Monday, October 15, 2007

I am so dreadful
Well, the web posting idea didn't last long. But I AM going to try. Despite no longer having any teenagers living with me, I seem to have less and less time. Perhaps it's a function of aging...everything just seems to take a lot longer than it used to.

Right now, I'm blogging because I just got a message from my secret pal on the mitten exchange plaintively asking for my questionaire info. I had posted it on this blog, but since I never really added much more to the blog, I hadn't let the hostess of the exchange know that I had STARTED a blog! Oy vey.

This weekend was rather worse than usual on the ratrace scale. I was up early on Sat. AM to go to a day-long class at Stitches East which is in Baltimore, an hour away. I was excited about the class (my first knitting class) and up on time (miracle of miracles) determined to get there early. But, after a bad routing choice (South Capitol Street Bridge was closed) and running into a detour due to the Baltimore Marathon being run this weekend, I ended up turning the corner to Pratt St., where the Convention Center is, just about on time to make it. Then, the police stopped the traffic to let several hundred runners cross Pratt St. We were stopped dead on a one-way street, with no where to go for about 45 minutes. I wound up an hour late to class. Still I was able to catch up fairly quickly and it was fun...a class on creative knitting with Valentina Devine.

But, that evening when I got home, I found more problems. One of the cats has been peeing out of the litterbox for a few days and that evening I finally figured out it must have been Papageno. He was acting very peculiarly...lethargic and walking very slowly. I saw him walking down the stairs like an old man, gingerly and as if he were afraid to take each step. Then he just lay there when I went to pick him up. Of course, usually it's impossible to pick him up: He takes off like a furry rocket when you just look at him! It was clear he was very sick, so after stewing a bit about how I was going to deal with this and checking the Internet for any helpful information, I called Linda. My friendly cat person concluded that yes, he needed to go to the pet emergency room, and, of course, she knew exactly where that was. I called Katrina and Norman as well to see if they had any words of advice (also being cat folks...and Norman being a doc). Katrina elected to come with me, which was nice because it took forever. We were there until 1 PM. By the time I got home, having concluded that nothing really dreadful and imminently life-threatening seemed to be wrong with Papageno (and $420 poorer) it was very late. But, of course, I was obsessed with playing with my knitting. Three hours later, I finally went to bed.

Too-few hours later the alarm went off...I had a second 8:30 AM class in Baltimore that day too. By the time I forced myself out of bed, into the shower and on the road, I was clearly going to be nearly an hour late. But I went anyway, only to discover that no...I wasn't late. I was 4 hours early...my class was at 1:30 in the afternoon. Oh well. The market opened shortly after I was able to spend the morning yarn shopping. And I scored a great bargain at one of the booths. Rosie's Yarn Cellar had put a plastic tub of assorted yarns out. As I went by, two women were pouring through them, noting that they were a bargain. How much of a bargain? Unbelieveable...as much as you could stuff in a bag for $10. And this wasn't just junk...nothing really wonderful, but some perfectly nice Reynolds 100% merino DK in a couple of very pretty variegated colorways. Some assorted Nashua wooly stripes. Between that and the other "bargain tub"...Adrienne Vittadini DK wool/alpaca/mohair blend for $2.50 each. I left with a giant bag of yarns for a grand total of $38. Don't know what I'll do with them, but they sure are nice!

Posted by Melissa at 1:17 PM 0 comments


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Mitten exchange
OK, so I'm going whole hog into this blogging stuff. I've also joined a mitten exchange and need to post on this blog or that one to stay in the exchange. When I've been looking for information or inspiration on line about a particular yarn or pattern, I often wind up being directed to someone's blog. And I'm really impressed with some of them. They're often well-written, interesting and range from humorous to thought-provoking. And I often see references to knitting exchanges...socks, mittens, etc. Participants seem to get so much fun from receiving packages from their secret pal and from sharing their enthusiasm for knitting. So when I saw a note about the mitten exchange on knitlist, I decided to give it a try.

