Come pansy and lilac
And daffy-down-dilly,
Come log in this evening
And chat yourself silly!

If you’re not sure how to log in, just look here and all will be explained!

Because I won’t be home tomorrow, I’m doing a Tuesday post :)

Warning: Very picture heavy!

I didn’t get the shawl edged - in fact this edging issue shows every sign of becoming a considerable annoyance.  I thought I had it with a picot bind-off only to find I’d been doing it wrong - riiiiiip.  Then I tried doing it right and didn’t like the way it looked - riiiiip.  I thought about doing seed stitch triangles down the side, short-rowing to the point and binding off down the diagonal which would put me right where I needed to be for the next triangle.  I really liked that idea but so far haven’t been able to make it work without winding up with unwanted curves.  I did finally figure out that though the pattern may be 13 stitches wide, the diagonal is going to need more stitches than that if I want a straight edge - riiiiiiiiiiiiip.  So this is going on hold briefly while I find out if the library has Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge to, maybe, get my brain jump-started :)

These are going off tomorrow to Arizona for Dulaan.  There are also a couple of scarves and pairs of mittens.  I was delighted to hear than Dulaan is indeed on for 2007, so I’ll get working on that directly!

As you all probably know, we’ve been having some interesting weather up here in the northeast.  This afternoon, I went out and took some pictures.

This is the part of the river that’s closest to me - about 1/2 mile away - all down hill from my building, thank heavens :) There is a yellow police tape between the sidewalk and the park because, well because the park isn’t there right now; it’s all under water.





Right across the street (Pawtucket Street) is part of U Mass Lowell.  It’s closed today and Pawtucket street is blocked with horses and police cars at this point because it’s flooded out just a little further up.  In fact, a lot of streets and even highway off-ramps are blocked.  The word is that the river hasn’t been this high for 70 years.

Of course there are always opportunists :)

Those ducks are sitting on top of a hill, by the way.

I left the Pawtucket Street park and headed for the Aiken Street bridge.  There’s a walkway there, part of which splits off and goes along the river.

The picture doesn’t convey how active the water was - it was like a storm tide at the ocean.  Waves were crashing along the banks, well, what served as banks given the much higher than usual water level.  Pieces of wood (planks and what looked like tree trunks) were smashing into the retaining wall (and into a couple of all but inundated metal signs) and making a hell of a racket.





This isn’t particularly impressive until you realize that the shoreline should be 6 feet shallower and 20 feet further out.

It’s so strange, how things look.  In a way, it’s like having gotten a heavy snowfall that covers up all the familiar landmarks and changes the appearance of everything.  If you stand there long enough, it begins to feel completely alien because, even though you know where you are, nothing looks right.

And the other part of that walkway?





And still it rains!  However, there was a bright moment about an hour (Hiya sun!) ago and things should probably have cleared up by tomorrow morning.  Even the temperature will pretend it’s spring and go up into the low 70s for a day.  It will be lovely to see the sun again!

Through all of this, Myria and I have been fine.  I checked in on dad this morning and he’s not having any problems either, thank goodness.  I sincerely hope that any of you who are reading, and who may be in this area have also managed to escape the worst of this and been able to stay high and dry.

See you on Friday!

Well folks, we’re drowning up here in New England :) The counties in Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southern Maine have gotten between 10 and 15” of rain over the last three days.  Every river in the area is flooding and a state of emergency has been declared.

We are lucky as we live at a relatively high elevation in the city, but those down by or near the Merrimack River have had and are going to continue to have serious problems.  I keep thinking about what this would have been like if it were snow!

Dad and I had a wonderful lunch at Lord’s on Friday and I even cheated to the extent that I had (part of) a hot fudge sundae for desert.  I managed to avoid ice cream (and indeed most sugary things) on the ship - but this once, for a birthday celebration, I just couldn’t resist.  It was heavenly!

On the way home, we stopped at a couple of thrift shops.  Dad is looking for a substantial piece of luggage as the one he’s been using is only being held together with spit and wishful thinking.  He seems to feel that if he can just hit the thrift shops at the right time, one of them is bound to come up with just what he’s looking for.

Well, he didn’t find his luggage (though I hope he does) but I did find something - something totally unexpected and delightful!

A swift (mine is the 4th one down on this page)!  Unbelievable!  These sorts of things don’t usually show up in thrift shops, any more than good yarn does, but there it was at the bottom of a box containing abandoned embroidery projects and fabric scraps.





It clamps on to the table and the spokes work exactly the way an umbrella’s spokes do.  There’s a little thumb “switch” (for lack of a better word) that you press and the spokes expand or contract to conveniently hold your yarn hank.





