Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas One and All!

My Christmas Cactus (cacti) bloom merrily in the kitchen window in honor of the season. Unfortunately their biological clocks have been out of sync for years. They bloom every year in November. The photo was taken on Thanksgiving.

How much are these doggies in the window?

Left to right: Icecream and Snowball modeling velveteen ruffs

The ones with the waggly tails . . .

How much are these doggies in the window? My sweet Bichons are not for sale!
Left to right: Icecream and Snowball modeling taffeta ruffs

Left to right: Snowball and Icecream outside looking for Santa on Christmas Eve

Back to knitting content soon.

Bona Fide Knitter

Sockatastrophe!

It's a catastrophe, a sock catastrophe, a sockatastrophe. My Italy Socks are ruined!

I call them my "Italy Socks" because I had planned to knit them while in Italy in 2008. However, I had another sock on the needles at the time and didn't actually begin the Italy Socks until on my way home, literally. I cast on for the first sock while in the van on my way to the airport in Rome for the return trip to the US. Oddly, they were a problem from the beginning. I had to frog and cast on twice more on the flight home before I got that first sock going.

The Socks:




The Sockatastrophe:

One sock turned into spaghetti in the washing machine. What's up with that?

Evidently something started feasting on my socks and only got as far as one.

From the frayed and wispy strands of wool and the places where it is severed completely, something had a very good meal.


The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug Sock Yarn, expensive and ruined! What to do? My first thought yesterday when this happened was to frog and reknit. Then I remembered I have most of another hank of this yarn because another of the problems with this pair of socks was I ran out of yarn, a first! Although it was supposed to be 110 grams, 318 yards I ran out of yarn at the toe of the second sock and had to buy more. making them aa $45 pair of socks!

Using my basic pattern that works perfectly every time for Lorna's Laces, Opal, Regia, Trekking XXL, etc., the completed socks were big (wide). I finally wore them after two years and afterwards decided to wash them in the washer and maybe get some shrinkage. They didn't shrink, but one certainly shredded! There were no holes when I wore them. I didn't notice their condition when I loaded them into the washer with my delicates a week or so later. I can see in what is left of the one sock that there are stitches that are eaten through. Thus the shredding from the agitation in the washer.

I've located the leftover yarn cake made from the second hank I had to buy and will knit the sock again then wash it with another load of delicates and have a matching pair of Italy Socks once again. I will store them more carefully this time. No more Colinette Jitterbug for me!

Of other knitting news there is none. Volt continues the grow at the polar opposite of leaps and bounds. (tiny steps and little bounces?) BTW, Volt appears in the Holiday 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting. Perhaps mine will be completed by January 15, 2011, 10 months late.

Bona Fide Knitter

P.S. I had a charming and witty Sockatastrophe blog entry written and signed. Somehow it disappeared off the face of the earth before I published it. You get this instead.

Happy Thanksgiving?

Okay, so I'm a day late and am asking was your Thanksgiving happy. Mine was happy enough. I cooked dinner for two, well four if you count the Little White Dogs. We had turkey with all the trimmings and I'm looking forward to leftovers today. The day-after turkey sandwich is better than Thanksgiving dinner if done right. The "right" sandwich calls for sliced white meat on white bread with mayonnaise spread on both pieces, a layer of cranberry sauce and a layer of cornbread stuffing. Mmm, mmm good! The next days you can have hot turkey sandwiches with gravy and even turkey sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. By the fourth day all the turkey should be gone or you won't want any for Christmas!

I made sweet potato ice cream in honor of the day to go with the Mrs. Smith's sweet potato pie I bought at the supermarket. And while I had the DeLonghi Gelato Machine on the counter I made raspberry ice cream as well. No, I did not eat some of all of those! Any I missed I will try today.

