well, that was fun

Posted on Posted in book reviews/events, designing, food and garden, lace/shawls

first of all, thank you all for your concerned emails this morning when our server was down; everything is back up and running smoothly now, phew.

and thank you even MORE for the enthusiastic response to the roger sock booster campaign to raise funds for claudia’s ride for MS. it is a rip-roaring success and we still have a few days to go—stand up and give yourselves a hand. if you haven’t read it yet, see yesterday’s post for more information; it’s super enabling, but in a good way . . .

wow, the weekend just whizzed by—so much to do before monday. i did a LOT of cooking this weekend (tomato sauce, a big skillet of curry, pasta with cauliflower) to get ahead on the week’s meals and already started putting some greens up in the freezer fro winter. once the garden produce starts rolling in, i need to devote a part of each day to managing the influx.

we worked out side a bit yesterday afternoon and evening—tidying up and reseeding places where we picked greens during the week. my dye bed (above and below) is a mass of flowers right now which the bees are enjoying in concert.

the hyssop and meadowsweet are in full bloom, bigger than ever, and the cammomile is right behind them, just beginning to flower. that area really could use some management, hahaha. for the last 5 years we’ve let it have its way until it is a tangle of tall, flowering chaos. i love the way it looks but it’s starting to overflow its bed and shade the lettuce boxes nearby. plus, the green santolina did not come back this year for the first time ever (normally it’s huge) and i’m wondering if it got choked.

i finally got some colorful annuals potted up for the front steps and around the outside doorways of the house—i’m very late in getting that done and though we found some good sales on them, the selection was not that great. must get out earlier for pretty plants next year.

the little time i had for knitting this weekend, i spent finishing up my secret project (it’s done) and getting re-acquainted with my other lonely, rejected WIPs

i added a few more repeats to the green scarf while we watched TV last night. it’s about halfway to completion now, maybe a tad less. that is, it would be fine at double the length, but i may have enough yarn to knit beyond that point.

i love, love the shivaya cashmere lace yarn i’m using—the color variations are so subtle that you have to have a bunch of fabric knit up before you see them, like washes of light over the surface—very pretty. and well, it’s cashmere—what’s not to love?

i started a new sock—the third in the “men behind our fiber pursuits” series

this is nate and though you can’t tell a whole lot about him now, you can at least see that he likes orange, heh. this one will have a bit of a vintage feel, a little like socks maybe my grandpa wore when he was young (not the over-the-calf ones, haha), with that yummy garter-y goodness guys like. it even has some openwork for a little offbeat edge, because i think that suits nate. and for some reason, this pattern makes me think of computer code.

i also started the dark version of the sailboat sock with the neutral lorna’s laces yarn.

but i haven’t even finished the toe yet, so no pictures.

today in classes i got back to work on nightingale in this blue-gray holding alpaca laceweight from a verb for keeping warm. i added a couple more repeats during the two classes—pretty good progress and it’s starting to look substantial now.

of course, just as my afternoon class was leaving, i discovered a mistake. i usually fix those right on the needles but after i took this one apart, i couldn’t seem to put it back together correctly. sigh.
so i did the only thing i could think of—i walked away.
we ate dinner and i checked the blog (it had come back up) and it’s waiting for me to come back now. hopefully the sts will have set so that if i do have to rip back it won’t be overly painful to pick up again.

fortunately, i have a great book to listen to while i sort that mess out. oooh, and i read another great book at the end of last week—loved that one.

okay, don’t get me started on good books; i’ll never stop. and i must—i have surgery to do . . .

14 thoughts on “well, that was fun

  1. Oh, I feel your pain! I just completed some major lace surgery myself. I’m sure you have a few tricks up your sleeve to make your problem disappear. 🙂

  2. Ooh, thanks for the book recommendations! I may have to see if I can download The Help from Audible — it sounds absolutely amazing.

    Meanwhile, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the lace works itself out easily 🙂

  3. Whew! do I feel better!! Now I know I’m not the only one who can’t figure out how to pick up lace stitches. If you can’t, Anne, without a lot of effort, I shouldn’t berate myself so much when I can’t. Thanks for the encouragement…even though it’s kinda back-handed.

  4. Mercy!! I can’t even figure out a simple comment box…how could I EVER figure out lace??

    What I tried to say in my second comment was that the statement I made didn’t sound very nice. I meant that your negative experience was still an encouragement to me. Oh dear! I’m digging myself into a hole, so I’ll shut up now and hope you understand what I mean. *sigh*

  5. Ooooo, Nate looks promising 🙂 must. finish. stuff. before. casting. on. more. socks! DH’s Dolomite socks for instance…

  6. So glad to see the site is up and running again, and I feel your pain on the lace (ouch!). Intriguing new sock!

  7. It takes me forever to knit lace, because I go back and check between every marker, that I’ve done the section correctly! It takes me an eternity, but I have fewer errors that way. I don’t knit a lot of complicated lace patterns for this reason! HA!

  8. Yay, you’re back. Garden looks glorious, as usual. Here we are living in a tropical rainforest!

    Love the Nate socks – I love a man who likes orange!

    Alpaca laceweight and ripping out – a bad combination. Hope it worked out.

  9. I hope you were able to fix the shawl without too much trouble–it’s one of the hazards that goes with lace knitting…we are sending hot weather your way-it’s to be low 90’s today, but ‘feel’ 100+. I watered all of my pots when I left the house this morning and will probably have to water the smaller ones again when I get home tonight! I can’t wait to see what you do with your dye garden. You are a woman of many talents!

  10. Just wanted to say how much I’m enjoying Artichaut!
    I knew months ago, when I saw that jumble of green “secret picture” that I was going to love whatever it was. I’m knitting it in a purple olive bits of teal colorway of Grace from Briar Rose The colorway does remind me of artichokes before they are cooked, and the sheen of the bamboo in the yarn is just lovely.
    Anyhow, I’m on the fourth repeat now, I think it will be quite large!! I did have to do a fix myself, didn’t actually catch one stitch of the deadly p2tbls, and discovered a gaping hole, but it’s alright now. Whew. Thanks for the lovely pattern.

  11. Well, it surely was – the message I got made me feel like someone would be at my door any minute to arrest me for trying to go where I shouldn’t!

    Your flowers and garden are gorgeous. I have an upside down tomato plant which is trying to grow right side up. Guess we know what will happen there. Do you need any lambs ear? I can’t kill it or give it away ;0 Have plenty!!!

    Your knitting is always gorgeous – you must knit with the speed of sound!

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