BOO!!!

Happy Halloween to all ...

ROCK the CASBAH/Camera Crash

Haven't been here for a while, working in real life a bit too much (but someone's got to do it, right?)

Developed "startitis" once again - I must be on the road to knitting recovery - while in my LYS the other day I discovered this beautiful yarn (scroll over to Casbah Sock) while watching a knitting friend casting on with it, and immediately dove into the basket to see which colorway jumped out at me.  

Another knitting friend was making her first Clapotis, and since I've made a few in the past, figured that this

 yarn would look decent as one ... so two skeins came home with me.

I decided to snap a few digital pix of the skeins (they always look so inviting before they're wound into cakes or balls, don't they?) and found something seriously wrong with my vintage (well, it's about 5 years old) Sony, which I had gotten with rewards points.  It's so weird - the screen is white, but everything else seemed to be working - so, I took about 10-20 shots while looking at a white screen (kinda sorta like a blind person taking pictures) and actually got a couple of great (IMHO) ones ... this is actually the first good shot of Kiki that I've gotten in a loooong time!

BUT, I cannot continue with a camera that I can't see into - so, off I went to my trusty rewards points place, and clicked on this, and bought it - double the megapixels, half the size camera-wise.  I figured it was the one thing I could do during these "interesting times" - not spend any "real" money!

Am I Blue?

Again, I'm noticing that most of my yarn purchases lately have been in the aqua/turquoise/teal department.

and yes, Joan (sorry I cannot respond directly to your last blog post, since I have no idea of your email address), this is all that's left of the THIRD ball of Kidsilk Haze (the Cardi Cozy from the new Mason-Dixon book, in the XS size ...)

I think it has to do with my hair color, or rather, cessation of coloring it - my whole skin tone has changed, therefore, no more orange/yellows are ruling the stash/project roost.

in fact, this beautiful skein is Dream in Color Classy in Blue Lagoon - and amazingly, I found these buttons at Tender Buttons - a good friend remarked that it was almost like I had found them first and then bought the yarn to match!  It's the opposite.  This is part of what's going to become my version of the February Lady Sweater.

The main way I've seen this, aside from what comes home in those super-secret clear plastic knitting store shopping bags, is on ravelry.  There's a great little organizer in there where one can change the order of projects, and when I sorted them by date started, the blue family stood out STRONG!

Aside from the Permission to Knit Shawl, I hope that I'll be able to finish more of my blues (maybe a little red will be thrown in, but suffice it to say it will be on the blu-ish side!)

Like Buttah ...

For lack of something better to blog about right now, I though you all might want to know about my collection of butter knives... 

starting in 1949, when Mom's Uncle Harry (who brought my parents to the US after WWII) had everyone (including 1 yr old me) installed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel here in nyc, he started me on my collecting jones - I guess I could say that I've always had it - yarn came along much much later, but here is a sample of what I first collected, and have continued collecting - except now, during hard times, there ain't no butter knives to be found (well, there probably are, but one has to be able to afford to go to restaurants fancy enough to offer them at the table...

can anyone recognize the Waldorf Astoria ones?

Actually, some of them even have sterling marks!

Raglan vs Raglan

I'm working on two sweaters now, alternating when my hand gets tired - one is this, 

and the other is this.  

The fun of it is comparing how the two appear (same concept, different designers, obviously different yarns).

The Cardi Cozy came out of the new book from Kay and Ann, and, aside from a few minor pattern errors, was a very very quick knit, due to the size of the needles and the diameter of the yarn.  I've done everything except sewing the sleeve seams together and crocheting one row around the collar; due to the fact that I only have this much

 

left of the third ball, 

I'm hesitant to do the crochet since we all know it eats up a LOT more yarn than knitting!

Then the other one, in a DK weight (I'm using Berroco Pure Merino DK in colorway 4555) is taking a LOT more yarn (sorry if I'm repeating myself) and is a little tougher on my left hand (3 month anniversary since wrist surgery - YAY!), but is definitely satisfying in its own way.

Suffice it to say that the Cardi Cozy will be a gift for someone other than myself, but I think the Hermia will be the keeper (if I will suck it up to finish!)

Keep your fingers crossed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROCKSTAR!!!

Darling son, just about this time 29 years ago today, you were born ...

and baby, look at you now!

love always,

yo mama

Self (?) Portrait

While practicing all of my recently "abletoknit" skills (reacquired, of course), I tried really hard to capture a self-taken picture of both hands knitting.  Seems that I have been sucessful ... the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole that I have been working on (well, um, rather, onandoff since the fracture) allowed itself to be snapped from my chin - don't ask - and I got a really decent shot of the actual deed - thanks to my chin, my poitrine, and both hands (oh yes - and my little Sony digital camera!)

ps - please notice my first manicure since the middle of June ... I think the color is OPI Rudy for Rudolph or some other inane name - 

I almost got run over by a Maserati on Rosh Hashana

... got your attention, didn't I?

I was crossing 83rd Street on Columbus Avenue here in the great Big Apple on the first day of the holiday - and there it came - directly from the east (where a very large synagogue here in town is situated).  They weren't stopping - I am not so steady on my feet, but I managed to hop back (as opposed to running past them).

Caught my breath, tried to get the heart to stop banging against my chest, and proceeded along my merry errand-ful way.

I guess I lived long enough to talk about it!  

ps - it was a four door Maserati - the parents were in the back seat and the children were driving - they must have finished with services and were heading toward a nice lunch somewhere.  I guess the rich are really different than you or I ...

More later on the knitting front - but for now, a happy, healthy, and SWEET 5769 to all who observe and also read this meager attempt at a blog.