Then, assuming the hank isn’t tangled or anything, you can just unwind it as the spokes rotate and wind your ball.  I quickly realized that winding directly from the swift isn’t really a good idea as pulling the yarn down would stretch it too much.  So, I unwind a little bit into a colorful heap and then wind the ball from that.  It works beautifully!  And it is much easier on my back than draping the hank around my knee and leaning over it to unwind the yarn :)





This is a hank of Classic Elite Wings in progress here.  I also wound my last two hanks of Cascade 220 yesterday - and boy - does that hank make a big ball!  I don’t think this swift is particularly new; the top of the clamp is plastic and is slightly yellowed so I believe this is a few years old anyway.  But it has only ever gotten slight use, if any as it’s clean, in very good shape and works like a champ :)





I’m just tickled to death with this thing and am having to be quite firm with myself or I’d be winding everything in the apartment including extension cords and cats’ tails!.

The best part?  It cost $1.99…

I’ll probably find a ball winder in the Salvation Army next week for 89¢!

I have finished the body of the Dragon Wings shawl and am now futzing around (and have been since yesterday afternoon) with trying to figure out how to do an edging that will be attractive, not exceed the limits of the yarn I have left and take care of the binding off without puckering or ruffling.  But I have a head full of ideas and numbers so I expect I’ll get there eventually - I may even have something to show you on Wednesday.  Cross your fingers!

Yee-Hah!  I actually finished a real, true, adult sized sock - and it fits beautifully!!  I was up till three this morning weaving the ends in on this puppy but it’s done and I’m going to cast on for the mate as soon as I post this blog entry :)

I got stuck on the heel forgetting, apparently, everything I knew about turning one.  A desperate google scramble found me Knitty’s Socks 101 article by Kate Atherly.  This is a different heel than I’ve worked before.  (Note: You’ll have to forgive my clumsy terminology because I don’t know from heel types - something to study, I’m sure, as I go on!) All the heels I’ve made previously have started in the center and worked out towards the edges of the heel flap, increasing 1stitch every row.  This heel didn’t; it got you working the center third of the heel stitches the count of which remained constant while the heel flap stitches were eaten up with SSKs and P2togs.  It was an exhilarating ride, as it always is when you don’t quite know what you’re doing, and in the end everything came out great.  The heel looks and feels good!





I kept careful measure of the foot as it grew and, for my foot, the toe decreases came at about 7 7/8 inches.  From an original cast on of 60, I worked down to 40 stitches in the usual fashion: 1 decrease row, 1 knit-around row.  Then when I tried the sock on, it was apparent that if I continued this way I was going to have a very long-toed sock (sounds like some small mammal on the endangered species list, doesn’t it?).  I decided to decrease every row for the next 5 rows - 20 stitches left on the needles and that’s where I stopped and finished up.  The toe is a little rounder on the sides than I’m used to seeing but I like it quite a lot.  I think the slight roundness is very cool!





I’m not going to post a pattern for this.  That privilege belongs to Colleen whose idea to make socks in the Japanese Feathers pattern it was in the first place.  Watch her blog, Musings of a Silver Rose for future developments.  She will certainly produce a much more professional sock than I have and she’ll probably even use sock yarn too!

As I got caught up in the sock (oh, the excitement of it all!) I didn’t get the work done on the Dragon Wing Shawl that I had planned to do this week.  However, as it’s supposed to rain steadily and heavily into Sunday, it looks like this might be just the weekend for it.  I want to finish the wimple too, but probably not this weekend :)

This afternoon, dad and I are headed north to Lord’s Harborside for a celebratory lunch.  This is where we go to celebrate our birthdays which are next week: dad’s on the 17th and mine on the 18th.  It’s a bit of a drive but it’s a nice place with delicious seafood and we have always enjoyed it.

I’ll leave with a poem.  Something reminded me of the first few lines a couple of days ago and, upon looking it up, I found there was more to it than I knew.  Not a bad birthday thought either :)

Have a wonderful weekend folks!

Let Me Grow Lovely

Let me grow lovely, growing old--
So many fine things do:
Laces, and ivory, and gold,
And silks need not be new;
And there is healing in old trees,
Old streets a glamour hold;
Why may not I, as well as these,
Grow lovely, growing old?

Karle Wilson Baker

Now, fat-free!!

First, a slight apology to Colleen...it was her idea and I have had it on the brain ever since she mentioned it in last Friday’s comments.  Please forgive me Colleen, I couldn’t resist giving this a try :)

You can’t imagine how much fun I’m having with this thing!  The yarn is Woolease Sport weight (from the stash; I believe this yarn has been discontinued) in Dark Rose Heather.  While the heather yearn is a real stinker to photograph, it’s working up really nicely on size 3 needles.





