Silky Waves

At every knitting festival I've attended over the past 2 years I've drooled over the hand dyed silk and silk chenille yarn at the Sweaterkits booth. I've admired a silk and chenille shawl many times but am not really a shawl person (the shawls I've been knitting have been more scarf size) but this time I happened upon the Silk Waves Scarf . It was quite expensive considering the kit only contained two 50g balls of yarn - one silk and one silk chenille - and a 4-row pattern. However, I'm not getting any younger and I have been wearing the scarf-sized shawls I've been making lately. I really liked the more pastel-y colourway but they only had the jewel-toned ones left so I went for it.
















Basically it's the feather and fan pattern knit the length of the scarf alternating the silk yarn with the silk chenille yarn. I'm going to knit until I run out of yarn. And I'll take it with me tonight when Skip and I go to the public library to hear Linwood Barclay read from his new suburban thriller "Too Close To Home". We heard him read from his first thriller, "No Time for Goodbye" last year at a branch of the Oshawa Public Library and very much enjoyed the event. NTFG was a best seller in Germany before it was released in North America - second only to the 7th Harry Potter book.

We are long-time readers and fans of Linwood's columns from the Toronto Star from which he has took a leave-of-absence last year to write and promote his novels. He has since retired from The Star as the book thing worked out very well for him and Neetha took an early retirement from teaching last June. We particularly became endeared to Linwood during the provincial teacher's strike in 1998 when he wrote about it sympathetically in his columns. His wife, Neetha, is also a teacher so he was living with the results of the tyranny of the Mike Harris (I almost hate to befoul my blog with his name - ugh) government. I even sent him an e-mail thanking him for his writings. I was thrilled when he sent me back a reply. Then last year when my friend Suzanne got me hooked on Facebook, she dared me to ask Linwood to be my friend. So I sent him an invite and sure enough he accepted my offer. HA! He has lots of friends now on Facebook (but not as many as I do) but I was his friend way back when he only had a couple of dozen friends - I think I was number 19. I sent him a Facebook message when I heard he'd be in town so I plan to introduce myself tonight and ask him to autograph my copy of "No Time for Goodbye". I sure miss his columns.

Getting to the Mountaintop

I was glued to the TV last night watching the election results. I was prepared to stay up as long as necessary to hear the concession speech and the president-elect's first speech. Although the map of the US seemed to have a lot of red on it, many of the heavily populated states with the most electoral votes were blue. I anxiously waited to hear the results from Ohio - a bellwether (I looked up the correct spellling) state and sure enough it went to Obama. Could it be? Then all of a sudden, it was announced - Obama exceeded the 270 electoral votes he needed. It was SO exciting to see the assembled crowd. And THEN to see Jesse Jackson in tears and Oprah Winfrey in tears --- how nice for them all. How exciting it was to be able to witness history as it was being made.

This morning, I saw Jesse Jackson being interviewed. There was a lump in my throat when I saw a video clip of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have been to the mountaintop" speech from 40 years ago.

We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Whew!

Many prominent African-Americans were interviewed today and almost all of them referred to Dr. MLK's words from either that speech or his 1963 "I Have a Dream Speech".

I saw an excellent PBS biography on both John McCain and Barack Obama last week and after seeing it, concluded that they are both great men. Although I despise McCain's politics, he certainly is a good, proud American. I was very impressed with his concession speech last night. Too bad he still had the Bush crap stuck to him for the election.

And I loved Obama's speech. He really will be the one to unify the US if anyone can. And good for him calling on everyone to help him. It's going to be a tough job. It amazes me that anyone would want the job. And I can only imagine what was going through Michelle Obama's mind...

I was so caught up in it all I forgot to go to Stitching Time with Vickie at Hedgehog Stitchery. So you KNOW how geeked up I was.

Today I wanted to work out and watch 'The View' so I went over to the gym and watched it while doing some time on the elliptical trainer and then the treadmill. I decided against a workout with weights as I was going to a Zumba class in the late afternoon. So I've had two pretty vigorous workouts today. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

I'll get to a weight-training class tomorrow and maybe even will start stripping wallpaper off the downstairs bathroom. I want to lose one pound in the next week. I tried on some golf skirts that I haven't been able to wear in 4 years and can fit into all of them. The one golf skirt I wore last spring just hangs on me now. Whoopee!

Every time I sit down I do some knitting on the indigo Norwegian Woods shawl. I'm almost done the penultimate chart. Each row is taking 10+ minutes now. Chug, chug.

Odds and Ends

I've kind of had knitting ADD today. Maybe it was because of the extra hour of sleep that I got 'falling back'. I worked on the Clapotis Numéro Deux which I found buried in a bunch of UFOs. It's about half done.





















I also continue to work on the indigo Norwegian Woods shawl. I finished the repeat of the second chart - budding leaves - and will begin the 'emerging leaves' chart next time I pick up the project. I ordered some KnitPicks Gloss Lace yarn in the Pinot, Port and Aegean colourways. It is extremely inexpensive, well regarded in most Ravelry projects I've seen it used in, has good yardage per skein (440 yd.) and has the blend of wool and silk that I like - 70/30 respectively. I look forward to working with it.

