie gave each of us a spool of the kind of wire she uses and I will definitely be trying again with that one.

Thursday morning we learned a new/old way to knit. It is the way I used to knit until Aunt Grace told me I was doing it wrong. Yes, it makes a beautiful stitch. Yes, it's familiar to me. No, I won't be using that method. Julie asked some of her readers to knit an afghan square for a good cause and I tried the new/old way. It took twice as long and my hands really hurt from tightening up my knit stitches. The pattern is from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I've always wanted to knit this castle and now I had a reason.

Thursday afternoon we tried out some new decorative details. The i-cord bobble was worth the cost of all the classes. Wow, what a great way to bobble. Makes me almost not hate them. We also learned to make dreads, horizontal i-cord and some spiffy bind offs.

Before I left home I finished the Kai Mei socks from Cookie A's new book. They were really fun to knit. YN says she might not knit them because the lacy part won't show in your shoes. I don't care I just wanted to try them.
Friday, before I headed home we went to a yarn shop in Nazareth PA. I bought some yarn spun and dyed in Pa and some yarn with possum spun along with the wool. Lime and Violet were talking about it and I just had to have it. Now, if I knit a scarf from it will I have to play dead when someone scares me?

Drive-by Blogging

Hi! Well, the last time I posted I gave a few reasons why I might be a little busy. Have you heard that Mercury is in retrograde? Since the last post the art teacher at my school has become gravely ill (nice thoughts should be directed to Ann in Tyrone) and, as I am the one sub who gets along with her and can follow her (somewhat wandering) lesson plans, I am in charge of art for the rest of the year (which means I write the lesson plans for myself and my sub because the regular teacher is too sick, and I prepare all the supplies for classes, I organize the end of the year return of projects and get as much as possible ready for the art show). Naturally, just before this I volunteered to bake dessert for the entire congregation at the Rabbi's last service before she goes off to do her summer thing, and I signed up and paid for Annie Modisett's classes in Stroudsburg, Pa. Now, the wonderful secretary will not let me give up these two events. I stayed at school until 5pm last night to get some things ready for the annual art show. The head of the arts department went to the principal, who asked the Superintendent if I could get some over-time pay to cover all the work that needed to be done for the end of the year. Wanna guess what he said? Go on, but remember he's a member of the administration and I'm a lowly sub. Yup, no pay beyond my measly $75 a day. Therefore and hence, the other subs, the secretary and the teachers will not let me stay past three o'clock. The Husband keeps trying to get me to switch school districts (which would mean new clearances and learning all new names). The pay is just a tad higher but I like it where I am as long as I stay away from admin.
In knitting, I am working away on the shawl, I'm on row 291 out of 483 of the garter stitch center. That's all good, I'm too fried to knit complicated. That said, I finished the right sock of Cookie A's kai-mei socks and I'm at the heel of the second. Thank G-d we have a three-day weekend. I'm planning a movie, a picnic, and a whole lot of knitting. And you?

Random Saturday

Ohh!! This morning as I was painting a large beige swatch on Elder Son's wall (he moved out, I need a bedroom with a ceiling that stays on the ceiling) and The Husband called up the stairs as he was leaving to pick up his newspapers, "Yarny Goodness had arrived!"
Reader, I stretched out the anticipation through cleaning the paint brush, showering, dressing and styling my hair. Then I opened the box. Whee! Yarn enough for four shawls, two pairs of socks and the accents for a felted snowman, and a book, Sally Melville's Mother-Daughter Knits. Then we went to State College to shop a bit (no yarn shop for some reason but we did go to a grocery store). When we got home I made the copy of the shawl instructions ("Warm Shawl" from Knitting Classic Style ((look at the "more images" and it is on the second page at the bottom left) and swatched until I got close to the gauge (Hey it's a shawl, how close do I have to be?) and was all set to do just a few rows (I promise..honest...) and I couldn't find any crochet cotton, whose only purpose in life is to use for provisional cast ons (Wait! I think I know where it might be!!) Found it! Guess what I'll be doing this evening? Ironing. Yeah....

Elder Son was home last weekend to celebrate his 24th birthday. Favorite part of the weekend? "Son, I need your help. I tried to join a social network and they wouldn't accept my e-mail address. (So far he is kind and attentive to the old lady and the computer) Just how do you sign up for Facebook?" If only I had had my camera. Oddly enough Younger Son had the same look on his face. Heh. But, still not on Facebook.

I finished a pair of Mock Wave Cable socks for The Husband (it was our anniversary). I can't remember which book I copied the pattern from, but I think it was a Nancy Bush (and yes, I own the book). I knit them from Knitpicks essential kettle dyed sock yarn. They are the gold color. It looked a lot yellower on the site but he likes them so it's all good.

Last week we were sitting in the teacher's lounge having lunch. Does anyone remember the days when the kids took the drugs? We spent most of our measley half hour discussing the merits of Atavain versus Prosac. It must be spring.

Wednesday the secretary who schedules subs called and The Husband answered. "Your mistress wants to talk to you," said he.
"That had better be the one with the whip........Wait, that's not right........" I replied.

We are slowly clearing Elder Son's room and working on a design aesthetic The Husband and I can agree on. There's an old "oriental" rug in the attic and he wants the walls to be blue. That's as far as we've gotten. Oh yeah, and I'm not allowed to paint the furniture white. YSS had offered to take the dresser (huge with a lovely mirror, but not big enough for all The Husband's clothes), and we may have to rent a storage space for ES's stuff that will not fit in his one-bedroom apartment. If you don't hear from me for a while it's because we are scraping, sanding or re-glazing (the windows are huge, I'm a little nervous about using the heat gun to strip off all the old gunk). And then there's that new ceiling to arrange for the craft room (we've always called it the sewing room but I will have space for a desk to do all that rubber stamping that's spread over the house, and the sculpy clay projects, and .....).

