Happy Labor Day

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, even if not very high. The last time I posted was Valentine's Day. Note to self: This is not a holiday blog! It's supposed to be a knitting and other things blog--other things because so many things interest me. However, evidently blog writing has not been one of them recently.

Since February, things have not been the greatest. Nothing monumental, just enough to have my get up and go get up and leave. There was a little health scare of mine, ongoing health concerns for the spouse, a major pet event that left me grieving more than I could imagine and continuing health concerns for the remaining pet.

I will go into detail on only one of those. My Bichon Frise and best buddy, Snowball, could no longer fight the fight even with my help and the best veterinarian attention and I had to let him go to the Rainbow Bridge at the end of March, two weeks before his 17th birthday.

Snowball

April 14, 1996 - March 29, 2013

Knitting, my go to for de-stressing, stopped working. I haven't been doing much of that. Even sock knitting has fallen by the wayside. I started a pair toe up on one 40" circular and that was a joke. What ever made me think I would do that?!!! I don't even like doing two at once on one circular so what ever made me think I would like doing two toe up when I've never done a toe up sock before? I think I was not in my right mind and still might not be. Anyway, I frogged them and started Beach Socks 2013 (from the cuff down, one at a time on one 32" circular the way I like to do them). I might actually knit a little on the beach before the week is over.

So, what do I really have to write about today? I think you've figured that out already. Yep, you've guessed it--NOTHING! I just wanted to put in an appearance, so to speak, and let you know I'm still around. I plan to bring you enthralling content on knitting, cooking, traveling, and whatever I'm finding fun (or not fun) at the moment to keep you reading and get those of you back who gave up on me and left. Hang in there just a little longer please. I'm back.

For you amusement today, a Labor Day Throwback:

Atlantic City

Labor Day 19X9 

(You pick the year in my youth. I'll never tell.)

The best is yet to come,

Bona Fide Knitter

My Funny Valentine

It all started with my non resolution to eat healthier and move more in 2013. My Zumba Gold DVDs are not seeing much action, but I did start eating oatmeal almost every day for breakfast. No instant, sweetened, flavored stuff for me. My aim was for old fashioned oats, whole grain, no additives, no over processing. I'd add my own natural fruit and maybe a few slivers of almonds if I chose, maybe even some skim milk.

After a month of  microwaving and trying to remember to use the deep, not the wide, cereal bowl for my one-portion size to prevent an oatmealy mess in the microwave when the timer sounded, I thought there must be such a thing as an electric oatmeal cooker. Voila! The rice cooker, my new love.

When I Googled "oatmeal cooker" and was led to rice cookers I went to Amazon.com where I also found this book:

It's a great little book, especially if you like Roger Ebert. It's funny, witty and informative. But if you're looking for a rice cookbook, this is not it. There is information and blog posts and charming, witty anecdotes all pertaining to rice cookers, Roger's rice cooking experiences and also those of his blog readers. Although he mentions it quite a few times it only took one "Get the pot!" for me to go searching for the perfect least expensive, three cup cooker. After all I only wanted it to cook one portion of oatmeal a day.

Here it is:

Roger said you only need a little basic pot, one that turns on, cooks then switches to warm. The name he dropped was Zojirushi. My little Zojirushi pot was advertised as such, but actually does not have the Warm feature. I needed the six cup version for the Warm feature. Oh well, I should have done just a tad more research.

So as in all things, I went on a mission to "read up on" (a favorite expression of my late Aunt Ruby) rice cookers--brands, sizes, features and cooking oatmeal in one. Google led me to a blog via an "I love my rice cooker" post which included instructions for cooking steel ground oats. I've come to really enjoy the writings of this blogger. She's a young mother, chef, vegetarian, marathon runner and loves her rice cooker. The blog is Daily Garnish by Emily Malone. After reading the post in which she extols the virtues of her rice cooker, a top of the line six cup beauty, I was smitten. I found myself wanting to upgrade . . . badly. And not to the six cup version of the one I had. After reading the blogger's recommendation of a less expensive one comparable to hers, one now sits on my kitchen counter. Sorry, Roger, I found I did need a fuzzy logic, micom with all the bells and whistles. I also needed a six cup size, even for just one portion.