This evening I knit another petal bib using cornflower blue Creme de la Creme cotton worsted.
















I also wet blocked the first clapotis. I wasn't completely happy with the look of it so after a good blocking into a rectangular shape, it looks much better and now measures 4" wider - 11" by 58".





















I am going to try another solution to my felting dilemma with the felted socks. Martina and Vickie suggested I actually boil them to finish felting them completely. This may be a project I undertake tomorrow.

Skip and I got our flu shots yesterday - the first day they were available at a regional clinic. Any time I can get something free from the government, I'm there. I don't know if it's the flu shots or the fact that I wash my hands a lot and am no longer exposed to germy students but I haven't had a cold in 4 or 5 years. This is a good thing. What I'm doing seems to be working.

Shetland Triangle

I got the Shetland Triangle blocked today. I forgot to take a before picture. Basically it looked like a blob. If you click on a closer up image, you might be able to see the seed beads along the swallowtail edge and down the points. I used the crochet hook method to affix the beads along the points and strung the beads on the yarn with a dental floss threader. I broke the yarn to do that and tried to 'spit join' it but it wouldn't work so I used the 'Russian join' method. I used a bead on every other stitch along swallowtail edge. The blocked size is 58" x 25" - a nice size for a large-ish shoulder scarf.
































































I'm also trying to felt the 'Ogre Socks' down to a wearable size for me to wear as slippers around the house. I've run them through the washing machine, used a toilet plunger in a bucket with alternating hot and cold water with baking soda and have now thrown them in the dryer. After all that, they're about half felted. And I've had quite a workout.

Catching Up

My blog has been photo-less lately so I thought I'd get caught up. I finally finished casting off the Palindrome Scarf that I'd finished knitting ages ago. My dilemma was finding the instructions to do a sewn 2 x 2 rib bind off. While searching the Internet, a book was recommended - "Knitting Tips and Trade Secrets" which I found in our local public library. I have it all packaged and ready to send to the Orphan Foundation of America for their Red Scarf Project. Parent-less college students will receive care packages for Valentine's Day with reversible, unisex, red scarves and notes of encouragement.

I'm moving along well with the Norwegian Woods shawl, although I did spend a considerable amount of time 'tinking' back a couple of rows after discovering a mistake. I'm living dangerously by not using life lines.
















Today Skip and Scooter carved their jack o' lanterns. Here is the tool of preference.
















And some action shots.





































And the finished products.
















The one I carved is on the left - my trademark Hallowe'en kitty.

Once I get the pink Shetland Shawl blocked, I'll post before and after photos.

Among Greatness

As I neared the end of the Evelyn A. Clark Shetland Triangle, I spent some time figuring out where I should put the silver-lined pink seed beads that are an exact match to the pink yarn. The pattern doesn't indicate where the beads should go. I looked at several versions on Ravelry and got some ideas. I then put out a request for suggestions on the Yahoo Laceknitters' group. Wouldn't you know, I got a response from the designer herself!

I'm looking forward to blocking it tomorrow on Scooter's bed.

I started another Norwegian Woods shawl using indigo-coloured Fiddlesticks silk/merino Zephyr laceweight yarn.

I have been baking brownies and Hallowe'en cookies (bats and pumpkins) with Scooter here this weekend. It makes me think of things I'd like to bake for Christmas.

Brush with Fame

I got a Ravelry message the other day asking if a photo of one of my projects could be featured on the pattern's page. I checked the pattern today and my picture was there! I'm kinda famous I guess.

On a more sombre note, I made a quick trip to Sarnia for Floyd's visitation and funeral. Valerie cashed in her VIA Rail ticket for her trip home on Monday and drove with me on Tuesday. We went over to Port Huron, MI to exchange a defective Mad Men DVD set (it had 2 disk 2s and no disc 1). Of course, we had to drop in at Mary Maxim as I needed to replace the 3.75mm bamboo needles my @#$%^&* cat chewed the other night. Wouldn't you know I found some yarn in their discount area?

At the visitation last night, I visited with a few former colleagues and saw more of them this morning at the funeral and the luncheon afterward. We are all still reeling with the news of Floyd's death - it is so hard to believe he is gone. His adult kids Mark and Mai-Ling now have a lot of work ahead of them getting the house ready for sale and clearing it out while at the same time dealing with their grief from the loss of both their parents in six months. Neither of them live nearby nor do any of Floyd's siblings. I know how hard it is from when I had to do it back in 1993 after my mom's death. I do believe a lot of their friends who live locally will help them out. I know there's a saying that we are never given more to deal with than we can take but ALRIGHT ALREADY! Ya basta!

I'm happy to be home where it is safe, warm and full of love. I know that in a split-second, that can all change and someday will. But until then, I savour every day - grateful for the opportunity to pursue my passions and spend time with my loved ones.

Floyd, we sure miss you.