Next weekend YSS will graduate from college. Next fall she heads off to graduate school. Wishing her luck and happiness and that we will get to see her once in a while.

Now, where's that crochet hook?

So That's What Happened

We had a board meeting shortly after the Boom, Poof event and the president of the board asked what had caused the ceiling to fall. Perhaps I have been listening to Lime and Violet too much but the answer that sprang to mind (and lips) was, "Trapeze."

Boom! Poof!

Luckily the principal canceled some meetings this week and I got two days back (the meetings are postponed to next week, but that makes the work schedule survivable). I say "luckily" because The Husband and I were chatting after dinner on Monday when we heard "Boom!" from our bedroom. As we were not in the room at the time we dashed up to see what had fallen. A piece of our ceiling (say 2 feet by 2 feet, or 70 cm by 70 cm) had fallen just about where I sleep. Now we live in an old house. Funny thing about old houses, when you start to pull off(or lose pieces of) the walls and ceilings there is a lot of black mold, dust, or something behind them. When the piece fell it hit the bedpost and broke into many pieces. The "Poof" is the only rendering I can use to describe the black powder flying all over (all over) the room. I had a pile of sweaters next to the bed waiting to be washed and stored away for the winter (it's still cold enough here for and occasional light cashmere sweater). Well, they'll be washed now.
The Husband took the bedding to the laundromat and I proceeded to wipe down and sort out the room. Our bed wasn't ready until two in the morning. Good thing I didn't have to work.

Survivor

No, no. Nothing about the health (thanks for that momentary panic, though). Yesterday was the last day of Passover. It was an ....interesting holiday this year. Both of the boys and their sweeties made it to first Seder. Good people, but one of the worst meals I've cooked in a looong time. I tried to keep the asparagus warm. Did you know it will turn to green slime if you keep it in a 200 degree oven while you read through the Haggadah? And the potato kugel, well, it wasn't really crisp and brown, more just slightly charred. At least dessert was good, Chocolate ice cream roll with raspberry sauce. The granola came out well this year, too. I made bunches of the American style (since that's what the boys like, it has maple syrup, dried blueberries and dried cranberries. This year I added some dried pears since I had a lot left from the tree). Best thing I did this year was to type up the Gordon Family Haggadah*. For years we have switched around among three or four Haggadot** and it really bugged me. So Tuesday I sat down with a list and seven Haggadot and wrote down the parts we actually do in out family (no hand washing, it is assumed you did that before you sat down to eat). The second night of Passover we went to a community Seder and at the end, The Husband turned to me and said, "After hearing what he (the head of the ritual committee)did, your Haggadah isn't so bad." Seriously, he thinks it was a compliment.
On the knitting front I finished the Noro two row scarf Amy sent the yarn for, bought some Lion Brand Acrylic to knit a Steggie sweater for one of the great nephews and have been plugging along on some socks for The Husband and a pair from Cookie A's new sock book. Have you seen it? Don't just sit there, go find it. It starts with how to design socks and then give a bunch of must-knit patterns. We all knew she had it in her, I'm just glad she got it down on paper.
Next week will officially be the week from hell. We are hosting the Rabbi this weekend (driving about and making sure she is fed at appropriate times, also means we have to attend almost every event at the Temple), Sunday school (teaching 7-year-olds about the Holocaust, Yay). Subbing Monday through Friday, Monday night is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Wednesday is a board meeting, Thursday is training for Proctoring an advanced degree board test, Saturday we have to get up at 4 am (4 AM!!!!) to be at the exam and Sunday I'm back at Sunday School. In other words, I will be either working or sleeping next week. At least I should loose a few pounds as there doesn't seem to be any time for cooking.
See you in May. If I survive.

*Haggadah - The book that tells the story of Passover. It can run from 10 pages to 200 depending on the amount of Hebrew and details. The Gordon one runs 17 pages, with no illustrations (at least this year).
**Haggadot - Plural of the above.

Only For Amy...

Would I post again so soon. She has a little meme and it's been bugging me all day os here goes:
1. If you could be eating anything at this very moment, what would you be stuffing your face with?
This was a tough one. Creme Brulee? Grilled three-cheese sandwich with fresh tomatoes and basil on sourdough? Wait, I know! An ATC. Avocado, turkey, and cheese on sourdough bread. Preferably in San Diego where it's swimming weather all the time.
2. If you could warp the space time continuum and start and finish a project in an hour, what would it be (and what color would it be?)
Hmmm. The aran sweater I promised to design and knit for a friend a while back. It's a beautiful (yet manly) heathery blue. I started it in 2008, but ran into some gauge and fit issues. New measurements are just waiting for some cable designing.
3. What was the weirdest thing to happen to you all day?
The Husband wanted to call the school where I work (and he sometimes helps out) and see if he was really needed tomorrow. I said no and when we got home from the Pesach shopping there was a message from the secretary telling him he could have the day off.
4. What was the funniest thing someone said to you today?
The Husband said, "Mmmmmmm, Dangly bits!"
I said, "What!?"
He explained, "The earrings, the earrings!"
5. What was today's songworm?
Ma Nishtana, Passover is getting closer.
6. What was the thing you did today you were proudest of?
Changed all four perpetual calendars and it's still the first.
7. What was the dumbest thing you did today?
Ordered iced tea at Subway. It only comes pre-sweetened and flavored. What a waste of caffeine.
8. What was the most same ol' same ol'?
The house still needs to be cleaned for Pesach and the quilts still aren't done.
9. What was the best thing about your region today?
Driving through the clouds to get to the grocery store.
10. What color was your day, and would you knit a project with it?
Weatherwise, kind of an ugly grey. And no.
Your turn.