Knitting

The one where I break

October 12, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

down and pony up $64.00 for an extended support package for my iPod. This is after I totally spent nearly the whole weekend trying to reinstall my music and audiobook libraries to my iTunes. Long story short, we had computer issues several weeks ago which necessitated backing everything up onto an external drive and then wiping the hard drive clean and reinstalling. My problem is that I can sync either my books or my music, but not both. This has nearly driven me stark. raving.mad. Someone from Apple is to call me tonight and hopefully, I’ll get it all resolved. Crossing my fingers.

24 hours later…..

The back up files are on the external drive but I can’t find them, that is, I can’t find the folder that contains them. So, I’ll keep looking and in the meantime download my music from my CDs. Luckily, all my audiobooks are in my Audible library and I can redownload them without too much fuss. Aggravating, yes, but totally survivable.

Saturday, I made a pilgrimage to my LYS here in Little Rock, Yarn Mart, and splurged on a beautiful skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina, in Cove. This is definitely a luxury yarn and feels like I’m knitting a cloud. As usual, I’ve become nervous about having enough yarn to finish my project (Candle Flame Shawl from Ravelry) and so will call today and secure another skein. I was in such a rush to start this newest project that I didn’t think to take a pic until I’d already wound it so the colors aren’t showing as well, but am posting one

anyway. I’ll try to remember to photograph the new skein before winding.

Here’s some stitch detail. I love the robin egg blue with the mossy green.

Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Susan Ertz

Knitting

The one with this week’s

September 21, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

WIP offering. I have two (!) this week 1) Diamond Leaf Cowl by Darlene Joyce, a Ravelry pattern and 2) another rendition of the Molly scarf. Both yarns are a complete mystery, I dug them out of the stash, neither with ball bands. Story of my life. Both knitting up nicely I must say.

I must have love love loved the above yarn, I have a ton of it. Think a sweater for the Statue of Liberty, with some left over and you’ll get the idea.

A professional is a man who can do his best at a time when he doesn’t particularly feel like it. Alistair Cooke

Knitting

The one where one entry may

July 20, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

not be enough to cover what’s been happening in my life over the last several days. To say I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster would be the understatement of the year. My dad passed away Friday morning after a short but vicious battle with lung cancer. We knew he wasn’t doing well, was less responsive, weaker and more short of breath every day, so when his caregivers called Wednesday evening (a week ago today) telling us that he was very close to the end, we weren’t surprised. We were with him all day and all night Thursday; I told him over and over again how much I loved him and how it was OK for him to go, how we’d miss him terribly but his loving spirit would be with us always. He slipped away from us at 11 o’clock Friday morning and I’m grateful that he at last is at rest. He deserves it. RIP Daddy, I love you.

OK, in a completely different direction, here’s my WIP Wednesday, Drop Stitch Shawl, Version 2, from Ravelry

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Knitting

The one where I treat myself

July 8, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

to a trip to my LYS, Yarn Mart, coming home with this

lovely Mini Mochi 80% merino and 20% nylon, color 113 and this

Manos del Uruguay, 60% baby alpaca and 40% pima cotton, color 2318, four skeins. I’ve got big plans for the Manos, a shop sample was a Rav pattern, I think called Drop Stitch Shawl #2.

I’ve had a unspeakably huge challenge with importing the last few pictures. I have to go through some Windows Viewer that I’ve never had to deal with before. I’m sure someone even a tiny bit more computer savvy would have figured it out in the first few minutes 0f trying, but I’m not that person. I am looking on the bright side though, it shouldn’t take more more than four hours next time, instead of today’s six. One thing I am going to do, as soon as I get this posted, I’m downloading these pics into Flickr. That I can do, I think.

On the dad front, I just got my fourth call in 24 hours from the nursing home, he keeps trying to get out of his bed and ends up falling. No injuries yet other than scrapes and and bruises, but his skin is so fragile now that it doesn’t take anything to tear it and since he’s on a bloodthinner, he bleeds and bleeds and bleeds.

I must go console myself with soft yarn and pointy sticks. Tomorrow will be better, I promise.

Never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning. Anthony Trollope, English novelist (1815-1882)

Knitting

The one where the first

June 4, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

Slippery Sock is complete and I’ve started on the second. I love the cables and the way the colors really pop.

Mr. Iknead got me a new Ipod for Mother’s Day, the newest model with 160 gigs. I decided yesterday to knit a cozy for it, I’d like to keep it looking shiny and new as long as I can. I decided on Doggerell Designs Dragonskin Itouch Cover, which is a free Ravelry download. I’m not clear on the ins and outs of copyright infringement so I won’t post a photo, but it’s easy enough to check it out on Rav. Speaking of Ipods, this is my third one and am still convinced that it’s the best investment electronics-wise (is that even a word?) I’ve ever made. I keep mine going on the average of seven hours a day during the week, usually listening to audiobooks and music when I work out. I’m reading/listening to an intriguing book at the moment, The Boy With the Cuckoo Clock Heart, by Mathias Malzieu. It’s quirky and offbeat, two things I look for in books and now that I think about it, pretty much everything else. The more oddball and eccentric, the better I like it.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of another blog and have just about decided to go for it, posting on Saturdays about things that interest me and grab my attention, freestyling I suppose you’d call it. This idea is sounding better and better. What am I waiting for?

The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart. Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Knitting

The one where she now has an

February 19, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

abundance of projects on the needles. The Omega Sinfonia has been reborn as Elisa’s Nest Tote. It’s a free pattern from purlsoho.com that I found on Ravelry. Nice, open lace pattern. See –

I started Wilma Becker’s Celebration Toe Up Socks last night with some ancient sock yarn I ran across when cruising my stash. I’ll post a picture tomorrow while it’s sunny, artificial light really doesn’t do it justice. Dark blue, purple and orchid (I guess that’s what you’d call it). Putting it on the to do list right now.

I baked a pan of Hello Dollies on a whim this afternoon. I had high hopes that I might get a pic before Mr. Iknead helped himself. Fail. It happened while I was fetching the camera. Sigh. Here’s the not so perfect product

It’s never too late to be who you might have been. George Eliot (1819-1880)

Knitting

The one where she really understands

January 25, 2011 mud&stringLeave a comment

just how amazing people who have never seen each other in the flesh, have never heard each other’s voices and maybe having nothing in common except a shared love of fiber. (I know it happens with other people who share other things, but I have to stick to what I know.) I’m talking about a post in May, 2010 on Ravelry that started with “I have a pregnancy test in my purse” and ended with the birth of a beautiful baby girl, Paloma, last week. As the topic picked up steam, more and more Ravelers started following, reading and posting, becoming a huge cheerleading section, obsessively checking in as D-day got closer and closer. The outpouring of encouragement, excitement, advice and caring was so phenomenal, so affirmative, I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. Thanks Dori for sharing such a personal part of your life with us, thanks fellow Ravelers for again proving how caring we fiber folks are and thanks Rav for being giving us a place to share and care, you’re the best.

And here’s my photo for today – my beautiful granddaughter, Susannah.