I bought it as a Valentine's Day gift to myself, My Funny Valentine. At night I can put in 1/4 c steel ground oats, 1 c water, a dash of salt, set the timer and at 7:30 a.m. have hot oatmeal. If I'm not ready to eat then, it will keep warm for me until I am ready. Yes, I have used it to cook rice as well.

Will the rice cookers please step forward . . .

 

 

No knitting. No knitting content. When the tough can't focus to knit, this tough turns into a foodie. Remember my homemade ice cream? How about the cupcake phase I went through? I guess this is healthier--rice, steel ground oats, quinoa, etc. I have The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook now, a real rice cookbook all about types and sizes of cookers, every kind of rice, porridges, techniques and recipes.

However, I am still a

Bona Fide Knitter

Back to Hexipuffs

Friday is my newly designated  "by myself date day" and the weather forecasters put such a damper on today with their gleeful "Nor'easter" predictions that I decided not to spend the day at the Barnes Foundation Museum exhibits, then having dinner and staying for this evening's event. I even gave up on the idea of going instead to the 10:30 a.m. showing of Argo. Cold rain this morning changing to icy snow this afternoon lasting into the night is not appealing to this driver. Sooooo, I cuddled up in front of the fake fire and arranged the newly acquired tote for my Beekeepers Quilt in-the making.

 

It's the greatest little on-the-go project bag for the small balls of sock yarn, polyfil, needles, hooks, pattern, tools, etc. There are six pockets for the yarn on the outside and the inside can hold all the other stuff. It closes with hook and loop strips.

 

 

 

I filled the pockets with small center pull balls of the Koigu colors from my stash I'm working with at the moment. My hexipuff in progress still on the needles and polyfil peek out from the middle section. Love it!

Speaking of Koigu, you will remember I mentioned the Grab Bag of Koigu skeinettes I ordered online that I was dissatisfied with. Well, I had written a negative review on the site and I got an email from their Customer Service. They were willing to do everything to make me a satisfied customer including let me keep all the yarn and refund all my money! I didn't want to take unfair advantage, so I sent back the skeinettes I had not opened and they refunded my entire payment including shipping. How great is that!

I didn't name the site because I have purchased there before and been very pleased with what I received. I didn't want to bad mouth them. I will not mention the name now because I don't want to start a run on the bank. But I will tell you this, they are the BEST!!!

Back to the tote bag . . .

The tote bags are sold on Etsy and eBay. The are called Bingo Bags and come in two sizes. I got the smaller size. The Etsy and eBay seller does a great work. I ordered mine from Etsy before I read the part where it says, "It will take two to three weeks before I ship."  Not good for my desire for instant gratification. The bag arrived in 21 calendar days, a real trial for me! But I'm very happy with the purchase. I picked the owl priint because the Beekeeper's Quilt pattern is from Tiny Owl Knits. I know, awwwwww.
 

                                              

Bona Fide Knitter

Who Says I'm Not Knitting?

In a great spurt of creative energy after I finished France Socks, and after a prod by my knitting and travel buddy, off I went to Ravelry to find out about "The Beekeeper's Quilt." I was fascinated!

Back in my old days of going to The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival I amassed quite a collection of Koigu sock yarn. This was back in the day when Koigu had a booth selling . . . I forget their name for it . .  . end of dyelot, end of run, end of the road, mill ends? Well, you get the idea. They were less than full skeins and were sold at 10 cents per gram. Rule of thumb: 100 grams needed to knit a pair of socks. Can you believe it? A pair of Koigu socks for $10!!! You could spend hours searching through overflowing baskets of multi-sized skeins tagged with color and dyelot numbers and find enough of one color to make a pair of socks, sometimes enough of one color to make a sweater. Of course the shading might be a little off if your color choice consisted of different dyelots. Some of the shading was not discernible and certainly wouldn't matter in a pair of socks. But a sweater? I wouldn't venture that far unless I was going for a Joseph's-Coat-inspired sweater and picked many different colors. Dyelot would not come into play. But I digress.

