My kitchen prowess approaches legendary status.

Tad may say (and he might be right) that this is nearly as bad as the time I set the oven mitts on fire.

Had I the good sense to turn off the burner before snapping the shot, I would have prevented the sizzling milk from spattering all over the adjoining counter and appliances.

In my defense, the camera was two feet away on the table… And believe it or not, I have made worse kitchen messes (even the burnt mitts aren’t the worst of it - they just smelled bad).
Hoping your Tuesday was Messy, but safe!

P.S. Thanks all for your well-wishes on my last post - I didn’t mean to give the impression that I was in a big funk - Things have been a little challenging around here this spring, and though I’ve done my share of whining (you know who you are, you who’ve listened, and thank you), things in general are very good, and I am very fortunate to have such great friends, family, and kind readers.
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Now playing: Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
via FoxyTunes

Things are busy my friends - general work insanity (to be expected at this time of year), and lots going on in real life too, which equals less wordiness from me as most of my energy and attention are drawn elsewhere. So, an update on the activities of the last week (two, actually) in list form:

A new T-shirt from Connie (which has already seen a good share of wear in the week since it arrived. Thanks Connie - I love it!) - her brother’s beautiful design:

Swatching for planned projects and new designs:

A greatly improved schematic for Summer Sky with a little preview for you all, this may not be the final version, but I’m MUCH happier with it than the orginal - Step by step the redux is moving along, I’ll give an update on the expected timeframe soon.

An excellent show last week (The Swell Season) and another amazing opener I’d never heard before (Dawn Landes - check her out with the link below). The music collection grows.

A completed logo for Purling Plans by a very talented friend, to be shared with you all soon.

The Golf came home after some much needed work - followed by some brakework too, and is now running like a top - not bad for 140k - Here’s hoping for another 50-100,000.

Time with Friends & Sheep last weekend - Ironically, more pictures of the sheep than of the friends!:

Lots of time in the Garden (which is coming along quite nicely!) - Pictures soon.

An especially fantastic mess has been documented, but I’ll save that for next Messy Tuesday.

Spinning, as you saw (and helped me along!).

Yarn winding - Newly arrived z-ply Mora Yarn for more Two-End Knitting and the upcoming second installment of the Two-End Knitting Exploration (Did you happen to see? My first installment was featured by Eve in Yarnival on Monday much to my surprise! I’d been wondering where Yarnival went off to, not having seen an edition in a couple months, and as always I enjoyed some new and existing favorite blogs and projects. Thank you to whoever recommended my post!):

So, lots going on here - what’s new with you?!

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Now playing: Dawn Landes - Dig Me a Hole
via FoxyTunes

You are master spinners!

I learned a handful of new tricks - all of which were tried in succession and will come in handy again in the future I have no doubt (Thank you!), but boy, that end was stubborn. I thought I was going to have to resort to breaking off a new end, but then finally I tried a tip from the Bellwether’s post that Frith pointed out. The paperclip trick (nail clipper-hook-thingie in my case - apparently I don’t own any paperclips) of picking a top-level looking single and following it around until finding the end saved the day. Hurray!

Thank you all SO very much for your help - thanks to you, I’m off to spin!

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Now playing: Silversun Pickups - Well Thought Out Twinkles
via FoxyTunes

Spinners, please help me!

I was struck by a sudden urge tonight to spin on a project I haven’t touched in months (with the exception of a brief and ill-fated attempt at the last spinning guild meeting - I blame the plying flyer I was using instead of the normal one). Middy joined me for a few minutes and Tad was able to fire off a stealth shot from behind the other couch before she got wise and ran away:

Anyway, everything was going along nicely - I was getting a really nice fine single without any trouble and humming right along… and I started to feel really excited about this yarn again, like there might be a possibility I could actually finish it in the foreseeable future. And then, the single broke. And the end disappeared into the bobbin. Now how in the hell do I find the end?? I looked for a good 30 minutes before giving up. Any tricks or tips to force it to show itself?

This is not at all what I had planned to post tonight - sidetracks are the name of the game this week I guess! Most of them have been fun and productive though, so I can’t complain. And if I can find the end of the yarn before I lose my excitement again, this too will have been worthwhile!

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Now playing: Mates of State - Mates of State - My Only Offer
via FoxyTunes

It’s positively impossible to be frustrated while listening to this song. The lyrics have a little more going on, but the sound - so light and happy!!

