A Beach Day!

I went to the beach yesterday. Can you believe it? I even started the beach socks. Now let me tell you the bad news. Going to the beach killed me!

I started the day with my usual routine: up by 5:30 a.m., let the dogs out for quick pee-pees, while I have a quick . . . TMI . . . They get a treat and a vitamin and I brush my teeth. Then we settle on the sofa to watch an inspirational TV program from 6:00 until 6:30. Back in the bathroom for me for morning ablutions after which I put the coffee on and the LWDs and I head off into the Forest for a morning walk. We are out for 45 minuets to an hour. After that I eat a light breakfast.

Yesterday after breakfast I headed out to the drugstore and supermarket in Orleans. On the way, since I was passing it anyway, I stopped at the Brewster Town Office to buy a beach parking permit for the season. After picking up prescriptions and shopping for fresh fish and a few grocery items, it was lunch time and the beautiful, warm day gave me the marvelous idea to make a sandwich and have lunch on the beach. After all I had my parking permit now, didn’t I?

So, when I got home, I changed from tank top and Capris to bathing suit and “beach" pajamas with matching flip flops and hat. I made a sandwich and filled a few sandwich bags with snacks–potato chips, pretzels, cookies. You can never have too many snacks at the beach. I quick-chilled a couple of bottles of water and packed it all in insulated keeper bags and put those into my beach tote. As you might have gathered by now I am very big on bags and totes of various responsibilities. Then I gathered sun lotion, bug spray, lip balm, PDA, iPod, earbuds, cell phone, ID, money, sunglasses and towels and added those to the tote. From the shed, my husband got a beach chair, umbrella and screw-into-the-sand base and loaded those into the minivan for me. Just in case I felt particularly ambitious when I got there, I also had him load the beach lounge chair, bigger umbrella and the heavy duty screw-in base. Then off I went with new parking sticker affixed to bumper, loaded for bear.

In the five minutes it took to drive to Breakwater Beach I felt my energy start to flag. Going to the beach for the first time in a season is a lot of work! Luckily I got a parking spot a few steps from the sand. The tide was out so there was no thought of even getting my feet wet. When the tide goes out in Brewster it goes way out.

I unloaded in two trips. I had no energy for he heavy duty beach stuff. I unloaded the smaller umbrella and set that up. Screw, screw, screw the base into the sand. Insert the pole. Unfurl the umbrella and put it in the pole. Aaah, a little spot of shade. I went back for the chair and my tote, set them up, stripped down to swimsuit, plopped down in the chair. Whew, I was worn out! I sat for awhile just relishing the mostly sky view, heavily breathing the salt air and wondering if I would ever be able to get up out of the low, butt-almost-in-the-sand chair.


I sprayed myself with Off because the flying beach bugs were already gathering for a chocolate feast. Mosquitoes and sand flies find me very appetizing. I realized it was HOT Even in the shade of my umbrella . . . umbrella . . . umbrella. Off with the hat, tie back the hair. Better. Maybe some food . . . I ate the sandwich and drank a bottle of water. Yes, much better. I was cooler and stronger. After a few potato chips, a couple of pretzels and a cookie, I cleaned my hands and broke out my too cute flip flop print bag containing the sock yarn and US 1 needles. Onto my KnitPicks Harmony 32 circular I cast on 60 sts and knit two rows of k2, p2 of ribbing during my time on the beach.

I will be making one sock at a time. Two socks on one circular does not float my boat. (A beach appropriate analogy, no?) I prefer my socks knit one at a time no matter how many times I try to like the two at once on one circular needle method. I do not suffer from second sock syndrome. In fact I actually enjoy casting on for the second sock and watching the miracle happen all over again and become an identical twin.

However, my strength and energy ebbed as the tide came in. I drank more water, ate more pretzels and another cookie and spent close to three rather pleasant hours on the beach, having to change chair to umbrella orientation only once before deciding it was time to make the effort to close it all down and schlep it back to the minivan.

The after-beach therapeutic shower that is normally so reviving didn’t work its wonders. After I was all clean and in fresh PJs I collapsed on the sofa and took a nap. I was wiped out for the rest of the evening and night. I roused once for pie and ice cream and again to go to bed at midnight. I am so totally out of shape! I need a healthier diet and a personal trainer!! Horror of horrors, I might need to join a gym!!!

However, I will remind you, I did make a paltry start on Beach Socks 2009.



Bona Fide Knitter

How Bittersweet It Is

I'm knitting again. Not great masterpieces but my comfort knitting, socks. In the three weeks since I last posted an entry here I lost my dear aunt. Ruby passed away on September 11 at 95.66 years of age.

This picture was taken on her 95th birthday on January 14. She had a good life and a peaceful passing. It was hard for me to let her go. I'm still trying to fill the void. I've returned to knitting.

