alisonknits

Overdue Squares

I'm back to working on the Great American Aran Afghan squares, and have several that I've done over the last couple months that I haven't posted photos of yet.

Here are the latest:

This one had the most challenging cables I've ever executed, which used not only a cable needle (and I do most cables without a cable needle), but also two double-pointed needles.

I love the "tipsy cables" on the sides of this square, which are made by increasing to one side of the cable and decreasing to the other side, making the cable appear to be swaying on the backround.

This is the only square that is on its side.  It's supposed to be a fish in a net.  Cute, eh?

Now I'm working one of my favorite squares in the whole afghan, which has bugs and a large spider, and a vine pattern.  I also have to come out of my break from the wedding shawls.  I had been on a forced (but welcome) break because I was waiting for more yarn to come in, but I now have the rest of the yarn to do the last 2.  Oh, and I'll be blocking shawl #3 any day now.  And I'd love to finish Icarus - I've been working on the fun lacey part when I can sneak in a row.

I also have pattern writing to finish (the J. Knits socks and some work for a class I'm teaching), a house to clean as I'm having a church Membership Committee retreat here on Saturday, and am heading up to Maine for the day to visit a couple of friends (including Purl Diva, formerly known as City Knitter).  And I'm trying to spend as much time in the pool as possible, since it's a fair amount of work and expense and it seems like we should get as much use out of it as possible.  (Plus I *love* the pool.) 

As usual, time passes much too quickly for my comfort level!  I can't believe it's almost August.  Ack.

Mercury In Retrograde - a moving saga

A few months ago, someone I know mentioned that he had had "a good Mercury in retrograde."  He went on to explain that when the planet Mercury is in retrograde (meaning it appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac for a period of time), all kinds of problems can arise for us mortals, mostly around communication.  He told me that often miscommunication will be rampant, computers, phones, and the web will have all kinds of problems, and it's generally a bad time to make any big decisions.  But that this time, he managed fine.

[In related news, sorry if you tried to post a comment about my bat story; it was apparently posted in "draft" status.  If you still want to leave a bat comment, it's now open.]

I happened to be relating the story of my weekend to this same gentleman, who just nodded along until he revealed that that pesky Mercury is again in retrograde.  I did a little reading on the subject, and learned that "this period brings travel snafus and missed appointments of all kinds."  This explains a lot.

This past weekend, in the midst of a heatwave I might add, Scott & I went to New Haven to help my friend Sara move to Boston.  Sara is having a very rough time right now, and is moving to be closer to her family while they deal with a serious illness.  Pretty much nothing about this move went as planned.  The packing was behind schedule, and instead of packing up the truck and driving to Boston on Sunday morning, the timing kept getting pushed back and back, until we finally left New Haven at 2:00am.  Scott drove the truck to our house, and I drove our packed car after dropping off Sara at her parents, finally arriving at 5:00am.  (I'm too old for this sh*t.)  Scott had beat me home by close to an hour, only to discover that his house keys were in a bag with me in the car.

We had figured out before leaving New Haven that since Scott was unavailable until late Monday, I would drive the truck into Boston on Monday afternoon. 

I don't know if you've ever driven in Boston, but it is not for the faint of heart.  Or people who don't know where they're going.  Or people driving 10' trucks who don't know what they're doing.  I'm quite proud of myself; I neither got lost nor lost control and crashed the truck.  (It was actually really easy!)

Sara hired some shady movers to help us unload the heavy things from the truck, and they got the job done.  Then we went to park the truck and her car.  We found a semi-legal spot for the truck, and were driving around looking for a spot for the car when, heading down a small one-way side street, we encountered an emergency.  A woman had just fallen out of a window and was lying semi-conscious on the street.  This was the point when we realized we had stepped into some weird alternate universe.  We ended up stuck in between a police car and a fire truck, waiting for the EMTs to get the woman into an ambulance.  It was just so bizarre.

We finally got some dinner, waited for Scott to arrive with our car (still full of more boxes of Sara's stuff), unloaded those, and headed homeward to return the truck.  It took a long time to find the place, it was hidden behind another building, and it took another long time to find the key drop-off box in the dark.  We got home at 1:30am.  I'll say it again, I'm too old for this sh*t.

That said, as frustrating and exhausting as this was, I'm glad we could be there for Sara in her time of need.

I just wish the astrological omens had been better.

Wholly Freaking Out, Batman!

This morning at 4 a.m., my cat Jasmine woke us up by dancing around the bed and the room even more excitedly than he usually does.  As I tried to figure out what was going on, Scott said, "Jazzy is chasing a large dragonfly around the room."  I then saw the "large dragonfly" swoop over our bed.  No, that's not a dragonfly.  It's a bat.

There was a bat flying around my bedroom.

I freaked.

Then I hid under the covers.  It was uncomfortable under there, because it was a hot & humid night.  So I would poke my head out.  The bat would fly over me, and I would hide again.  Scott meanwhile had opened a window and was calling the bat, asking him politely to go out.  Jazzy was still trying to catch it.

Finally it went out.  But my heart was racing.  There would be no more sleeping, and suddenly having a bedroom on the third floor seemed like a very bad idea. 

We retreated to our (first floor) living room, where a bed was still set up for guests we had last weekend (sometimes my poor housekeeping actually comes in handy) and looked up bat info on the internet.  This page was my favorite, featuring adorable photos of injured bats that have been rescued which you can adopt.  (Fortunately they don't send you the actual bat, just things like "A matted photograph of your bat, suitable for framing.")  I may do it, just for karma's sake.

I don't want anymore bats interupting my sleep.

Another Day, Another Shawl

Last summer, I finished knitting the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting just before we moved to MA, and I didn't ever get around to blocking it.  The summer passed me by, and since I don't wear my lace shawls in the fall and winter, I continued to ignore it.  Just a wadded-up ball of lace in a bag.  So sad.  Until today!  I love the shawl, but it is ginormous.  I seem to remember doing an actual gauge swatch and blocking it, and deciding to change needle sizes.  I assume I must have gone larger, and now wish I had stuck with the original needle recommendation.  Ah well.

Yarn used: Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk in the color peacock, of course.

In other finishing news, I've completed a sock that I started in St. Louis using a new sock yarn from J. Knits.  This one has a bit of nylon in it, unlike her original sock yarn which is 100% superwash merino.  I like the new yarn; it feels like it will wear well, and the cables really pop.  (A fact that may not be totally evident in this photo.)  The pattern is my own design, using a stitch pattern that I discovered several years ago and have been itching to include in one of my patterns ever since.  The pattern will be published by J. Knits, and I thank Julie for the lovely gift of this sock blocker!