I'm Ready

It's been nearly six years. A very busy, scary six years. I still knit, both cats continue to be the best fan club a girl could ever want and my passion for coffee and chocolate is still strong. I would still rather a dental visit than clean my house. And things are finally working again.

A recent Facebook meme tasked me with sharing five things folks didn't know about me. Here is my post:

1) My favorite color is green.
2) I have a spectrum disorder.3) I went back to school at 40.4) I really want a dog and firmly believe in no-kill shelters.5) In 2010 I left a suburb with a population of 58,000 for one where our popularion is 1,800. We love it here.

And I finally feel as though I have something both relevant and cohesive to add to the internet. 

In 2010, I started dating. It just fell together. Linewalker relocated to Minnesota and we downsized into a 2 bedroom apartment. Three years later, I am still organizing, reorganizing and trying to use less space. I have learned to take things on with deliberation. To take a minute and give the situation some thought, not something I would have done in my thirties. After forty years taking care of myself, I am very slowly learning to talk things out, ask before just purchasing and making meals for two very different palates. 

I am knitting again and it is soothing. I no longer knit like it's addiction but work things as they come. I have given up the sprint for the long run. This is Hyla Brook and the yarn is St-Denis Nordique. It's a quick little knit in garter stitch and applied lace. A good pattern for an adventurous beginner. I have made two as little test projects for new yarns. If you are a knitter and haven;t tried it yet, Quince and Co. has fantastic yarns. 
If you can get your hands on some of the discontinued St-Denis yarns, in any weight, snatch them up. St-Denis made excellent yarn for the knitter's knitter. There were three pattern books, all excellent and worth adding to one's library. The first is my favorite. 

An update on K8. She turned twenty-five this year. When I started blogging, she had just left for University on the other side of the globe. It was a dream she had following her first college fair. She very articulately denied my recommendations of where she should look for higher education. What attracted her to Bond was it's two year intensive program. Attending classes year round would earn a degree equivalent to a Bachelor's in two years. Kate, even as a teenager, knew that she didn't want to study (she used the words 'couldn't) for four more years. And how right she was. Bond was the right environment for her. She excelled earning top of class honors repeatedly. SHe also met the man of her dreams. We referred to him as "Hot Kitchen Guy" for a whole semester. K8 and Hot Kitchen Guy have been together for five years, traveling the world and developing their careers in the banking, sales and oil industries. I enjoy her as much now as I did when she was at home. She is wise beyond her years and will be more disciplined than us all.  She's coming back for a few weeks at Christmas. We're all looking forward to it.

Line and I are making preparations for 2014. We have both put on a significant amount of weight. After a year of research and doctor visits, we are going caveman in 2014. It fits Line's diet of meat and potatoes while cutting out dairy, grains and nuts. I am actively looking for more recipes to add to my toolbox. 

Later this week I will post the answers to our latest SWAP questions. And possibly a list of 25 things about me, but we'll see.

Overthinking. Yarnover. EZ

Why post when there are no pictures (so there are a few)....it's not really fair to consume everyone else's photos without offering up your own (be nice, play fair).... it takes so SERIOUS skill to take good pictures in direct sunlight(which I don't have)....it's the end of June, the mosquitoes are out (I have the bites to prove it).

I love to knit. I make no secret about it. There is genius to be found in knitting. 90% of the time, both are positive and empowering. When the two are combined, they are downright combustible.

I am fascinated by holes. A hole is the absence of something. A hole generates a reaction. Sometimes it's sensory-cheese with holes tastes great. Or physical-caused by the dog or a mole. Examples of holes are: cognitive (holes in heads), emotional (holes in hearts) or geographical (sinkholes). Holes are given a "value". They are either empty or full. Holes in the marketplace are good. They're called "niches" and make scads of money. Holes in houses or fuel tanks are bad. Holes in jeans get a variable reaction. It depends on who you ask.

You make a hole by adding or subtracting something.


In knitting, there are holes that are desired (lace) and holes that are dreaded (insect or animal).


I get a really big charge out of being able to manipulate and control my knitting by strategically placing holes.


Genius is like a hole. It can be either natural or man made. It can be debated but not denied. Often the product of environment, both are obvious.


Elizabeth Zimmerman was a genius. She also happens to have been a knitter. She asked questions and looked for answers. She listened to history, applied her findings and learned things. She asked more questions. She thought about circles and lace knitting.


And ended up at Pi. Pi, as in science and math. Pi as in 3.14etc, etc, etc. Pi + holes = endless possibilities. And SIMPLE.