I am doing comfort knitting. I'm knitting socks. Presently I am working on the second of this year's beach socks, so called because the yarn has cotton content and was meant to be knitted on the beach on Cape Cod. I didn't get to the beach this year. I needed to stay closer to home. So the pair of socks have taken an inordinate amount of time to complete. Unfortunately I didn't knit on anything else in the meantime. I'd lost my knitting jones.

It's back, or at least it's coming back. I'm knitting socks on my circular sock machine as well. I've knitted three pairs. I've also knocked the whole thing over onto the computer keyboard, magnetized my ribber needles and turned my electric cone winder into a whirling dervish. But that's a story for another day.

I have a desire to start another pair of socks, one that might qualify as an attempt at lace knitting. They are the Chaussettes de Dentelle (Lacy Socks) in Nancy Bush's Folk Socks done on size 000 needles using Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote. Folk Socks was the first sock book I purchased and the Lacy Socks was the first pattern I attempted from the book. They were to be a shower gift for a bride-to-be. The couple married, bought their first house and are expecting their first baby. The socks were never completed. They were far beyond my ability when I started them. I think I can do them now that I'm a "bona fide knitter." I think I need the concentration involved.

It's autumn. Time to think Stitches East. It's almost here. I have homework to do for my classes. I need to get that done. I hate homework! I miss Ruby.

Ruby at TGI Friday, March 2006

Bona Fide Knitter

Summer's Over!

I can hardly believe we are at the weekend heralding the last weekend of summer. I know, I know, there is still some summer left, but for all intents and purposes, it's over. Where did it go? Where did I go? How did I enjoy it? What did I knit?

Summer started for me with at trip to My Laughing Place (Everybody's got one. More on mine another day.) where I dropped off spouse and LWDs and continued on to Portland, ME, for the Sasha Festival, a doll collector conference. It was a wonderful long weekend full of fun with like- minded people with the same interests.

I returned to Cape Cod and lazed around until time to return home. I never got to the beach that trip. I just barely got the screened porch hosed down for future reading and napping. We dust-covered it and returned home to a blistering heatwave that rocked the city in July. I was further rocked by the rapidly declining health of my elderly aunt, Ruby, who is 95.

It was just by the skin of my teeth and urging by my family that I went off to Frederick, MD, for a long weekend for the Circular Sock Machine Conference. I returned home after that to the start of my kitchen renovation which continues. It's been delayed by my changes and additions and an attempt to get a vacation in. I had a couple of nights and a day of shopping at a B & B in Rehoboth Beach, DE, the outlet Mecca. Then, after a couple of postponements,we went back to Cape Cod.

While back in MA I went to a doll 'show' and sale where I met with my doll guru and we had a wonderful day shopping and eating at an Asian buffet. After that wonderful Sunday (Could it have been only last week?), the next day I received disturbing news of my aunt and returned home ending my vacation in less than a week. And here I am. Home for the holiday weekend, making sure what is best (as best I can) is done for Ruby and catching up on my blog.

The danger of being home with no pressing errands to run, no kitchen counter granite samples to track down, is Internet shopping. All those books I'd been considering at Amazon might make their way to a cart today. I came this close to ordering bar stools from Overstock.com for a breakfast bar that I don't even have yet and might not get! It must be time to start knitting again.

Knit? Did somebody say 'KNIT'? I have been knitting somewhat halfheartedly on the omnipresent waiting room sock, which was to have been my beach knitting, for weeks and weeks now and am just about at the toe of the first sock. Knitting has really taken a backseat this summer. Too much heat, humidity and real life. I have done good by my Legare sock machine though. I've made a few pairs of socks and finally put the summer anklets up in my recently launched Etsy shop. Yes, they were to be summer anklets and they were made in time for summer, but just didn't get listed until now.

I do get around to doing most of the things I set out to do, like this blog entry I've been trying to get around to. Well, this was it.

Bona Fide Knitter

Knitting Limbo

I'm in some kind of knitting limbo. The UFOs have lost their pull. Even empty needles and new projects are not calling to me. Yesterday I left home without portable knitting (socks) and didn't realize it until I was sitting in the visitor's chair at the nursing home and had finished filing my nails! This is not good.

The usual stimuli are not stimulating. The yarn for the Philosopher's Stars sweater no longer beckons, nor does the latest Knit Picks catalog.

I listened to the next three episodes of Kelley Pitkin's Knit Picks Podcast and though excited by the sock knitting theme and book review of episode #3, I did not rush immediately to amazon.com (or anywhere else for that matter) to order any of the books reviewed. I must admit that I might have purchased the Favorite Socks book from Interweave Press except for the fact that someone here misplaced the bank card and after hours of looking I had to report it lost and order a new one which won't arrive until next week. I'm grounded as to Internet shopping until the new card arrives. You wonder who would do such a careless thing? It wasn't me. There are only four of us here and two are little dogs. That leaves . . . I won't put it in print. Of course shortly after I cancelled the old card and ordered the new one, I found the old one. It was stuck in with the business cards in my PDA cover. Don't ask.

