Winterberry

This is another block with those pesky knots. Aside from the knots, it was a fun knit, watching the traveling stitches wavering back and forth.

redorangedaylily
Originally uploaded by zinlizzie

This is one of the 2006 planting that survived, and only one of two that's going to put up scapes this year, it appears. I was anxious to see what it would look like, and then wound up missing the first bloom. Grrr. That's what comes of sending kids to camp - I get a lot done while they're gone, but I lose that time the week before they go, running around getting their oddments together.

casablanca
Originally uploaded by zinlizzie

This is one of the 2004 planting as well, scheduled for moving this fall.

stargazer
Originally uploaded by zinlizzie

This is one of the fall 2004 planting. This is one of my favorites. I put these in down by the mailbox, but have decided that they don't seem to do as well there as I hoped. This fall, I plan to move them to a new bed farther back from the street, so that they won't get the salt load in the winter.

tangerine
Originally uploaded by zinlizzie

This is the first of the new daylilies I added this past year. Only two of the five are putting up scapes. I suppose I'll have to wait at least another year for the other three.

These blocks for the Taste of Aran Afghan are ones that I enjoyed doing - potato chip style. They were quick and fun. This first one is the Triangle Lace Cables pattern, a single cable twist with a lace V.
The second one is Smocked Cables - a clever idea on someone's part. Just as with smocking woven cloth, one has to keep an even regular tension on the smocking part, but it really is fun.

Post script to previous post: K has now been reminded that if she lets go of the book for a total of approximately 3.5 hours, her mother will finish it, thereby allowing her to now discuss matters that arise as she gets to them, as long as it's not in her brother's hearing. She is both satisfied and pouting about this development.

K is learning that being the first to read a much desired book (Deathly Hallows, of course) means that you're not allowed to discuss any of the interesting details when you get to them.

Spinning guild was yesterday. 25 people showed up. Of those 25, six were among the 7000-odd people world wide who have signed up for MS3. We were trying to figure out what that meant. Aside from the fact that we need to have a fashion show in October, of course.

This next square is an example of what I like best about Aran knitting - cables. This is the Chain Link Cable - all cables, all the time. I could see having this on a sweater of mine.

And this fourth square is an example of what I like least - bobbles! I don't care whether they are termed bobbles or knots, I don't care if they are executed in knit or crochet, I have yet to meet a bobble I like to execute, or really, one that I would like to wear. This is Briar Rose, and in this photo, it looks like nothing much of anything. In person, it's a clever little pattern with knots for rosebuds, but I disliked knitting it (both times!) and would never willingly use it for anything. Having to re-knit this square was one of the major drawbacks to reworking my original concept for this afghan, and one of the reasons why the project sat untouched for two years while the memory of the horror faded enough to allow me to try again.

ETA: This square proves that one's parents advice about "doing something you don't like because it's good for your character" is true. At least, if it isn't good for my character, it did teach me something. I tend to do things without examining how I do them or why I do them, until something brings it to my attention. I never have had difficulty in understanding charts or reading them, and I don't usually pay any attention to complaints about differences in convention between one designer and another. When I pick up a chart, I look to see what each symbol means, and then I'm on my merry way.

One convention that is often followed, whatever the exact symbol used, is that the same symbol is used for knit and purl stitches and the knitter theoretically interprets the symbol differently depending on whether a right or wrong side row is being knit. I say theoretically, because what I discovered about myself on this particular square, is that I don't interpret the symbol differently depending on right or wrong side. The symbol always means the same thing to me: - means purl and means knit in this chart. Instead, I mentally rotate my knitting so that I am always visualizing the right side of the knitting, whether I am knitting a right side or a wrong side row. Rather than redefine the symbol each time, I just always "look" at the right side of my knitting and perform whatever knitting stitch is necessary to make the right side of the knitting match the chart.

