Not So Fancy Nancy

I've earned the Good YarnKeeping seal of approval

... or at least a nice pat on the back.

Remember my swatching? Well, for once I've followed through. With a bit of swagger I threw all the finished swatches in the washer with my Noro Silk Garden entrelac and Rachel's hat and sweater. Now that I've taken before and after gauge, I got one word for you all:  SWATCH! Just a few held gauge while some relaxed and others tightened. A bunch had significant row gauge shrinkage too - enough to affect sleeve length, etc. Many bloomed or the drape changed. Generally, I liked them all better after the wash. I feel so informed.

For all my handknitting except lace I use a front loader on the "hand-wash" setting with either Eucalan or Kookobura wool wash (think I prefer the Eucalan). Everything dries flat except for the 100% cottons which get a low machine dry. Yeah, I know it would be better to dry those flat too, but I have to be honest and give my swatches real-life treatment.

Got a little geeky and made a chart with all my uncommitted yarn listed by brand, content, total yardage, label gauge/needles and actual gauge/needles, etc.

Not just looking for make-work (got enough of that thanks very much). When I browse books and mags I'm always trying to match my stash to projects, but seem to forget what I have, I'm not be sure about the gauge, or mark it, then loose the marker. I've tried putting the book with the yarn, but was then finding my library spread all over the house. The half-assed system was not cutting it. Now I can note potential projects on the list as I find them and reshelve the book. I've found several maybes already. Rogue is calling to me again, particularly after seeing Teresa and Paula's perfectly gorgeous blue ones in the making.

Order is good. Like organic apples in November. Aren't the little ones so cute? The girls love those in their lunches. And that's my new poddish devise on that plate on the left. I've been listening to The Adventure of English read by Melvyn Bragg, a Brit with an amazing ability to make the language come alive. Highly recommended.

Here's a look at our November Santa Ana sky. At least my swatches dried in about 20 minutes. OK, a little bit of an exaggeration, but with humidity less than 30% things dry pretty darned fast! If you're not familiar with these winds, here's an apt description:

Santa Anas are "those hot dry [winds] that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen." Raymond Chandler -  Red Wind

Personally, I hate this weather. Well, I do like the blue skies - I'm not a total Scrooge. But the dryness makes my contacts hurt, face pull, hair look like crap and at its worst, my nose bleeds. No part of this Scots Irish rain-loving body should be subjected to this. I'm sure to keep the carving knives safely in the drawer. Luckily, this is a mild one.

So, I'm sure many of you recognize the Weekend Knits side-to-side handwarmers. Jaime's fun orange pair reminded me that I'd been wanting to make them. (btw, I know you tagged me for that meme) That's the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran I'd bought for Gloria last year. Bagged that effort, but found myself left with 7 balls of the DB. Not enough for a garment, and with this weather do I really need another scarf or hat?

What I do need is a cozy set of bed-gloves and bed-socks. I've got near-corpse blood pressure (90-100/70 when I'm anxious and running late) and it really falls when I lie down. I always worry the nurses at the surgi-center when I get my back injections because it falls to 50's/40's without narcotics. My hands and feet turn to ice cubes when I first go to bed, especially when my hands are out of the covers holding a book. You can imagine how much this thrills my DH. I must be a witch because I can make him levitate with just a touch. Also, we don't heat the house, so it gets in the mid-60's to high 50's in here at night during the winter months. These should be perfect. Luxuriously soft and cozy.

Originally I'd worked up the Cashmerino with a Noro cotton chenille. Didn't like the look of it and took the untouched skeins of the Noro back, but kept the DB.

Since I tried the sleeve gauge method for this I had an annoying alternating yarn pattern to rip. Couldn't just hook it up to the winder, so the piles got a little scary. Didn't help that the DB ball had fallen apart before I even started.

Reminds me of when I was 9 or 10 and the teenager across the street would allow me to unknot her wildly tangled pile of fine gold chains (it was the late 70's) while she got ready for a date. That was my payment to get a juicy peek into the teen years and I felt so privileged, thought I'm sure I was tolerated like a pet. Learned a lot since she took FOR-EVER to get ready - hours - literally. We'd put on classic 70's rock (though it wasn't called "classic" then) and she'd get in the mood. Lots of Steve Miller and Aerosmith for her. I was more partial to Zep. Still am.

