Spring or Summer

Can't seem to make up its mind... Every day seems to go from cold to hot, or hot to cold.  Our temperature swings are huge: 40's to 80's are common.  And the flowers love it!

Colors are great in the SW:

And the yuccas are in various stages, growing quickly!

One day there's nothing, and the next they are barely there.
OK.  I guess I don't inspect them every day.
Here's one with a visiting ladybug:

And happy birthday to my uncle and neighbor!

Lace Tunic

Let's not get excited;  I'm not finished, not by a long shot!  But it looks like I'll make my May 25th deadline!
An hour after I posted yesterday's blog, bad mouthing the delivery of my toys, they showed up at the door. And I got to work... more knitting, and soaking one of the round pieces (front or back). 
Progress:  I learned that wires are great for stretching out lace.

And that it takes time to thread the wire through to make it even.
It made me look carefully at my work too!

If you click on the picture you should be able to spot at least one place where I'll have to do a little repair.
But overall, I'm very excited!  This is the prettiest part of the tunic.  Although I'm kinda glad that there's some straight stockinette on the sleeves.  I can knit and talk again!

Oooo. Lace tunic over a black bathing suit!  In a month you'll get to see it!

Another Day!

It's a wonderful day here!  Cloudless sky, 34ºF this morning, and best of all, NO wind.
Yesterday, the sky was gray with dirt from the wind, I stayed inside to avoid breathing problems, and my eyes were grainy. I knitted... and I waited... and momma's not happy when the Fed Ex delivery says 2 more days...  I'm SO sure my package will show up today, that I decided to break my silence, and admit I was wrong about it coming on Monday.  Yes, according to tracking the package had left the Denver terminal on Sunday afternoon, meaning it had to be in F'ton by Monday morning.  And it was there Tuesday morning, yet now it's Wednesday!  What do those people do?

I'm ready for the blocking:

But miles to go:

This is arm #1.  Construction?  The front and back in the top picture are connected by the skinny piece under the arm (attached to the sleeve in the lower picture).
I haven't heard from Vogue about my suggestion that there's a mistake in stitch count for the larger sizes.
Time for some piano time.  I'm replacing someone who was "fired" because they couldn't play a piece.  Hopefully I'll get it done. (gig on Saturday, meet with vocalist today)

Celina: How is my picture formatting?  Are you still editing?

Ready for the next step...

I would like to think I've done a lot of things in knitting;  a lot of things well, I mean.  One thing that has me running scared is "lace".  I LOVE to do lace, and I've finished my daughter's projects with no qualms... as long as I don't have to block them.


Lace takes time, talent, and the right physical environment.  I have most of these: Time (ya, sure), talent (OK, perseverance), and physical environment (high desert SW with the driest of atmospheres=quick, thorough drying in half the time compared to either coast).  What I lack is a space with the right surface.  


When I finished off C's lace Icarus shawl, I pretended that wrapping it up for the postal service and unwrapping it 10 or so days later...well, if there was ANY moisture in there, it would be ruined. Right?  Therefore, no blocking on this side of the Atlantic!  It worked...C did a beautiful job of blocking.

It went from this to this:

Delicious!!


Today I graduate (because it is the month of graduations) to a "blocker."
Any moment now the doorbell will ring, and Emily (a fellow norskophile/knitter) from FedEx will have dropped the box at the front door with this:

And this:

and a few other little toys...


I will anxiously be knitting like a fiend on my lace tunic to have it ready for travel by May 25th.


Also, you can all hold your collective breaths while I work through some instructions in the pattern that don't add up stitch-wise.  I'm forging ahead, but I check daily at Vogue for possible corrections.


See you on the other side!

Knitting is EASY!!

I mean, follow these instructions:

1. Leave out the yarn overs
2. Ignore S2KP's
3. Cast on no more than 154 stitches
4. Use size US #10 or larger needles
5. Bind off at the 10 inch length

And you have a project done in "One Freakin' Day!"

That makes this Momma a Happy Momma!

My current projects on hold for that day:

1. Sewing the legs and arms on a baby toy (blog post: Wednesday, May 05 2010)
2. Sewing the seams of a baby cardigan (blog post: Thursday, Apr 15 2010)
3. Lace Tunic: Second round section is finished! (blog post:Friday, April 23, 2010)
4. Vilai Socks (blog post: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010)
5. A second mitten (It's been so long I have no blog posts on this one! Ravelry)
6. A second sock in mindless straight knitting (So far not blog-worthy: Ravelry)

May be the Best Time of Year

Can you believe it?  This spikey plant that stabs me whenever I try to pull a weed near it, the source of red wounds on my arms for most of the summer, is going to be my favorite for the next month.  The weeds aren't too high yet... though I pulled a few today... and what was once a give away plant from a friend at school, will soon be loaded with white flowers.
We have seven plants around the perimeter of the house, and it took years for them to start blossoming, but now they do--every May.  It reminds me of the Summer to come.  Hooray!

Ghetto Cooking

Not my term, but my daughter's.  Her extraordinary imagination remembers only disastrous highlights from our meals.  And then pounces on every lapse of good judgement.  Her blog yesterday (May 6th) was amazingly blameless of her mother.


I'm just saying:  Does anyone woman think highly of their mother's cooking?  I think it's a male myth, and then males turn around and become world class chefs!


C has more than once brought up the ONE AND ONLY TIME her mother fed her a frozen dinner and we were both ill later that night... My defense:  Not much, except I was working full time, living on a "reservation", trying to be a mother to a third grader, and hubby was away for a month.  I'm just saying...


My hubby is the best cook!  He's imaginative, and not afraid of comfort food, nor complex preparations.  I try to imitate him sometimes, with varying results.


Which dish belongs to me?  Can you guess?
#1

#2

#3

Hard to imagine!  I pulled off a Lemon Meringue Pie from scratch without proper pie dough ingredients and by "building" my own pie plate! (See the foil?)

 Ahh!  Mom's Home Cooking!

#1 - C's marzipan decorated cake from a baking class.

#2 - M's famous Christmas Kransekake (Our friends SO look forward to it.)

#3 - Mom's Lemon Pie, making H a happy man!