Here are pictures of the DeLonghi Gelato Machine in action when I made blackberry ice cream last week. This is a great machine that does not require freezing the freezer bowl 24 hours in advance. It makes a quart of ice cream at a time and if that isn't enough you can make quart after quart with only a five minute wait between batches--just long enough to empty the bowl and fill it again. I has its own self-refrigerating compressor. I was lucky enough to find a new one for a great price on eBay. I love eBay!

Ice cream base:

The macerated and strained blackberries added:

Soft serve ice cream is ready:

Soft ice cream put in carton to firm up in the freezer:

Lidded, labeled and ready for the freezer:

Although the box it comes in and product descriptions everywhere list the amount as 1.5 quarts, the actual capacity of the DeLonghi freezer bowl is 1.2 liters or 40 ounces. There was something lost in the translation from Italian metric liters to American imperial quarts. However, you will not want to put more than a quart (32 ounces) in the bowl unless you want a disaster. The ice cream mix expands as it freezes. Less is better. Trust me.

Thanksgiving evening I decided to cast on for the Pangea Cardigan. That was a change of plans from the hat I had intended to start. Bottom line is I haven't cast on and started anything new in so long I hardly remember how. I love working with long circulars to knit small circumferences in the round. Knitting socks made me an expert at it. However, a few days ago I COULD NOT DO IT! The hat called for casting on eight stitches. I could not get the first round going. I finally gave up and decided to start with dpns. Forget it! I was totally all thumbs. What has happened to me?!!!

So last night I decided to start the sweater, which begins at the left sleeve with a cast on of 76 stitches and calls for dpns and a 40" long circular needle. Magic Loop here I come! Easy for a sock knitter who usually starts with 60 stitches on a 32" long circular . . . I thought. So far I've cast on three times and have yet to get the first round done to my satisfaction. Me, The Sock Lady! So my goal for today is to get that left sleeve started at the wrist!

In my own defense I think I would have made it on the third try if I hadn't had to answer the phone, got a cramp in my hand holding the needles, dropped the cone of yarn . . . and the dog ate my homework.

Here is my fourth attempt waiting for me to pull the cable through between the 38th and 39th stitches.

Maybe I'll add a few pieces to the jigsaw puzzle first . . .

Bona Fide Knitter

What I Now Know to Be True

I have realized some truths this week that I will share with you.

I now know that I knit best when I have more than one project going at a time. I need always to have a pair of socks on the needles, something mindless and portable, so that when a major project gets too complicated or grows too big to cart around I can knit socks. After all I am the self-proclaimed Sock Lady. Knitting plain vanilla socks feeds my knitting soul and restores my knitting equilibrium.

I thought devoting 100% of my knitting time to the Volt shawl I fell in love with would get it done in no time. Instead that idea has made it take longer. Knitting in public became tinking in private, too many distractions. So I stopped taking it with me. Not having anything else to knit I found myself getting used to not knitting and didn't always pick it up again when back at home. Not good. So today I will cast on a portable project--a hat, one of the two projects I couldn't live without from WEBS latest catalog. The other is a sweater that will not be started until after Volt.

I now know that when the going gets tough, meaning out of my control, I take control of my diet and exercise regimen. I eat right, exercise, energize and get a lot accomplished. OR I cook, bake, eat too much, laze around and hold pity parties with a guest list of one. Presently I am in cook/bake/laze mode. Thus the ice cream obsession.

I now know (which is very hard to admit) I AM OLD! When did this happen?!!! How shocking it is to hear or read an account of an event where they describe a person as "elderly," state her age and that age is THE SAME AS MINE!!! When did I become elderly? It makes me want to fall on the floor kicking, crying and screaming NO, NO, NO!!! Now does that sound elderly? Having a temper tantrum is not an elderly thing. It's quite the opposite. Therefore, I AM NOT ELDERLY! Old maybe, but not elderly. Okay? You got it? If so, you might want to remind me every now and then.

Bona Fide Knitter

November?!!!

