Tra La La

This is the kind of day I've had. It doesn't get much better than this. [big grin]

I Just Want a Day Off!

So I'm taking one. Two, actually. Tomorrow and Friday, just using up comp time on two perfectly gorgeous early spring days. I plan on hiking and running a few errands and knitting and getting ready for Stash-Flashing and lying on the still-brown grass, staring at a snow-drop. Maybe a crocus.

Because I'm weary. I've been working too hard, not taking care of myself, and not having enough puttering time. I need down time.

I realized that today is the one-year anniversary of breaking my ankle in Costa Rica. You don't need to hear the whole nasty story, and frankly, I don't want to type it up all over again, so I thought I'd remember the good parts of that vacation with my friends Julie and Michael.

Part of the week we spent in Costa Rica was at the home of friends of ours, who own property just outside the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Here's the little cabin the three of us stayed in there, tucked away in a little clearing on a hillside. Here's Michael disappearing along a trail in the cloud forest. This photo really evokes Michael for me, as he's always off exploring a trail in one extraordinary place after another.And here's Julie, rejoicing at an enormous tree. I just love Julie's sheer happiness at life! We only explored the northwest corner of this small country, but we did get around to varied habitats. And then, of course, there was this, a few days after we returned. At least I've gotten a lot of knitting done in the past year. And it really has healed up fine, just needs a little more exercise this summer. I learned a few things, too, that I'm pretty cheerful and stoic at dealing with emergencies, that Julie and Michael are the perfect companions for coping with a broken leg, that the Costa Rican doctors and nurses are really lovely, capable people, that Earle and all my friends and family will always help me out in a crisis, and that I'm really, really, really glad I can walk again!

The Countdown

Friday evening. 7 days, 4 hours to Flash Your Stash. I thought I might build up some suspense.

So, here are the yarn stashes for various spots around the household:

Attic: nope, none there.

Basement: none there either, although the washer/felter machine resides therein.

Backyard shed: you really didn't think I'd make respectable yarn, even acrylic, live in a shed, did you?

The trunk of my car: Nope. None in Earle's car, either.

The bathroom (there's only one in the house, I'm not trying to lead you astray here): No yarn. There is a Patternworks catalog on the back of the toilet, however.

The hall: Oh, come on, I'm not that untidy. You can admire the rack full of my FOs while you're here.

The hall closet: Nope. Aren't I virtuous?

The neighbor's house: Which neighbor? I'm pretty sure neither the firemen nor the state police have any of my yarn, although I suppose I shouldn't assume none of them keep their own yarn there.

Which reminds me - my place of employment: Nope, no yarn there.

Let's get down to business here. The kitchen? Not a bit of yarn there. The dining room? Let me check ... no, there's just the hats I need to send off to Afghans for Afghans. That's me (in the pink) and my knitting buddies at work modeling the hats I made.

The living room: Well, I will admit to three works in progress here in the living room, my Sunrise Circle Jacket, the Voodoo wristwarmers I think I'll make into gloves instead, and these socks.
OK, so it's only one sock, so far, and I've only just completed the heel flap. Nonetheless, this is the first sock I have knit in, oh, ten years or thereabout, so I think it deserves its day of glory, don't you?

That's all for now, gang, tune in next time!

Out of the Closet

No, not that closet - the blogging closet! Jerry and Maxy found me and left comments - thank you!

I suppose that's why I'm doing this, but it's still a little scary to have someone actually read this. I mean, it's just mindless blather with occasional fuzzy pictures of yarn. I haven't even figured out how to deal with the Edit-Me links just to the right. It's not a perfect blog yet! S0meone might possibly discover that I'm not perfect either - oh, the horror!

Which reminds me, the Sunrise Circle Jacket suffered a bit of a setback. At the top of the sleeve increases: 64 stitches - correct; 19.5 inches long - wrong, very very wrong. Should be 15 inches. Sigh... no pics, you've all seen frogged yarn before. I'm trying not to buy yet more yarn to salve my wounded pride.

I think I'll go do some mindless stockinette sock knitting now.

To the Big City!

Woot! Yesterday I took the train, the Green Line, and the Red Line, all to meet up with six Knittyheads at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in downtown Boston. I got to meet Kirsti, Stariel, polarg, bitterknitter, bryghtrose, and Joanna. They really exist! They're nice! They all knit socks! (fancy that)

We went to Newbury Yarns, where I bought a small souvenir of my trip (see below), walked up and down Newbury Street in a futile search for a cafe with enough room for 7 knitters, and then to Windsor Button, where I bought buttons for my Sunrise Circle Jacket. Alas, then I had to leave to catch the T and train home. And I'm afraid I didn't quite have the courage to take photos of everyone and everywhere, but you can see them all on Stariel's blog.

But look - my souvenir: Let's see that a little closer, it's such nice stuff.
And the buttons:
Fun, fun, fun. It's really nice to know there are other knitterly nuts like me in the world.

Oh, You Wanted Me to Say Something?

Yes, yes, I know I'm supposed to be writing frequent, witty, photo-filled journeys through The World of Knitting, but I've barely had a brain in the past few weeks, much less wit and knitting worth mentioning.

I have, however, been doing my best to keep farming and small animal husbandry going worldwide. Let's see, I bought this today at my LYS, Emily's Needleworks.

Katia's Mexico, half wool, half acrylic. It's going to be Kate Gilbert's Sunrise Circle Jacket, barring breakdowns in row gauge.

And yesterday, after the fourth of five major, big-time, all-out work meetings this month, Patty-Cakes and I went to Woolpak in Littleton, MA, and I bought this.
Ms. P.-Cakes has just acquired two Shetland ewes, with expectations for natural increases ahead. I asked, "so what are you going to do with the fleeces, dear, since you don't spin?" She said she'd give one to me! So now, darn it, I just have to learn how to spin. What a shame!

And the postman has been my friend, too. He brought me this:
Cherry Tree Hill's Oceania, in the Granite Hill colorway. I thought it might work for the Sunrise Circle Jacket, but the fabric is a little too lightweight, I think.

And this:
Handmaiden Ottawa, in the Dragonfly colorway. How could I resist a colorway called Dragonfly, particularly when it's on sale from Red Bird Knits? Although I will admit that I thought I could use this for the Sunrise Circle Jacket, apparently glossing right over the fact that the gauge is completely wrong. I blame the dazzling sale sticker.

It's good stuff, so let's look at it a little closer:

That's enough for today. Why, yes, there is more that I've acquired in the past week or two, but I have to save something for tomorrow....

Um, hi.

Yep, I've joined the modern world.

Here I am. With a blog.

Mostly about knitting. Probably a few words here and there about dragonflies.

The supporting cast:

Earle the Pearle, SO.

George the Vast.

With other minor characters, such as my friend Sue knitting, the all-important Almond Roca, and my (I don't want to talk about it) Olympic knitting.

Sophie (short for catastrophe) lurking in the jungle. Trust me, she's not normally this retiring.

And what you all came for:

My first sweater, knit 16 years ago from Bartlett yarn. A knit-from-the-top-down raglan. Thank you, Zoe, for teaching me to knit!!

And my latest, just finished last night, from Berocco's Europa (discontinued, alas, 80% wool, 20% cotton). A knit-from-the-bottom-up raglan. And George looking to get in on the action.

Yes, I've knit other things besides raglans in the intervening years, but that's for another time.