Anyway, my knitting has taken a nose dive. I have a yarn pack coming from Knitter's. Maybe that's what I'm waiting for. More on that when it gets here. I am determined to finish the soy sauce socks before I go on vacation. I'd better get knitting!

Bona Fide Knitter

Not Knitting

I have not knit in almost a week. I have staved off withdrawal by knitting socks on the circular sock machine, but it's not the same as having needles in hand, putting the tip of one into a loop on the other, wrapping yarn around the needle, pulling through, transferring the new stitch to the needle. I need the zen I reach doing that.

Will Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater ever be my favorite? My work on it is on the ottoman, the lovely sheer knitting just tossed there connected to the rest of the ball which is with the worn instructions, half in half out of a plastic bag. A knitting guru of mine has advised me to get right back on that horse that threw me. However, she tempered that advice with something she learned from Sally herself. To paraphrase the paraphrasing, if a project causes that much angst give it up, move on and don't look back.

Yesterday I spent some waiting time with only an audio book playing in my ear from my MP3 player. I was at loose ends. I found myself thinking knitting. That was not a good substitution because it interfered with the plot of the book. Today I have a nursing home visit looming. I need some mindless knitting to see me through. The TV will be on. The resident will be reading the newspaper. I'll have idle hands again. The Abundance Afghan has grown too large to be a portaproject. I need to get back to my roots--SOCKS!

I have some socks on needles, but they require thought and I need mindless knitting. I need to get my muse back. I need to get my mojo working. I need to knit!!!

Bona Fide Knitter

Sock Saga Over

I succumbed. I gave in to my perfectionist gene. Actually I think what I have is a touch of OCD which keeps me plugging away until I get it right--or at least two socks the same size even if they are not perfect. The fact that one sock was slightly smaller than the other due to the slight difference in tension just did not sit well with me even though it was so minute. It was like having a slightly crooked picture on the wall. I could not sit still. I could not Kitchener the toe. I had to make one more sock. I made a third sock. It's the one with the long waste yarn tube at the top. I kept cranking waste yarn trying to get all needles to catch all the time. They didn't.

However, I have two socks the same size with matching imperfections. They're a pair! Meet Ruby's socks:

1x1 ribbed cuff, 1x3 ribbed leg and instep, size S

The sock saga is over and the third sock (which was really the first sock, no actually the second sock) will be wound back to cone then balled to go into my 'little balls of leftover sock yarn' bin.

That being over, what next? I want to work on more machine socks. The Auto Knitter and I need some time apart. I'm going to set up another machine today. I have a Legare with 54/27 and 72/36 setups. I'll use the 54/27 for some plain socks using Koigu and the 72/36 for ribbed socks using Opal.

On the needles I have the Abundance Afghan and the Heartbreakingly Cute Kimono. My modified version of the rule of three allows me to go back to Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater. Although I have to start from the casting on, I am still counting it as a longtime UFO. However I think I'll get that kimono on the finished pile first. Finishing is freeing!

Bona Fide Knitter

Sock Saga Continues

Here it is the Wednesday I would normally take Aunt Ruby to her monthly medical checkup and we'd lunch at TGI Friday's. It's also the day she was to get that pair of socks. The reasons she won't are many: (1) It's snowing. (2) Ruby is 95 and does not do snow (3) I am . . . well not that old . . . but will stay home as well. Ruby would rather hear from me by phone. (4) The socks are not finished. (5) The socks are still kicking my butt. (6) I'm hating these socks! I could go on but I will spare you. The socks will be finished today, imperfect sample socks.

Here are the socks being readied for Kitchener. The second sock has the pink waste yarn.

In getting them ready for finishing I realized the changes in tension I had to make caused the second sock to not quite match the first in size. This grates upon my perfectionist gene more than anyone other than Monk could possibly know. However, I will not do it again. These are sample socks. Flaws are expected . . . aren't they? I knitted the second sock at least four more times for a total of SEVEN TIMES!!! I cannot believe how much trouble it has been--some of it my fault, most of it not.

At the end there were a lot of funky things going on. Notice the lattice work up the side.




What's up with that?!!!


Close up you can see every needle in its place and no stitches missing. That fancy lattice should have been straight like the ones to the right. It's part of the instep ribbing.

When the going got tough, unbearably tough, the Abundance Afghan grew.


Why am I spending so much time on a machine giving me hell and with a pukey color sock yarn I don't even like when I have all this lovely Koigu--a whole basket full--I could be cranking out on my Legare 54/27?!!!

You might wonder why I would give Ruby my flawed sample socks in a color I don't like. She likes to get my samples that are small enough for her. She doesn't care about flaws or colors. She thinks they're all just fine. Ya gotta love her!

Bona Fide Knitter