It's November! When did that happen? Where did summer go? When did summer go? Probably while I was indulging in my newest obsession--HOMEMADE ICE CREAM!!!

Let me back up a bit. It's been a long time since I've been here. Saying the summer was not one of my favorites would be a major understatement. I will omit the gory details but suffice it to say the summer was so bad my knitting suffered. Now that is really B.A.D! My knitting obsession, Volt from The Fine Line, became a nemesis rather than a catharsis. I lost my finally finished vanilla, vanilla socks. And I refused to start anything else until Volt is finished, especially socks.

And then I found ice cream. It all came about because I decided to make my own gelato to appease myself when I couldn't go to Italy in September. I have an old ice cream maker, a Krups I was never very satisfied with, but for this (thanks to rave reviews from BFF Judith) I bought a new Cuisinart. I bought the gelato cookbook, Artisan Gelato and a bottle of Prosecco (it having nothing to do with the ice cream making). Then I went crazy buying all kinds of ice cream recipe books: Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book, The Perfect Scoop and The Ultimate Ice Cream Book.

I happened to have some very over-ripe bananas on hand and decided to try using my old Krups machine while I waited for my new machine to come. Free shipping sometimes takes forever! Those bananas turned into delicious ice cream. I was hooked! The recipe books (cookbooks) gave me much more insight into the making of ice cream than the little books that come with the machines. Had I bought books before ordering the new machine I might have been satisfied with the results from my old Krups. It does a decent job--now that I know that the ice cream should only be expected to freeze to "soft serve." For a firmer product it should be put in the freezer for 30 to 60 minutes to reach the desired firmer consistency.

Krups and Prosecco

Oh, and what good is homemade ice cream without homemade cones? So I bought a cone maker as well. Here are my first cones cooling on the rack. Yeah, I had to have a cone rack too. Peeking from behind the cones is the new Cuisinart ice cream maker.


I put away the old Krups when the new Cuisinart arrived and proceeded to make the best ice cream I've ever eaten! Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, peach, chocolate with almonds, butter pecan, lemon, corn (yes corn!), mango, pumpkin, tiramisu, cheesecake, honeydew sherbet, cantaloupe sherbet, and probably some others I've forgotten. Oh! I made bacon ice cream!!! Yes, and it was scrumptious!


Somewhere in the midst of it all I got a gelato maker, a self-refrigerating DeLonghi, but more about that another day. This is supposed to be a knitting blog. I'd better get knittin'!

Bona Fide Knitter

Been So Long

I am reminded of that old song by the Pastels. Okay, so the Pastels were a singing group long before your time and the song, Been So Long, is really a love (or lack there of) song. My point is it has been so long since I put an entry in my blog. Four months! Why? Because life threw me more lemons than I could handle. I couldn't make lemonade fast enough. I was drowning. When the going got really tough, tough-person-that-I-thought-I-was went shopping. But an iPhone, two Kindles and a designer handbag later I was still drowning. So I withdrew. I withdrew from my blogs, from my e-lists, from Ravelry, from society. I knitted. I read novels. I listened to audio books. The lemons continue to arrive, but I'm over it. I'm trying to make a comeback. Bear with me.

I continue to knit Volt, the shawl from The Fine Line I fell in love with way back when. I still love it. It should be finished in time for the first cooler weather. The black cropped pants, crisp white shirt and green Birkenstocks await.

Bona Fide Knitter

Remember the Green Shoes?

Remember those green Birkenstocks I was moved to buy because of the green (actually yellow-green) stripe in the Volt shawl that has consumed my life?

They are from a previous year, discontinued and almost impossible to find unless you have short feet. Mine are long. When I couldn't find them at the usual online sites, I Googled them. I usually find what I want on Google on the first, maybe second page. For the green Isis sandals I went all the way to page five before I found them listed in my long, narrow size. I ordered immediately, thanked my lucky stars that they were discounted to less than half price, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Much to my dismay and after the confirmation email, I received an email of regret. The shoes were no longer in stock after all. Boo-hoo! How disappointing. Was nothing related to this shawl going to come out right without a big hassle? Was it a sign? I already knew that the green of the shawl was more yellow than the green of the shoes, but that was okay. No need to be too matchy-matchy, right?