I would return to my motel room after a long day of fiber overload and band my little skeins into 100 gram bundles visualizing how the socks would be knit, darkest shaded dyelot to start and working down to lightest at toe, or vice-versa. The socks would have to be knit two at a time so that the shadings matched. I'm very anal about matching handknit socks.

So back to The Beekeeper's Quilt: I went to Ravelry for the pattern, researched the history and nuances, (I'm also anal about researching patterns and yarn.) and made the commitment to start knitting "hexapuffs," the little hexacombs the quilt is made up of. In the end I wasn't sure I wanted to dismantle all my Koigu 100 gram bundles, although they had been laying fallow for years in a decorative basket as part of my "comfort of yarn" collection. I found an online vendor who was selling "skeinettes" of Koigu supposedly big enough to knit one hexapuff. I'm not referencing that vendor because my $25 Grab Bag order of what was pictured as being many blue hued skeinettes contained mostly non blue and each was too short on yardage to make a whole hexapuff, even though they were supposed to have been made just for that purpose. Grrrrrr!

a skeinette that ran out before hexacomb was finished
 

Using the closest match to finish didn't appeal to me.

 

 

 

 

    So I started using my comfort of Koigu.

The Beekeeper's Quilt continues on at a snails pace. I complete a puff a night when I'm on course. But here's the thing, during the process I learned a neat cast on and found a great video to help me get the hang of it. (I'm left handed living a right handed life. Some things are awkward for me.)

Once I had that cast on down pat I decided my Beach Socks 2012 (being knitted in 2013, far from the beach and in the winter) would be toe up, two on one long circular. I never like doing two at once on one needle but thought the challenge would be good for me. Go figure.

There is a ridge. It works for hexapuffs but for toe up socks you might prefer Judy's Magic Cast On.

Anyway, who says I'm not knitting?!!!


Bona Fide Knitter

Down But Not Out

Written January 6, 2013:

It's been just a whisiper less than a year since I last posted a blog entry. Life's challenges have been hard and time consuming. Sometimes you just have to drop out.  What I've always liked to do is write and what I've also liked to do for the last decade is knit. I didn't do much of either in 2012, not much knitting and the little writing I did here was to bemoan the fact that I wasn't knitting. I apologize to my Dear Ones on the doll list and to my friends here. I plan to do better in 2013.

I made an attempt and composed the following draft back in July 2012 while on vacation on Cape Cod. I left it unposted because I found I could not add the pictures I referenced. High tech is great except when you don't have access to all the necessary components when you need them. And to add insult to injury, Blogspot changed its format. Another hurdle for me to jump! So here it is at last, four months and an extra five days later, with pictures:

July 2012

Hello! Is there anybody out there? Do you remember me? I've got eight months worth of happenings
and non-happenings to report. I'm going to start here and work my way back. There will even be knitting content. So let's get started.

I'm going back now--way, way back in my life.

A long time ago, when I was a child (I did say it was way, way back, didn't I.), my mother used to regale me with a recitation memorized in French. She studied French in high school and excelled at it. She loved it. Her teacher called her "Marguerite Clement" giving her name, Margaret Clement, the French pronunciation and making my mother feel very special indeed. Anyway, here is the English translation of the beginning of  Mar's recitation, "When you take the train from Paris to Avignon you will arrive at the station at . . . " Little did I know way back then that on May 26, 2012, I would actually take the train from Paris to Avignon. Yes, when you wondered where I was in June, I was in France.

I left here on a Friday evening in May and landed in Paris Charles DeGaulle airport on Saturday morning. From the CDG airport I took the TGV (high speed train) to Avignon. I could hear my mother's perfect French (according to her account of her teacher's high praise) reciting from her long ago assignment.

