Needle Tart

If I'm not knitting or sewing something, I must be cooking something!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Bring Out Yer Dead

It's official. Franklin and The Harlot have both posted sad, depressed, and/or frustrated posts. There's a virus out there and its target is blogland. CYS (Cover your Stash)!!

In thinking (probably over-thinking) this thing, for me personally, I used to do amazing stuff (stencil over the fireplace with computer printouts and contact paper, sweaters for the boys, quilts for the walls, intricate embroidery). Now I look at it and wonder who that woman was. The hands hurt even while knitting, the lungs can't catch enough air and I am lazy, lazy, LAZY!!! Maybe it's that The Boys are old enough to be on their own, maybe because The Husband isn't here and doesn't need upkeep (hmmm... there's a thought, feel un-needed do we? Or worse, there's no audience. How shallow.) So, how are you?

On The Husband front, I went to visit a week or so ago and this is where he is staying:
It's an amazing place and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. Nothing in the immediate area is more than 10 years old. And this in what could arguably be called the cradle of the country. You know, our 200+-year-old country? I think this is what most Americans aspire to. Everything is clean and new and lovely and looks great. The service staff is mostly Hispanic (and what does it say about this place that when I say, "Good Morning!" with a big smile they back away slowly......) and very efficient.
See that lovely pool? Every morning I do 40 laps and I am the only person in the pool (well sometimes there's a six-year-old). The other adults dip to get wet and lay on the deck chairs to tan. See the pool, don't use the pool. I checked throughout the day and for a week I was the only person I saw swimming in the swimming pool. Amazing.

So, you ask, what was there to do besides swim? The Husband had the car (after all the whole point is that he has well-paid work to do) and the only thing within walking distance (and don't get me started on how America has become the land of the car. Walk? Why would you do that?)is a mall. A mall with no yarn store!! Good thing I packed a little yarn.

This is the Summer Lace Shawlette from Interweave Knits Summer 2006.
Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in Dusk. I used a little more than one skein.
Needles: KnitPick Options size 8.
Changes: None.
There is one mistake (well, one I'll claim) in the lace but it's only noticeable when you are right up close to it. I also bound off too tightly so I ripped out the last three rows and did it right, after I took this picture. The faroese shaping was easy and makes it drape very nicely. Would I do it again? Probably not. As I've mentioned before, I have pretty wide shoulders (Upon meeting me for the first time, a cousin exclaimed, "Good Lord! An Amazon!!" I think he meant it kindly, but WTF?) and this little number emphasizes the whole shoulder area.
I also finished the Madder Ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. Sorry, can't find the picture assuming I took one. I would like to work my way through the "instructional" part of the patterns so I can try out different heels and toes.
I had plenty of time on my hands so I started the Embossed Leaf socks from Favorite Socks. I've almost finished the first one and will post pictures later.
Soon I'll be leaving to spend two weeks with The Husband (Now that The Baby has passed his driving test and can get himself to work). It's our last chance to get a little "vacation" time before school starts. If I stay for two weeks, we can do some sight-seeing (Ohh! Museums! Yarn Stores!) on his "week-end". So what will I be knitting you ask? I was going to try a Sthalman shawl, but in writing about the shawlette I've realized that while it may be lovely knitting, it's a bad fashion choice for me. So maybe I'll try out one of the lace scarves in Victorian Lace Today. I'll just have to save one of those faroese shawls for a normal shouldered friend. The big question is, "Should I order a little more yarn in a different weight so I can give the hands a rest?" Why, yes. Yes, I think that would be an important thing to do.........

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4 Comments:

Blogger confiance said...

Seriously, the answer is ALWAYS that one should buy more yarn.

And I so agree with the America/Car thing. I LOVE being able to walk places. I'm more likely to actually GO somewhere if I can just walk.

And aren't summers supposed to be lazy? We don't have "lazy winter afternoons," afterall.

1:33 PM  
Blogger Mother of Chaos said...

Oh, don't start me on the car thing. I'm really on a rampage on that front.

Before I married, I lived in an apartment complex with a gorgeous pool. Nobody in it. Except me. EVER.

Nobody sunbathing near it, either. We had four hot tubs throughout the property and again - almost never was anybody actually IN them.

Except me.

Wait...am I beginning to sense something...?

3:32 PM  
Blogger MadMad said...

The shawlette looks beautiful! I'm with you, though - I knit these things, then can't actually wear them, and then wonder why I bothered. But it was fun making them, I guess.

5:13 PM  
Blogger Amy Lane said...

Wow--hey--enjoy the vacation in a place with the pool!!! And I think you'll find your mojo is back when your brain stops buzzing from must-dos...

12:01 AM  

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