The shawl is finally on the right track and on its way to the fast track. I needed the shoes to keep up my good luck. I turned to my never-failing source for everything--eBay! The few available were not my long, narrow size. I put in a request to be notified if a pair were listed and within a day I was notified of a new listing. The size in the listing was my length but "medium" width. The description led me to believe the shoes were actually narrow width. Every Birkenstock connoisseur/collector knows the filled in footprint in the footbed means "schmal" or "narrow." (An outlined footprint means "normal" or "regular.") A little emailing with the seller, a bid high enough to win and I am now the proud owner of the green shoes at one third (including shipping!) the retail price.

Volt is moving along. I have the rhythm of it now. Following my knitting guru's lead, I switched to Addi lace needles. They are wonderful! Fast, pointy, slick tips with a little drag on the shaft and non-glare when under lights. Perfect!

I bought green nail polish when I knew the shoes were on the way. In the late summer if you see a stylish, older woman on Cape Cod or in Philadelphia wearing black cropped trousers, a white shirt with the Volt shawl thrown over her shoulders, green ankle strap Birkenstocks showing a green pedicure, it will be me.

Bona Fide Knitter

The Volt Drama Continues

Here I am about to start my first green stripe on Volt and drama rears its ugly head again. But more about that later.

It's April 1! The window wabbit takes a last look at the green yarn stash that resided there all of March. Time for some Spring colors he thinks.

After my rant about the length of time it took to get the Isager yarn for Volt from knitisager.com, I never mentioned the great little gift I received with it.

The little pouch is a Chico Bag.

It contains an attached, generous-size project bag. And when not in use, you just stuff the bag back into the pouch which is always inside the bag. Neat-o!

Now about that Volt shawl that might be a Volt scarf . . . Yes, it seems small to me. My gauge is a little off. Enough to go up a needle size and start over? I don't think so. I don't know what happened. It could be that I was tense and knitting tight. I'm half finished the black section and I've used half the ball of yarn. I certainly don't want to go up a needle size and run out of yarn! So far the plan is to knit on and when finished, block it into submission!

This has become quite a project! I had to reorder KnitPicks needle tips when I couldn't find the wooden ones I have, then reorder again when I decided to switch to nickel plated and couldn't find those either. And with all the snag-free stitch markers I own, I had to order more--ones without black wire so I would stop knitting them into the fabric--one bead ones for row 1 and two bead ones for row 2. Clever?



I've just ordered more in a larger size so I will stop losing them in the fabric, in my lap and on the rug.

When my knitting guru speaks, I listen. The Scarlet Knitter told me she sometimes prefers Addi lace needles for their nonglare shafts. So I have two of them on order, doncha know--one for Volt and one for Dawn (for which I already have the yarn . . . shhhh, don't tell anybody). Too bad I didn't consider going up a needle size before I ordered those Addis! The Fine Line, the pattern book by Grace Anna Farrow really hooked me hard. Now if only I can get Volt onto the optimum needles with the optimum stitch markers which make the knitting easiest . . . and the right size.

Stay tuned . . .

Bona Fide Knitter

Third Time the Charm?

With four rows complete and a stitch or so off, I left the work on the needles, cut the yarn and with new needles cast on for the third time. How could one reasonably easy pattern cause me so much trouble? I have a list of reasons: (1) number of stitches, (2) counting, (3) different dec and inc than those that are second nature, (4) black yarn and stitch markers with black wire (5) and having mumble, mumble year-old eyes, (6) Addi turbos with blunt points, (7) wooden KnitPicks with too much drag, (8) . . . I think those seven just about sum it up.