In the round, the Japanese Feathers stitch pattern is a multiple of 11.  The only modification I made was to make it a multiple of 12 by adding an additional purl stitch to help enhance the rib aspect and help the socks stay up well.

I cast on 60 stitches and did about 2” of K2P2 ribbing before starting the pattern.  I had to make myself put this down last night as my head was yelling at me to get to the heel flap :) I haven’t figured out yet whether to carry the pattern down on to the foot.  I think it would look really cool but I’m worried that its heavily textured nature would be uncomfortable for the wearer if this were enclosed in a snug shoe or sneaker.  Maybe maintain the rib structure but keep to stockinette otherwise?  I guess I’ll know when I get there :)

This treatment would also make wonderful fingerless gloves - and the socks and gloves would make a fantastic set!  Ack!  I’m getting carried away and I haven’t even finished the first sock yet - I’d better settle down before Myria arranges for an intervention :)

We’ve been out walking for the last two mornings but today (and every day until Sunday, I hear) it’s pouring down rain.  So I guess that means we get out the exercise bike and bruise out bums in the living room.  Maybe I’ll put down the yoga mat and see what creaks when I attempt that partial lotus!

Doesn’t Goldie look like a devil-cat this morning?  His eyes always do this weird thing with the camera flash that makes him look as though he’s a denizen of the underworld!

Tomorrow night - Knitting Chatters!  Hope to see you there :)

We took a walk this morning in an attempt to add some exercise to our diet routine and I thought I’d take you all along with me.  I just don’t seem to be able to resist the “It’s spring again!” post :) Warning, this is a picture heavy post.

Spring is late this year and I expect we’ll probably skip most of it and pretty much go right into summer.  Interestingly, to me, the new leaves on all the trees are substantially more yellow than usual as with the tree in the above photo (which is in the front yard).  I’m used to picking out various shades of green in the area, but all the yellow shades are a bit startling this year.





I love the violets.  This little bunch is at the foot of that same tree.  My father’s yard is currently full of violets and dandelions.  The little purple and yellow flowers poking out of the green, green grass is so pretty!  Unfortunately, they will all be decapitated the next time he mows the lawn.





Around the corner, in the front yard a couple of buildings down from us, is this lamp post.  The little sign hanging from the bar says “Main Street”.  It always reminds me of Lantern Waste and makes me wonder if there’s a doorway to something magical, right here in the neighborhood!





The lilacs are a notation that the season is a little off.  Around here, they’re not usually out until the middle of the month.  But they’re blooming their heads off a little early this year and the heavenly fragrance completely dissolves any annoyance I might have had for their unscheduled appearance.  The scent of lilacs on the breeze dispels all ills and, for a little while, makes the world a perfect place.





Out on to the main drag (in this part of the city, anyway) we decided to meander up a little dead-end side street that we had never explored.  We found this monument which is a huge glacial rock with more layers than the year has days!  It lies sideways in the earth with a very rugged and scored surface on which sits the stone marker.  It reads: Glacial Oval.  Erected by the school children of Lowell - 1905.  Very cool to see, and a bit of a dig in the conscience to realize that I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 14 years without realizing it was ever there :)





Speaking of dandelions…





Up a couple of blocks and around the next corner, we ran into these beauties - pholx? - not sure what they are.  The plant hangs over the edge of the wall like a very colorful, very slow moving waterfall.  The lawn behind it is rather steeply pitched and provides a beautiful backdrop for the bright, cheerful plant.





Around the next corner and up a bit, we saw this sign, posted in the window of what I think is a basement apartment.  Ahh yes, lilac isn’t the only thing scenting the breeze this spring!





Further up we ran into this beautiful row of tulips in front of the Willow Manor Nursing Home.  These were the only tulips we saw that were still in good shape - most of the others we noticed were going or gone.  This is late for tulips - usually they’re out around late April and gone by the second week of May.





And there was this magnificent Dogwood tree (I think) on the nursing home grounds.  I’m telling you right now, if and when I ever have land of my own, there are going to be lots and lots of lilacs and dogwoods.  I could have stood under that tree all day and never grown bored or tired.





Finally, coming back around to our own building, Myria pointed out this sign on the front.  We knew our landlord was making something of a deal about the building’s age, but we hadn’t realized that we had been officially recognized as an historical structure!  Who knew?

I hope your Mondays are all going well and that your weekends were pleasant.  I’ll leave you with what’s been running through my head since Myria chanted it this morning when I told her I wanted to go out and walk around the block (think Bill Hailey)…

I’m gonna walk around the block tonight,
Gonna walk around till the broad daylight,
Gonna walk, gonna walk around the block tonight!