I attempted an indoor shoot of my new socks yesterday in the afternoon light, but someone decided to be a camera hog:

This was actually quite an unusual turn of events. Middy is usually quite prissy & standoffish when I pull out the camera, but since I was using stealth mode (aka the camera remote) she didn’t seem to notice that she was actually working it for an audience - since you all don’t see evidence of our other four-footed child very often, I thought you might enjoy. This may be my new strategy in snapping pictures of the Middy-cat-o! We took a time out for some play and pets, and then I decided that my normal sock-picture-studio was boring and decided to move the shoot outside.

I love my new springy socks - They look right at home growing here in the garden! Get a load of this lovely stitch pattern (click for big):

Pattern: Belvedere, by the talented Kirsten at Through the Loops!

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Olive. Recognize this? I’m a green fanatic - 90% of my knits are green, but this one in particular is a fairly recent repeat. This is the backup skein I got for Tessa’s Rivendell socks in case I ran out. I only needed one skein and so I had more green yarn to use for selfish purposes. I was previously unaware of Jitterbug’s reputationally skimpy yardage, but I’m happy to report that one skein was plenty for this pair, which comfortably fit my US Women’s 8.5 feet; and just enough for the larger gauge and size Rivendell’s - @ US Women’s siz 9-9.5, I’d say.

Needles: US1 Bamboo DPNs

Mods: None! I moved down a needle size since they were coming out a bit big on the US2’s, but aside from that, no change.

Time to knit: Hmm about 4-5 weeks, I guess. These progressed rather slowly because of the spring yuck, general busy-ness, and the sidetrack of the work on Summer Sky, but they were great commute knitting! They were knit almost exclusively on the way to & from work with Tad driving - when I wasn’t snoring away in the passenger seat.

Verdict: Beautiful! The sock love grows. The stitch pattern is gorgeous on and off the foot, and I adore this heel - this slip/twisted stitch pattern was new to me, and aside from being very pretty, seems very sturdy and strong - I think it will hold up quite well. Thanks go to Kirsten for a lovely and well-written pattern!! I’ve been looking forward to making these since she introduced the pattern last fall - and they did not dissapoint. Belvedere was worth the wait, a very satisfying knit!

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Now playing: Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
via FoxyTunes

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Gudrun of the Shetland Trader, who I’ve really enjoyed getting to know through her blog, and a couple of these questions inspired a slew of happy memories and dreaming (actually… I have a couple more meme’s waiting in the wings from the Rooster and one of my other friends named Mel - I haven’t forgotten you two, this one just came more easily for some reason!) SO here goes, more about me, my day, my dreams and my eating habits than you ever wanted to know.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago almost today…. I had just finished final exams for college graduation (has it really been 10 years?!) I graduated on the same day as Tad - the last event in each other’s lives we had to do separately! We were planning our wedding, looking for jobs and inspiring bloodlust in every driver in town as we struggled through the first week in our new (standard transmission) car because we’d never driven a stick before the day we brought it home (come to think of it - who drove the car home? Who test drove it?? Mom? Scott or Kel? Josh or Amy? Hrmph. It bugs me that I can’t remember that.)

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

(I actually wrote this yesterday afternoon!)

• Transplant seedlings (didn’t get done, moved to the list for today)
• Spend time with the kids (pups & middy - on the list everyday)
• Finish winding yarn for swatching new design ideas (check!)
• Rescue our little diesel from the shop (Got moved to Monday, it’s not done yet)
• See a good show tonight (check, they were great, but the opener blew us away)
  

None of this includes the actual day job work that absorbs the bulk of my day - but you really don’t want to hear about that!

Today’s list has some additions:

• Drop packages off at the Post Office
• Hair appointment
• Belvedere FO post
• Swatching

3) Snacks I enjoy:

I love snacks!! My hunger clock sets off alarm bells every 3-4 hours in the form of an inability to make decisions, often accompanied by severe grumpiness brought on by the fact that I need to eat NOW and I can’t decide what to do about it or what to have! I love snacks in (almost) all forms and attempt to keep some close by to avoid scaring anyone who might be around me… Lately big favorites have been - Olives, hummus & whole grain bread, fruit, guacamole & tortilla chips, chocolate (of course). When I’m at work and in a bind, nuts or peanut butter crackers from the vending machine.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Wow, hrm… This questions completely feeds my pipe dreaming mentality. Pay off all remaining debt and invest enough so that we could work for ourselves or others as volunteer labor. Hike the AT, Buy a small plot of land for fiber animals and chickens and growing food - preferably abutting mountainous state or national land for easy access to hiking. Maybe purchase industrial spinning equipment & create a fiber co-op. Convert our diesel VW Golf to run on waste veggie oil or build one of these to make our own biodiesel…. Give the rest to good causes - preventing and curing cancer, addressing food supply issues, supporting alternative fuel & power initiatives…. As Meghan said earlier this week, Is my idealism showing? This question makes me think of one of my favorite recent lyrics (by one of my favorite bands) “It’s ok if this world had a billion saviors, because there’s so many things to be saved…”

5) Places I have lived:

Not very many! I have spent most of my life in New Hampshire. I grew up in a small town called North Haverhill and went to school across the river from an even smaller town called Ryegate, VT, where Tad spent his adolescence. We met, I moved to Laconia, NH for my last year of high school - Spent the next five years in Keene, NH in college, then married Tad and moved to beautiful Peterborough, NH (sometime home of one of my knitting idols - except I didn’t even knit then - sigh!) lived in bliss for the next few years before moving outside of Raleigh, North Carolina when I was 25. Been here ever since - will be here for a few more before the next move.

I’ll refrain from tagging anyone - but if you’re reading and would like to play along, please do. It’s always fun to learn more about you all!

Now, it’s a BEAUTIFUL day, and I’m going to add getting outside to my to-do list! Have a great day!

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Now playing: Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream
via FoxyTunes

In the absence of knitting, blogging, photographing of messes (or knitting), working on Summer Sky, keeping up with online friends & their activities, and possibly most disappointing - a trip to one of my favorite annual activities, MDSW - there has instead been coughing, aching, sniffling and general yuck. I am almost never sick, but when I do come down with something I am a big old baby (must work on that)! I’m finally resuming normal activities and fortunately, there have been some consolations!

While I was mourning the missed trip to MD, I won Connie’s contest for her brother’s T-shirt! I rarely enter blog contests anymore in an effort to minimize the stuff coming into the house - there is a stream of “stuff” going out as we continue to pare down and filter out the unwanted or unused so that we can actually find the useful and valued, including yarn without a set purpose - so even potential free yarn or other contest swag feels like a burden sometimes - weird huh? Somehow this hasn’t stopped the book acquisitions though. I wish my public library had a better knitting collection. I digress, I digress!! I loved her brother’s illustration so much that I caved on this one. And who would have thought? I won! Check it out here! Talented family, no? Have you seen Connie’s latest IK design yet? Thank you so much Connie (and your brother too! It’s a beautiful design!) I look forward to wearing it!

Other bright spots have been Mathias’ returning strength (funny, I thought it would be the dogs that required us to stay home, not me!), and a resulting brief trip to VT a week ago to join Tad in seeing Tim & Martha and our sweet niece AB, and our little vegetable seedlings taking off in their new bed (built by Tad!) and flourishing with the recent rain and collected rainwater from our growing collection of barrels (the goal is to support the entire water needs of the garden this year with rainwater if we can). Oh, and it’s primary day in NC! We walked to our precinct’s polling place this evening, conveniently located at the edge of our neighborhood. I was very excited to go vote!

So how about a Messy Tuesday pic (taken a week or more ago now!)?

Sad closet shelf with hidden WIPs - Go to Flickr to see the detailed notes.

This is not usually where I store my WIPs - an as you can see, they’re suffering for it - That’s my Festjakke and Riata Tweed Jacket, which looks like it needs some detangling. Ouch. I think these got stuffed here in a quick “cleanup” for company weeks ago - and strangely enough, they haven’t been touched since! But! Belvedere the second has been progressing though slowly, and I’ll have a pair of finished socks to show in a couple days. Some work has been done on Summer Sky, my brain finally felt up to tackling some of the math on Sunday and I think that I’m on target for an end of May/early June release. Taking this step back to rework and revise has been very valuable, if time consuming. Which makes me even more excited for some of the other designs I have on the brain! I hope you’ve all been well and doing fun stuff, knitting and making messes!

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Now playing: The Weepies - Can’t Go Back Now
via FoxyTunes