After more than 6,300 stitches (which includes the crocheted provisional cast on stitches) and a week and a half of time (which includes weaving a seven foot triangle shawl), I finally have the right formula. The false starts were practice which served me well.

Picture this: headgear with magnifying lens, Ott floor lamp even during the daylight hours, KnitPicks nickel-plated circulars, thin pink (for knit rows) and blue (for purl rows) stitch markers, 3x5 cards with pattern and stitch count and a Post-It note for keeping my place.





For the first time I finished a fifth row of the pattern and can actually see the points taking shape. Maybe before long I can remove my security blanket--the stitch markers. But for right now, I'm in Volt heaven. I am on my way. The third time is the charm. knock on wood

Bona Fide Knitter

Volted

I didn't realize how many interruptions I have until I cast on for Volt! It's day three dawning and I have the cast on and only four rows completed, count 'em, FOUR!! And count 'em fast because I'm gearing up to tink that fourth row. I came up with an extra stitch in there somewhere along the way.

Setting up this pattern is a counting nightmare. "Nightmare" for me because I can't count to 25 without an interruption or distraction, even on so-called free days. Sheesh! I've never counted so much in my life! When rows 1, 2 and 3 came out perfectly though, I thought I had it licked. By row 3 I'd even placed markers in the pattern so that recounts didn't have to begin at the beginning of the row each time. My confidence led to my downfall.

So this morning I will tink the last row hoping I will uncover where I went wrong. There hasn't been enough fabric created to spot a mistake by just looking. It does not help that I'm working with black yarn and that the Addi needles I used to love seem to have such blunt tips now that I've been using KnitPick needles exclusively for the past few years. I will tink with sharp-pointed KnitPicks Harmony needles and continue from there by either keeping the work on the KnitPicks wooden needles or switching to KnitPicks nickel-plated when they arrive, probably tomorrow. If need be, I will frog the whole thing (two days work!) and start again--or just consider those rows a swatch and start over. It doesn't bother me much. It will be easier the second time around and I love the process.

Bona Fide Knitter (or Tink-er)

At Last!

At laaast . . . my yarn has come along. My waiting days are over. And life is like a song. Oh, yeah, at last. The skies above are blue . . . da da da da da da . . . I'm singing like Etta James. Can you hear me?

The Isager kit for Volt arrived late this afternoon. I'll enter my new project on Ravelry and make yarn cakes immediately. After that I might accomplish the cast on before the night is over. If not, tomorrow is a free day and I will cast on and knit, knit, knit, knit, knit! Oh, yeah, and purl too.

Bona Fide Knitter

Near Tears Here

The window weeps.

The swift awaits.

My Isager yarn is in HARRISBURG, scheduled for delivery MONDAY! I am in PHILADELPHIA wanting to get started SATURDAY! Why oh why couldn't it have been shipped USPS Priorty Mail instead of UPS which takes FOREVER!!! @&*%! @&*%!! @&*%!!! I could cry! Today is the type of chilly, rainy Saturday just perfect for marathon knitting. With a new book in my iPod I could have made great strides knitting Volt from The Fine Line.



So instead I bought a pair of Birkenstocks to go with the shawl I can't even start yet.

Don't ya just love 'em?

Bona Fide Knitter

Isager Yarn Where are You?

It is Friday. I has been a week since I ordered the yarn and it was "dispatched." Did they send it from NM via Pony Express?!!! I am soooo ticked. And that's putting it mildly. My life is on the suck side this week and my excitement over Grace Anna Farrow's designs and starting the Volt shawl has been the glue holding me together.

...deep breath... ...deep breath... ...deep breath...

Okay I'm sucking it up and moving on. The Harmony interchangeable US 4 needle tips and matching set of dpns arrived today. But now I'm thinking I should knit the shawl with nickel-plated needles. Guess what, the US 4 tips are not in the case. Give me strength!!! However, I do have some Addi Turbo 4s at hand, and a size F crochet hook for the provisional cast on is right here as well.

