See what happens when I don’t post during the week…

meet Dory

Who graciously modeled her fancy schmancy sweater…

I was in Brunswick on Thursday, recruiting for summer field interns at Bowdoin, and thinking, gee if I had a cell phone, I’d call up Ohana (her Ravelry name, but does she ever do anything in there?) and say where are you I am here (she works there). And within 10 minutes, who walks by? So we got together, walked Dory, gabbed… I was glad to know I didn’t crush her back when I slammed a great bear hug into her at the job fair…

the river is still icy!

Along Front Street (that dirt road along the river) in Hallowell, behind the Lucky Garden, looking north.

Along the rail trail in Augusta, last evening.

color

I have been making progress on DH’s sweater…

But I needed some antidote to all this white gray oatmeal blah, and something small I could work on at the job fair… and so,

And before I set up for the job fair, I visited Ellen at Purl Diva! And came home with some subtle color, Madeline Tosh sock yarn in the lichen color,

OMG it is so lovely. Ellen has a new shipment of all sorts of Madeline Tosh yarns…. they’re all wicked nice, squoooshy, soft, great colors, yum yum yum!

Maybe I’ll actually work on some socks soon…

More pictures and modifications over on my Ravelry project page.

I should probably block it, or at least give it a vinegar rinse. My hands turned shades of blue and green when knitting… But for now it’s on my head. Maybe it’ll add some interesting highlights, what do you think?

really old socks

Is 30 years really old for socks? Mom and dad brought these back from Germany for me in 1980. Emily wanted to see them, so…

The elastic is starting to wear out a bit… but they still stay up well, and they come to my knees! The heels are only just starting to wear a bit, maybe I should darn them before next winter.

the cold has caused…

Us to finally replace the dryer hose, and more importantly the vent cap (which was broken).

Perhaps a bigger crack in the tub surround. I’d caulked a couple weeks ago (so nice to get rid of the old and moldy) and put a bit of caulk on some crack that developed a couple months ago… but then, yesterday…

Really, it’s time for a new surround, but the duct tape should hold us for a few more months.

And all that heavy rain caused a big bubble on a wall near the ceiling last week.

(I had pics! I thought I downloaded them! I did not… but I did delete them off the camera)

It was about the size of a newborn baby. It was full of water. We punctured it and then, like a bad cyst, the whole thing exploded. Now it just looks scabby on the wall. In the summer we’ll repaint. By then the sheetrock should be dry, eh?

There was no ice dam… DH rakes the snow off that roof all the time. Just a fluke, perhaps.

Chevron hat, which I saw a bit ago at Purl Diva. I think it’ll be a good choice for this yarn, because I never wet it after spinning it, and it is surely full of some energy! I think the chevrons and garter ridges will help the biasing. Can’t tell yet if it’ll be too big, if so, I’ll full it a bit…

I should finish that pullover for DH, but I totally modified the pattern, and even though I took what I thought were great notes, now that I’ve started the second sleeve, I can’t tell if I meant K2, W&T, and on the next round K2 past the W&T, if I counted the wrap or not in the two stitches. I suppose I could look at the other sleeve… I don’t think I hid the wraps that well!

There’s an ice jam moving down the Kennebec River. Here it is earlier in the week in Augusta (it’s 5 pm so don’t embiggen the photo!)…

fashion maven eh? What you don’t see are the bare knees and German knee socks from about 1980.

The jam is more dramatic a bit further south… it’s centered in Farmingdale/Gardiner now, and the coast guard has sent cutters upriver, but they can’t get under the bridge in Gardiner… It was front page news today because of the smelt shacks… (oooh, just found that video and put it above!)

Big news here, eh?

Last weekend I was like a factory worker of old… sewed all day on Saturday, never even walked outside at all. Can you believe it?

Made this as a gift,

(don’t you love the fabric? “bow wow chow mein”!)

Made one for myself,

(hard to see, but it’s batik red dragon design on the other side… what? don’t you have your xray vision going?)

And decided to sew up most of the rest of the fabric I have (most, there’s still some more, but they’ll be more patchwork).

all because Kenny got a new foot

And tune up and new wires and I’m not sure what else…

And the repair guy never even commented on the bits of tape I have all over it. I put them there for my SIL, who borrowed it a few years back, but she couldn’t figure out how to thread it.

Gotta say, I like the old mechanical machines! The Kenmore isn’t fancy like the Singer Featherweight, but it will go through twenty some layers of fabric AND the silk cording! It could stand a new case… if you see one, let me know!

snow and ice

Snow pile at work… all snow! Can you see that bulldozer?

Ice dipping, from the crafting with carpal tunnel forum on Ravelry. The snow in the ice bath works great! PT appt next week to get better handle on what’s going on…

knitting?

Yes, some, none exciting though. Front and back are done and shoulders sewn on DH’s sweater. Started down on the sleeve (with short row shaping for cap-I was happy it worked!). It’s oatmealy/gray… Next project will have to be a small one with loads of color!

Made Gracie a pair of leggings! And then the snow got un-sticky. So she hasn’t worn them in the wild yet.

Really they both need sweaters with long sleeves because they are snow ball magnets and magnifiers.

Pullover for DH, bo-ring, but quick…

(Papa Bear Pullover by Sandi Rosner in Clara Parkes’ Book of Wool with modifications).

(more pics and blathering over on my Ravelry projects pages)

Goodwill haul! Like I need more yarn, but I had an errand to do right next door, and I can’t help myself (also got a $2.00 silk/nylon/angora/idon’tknowwhat sweater and a few other things like that for me, me, ME!).

It’s unlabeled, but I think it’s a thick/thin cotton/rayon blend. Anybody have any ideas?

There seems to be two put-ups. One is ~109 yards, so I’m guessing 50 grams (9 of the melon-ish and 3 sage like this). The other is ~140 yards, so maybe 75 grams (1 melon-ish plus some odd small balls and the pink and blue like this). In the larger put-up the yarn seems less tightly plied and the thick is more prominent, so it’s a bit softer.