Ok, so my weird mental processes might best be left unexamined, even by me, but here's the gotcha on this pattern: All patterning is done on wrong side rows. The cable crossings and the knots are all presented in the chart as they look on the wrong side, but I'm busy mentally swinging around to look at the right side for all plain knit or purl stitches. Honestly, when I do this, it's like watching a little 3D visualization of my knitting rotating back and forth and frankly, it was making me dizzy. If I'd been home when I was working for this, I think I would simply have recharted this puppy to show all wrong side rows as they would look from the right side, but as it was I was in the car on the road with no paper or pencil, and I simply had to memorize the pattern as quickly as possible so that I quit having to look at the chart.

When I work up the mental strength to think about it, I am going to rechart this pattern a couple of different ways and see if it makes any difference to the ease of knitting. I'm still not entirely positive I understand why the patterning has to be done on the wrong side rows.

Coming to terms with my second childhood

When I was young, I adored being read to. I wanted to listen to someone reading on all occasions. When I was four, I learned to read and then had the magic for myself. By the time I was in second grade (about 7), I was coming to the realization that I could read some books as fast or faster than someone could read them to me, and by the time I was in fourth grade, I was reading over my mother's shoulder, skimming ahead of where she was reading and being obnoxious about wanting to turn the page when she was only half way through the first side. This was not well received on her part and I gave up on being read to. I wanted to hurry through the story, getting to the good parts.

For many years, I was told that when I got older (pick a time - when I got in middle school, when I got into high school, when I got into college...) I wouldn't be able to read as much, I wouldn't have the time. But, while it was true that I didn't have as much time to read, my reading stayed constant or even increased, because I simply forced myself to read faster. By the time I got to college, I had hit my own natural limit for reading faster, but that was still fast enough to allow me plenty of time to read.

I had plenty of time to read throughout my early working career, and even into early married life. Then... I had children. For the first time in my life, I truly didn't have enough time to read, and the amount of reading I have done has slackened off over the past ten years. The type of reading I have done has changed, and I have picked up hobbies that don't lend themselves to reading at the same time. While I can knit and read, I can't do much more than stockinette.

A couple of years ago, my sister recommended books on tape, with a particular author and narrator. I had read the books already and enjoyed them, but the narrator was said to be a good one, so I tried one. And then I tried another. Barbara Rosenblatt reading the Amelia Peabody stories by Elizabeth Peters is wonderful. And... I can knit at the same time!

This has been a wonderful revelation - with a few minor caveats. 1. The narrator has to be really good. 2. The narration can't be rushed. 3. The book has to be one that I've read before and know well. I still have to know how it turns out, or I want to dash to the end of the book, shoving the narrator out of the way so that I can turn the page sooner.

And so, here I am in my second childhood, listening happily to someone reading to me while I doodle, this time in yarn.

Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer, narrated by Sian Phillips. Most excellent.

I'm always a little sad to see the first of the Oriental lilies to start blooming. Somehow, it signifies the beginning of the end. The Asiatics bloom first, then the daylilies start, and then the Orientals and then... they're done. This is of course, being much too gloomy as some of the daylilies are barely putting their scapes up and the Tangos aren't quite done yet, but still... This yellow beauty is first out of the starting gate, but only by a day or two. There's another that may open tomorrow, and that's one I just planted last year so I'm anxious to see it.
C, I'm glad you like the Aran afghan, but I left it at my parents-in-law earlier this week, so I'm not getting anything done on it. I had to rip back about 8 rows of Hyrna, and have just gotten back to the point that I had been. I started a cotton scarf when I needed some mindless knitting and, having dropped a stitch about 5 rows before I noticed it, I need to rip that back as well. All in all, this has been a dud week for knitting chez nous.

Taking pictures of this project has been problematic but I've finally got the solution I think (at least for the first go-round of pictures). These are the squares from the Taste of Aran Afghan , done in Daletta, charcoal grey. Finding some combination of lighting and position that would let me show at least a little of the texture has been and interesting problem.
I have about 11 or 12 squares done, out of 20, and I have developed definite opinions about some of them.
This first one is one of my favorites. Grillwork Cable:

And this second is definitely one of my un-favorites. Star Stitch, presented as an alternative to Trinity Stitch, is a pain in the finger joints. I suspect it may also be a pain in blocking, judging from the skew of the unblocked square.