Pi + Renee (Goddess Knits) = Anniversary KAL

Short, sweet and VERY flexible. 5 clues, with a choice between 2 charts for each clue. Requires: yarn, needles (and beads). Even in the era of modified and carefully selected roles and goals, I can do this. Particularly if I do the 50/50 split: use something from my stash and purchase the other "something else".

Stash: beads. Purchase: BMFA Silk Thread, Thraven colorway



If you've ever taken a color class, you can appreciate Tina's experiment in over dying (Raven Clan colorway). Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Silk has a texture all its own. In the hank, it squeaks. A feel squeak, not an audible squeak.

Hand dyed yarn has a fragrance. A working kind of...studio sort of....homey feeling.

I never found the Hematite beads that I had in mind when I order the yarn. I had pulled these out instead (mostly because I could find them).



When the yarn met the beads for the first time this afternoon, I wasn't so sure. I never am. Every second guess gets a third and more is ALWAYS better.

They sat in a punch bowl. They sat in a vase. They jumped into a clear plastic bag. And we went for a ride.

There was traffic. There was music. There was a custom license plate that read "O RELAX" on a snazzy new German auto. I enjoyed it until the driver pulled a move right off Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway.

I laughed. I simply don't take myself that seriously anymore. Here's some more math: Construction + Rush Hour = Traffic

Minneapolis has transit issues. It could be worse. Deal with it.



A trip to the airport (3 Hour Tour) and I ended up with what I had when I started. Exactly.

• Wind yarn tonight.
• Start @ the center, working Clue 1 and Clue 2 tomorrow.
• Take more pictures.
• Begin Clue 3 on Sunday

By the end of the weekend, my shawl will lag only a day. I will have revealed my secret photo "assistant", and I will have watched the next disc in Season 5 of "MI-5".

11 Months to the Day

It's an anniversary of sorts. The stall of the blog, the acknowledgment that I am picture-challenged and a new appreciation for simple things. I quickly and dramatically ran out of gas. One the plus side--I'm not the first or the last and I'm in great company! There are many, many highly creative and successful folks on these lists. So where's my name? That's a project for another day.

I often say, "Knitting has kept me sane and continues to do so." I am a 'process' creative, so there are plenty of UFOs. Like this one:

Emily, the wonder roomate's Inside Outs in STR's 'Highway 30'. Can you spot the issues? In addition to wide feet, Em's got a high instep. This one wasn't high enough. Ahd the HOLE--see the hole? Who knit these socks.......I frogged them both to just below the heel. And stalled. And so it went with several pair over the last year.

I joined Ravelry in June. And started actually using it's tools about a week ago. And for teh bonus round? That's right, "What are No Pictures?" Soon. Really.

Here's what using Ravelry has taught me (over the least 10 days). 1)I have LOTS of things on the needles. Many, many more than I realized. 2)4-25qt. plastic bins of sock yarn is bordering on excessive. That's stand on the edge of being a Thing. 3)I haven't finished cataloging the yarn that I look at everyday. I wonder what's in the back of the closet...... Do you know how many pictures I need to take?

Right along with the hard things, there was this:

My baby sister went off to University. K8's not a baby anymore. She hasn't been one in a very long time. 20 years old. Somewhere between crawling and Christmas she became a lovely young woman. She worked really hard to get to this point. Interestingly, getting accepted was the easiest piece. I thought that the details of becoming a foreign student were going to make me crazy. There were funding issues and VISA issues and changed flights and forgotten items. There were days that she thought that it was a pipe dream. She's now a hemisphere and half a world away. And exactly where she is supposed to be.

Finishing my stalled projects is very similar. There are days that I don't believe that I will ever put a dent in them or have a "real person's" living room. And my silly sister believes that it will happen. Perhaps not in her lifetime, but it will happen.

This leaves me with much more time. Time to knit, time to take pictures and time to get back on the horse.

Crabby People make me...Crabby

Shopping Cats in Parking Spaces, self-centered driving, and Blog whining.

Let's all pledge to simply stop the madness.

You teach your children by example. More powerful than any wordsthat you will every say is how you behave. Do as I say, not as I do is NOT A PARANTING STRATEGY. It's Hypocracy. Pure and simple.

Take 30 seconds and be courtious to others. Your children will be courtious in 20 years. Brake for pedestrians--your children won't plow into one when they are driving. Hold doors, offer to help someone who has their arms full. Be courageous--rake the yard of am elderly neighbor or one whose spouse is serving in the military REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE WAR. Teach your children to live generously-before Oprah suggests it.

Live with your heart and your head. Live community and your kids will create one.

Of Cabbages and Kings.....