Take a deep breath. Look, then look away before you cry. This is novice knitting at it's scariest - when you think you know more than you do. This is Rowan Summer Tweed gone wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I am proud of my young knitter self for figuring out how to do the pattern (this was 3-4 years ago), but context is everything. I was going to look like a lavender Charlie Brown and ... well ... don't even ask me what I was thinking with the steeks. In rough silk/cotton? Almost embarrassed to even show this, but at least I've pulled it out of the back of my closet, exposed it to the light and righted my really wrong. All is well and the yarn stored in neat little balls now. Move on folks, it's over. Nothing more to stare at.

Hopefully, you can stare at this soon. Blackberry. In cranberry Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky. Thanks Moni for moving it from the abstract to the needles. Isn't is interesting how seeing it on someones blog can take you from browsing Knitty and thinking - hey, that looks cute ... nah [click] - to actually casting on? You bloggers really do inspire me all the time. Thanks.

things that suck time away from knitting

I wasn’t going to mention this here, but I want to explain why I’ve not been answering all my emails or posting much. The day after my last post we experienced credit card fraud. I’ll tell you about it here so if you see yourself, you can consider making changes.

Luckily, the credit card was only used by us for a couple of automatic monthly payments and had been stored in our home office for about a year. This was not on-line theft - the card info was stolen from our home. The credit card agency tells me the card was swiped, duplicated and then presented in person at a store. Our cards were not physically stolen – there’s a small, handheld device that swipes the info off the metal strip on the back of a card in seconds. Because it was a basically unused card, the sudden $2000 charges in one day spurred a fraud alert from the vendor and the problem was nipped in the bud. We’re not liable for the fraudulent charges, but that was me doing the nipping – I spent two days calling every frickin’ credit and bank account we have and canceling the current info and alerting the credit agencies to place fraud alerts so no new credit can be opened. I’m just a little sick of automated phone systems! Then we went over a week with nothing but cash waiting for everything to recycle. Good for the budget at least!

Filed a police report, but the truth will probably never be known. The list is pretty short:  various workmen who came to fix a roof leak in the office over the summer, carpet, window and house cleaners have all worked upstairs. While I’m always home when workers are here, it’s just not possible to follow them every minute while caring for kids and pets, etc., so I was certainly out of the room with each of them. Because this crime only takes seconds, being home doesn’t really matter. Other than this list, we have just friends who stayed here and other friends who feed the cats – none of whom I suspect. Luckily, this seems to have been a quick “see it, grab it, swipe it” kind of thing as opposed to massive identity theft since there’s been no further evidence of fraud attempts – no accounts trying to be opened or shifted, etc. Usually our cards are in a locked cabinet, but over the summer we were doing a lot of rearranging and I do remember having things a bit more disorganized over those months.

Anyway, I did a full lock-down on all financial info and it’s all over except for the cleanup, which of course is my job. Annoying part of it all is that it takes away from knitting! Also, we stopped our housekeeping service, which we were planning to do anyway for more mundane reasons, so now I’m housekeeper again. At least I have more money for fun things ‘cause I’m certainly paying myself for this!

I’m turning off comments for this post since I will just feel even more behind if I get more emails!  I’ll assume you’re sympathetic and trust me, I feel like a fool, so I accept those thoughts too. I’m sharing the details of how this happened so you can consider your own home-office situation. From now on all personal info – all account info – everything financial - will reside under lock in this household. I know we’ve all heard so much lately about credit card fraud and identity stealing, but I wanted to share that it doesn’t have to happen on-line, with your trash, at the mailbox, or with a purse stealing, etc. One of the sad things about this kind of “petty” crime is that the perpetrator can write it off in their own minds with “Oh, they won’t have to pay for it themselves – it’ll be covered by the credit card companies.” Also, the person doing the swiping is rarely the maker of the fake cards – they just sell the data to the next rung in the criminal ladder, which further removes them from the crime. I point this out because our cameras and other electronic items stored with the cards weren’t touched. This was not a break in.