Anyway, by the time the yarn is finally in my hands I will probably have found all my missing size US 4 KnitPicks interchangeables.

Right now a glass of wine and some inches on a second sock. Then to catch up with a couple of episodes of Project Runway and this rainy, windy, not such a good March day will be a wrap.

Bona Fide Knitter

- - - WAIT! I hate to end on a low note. Here is something to smile about. At least they always make me smile. Like someone who started a Fickr group said, "There is something about a sailor suit."

Is It Here Yet?

I hope to receive the yarn today. My whole knitting life is on hold waiting for the yarn to come to begin
Volt.



I know I just ordered it on Friday and this is only Wednesday, but I want it NAAOOOWWW! ...whine...whine...

I've got the swift and the ball winder all set up. I've watched YouTube provisional cast on videos ad nauseum. I've researched i-cord in every respect, including cast off and attached.

I've got my KnitPick needle tips and cable on standby and exta Harmony ones on order. Today I will make a working copy of the pattern to keep the book pristine. I neeeeeeed the yaaaaarn naaaooowww!

The only things holding me back from a complete meltdown is I have a sock I can knit on and a timely gift that arrived Monday.



It's from my travel/shopping/knitting buddy Kathryn who knows me oh so well. Thanks gkat.

Bona Fide Knitter drinking calming, soothing herbal tea

Smitten!

On Tuesday I read an email by my knitting guru, The Scarlet Knitter, describing her Stitches West experience. True to form I hung on her every word and went directly to the link she provided when describing the work of a particular designer. Stop the presses! Hold your horses! All bets are off! I was . . . "smitten" is the word that comes to mind. My dictionary provides the following definitions:

1. struck, as with a hard blow

2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted

3. very much in love

Yes, I was and still am all three. After following that first link, I went to Ravelry and followed any related links and their related links to many places. I ordered the pattern book later on Tuesday and it arrived on Thursday. I reset my agenda, my priorities. UFOs be damned. USOs will remain so. I picked the cover pattern (I intend to knit them all eventually) and ordered the yarn on Friday. I stalked Ravelry for more people, more blogs referencing more patterns and followed them to the ultimate. I carry the book around with me, even to bed. I read it like a novel. I am definitely smitten!!!

This link will lead you into the depths: The Fine Line. Enter at your own risk.

Bona Fide Knitter

In Marches March

Although the remnants of our snowy winter remain on the ground, March came in like a tamed lion. That is, not as gentle as a lamb and not as ferocious as a lion in the wild. However, we all know of tamed lions who have turned ferocious.

Anyway, as I look back at February and the "snowmageddon," blizzards and nor'easters I can say I got a lot accomplished in the studio while snowed in. Three 3' shawlettes and one 7' shawl woven, one shawlette and one cowl hand knit, the studio made fit for human occupancy and organization, organization, organization.

With the extra boost I got from listening to Jasmin (The Knitmore Girls Podcast), who is finishing up UFOs in 2010, during my studio organization I came across two sweaters all finished except for the finishing. You know what I mean. All the knitting is done and I need to block them and sew them together, another failing of mine. What can I tell you, I'm a process knitter! That's why I like knitting socks. When they're done, they're done . . . well, except for weaving the toe together, at which I am expert. Call me Kitchener Queen! Sock machine socks have given me plenty of practice . . . but I digress. One sweater is a navy blue, cotton pullover which was made so long ago I was a size (or two) smaller at the time. I'd still like to do the finishing on it though. I plan to be that size again one day in the not-too-distant future. The other is a SWTC Tofut-Tee from Stitches East 2008 knit in one piece with only side seams to join and still a stumbling block. Never mind that I took a finishing class at Stitches East one year and bought a book on finishing.