More of apricot daylilies have opened up, slightly less skewed than their predecessor bloom.
And the lemon daylilies have started blooming as well. The bees are crazy over these and I often find two or three bees in the bloom arguing over who gets to get the nectar first.

When I first moved into this house (3 summers ago?) I started a bed of lilies. In the front of the bed were the asiatics pictured previously (in yellow, pale orange and dark orange). In the back were daylilies which are now starting to open. Well, the stella d'oro have already been and gone, but the rest of them are now starting. These were a mixed bag and I've no idea which is which. Someday I may have time to peruse through catalogs and put names to them. (This picture looks warped to me, as though taken with a fisheye lens or something, but it's untouched. The bloom just looks a bit warped in person, that's all.) And as you can see, Hyrna has moved into the chart B phase. It's not a new observation that it is difficult to photograph lace in progress on a circular needle, but there you go. I like the chart B section. As with chart A, there is a mathematical placidity about the pattern that is pleasing, and there're only two rows to alternate between; extremely easy lace.
I need to find where I put Sylvia's notes about expanding HH - she worked it all out and I'd rather not muddle through the process again. Having expanded the first section (which I noted on my copy ) I think I also want to expand the second section to keep the proportions of the original the same. This I didn't note on my copy because I didn't get that far on my first stab at this pattern. Time to rummage through the stack o' paper.

I finished another couple of new (to me) books this week - Salt a World History, and In a Sunburned Country and thoroughly enjoyed them. It struck me as noteworthy while I was reading each of them that they had tie-ins to other books I've read recently, and then it dawned on me that if one is going to read books that talk about history, it doesn't really matter whether it is geological history or anthropological history, they are probably going to touch on some of the same topics. (duh!) (I know, there's probably some head thunks going on right there. I'm sorry.)
Of course, the book I'm reading now A Short History of Everything actually references not the same historical time but the same (other) book I'm reading, Annals of the Former World. And this leads me to the next book I'm planning on requesting from the library, A Guide to the End of the World. What fun!

Skein number 5 of the Beast. Only two more to go. Maybe. I think I'm ready to be done with it. So... I'm easily amused. A little history: The ladder ordinarily leans against the wall in the garage and the white cat climbs it, perches for a while, and climbs down. The tiger cat has never climbed the ladder before that we know of. The ladder was brought into the house (for dusting purposes [the house, not the ladder]) and the Snowball ran up the steps, perched for a while, then ran down the steps. Tiger observed this and decided he could do this too. While he perched, the Snowball tried again and was most disconcerted to find her perch taken.
Snowball having abandoned the field in disgust, Tiger then amused himself chasing his tail...
and then discovered he really didn't know how to get down. Oops!

Tango lilies: Capuchino
Dot Com
Kentucky
and Olina.
These pictured are all in their second year here, although I've babies of several colors.

Summer is here, and as with most things that involve change, it is wrecking havoc with my mental schedules. There isn't anything wrong with a summer schedule, it's just different from my school year schedule, and as such, I have to refigure when I'm going to perform my marginal activities (such as knitting, spinning, and blogging, for example). It's not that these activities hold marginal interest for me, you understand, just that at present, while working and ferrying offspring around, they exist in the margins of my life. Some people advocate moving marginal activities to times such as 4 am; I am not one of them. At 4 am I hope to be sound asleep.

It would appear that my best time to blog is going to be in those moments when my son is not yet ready to tear himself from the library high speed connection, such a thing being unheard of at our house. The only thing wrong with this plan (high speed connections being desirable for this on my part as well), is that the library frowns on my attaching my camera to their computer, which sort of leads to a dearth of pictures. Hmmmm...

Have a good weekend.

More of the Asiatic lilies have opened up. These are in a pot on my front step, and the small flower to the back is a baby in the same pot. I think it's going to find a new home in the fall. These next pictures are of an Asiatic type - Red Carpet Lilies, marketed as good border plants. I have them bordering the bed along the front walk. Last year when I got these, I meant to put them up along the edge and see how far the 20 I ordered would go. In actual fact, when the bulbs arrived, I had a big wad of zinnias which had taken over the center part of the border, so I skipped a space in the middle. So, I suppose this year I need to fill in the gap. The side picture gives the truest color - at least on my monitor.