Finally, if you have commented or emailed me on my previous two posts, please understand that I have really, really enjoyed every comment! In fact, your messages were by far the highlight of my week last week! I did tell Rachel how many compliments she got too. Thank you for boosting her ego – she’s pretty sensitive under her tough kid exterior. Still, I think I’ve got to start fresh and let some things go, so unless you asked me something specific, I’m going to stop trying to catch up and instead move forward. I’d rather spend my time reading your blogs anyway! I have started some new knitting, so look for a more interesting post soon.

From Yosemite to Brooks Farm: Beauty in all sizes

Thanks for all your wonderful welcome backs and welcome puppy messages. I'm still in the process of catching up on blogs and answering mail, but there's hope on the horizon this week (aka, a relatively empty calendar). I'm very happy to be a homebody this week!

Cami is doing great and, bless her little puppy heart, sleeps through the night. Yes, there are a few messes, but since I've been dealing with kids for 8 years now I'm pretty impervious. Clean it up and move on. Thanks for your concerns about my knitting, but with two cats and two kids my knitting has never lived outside of my bags or closet. I've been trained well.

I'm going light on the commentary today and pulling out the pics.

I tried to capture the flavor of our trip to Yosemite and Sequoia without the typical postcard shots -- Ansel Adams did it better.

Well, OK, I may have snapped 2 ... or 20 of Half Dome, but it's pretty darned compelling when you're standing there at sunset!

First up, a knitting shot. It seems my oldest doesn't get her fair blog time -- not my fault she's always on the go! This trip was no different. Most photos are from behind as she spent most of her time climbing boulders.

I had to share this one - there's nothing like seeing your knitting really worn. This is a Noro 1-ball hat and Rowan DK Cotton sweater (details in the Gallery to the left).

After years of whipping away just as the shutter clicks she's finally starting to give me good shots, though smiles with teeth are unheard of. Still, I really like these ones where a touch of the woman she will be is showing.

Now a little Autumn color, Sierra Nevada style:

This was the view from the meadow just behind the Lodge. Throughout the first day I kept seeing people with tripods traipsing in and out of a nondescript trail through the bushes behind our room, so that afternoon I went to investigate.

Came back to get the family. The girls and Brian took a log balance beam across the Merced River and romped on this gravel island while I watched the light on the rocks.

As the sun set a small group of us stood there quietly and one woman put it perfectly, "There's no better place on earth at this moment." I've found so many beautiful natural places that inspire that feeling and each time I try and remind myself to stop and really enjoy it. Life's short but sometimes so sweet.

Now for a not-so-sweet moment...

Now, take a good look at these photos. This is what they were climbing:  Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park. That railing is all there is between you and a 1000'+ drop on three sides.

I'm not particularly scared of heights and would have done this walk with only adults, but I just couldn't follow my two babies up those steps. Thankfully I had a nice chat with an Irish bloke waiting for his wife to come back down -- we traded travel stories while pretending that we weren't listening for screams.

On to happier pursuits:  Looking for bear.

When we entered this beautiful meadow the fog was so thick that the trees on the other side weren't visible. It felt like this log led into a grass sea on edge of the earth. When the wind blew the fog clear enough to see the trees is was surprising how close they were.

The field is a swamp, so balance on that log was essential! Bears frequent this meadow, which kept my antenna up, but all we found was the most amazing silence broken only by bird calls.

No bear, but we did see coyote and lots of deer on the trip. The wildlife highlight was had by my DH and DD who took a hike up out of the Yosemite valley floor and saw a bobcat in the wild. R's YMCA tribe is named Bobcat, and she's in the Coyote Nation, so she was ecstatic.

A mossy Sequoia tree was my last photo of the trip. I can still feel the cool wet breeze and smell the wood.

So now that I've covered sights and smells, how about touch. Click on these thumbnails to immerse yourself in fiber goodness.

 

I think half the people who saw me at Rhinebeck remember talking to me at the Brooks Farm booth.

Guess I was there a while (sheepish grin) (or should that be goatish?) (do goats grin?) (in other than lascivious ways?)

Bought my mom two hanks too in her favorite colors.

More yarn and project updates next time.