My world is picking up speed and I'm not terribly sure that I'm up for the challenge. Purses, purses and more purses. There are felted purses to be made, there are larger versions to be reworked and today was all about the theme of the first rose of spring. And there's a sweater looming on the horizon. One who's yarn hasn't come in yet. And it needs to be done by June 1.

I am at Threat Level "Concerned".

In an effort to soothe myself, I did a bit of shopping. Online shopping. Always dangerous. I really should have a contest to see who could guess what I bought. A purse! And I don't even carry one. It's a gift for my DS, something that she would never, ever purchase for herself. There was also a trip to not one, but two LYSs chasing colors for the Rose of Spring purse. Relax, it's not felted. The jury is out on whether or not it needs crystals (to sparkle like dew). Lastly was a mission for journaling supplies. I have a clear vision for a knitting journal...it will be interesting to see how it unfolds (literally).

I recently changed calendar formats in another attempt to go totally paperless. A small monthly pocket planner did not help where the calendar on my phone failed. I went to an appointment today that is scheduled tomorrow and I've asked about the next two days multiple times as I fear forgetting something. It might be time to consider a new Palm.

It was so warm and sunny again today that I believe that I have a bit of heat rash along my hairline--always attractive. First the obsession with knitting and not small red dots all over my forehead. It is probably best to hole up at home, knit like crazy and gently introduce myself to the warm weather like the plants--a little bit each day.

Tomorrow, I'm after getting a picture of the growing buds on the tree outside--it's fantastic. I'll share shortly.

Knitter's Coffee Swap Part Deux

A Bit about Me

1. Whole Bean
2. Decaf (it's sad, I know)
3. Typically regular but I enjoy flavored too.
4. I drink my coffee dark, thick and with a generous amount of cream. I love organic cream.
5. Friday's is Roadkill Latte day. Decaf, Soy, SF Hazelnut Latte. Best soffee ever would have to be Egyptian or Italian. Funny, both are made on the stove top.
6. If I were to answer honestly, I would have to say that I get a bit Sally-esque about my coffee. I'm particular about beans and cream, but as long as a latte/ cappuccino is made well, I'm easy.
7. Michael's Biscotti (from my local bread shop), a chocolate coffee bean or a good, biscuit-like scone. Seasonal fruit on the side.
8. Goodness, I hope not. :b
9. What's not to love...Wool, organic anything, cotton, linen, silk.
10. Cat Hair and 100% acrylic (while both have their purpose, not with my coffee or my knitting)
11. Um, could this question be qualified, please? I'm a process knitter. Kate Gilbert's "Cardigan for Arwen", a tribute to Vivian Hoxbro, 3-5 different socks, a summer rectangle with arm holes (and the perfect soft yellow), Norah Gaughan's Rams Horn Sweater"; and Rita O'Connell's "Garden Maze Cardigan" have floated to the surface of the stash. There's lace bit I don't typically sock and work lace at the same time.
12. Mostly cool tones--greens, blues, greys a bit of chocolate brown
13. Not to food or fibers, please don't send me grass or a tree.
14. I'm sentimental--my sister dyed sock yarn for me and I love the socks that it became--not because the colorway is particularly "perfect" but because she dyed it with me in mind. I also love to learn about anything and am inspired by pictures of all kinds.

Let It Rain

A front went through last night. I didn't sleep. It's not as bad as it sounds, I enjoy those nights. Millie eventually gets tired and goes to bed after trying every bed behavior that she knows to get me to go too. When clear Kitty ESP fails to procure me obedience, she sacks out withing the 7ft. radius. She is at her most relaxed and endearing. We had a wonderful night.

Let it Rain

Make this day down, the weather was predicted correctly. It has begun to rain. A nice, lovely spring rain that will quench the ground and encourage new spring growth. It's the beginning of the season of greens! I believe that it will be a Window Box Wednesday this week.

On the knitting Front
I had thought to make the most of some quiet time and finish the first of my toe-up RPMs but the sock is a bit like the unicorn today. It has been Heel Time for a few weeks and the sock has waited patiently. I knew that I has knitted a bit farther than necessary but Ye Old Tape Measure said more than 3 inches! And further checking revealed that despite not being of the digital generation, my abacus tape measure was still correct.

I did inquire about a photo, but the frogged, curly pile of BFA Peakcock was embarassed to have brought my so low. And so begins my Widdershins. The Inside Outs Part Deux are midway. The first awaits an invisible bindoff and I need to do the other this week as Operation Stalk the Mailman begins next week.

Cross your socks as I work to focus on working toward completing pairs and having more FOs this year than last.....