The first blooms of the season are always the darlings - we wait and wait, then ooh and ah. The later blooms? Well, not so much. They sort of run together.

These are the yellow dwarf asiatics, in the same bed as the orange and pale orange previously mentioned. Did I run right out when the first one opened to take it's picture?Maybe not. But they do look good together, don't you think? The Stella D'Oro's have started.

And oh, yes. Knitting. There is some of that happening. These were my five additions to the Dulaan or Bust party.(Ok, so you can't really see the navy blue hat in the right hand corner since the reds took over the picture, but it is there. Promise!)

I got some catalpa seeds from my BIL's vineyard. The trees there are decades old, but exactly how old is unknown. The vineyard site is more than a hundred years old, but has not been in continuous use as a vineyard for the whole time , or even most of that time . (Prohibition, anyone?) I was a little surprised to see catalpas this far north (Hudson Valley) but this variety does seem to manage. I left the seed pods in the garage over the winter and then started them in a pot. The variety I'm acquainted with was quick growing and huge leaved. The leaves were late to sprout in the spring and withered at the first hint of cold. The parent trees to these sprouts seem to have these characteristics as well, although the seed pods were narrower and thicker than I remember from my childhood. Unlike the dwarf asiatics, these Tango lilies (asiatic hybrids) are not quite so far along, and are quite a bit larger plants, although the flowers are pretty much the same size. And, last but not least, we have the beginnings of a pot of scarlet verbena. I have a hanging pot that got quite carried away last summer, until neglect from being gone several weeks did it in. Maybe this summer will be better.

The garden in the front is starting to bloom. The Stella D'Oros will be just a few days more... But the dwarf asiatics are taking off in orange and
pale orange.

There has been a bunch of spinning going on chez nous I've doubled the number of Beast skeins - about half of it is finished.
I also started working on Hyrna again. When last seen, I had just gotten about this far: When I discovered that I didn't have enough handspun to finish it. There was enough variation in the skeins that I didn't like the way it was turning out. I ripped all of it back into little balls. Having now purchased a ginormous skein of Henry's Attic alpaca laceweight from Woodland Woolworks, I divided it into four smaller balls of approximately 1200 yards each. I'm now back to the point I was at when I started ripping - finished with the chart A section, complete with expansion as discussed with beadlizard previously. We'll see if I can get any farther.

Cute cat, eh? If you look closely, that's MY shawl he's so carefully curled up on. AND again. Different shawl, same Tiger. Humph.
We had a break in the weather and I got a bit of baking done, for the first time in weeks. I dragged out an old recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip cookies, which we used to eat all the time and then, I suppose, we got burnt out on them.
These cookie fiends devoured half a batch the first day, and then, yes, half a batch the second day. When she reached for the last cookie in the box the first day, K turned and looked at me seriously and said, "Mom! These are Dangerous Cookies!" So, herewith, I present Dangerous Cookies. You have been warned.

Dangerous Cookies (my variation of the Banana Chocolate Chips, from The 47 Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World)

1 c butter
1/2 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp maple extract
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c mashed ripe banana
1 c pecan pieces
2 c semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and extract; mix well. Blend in bananas. Slowly add dry ingredients; blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets with parchment paper (or greased), about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 or 13 minutes. Cool. Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

My feet hurt!

6 hours of walking around the local amusement part on Friday with the 6th grade class trip and my feet still hurt. 3 12-year old boys take a lot of keeping up with.

