Author: mud&string

Mother, daughter, wife, grandma, friend, animal lover, potter, knitter, Catholic and finally, retiree. Will work for yarn and/or clay and tend to geek out on any and all the above at the drop of a hat, provoking glazed expressions from polite company and eyerolls and heavy sighs from not so polite company (read family).
Family · Knitting · Random

Where’d Summer Go?

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I’m definitely stuck in summer mode.  I keep saying to myself “this summer, I’m going to ____________________”, as if it weren’t already September, the grands weren’t all back in school and the fall activities weren’t gearing up and the summer activities weren’t winding down.  Admittedly, it seemed that this particular summer was more hectic than usual with family togetherness, minor injuries (mostly mine) with my back reminding me off and on that I’m not as young as I used to be (really??). Ahhh, no real complaints here, just the impossibility of trying to fit a year’s worth of being together and a year’s worth of activities into a six to eight week time frame.  FYI – Half our grandkids and their corresponding parents live in Thailand — Bangkok to be exact and can make a trip back to the U.S. once a year, hence the compressed time frame.  The rest of the grands live locally – a good thing for a grandma who needs a grandkid fix every now and then.

Now, aren’t you just dying to see a photo of our little darlings???

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Five granddaughters and one grandson!

l-r: Harper, Emma, Shepherd, Charlee, Annabelle and Susannah, the one who started it all!

  IN MY STUDIO

I’m working on a series of small bottles that I’m enjoying a lot.  I have no plan when I sit down to throw, I just let my hands do their own thing.

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These are ready for their first firing in the next few days,

ON THE FIBER FRONT

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These are some singles I spun up.  I don’t feel like they are  crying out to be plied so aftere a nice wash and wind, I think they’ll make nice socks for someone!

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it. Richard Bach

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Random

Notorious RBG, Finally Home and Back to My Wheel

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After taking what felt like the Grand Tour of Dallas and the surrounding area, I’m FINALLY home, safe and sound.  This trip had a little something for everyone, lost luggage, missed connections, airport closings, stormy weather and about a thousand unhappy passengers, hoping against hope that their connecting flight was still on the ground, just waiting to be reboarded to take their passengers to their final  destinations.  Unfortunately, I was not part of this happy group, having missed my connecting flight home, giving me the privilege of spending the night at DFW and catching the first plane that was  pointed in Little Rock’s direction.  The stars aligned, I boarded the first plane out and was home within the hour.

After my spouse and my dog, I was most happy to see my pottery wheel and studio.  After some breakfast and a nap, I spent some QT getting my hands back into clay and  starting on a small project that had been percolating in the back of my mind for a while — a set of small bottles, all different, but glazed in a similar way.  I haven’t even given much thought to how many I should throw or how many bottles will make a set.

Here’s a look at my project progress so far –

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Last, but most certainly not least, I scored a couple of tickets to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsberg lecture/interview last evening and was so happy to have Cindy to go with. RBG was amazing and was sharp as a whole truckload of tacks.  Don’t let the librarian bun and her super petite frame fool you, I don’t doubt that she can go toe to toe with any of the big, well fed (her words, not mine) male Justices that occupy the bench with her, leaving them in the dust and wondering what just happened.

I want her to stay on the bench forever!

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Random

Departure Countdown Part Deux

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Remember yesterday’s post, Departure Countdown?  Well, it’s ongoing.  Yep, 11:40 p.m., DFW, August 31, still not home.  In a nutshell, due to an apparently horrific storm that closed down DFW, my flight from Hong Kong to Dallas was rerouted to Houston.  Only problem was that since it was an international flight, no one and nothing could get off the plane.  US Customs law.  After a couple of hours, we were able to go on to DFW, where the unimaginably cumbersome customs procedure threw another curve ball, with flights cancelled, postponed and just overall screwed up.  Throw in a hurricane that cancelled flights from the Florida region and there you’ve got it.  No way, no how am I getting out of here until tomorrow morning, when I can check in to the new flight to LR at 4 a.m. and drop off my bags.  Good thing I tend to pack everything including the kitchen sink for just these situations.  I charged up everything that was chargeable last night, including my two power banks, I have my knitting and reading and listening materials coming out of my ears.  I even put two pairs of clean unmentionables in my carry on – just in case!  Got snacks too. 😁😁😁

Family · Knitting

Departure Countdown

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I leave for home the day after tomorrow, always a bittersweet anticipation.  A bit sad to be leaving, knowing that I won’t see my Bangkok babies until December, leaving part of my heart in Thailand but at the same time, looking forward to being home and reconnecting with the other part of my heart that I left at home when I left for Bangkok.  I pray that someday we’ll all at least be on the same continent, if not the same state or town.  Until that happens, I’ll use all that airplane time (16+ hours!) to get in some serious knitting time on whatever project I have going at that time.