Here's the questionaire for the exchange, filled out:

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? I tried knitting multiple times in my adult life and somehow it never took. I never really seemed to grasp what was going on and always managed to make a muddle of what I was doing and quit long before I produced anything that faintly resembled a completed object. But I did crochet and had crocheted funky, fun Christmas stockings for a long list of family members.

One year, when buying yarn for another crocheted stocking, the beautiful yarns at my local shop inspired me to try knitting once more. This time, I bought a book...that big beautiful Vogue book of knitting. And this time, instead of relying on friends to teach me, I taught my self using the book. It was magic. I actually understood what was happening with the loops of yarn on my needles. I made that Christmas stocking and then another, and another. Then I started my first sweater. And finished it! And it was wearable...not perfect, admittedly, but definitely wearable.
That was about two years ago. From then on, I couldn't stop. Day or night, summer or winter, now I ALWAYS have knitting with me. I've since knit myself Sally Melville's Best Friend sweater and an Einstein coat, a half-dozen scarfs, three or four pairs of fingerless gloves for gifts, a half dozen hats for members of my son's boy scout troop, another two sweaters for me, a baby sweater for my neice's daughter, a half dozen felted bags, three shrugs for gifts and more. I'm planning to knit ALL my Christmas gifts this year.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I'd call myself an enthusiastic intermediate. I like learning new techniques, so I'm often trying something different with each new project. As a result, I haven't mastered many yet, but can usually turn out a creditable job on intarsia, slip stitch, cabling, etc. Oh...and I found out long after I made those first knitted Christmas stockings that what I'd been doing was two-handed fair isle. Who knew?

What are your favorite colors? Any you dislike? I love teal, peacock, raspberry and cherry red. Remember getting your "colors" done? I'm a dark summer...the type that looks best in cool shades...jewel tones, reds, pinks, purples with a hint of blue in them and nearly any blue. And those, plus soft yellows are my favorites. I dislike most typical fall colors...olive, orange, rust, etc.

Do you like Latvian type patterns? If so, what are your favorite patterns? I like patterns of nearly all types! But I have always had a special affinity for floral intarsia.
Do you desire mittens for yourself, your "special someone else" or your child?
For me, for me, for me! Mittens are warm, cozy and fun!

What other things do you enjoy knitting? Everything...so far.

What sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum). I use Addi turbo circulars almost exclusively. Straights feel very awkward to me, sticking out at all angles. And I always seem to be dropping one of them. And I like slick, metal needles. When I need straights, I prefer Sally Bates Silverlumes.

What’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make? Lace.

What’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with? cashmere
What other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? Cook? I bead. Before I became addicted to knitting, I was addicted to beading and possess a rather large collection of glass, stone and silver beads, which someday, I may go back to. I usually made necklaces and earrings.

Besides yarn, do you collect anything? I collect everything. Well nearly everything. As I said, I've got a big collection of beads. I have a large bowl full of vintage buttons I inherited from my mom. Another of keys. Vintage cookbooks and recipe pamphlets sponsored by companies in the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s.

What kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? Chocolate, of course.

Anything you hate or are allergic to? No.
Do you have any kids? One teenage son.
Pets? Two Himalyan cats.

What is your favorite part of Winter? Christmas!

What is your least favorite part of Winter? The tail end, in late Feb. or early March, when it's cold, grey and wet and I'm really longing for spring.

Posted by Melissa at 8:08 AM 0 comments

Labels: Mitten exchange

Monday, September 17, 2007

First post!
Well, this is exciting. My first blog post. I never thought I'd be doing this, but increasingly it does seem a way both to keep in touch with others and to keep track of what's going on in my life. Odds are though, I'll never tell anyone about it though...sort of a secret blog, if that's possible.

There always seems to be something going on that I'm not ready for. Meeting up with friends. Christmas. Holidays of all sorts. My son going off to school. Work. Bedtime. Getting up time.

And as I get older, it seems to get worse. I'm always busy, never finished and never, ever ready for the next step in life. But somehow, it happens anyway and I just keep running to catch up. So here I am running to catch up with blogging technology.

Posted by Melissa at 1:22 PM 0 comments


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