And while we're on the subject of 12 year olds - what ARE their parents thinking? Who sends their kids with $35 to spend and no instructions on how to spend it? I was feeling extravagant giving mine $20 and expecting him to learn to make good choices about buying his lunch. (He can spend as much as he likes/needs, but I expect the change back. The thing that always surprises me is, I get some!) These kids had their lunch provided AND $35 to just "spend". One of them asked me "Can we go shopping? I love to go look at the shops and waste money." What sort of a life lesson is that? _grrr_

A very happy birthday indeed - my day began with breakfast prepared by K, wandered through small moments of pleasure in good wishes extended by family and friends (both online and off), included dinner prepared by J and K and ended with cake prepared by J and S.
Punctuated by flowers...
Presents...
Spinning (see any previous picture of spinning with pale Beast - it looks just the same and I'm about halfway through now), and Cake:Blackout cake with ganache icing. J swore it had to weigh 5 pounds, but as you can see, he exaggerates. We only make this once a decade, but it was my turn to get it this time. S complained (a tiny bit) over having to put the almond slices on, but he managed to steel himself to do it.

And a friend gave me a miniature rose. I think I'm going to try planting this one in the garden - the Tiger cat insists on trying to eat them no matter where I put them in the house.

Thanks for all the good wishes!

School is Finished! I turned in the last paper yesterday - now I just wait for the grades. (wait, wait)

The books list has taken a big jump in the past few weeks. I found an author I'd read one or two of has written a bunch more books - beach reading, trashy romance thrillers, and just what I needed after poring over technical software journals for hours. I will just mention that she has a wicked sense of humor and if you need a good belly laugh, try Open Season, Mr. Perfect, To Die For, or Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Saturday spinning this week was actually at spinning guild - the first time I've been there in six months. There must have been almost sixty people there this month. I don't know if that's been typical (see above), but it was nice to see. If it is typical, we're definitely outgrowing our space. The topic of the month was bring your kids: let's learn to spindle spin and to knit on knitting looms (those handheld overgrown knitting spools). I don't know how the knitting looms went - I hung out with the spindlers. This is the last spindleful of the blue to be done.
The red has been done long since (and been banging around the house as you can see by the poor tubes). I'm still undecided about whether I'm going to ply them together or whether I should ply each of them with a third color. Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions?

Intentional Cooking (I may need a ruling from Carolyn on this - does it count if what you're making has no nutritionally redeeming value?)

A couple of recipes I picked up from the GS camping weekend - Yummy!

M & M Pretzels

1 bag Square Pretzels (woven pattern) (Bulk Foods)
1 Bag of M & M’s
1-2 lbs. Dark, White, or Milk Chocolate wafers (Bulk Foods)

Put square pretzels on cookie sheet and then add chocolate wafers on top. Bake in oven at 200’ for 5 minutes. Take out of oven and put M & M’s on top. Refrigerate or put in cool area. Ready to package or eat.


Muddy Buddies


1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
9 cups wheat, rice, corn, or favorite chex cereal
1 ½ cup confectionary sugar

Pour cereals into large bowl, set aside.

In 1 quart microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute or until smooth. Stir mixture and add vanilla.

Pour chocolate mixture over cereals, stirring until all pieces are evenly coated. Pour cereal mixture into a large resealable bag or bowl with lid and add confectionary sugar. Seal securely and shake until all pieces are well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool.

Truth
A Conversation with S:

S: You said I could have a smoothie!
Z: Do I always tell the truth?
S: Yes! You have to!!!
Z: I do? Really?
S: Of course you do. You're a mom. You have to tell the truth until we grow up and move out!
Z: Um... Right. Let's go get your smoothie.

When they move out, I suppose the FibFest can begin.

School is down to the last two weeks of the quarter and I've a 10 page research paper due on Monday. See you all on the other side!

ps. There are three hatchlings at the Falconcam!

It has been mentioned once or twice in blogland that spinning makes for dull blogging. I can't deny it. Here's bobbin 3 of the dark Beast and Bobbin 5 of the pale Beast. Look rather like earlier bobbins, eh?
I'll not get much spinning done this weekend - I'm off to the woods with the Girl Scouts. End of year camping trip - and they're going white water rafting. I'm going to be staying back in camp to cook a hot lunch and take those not interested in rafting off on a hike. Any rafting trip that involves wet suits probably involves needing something warm afterwards, or at least we have so decided. Fortunately the weather is cooperating - the current forecast involves sunshine for at least five days.