This extra knitting time is a good thing this trip, a really good thing…….

I finally took a look at the Leksak Lady pattern, rows and rows of stockinette as a general rule don’t require much in the way of pattern watching.  Talk about a Debbie Downer moment!  I’d had it in my head that the pattern read “continue working in stockinette until the garment from the shoulder measures approximately 20 inches”. instead,  it reads “continue working……………………….measures approximately 28.5 inches”.  My Leksak Lady measures about 18 inches from the shoulder at the moment.  I don’t think I can fudge 10 inches of stockinette.  😫😫😫

Instead of a project photo, something to make you smile –

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People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile. Lee Mildon

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Random

Monday in Bangkok

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ON MY NEEDLES

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Ariel Socks

So far, the Ariel socks are playing nice, but they’ve been slow going.  Things are looking up since I purchased a nice, bright headlamp at Decathlon, a store similar to Academy Sports. I actually was at Decathlon to get a new water bottle, which I did, but apparently the placement of impulse items is universal – right next to the cash register.  That bit of extra light has made a big difference, I got through the first pattern repeat last night without problems.

I’m also working on a Leksak sweater, though I find the rows and rows of stockinette boring.  It makes for great plane knitting, I’ll give it that.

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Leksak

ON THE WHEEL

Not a thing.  While I’m in Bangkok, I have to be satisfied with surfing Pinterest and making endless lists in my head of glazes and techniques to try.  That reminds me, I need to order clay.  I’m thinking that if I order now, it will arrive in Little Rock about the same time I do.

FIELD TRIP

Here are a few photos of Iconsiam, a new mall here in Bangkok that has a replica of a floating market on the bottom floor, with traditional Thai food and crafts vendors, most wearing traditional Thai clothing.  Really, the photos don’t do it justice………..

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FYI – This is an escalator!

Action is the foundational key to all success.  Pablo Picasso

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Knitting

It’s A New Start

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Ever have a skein of yarn that you fell hard for, but got over it in a hurry when it just couldn’t seem to decide what it wanted to be? Yes, I tend to assign human characteristics to inanimate objects, even putting projects into time out for not cooperating. Well, this particular yarn has been in and out of time out several times. I’ve even toyed with the idea of relegating it to the back of what I call the Not In My Lifetime UFO box. I decided to give it one more chance, sticking it into my carry-on bag for my trip to Bangkok. So far, it’s playing nice and I’m beginning to feel optimistic. 🤞🤞🤞

At some point, the ball band became history, but I think it came from Knitpicks.

                                                  Last go at this yarn

I’m hoping that the Ariel Socks from Ravelry will suit us both. 😋

I’ve been missing my pottery wheel a lot the last few days. This is the longest I’ve gone without throwing anything. I’m glad I worked as hard as I did, mopping and scrubbing my workspace. It will be so nice to come back to clean tools and a clean wheel!

A QUICK WORD REGARDING BLOG CHANGES

Wondering about all the blog flipping and flopping?  Yeah, me too. 😳  Here’s the deal…..

I let my long time knitting blog slide after getting my very own pottery wheel and spending the time I usually set aside for blogging playing in the mud and getting a feel for my new equipment. I fully intended to get back to my knitting blog, but it was always going to be “tomorrow”.

I missed blogging much more than I thought I would and so decided to add another blog to the mix.  What was I thinking??  I’m having issues with keeping iknead2knit going and I convinced myself that adding another blog was the perfect solution?? All I can say is this – DON’Y TRY THIS AT HOME!

Long story short – Condensed the two blogs into one and renamed the whole nine yards, starting fresh.  So….,Welcome to new blog, Mud&String.  I hope you like it!

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

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Random

Conclusion and Homecoming – mud&string

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Bare Bones Recap – First leg to Dallas delayed an hour, turning a tight layover into a stranglehold of irritation which eventually gave way to panic and anger as we missed our connection to Hong Kong, stranding the five of us at DFW with literally the clothes we stood up in AND still short the…
— Read on iknead2knit.wordpress.com/