UFO talk is causing me angst. Time to change the subject. Speaking of The Knitmore Girls, they are starting a KAL today, Mondo Cable Pulli or Cardi. There is limited finishing to do. I would have chosen the cardigan. Thank goodness I didn't get the urge to join in before it was too late to get the pattern and acquire the yarn by today. (Please, nobody write to tell me it's not too late!) I am determined to stick to knitting what I already have although right now I am between projects, having just completed the black cowl. Swallowtail Shawl or Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater anyone? They are next on my agenda.

Enough for this first day of March. I am invited to a virtual birthday party. I've already shopped online for the gifts for me in honor of the honoree. Time to go get the Chinese take-out and champagne.

Happy birthday Dorisanne!

Bona Fide Knitter

Love Bites Redux

Happy Valentine's Day

My window rabbit checks out some of my red stash.

I am no longer snowed in; however, the snow piles linger on and the temperature hovers around freezing or lower. I am content to stay inside until I absolutely have to venture out. Tomorrow is soon enough.

This being Valentine's Day and all, I thought I'd go back to previous years and see what I was up to. I went back to 2007 and found a very interesting February beginning. I won't rehash the details, but I'd like to bring back an oldie I think is a goodie. For the first 14 days I blogged what I called "Love Bites," a take on sound bites, one in every post for 14 days. Here they are again, all original and all under copyright:

Love Bites (originally posted February 1 - 14, 2007)

#1 Be your own best friend.

#2 Knitting is love.

#3 Find something that you really love to do and lose yourself in it.

#4 When love is losing, leave the game.

#5 Love is light and airy . . . tingly and touchy . . . heavy and humid . . . in turns.

#6 Left the love game earlier? Live life. Love later.

#7 Love isn't in the cards? Deal a new hand.

#8 Unconditional love? It depends on the conditions.

#9 Love is more than a one-day-a-year, heart-shaped box of chocolates.

#10 When the love bug bites, really think about the particular bug before you bite back. It might be a better idea to use calamine lotion and get rid of the itch.

#11 You can love a place. I love Cape Cod.

#12 Love can be like chocolate: semi-sweet, bittersweet, dark.

#13 Unlucky in love? Try "like" longer.

#14 Love is friendship.

Hmmm, now that I read them all at once, it seems there might have been a subliminal message running through there. Ya think?

Did you get the significance of yesterday's ending picture of snow falling at night? Look again. Tell me what you see.

Time to get my knit on,

Bona Fide Knitter

Oh Christmas Tree . . .

The pine tree photographed from my bedroom window as a barometer of our snowfall suffered limb damage during the last storm. It was my baby, a tree we used to decorate with lights for the holidays . . . until the six foot ladder was to short to reach the top. It towers to the rooftop now and always had wide-spaced branches. Now that many are on the ground it looks quite threadbare.

The view from my bedroom window now:

There were many photo ops during the storm. It was truly a winter wonderland. Still is:

And while it snowed I wove. My second project came off the loom and was mailed away to Melissa who has since called to tell me it arrived and she loves it . . . Hmmm, was that "love" or "like"? Anyway, she was wearing it as we spoke, she said.

And while Melissa and I spoke I beaded woven project #3 and discovered a mistake. Why do I find the last lingering mistake after I have fringed and started to bead?!!! Melissa's had one as well. To fix or not to fix? I have decided that as before it will remain a design feature. As Melissa reminded me, great artists intentionally make a mistake and leave it in their work, sort of a signature mistake. I guess I am a great artist. I'm leaving it. Perfectionist tendencies/OCD be damned!

In the bright sunny day that followed the latest storm the LWDs could hardly been seen as they ran through their shoveled maze looking for good pee-pee/poop-poop spots. Can you see the LWDs in their snow trough?

Can I have a little privacy, please?

And this one seems especially appropriate as we turn the page to Valentine's Day 2010. Can you tell me why?

Off to the tri-loom,

Bona Fide Knitter