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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

New Frontiers



Our resident techno geek, the DiscoDame, managed to get a picture of herself inserted into an earlier post (4/25/08). Too cool, and now I know it will work. I have so got to take some shots of the shawl & the restarted sock. If it's nice out later, I'll take the WIPs outside for picture time.



Picture! from 6/26 photo session, showing my lovely WIP, the Moc Croc sock(s). Yarn is Regia Design Line, by Kaffe Fassett.


Today (6/25)I rewound the frogged & washed yarn from the first sock effort, knit some more on the sock, and started crocheting some granny squares for stockings. These stockings are about three feet long, super for loads of small goodies from a doting grandma--like the lady who's asked me to make them. I'm using stashed acrylic, of which I have a ton & a half, with maybe half a ton of it being red, green & white worsted. I've done several other projects for this same gal, including repairing an "antique" crocheted baby blankie that had mouse damage. But the dadblamed granny squares are addictive! Last year, I made tiny granny square sachets: Using sport or fingering weight yarns, make grannies of about 3 (sport wt) or 4 (fingering) rounds. Take a dryer softener sheet, used or not, and wrap up a small amount of polyfil. Lay this on your granny square, and fold the corners in towards the middle. Stitch the corners and edges together; if you leave a really long end in a corner, you can make a crochet chain, fold it over & stitch it to the corner --now the sachet can be used in the closet or drawer. I bought some essential oils, and have used a hat pin dipped in the oil & inserted through spaces in the crochet to apply the scent to the dryer sheet/polyfil. I would advise against applying oils directly to the crocheted acrylic, as acrylic stains badly. Anyway, I gave several of these away last year, and made a bunch more in spring (or baby) colors. These are super for using up small amounts of yarn.

While on vacation (-at-home), I wanted to wind up some skeins of lace weight wonderfulness. I figured I've got two roomies, that's two sets of arms for living swifts. The roomies aren't exactly thrilled, but I had a thought: If they're really unhappy with being swifts, maybe they'll get me a real one? Only time will tell....


It only took about 2 very long hours to hand-wind one of the Cherry Tree Hill Orenburg Lace skeins (Cherry Blossom colorway), with DiscoDame playing "swift". I got some more pics, see my lovely WIP feather & fan shawl, in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport colorway Baltic Sea:

Monday, June 23, 2008

MocCroc redux

Well, it's good news-bad news: I finished the first MocCroc sock! but it's too small!! I have already frogged it, washed the yarn to get the kinks out, & hung it to dry. Meanwhile, I restarted with the last of that skein, with more stitches cast on. We are nothing if not persistent. (Nod if you recognize that. Like I'll know...) If my resident techie ever figures out how I can put pics on here, I'll have to take pics of my renewed progress. (DiscoDame, paging DiscoDame!)
I'm on vacation again, and got to spend some "quality" time with my Darling Daughter (aka DiscoDame). She had a final exam this morning, & I had an errand to run, so I carried her to the bus stop & proceeded on my way. Got back to Chez Cracker Box & worked on the sock. DD called much later to let me know she was heading for our rendezvous point. I'd made a grocery list, so the plan was to meet up & go Krogering. We made a fuel stop first (golden arches), then strolled down towards the crosswalk--only we had to make another stop. There's a really fun little shop there, full of knick-knacks & wild looking jewelry, and tons of other fun stuff. We musta killed an hour there, continuing our usual pattern of cracking each other up about every 5 minutes. So, following her 11 a.m. call, we made it home from Kroger about 4 p.m. Oh, and I remembered to stop at the library: I had an item on hold, that was now available.
I'll miss George Carlin. His questioning of our use of language, his sharpness about it...and so damned funny! The first time I heard the Stuff routine I about choked. And I still remember the Hippy Dippy Weatherman. Well, tonite's forecast is damned dark without his light. God rest you, George.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

A nice day

I went to the WWKIP event in Centennial Park today. The weather is always a concern, but for an extended stay outdoors I thought the clouds were great! I just don't care for cooking in the sun.

After I'd visited & knit with some lovely ladies, I got to cruise through the American Artisan craft fair. I loves me a craft fair! I made a purchase, some lampwork glass bead earrings. The Plaidman ran into an old friend, and brought him by the canopy where the knitters were parked. Lordy, how Time has beaten us down. Ol' Roger the Dodger looked a bit rough, but seemed to be getting around alright on his electric scooter. It's something to see: a mid-50s long-haired hippie on a scooter. Just let that visual sink in....no, I did not take his picture! I did take some of the knitters, and I will have to go by Angel Hair Yarns sometime to share the pics, since I can't figure out how to get pics into this blog! I worked on the (in-)famous Moc Croc sock -- yes, there's still only the one. But I'm getting very close to the toe! The next pair will be done two at once, on a pair of circs or a magic loop.
The Plaidman is still not working. The DiscoDame is still in school, but will have a week off that will coincide with my vacation week, which means we'll all be rattling around Chez Divine making each other nuts. I guess I'll be glad to go back to work. Or just anywhere else, for that matter. If you were on a really tight budget, and had 10 days off in a row, where would you go? Would you set up a tent in the backyard, & camp out? I will be reading Ms. Cheap's column for ideas, but feel free to chime in if you've got any.