When I arrived at the station in Avignon, my travel buddy and knitting mentor, Kathryn, who was there three weeks ahead of me, met me on the platform and we were officially on vacaaaaaay together!

Kathryn pointed out Avignon landmarks

 

Avignon's Bridge To Nowhere

 as she drove from the train station to a SuperU, a French supermarket, to pick up something for dinner.  And then on to our rental house in the little town of Sablet in the Provence region, 45 minutes away.

The house was perfect, exactly as pictured. The ground floor bedroom with en suite bathroom was
mine. The second floor master bedroom room was Kathryn's and the other bedroom was Lynda's, our other housemate who was arriving a few days later.

Kathryn and I spent that first evening catching up over our dinner of rotisserie chicken, salad and wine. Aside from our last meet up at Stitches in 2008 in MD, almost all our communication had been via email. We don't see or talk to each other nearly enough. There was a lot of catching up to do. We talked late into the night, until jet lag overcame me. And that was the beginning of my French adventure. I will throw in some of the highlights of my trip in the coming weeks, but that's enough for now.

On the knitting front, in the last eight months I haven't done much--knitting or otherwise. I've thought of doing a lot and even accumulated patterns, but as I am the first to admit, I am full of "getting ready" and not much on "carrying on." "Getting ready or carrying on" are terms used to help determine for tax purposes whether a person is starting a business or actually in business. Although knitting is not a business for me, years of tax accounting make me think in those terms. Lately I have not been "carrying on" much. I finally finished Beach Socks 2011 on May 12, 2012, just in time to start France Socks.

 

Beach Socks 2011

 France Socks (sock #1 is still on the needles) and it's time to start Beach Socks 2012!



 (Update: The France Socks were completed November 10, 2012 and are pictured below. On November 13, 2012, Beach Socks 2012 were started here at home in my living room. More about them next time.)

 

France Socks

(Can you discern the Eye of the Partridge Heel?)

My knitting nemesis, Volt, the shawl I love to hate, still lies mouldering in its project bag. I can't seem to bring myself to continue the three needle bind off that caused me so much disappointment during the winter. Should I continue the less-than-perfect looking last side of the bind off or should I frog that part and try again? The indecision has paralysed me. 

As evidence of my scattered state of mind these days, remember I bought green Birkenstocks to wear with the shawl when it is completed? Well, I forgot all about the shawl and the sandals and bought another pair of green sandals in France. Actually they are are a better color and I'm trying not to wear them to death before the shawl is finished.

Okay, so much for what I wrote months ago. I wanted to get something posted before I had to say "I haven't posted in over a year!" This is it. More to follow sooner rather than later. I promise.

Happy New Year 2013!

Bona Fide Knitter

Need My Knitting Mojo Back

For months I've been putting knitting catalogs in the recycling container without even opening them. Last week I opened one. I started thinking maybe a new project would bring my mojo back. I almost convinced myself buying something new rather than starting one of the new-still-in-their-packaging projects I have would really get me back to knitting. The culprit catalog is KnitPicks newest, Winter 2012. There's a garter stitch afghan, Viola Afghan Kit, that keeps calling my name.

My knitting guru (You remember who you are, right?) was on a garter stitch afghan knitting spree at one time. In fact she continues to do them in one form or another: log cabin, mitered entrelac, etc. I'm lumping them all together as garter stitch because they're all knit, knit, knit the whole afghan. I was tempted to jump on board then, but I know me, I would never finish it. My guru knitted them all of a piece and ones in squares that needed to be fashioned together. But I know me. Even if I finished all the squares, would I ever sew/knit/crochet them together? I hate projects that need further real work after the knitting is done. That's why I love knitting socks. When they're done, they're done. One day I'll take some pictures of a crocheted granny square coverlet I started when we were negotiating to buy this house . . . 43 years ago. Most of the squares are done, some are even sewn together. However, it's not finished . . . yet.

I have an afghan pattern given to me by my prolific guru a few years ago, Fiber Trends' Home Is Where the Heart Is. I bought the bulky red yarn to make it. In fact I made one false start at it which I prefer to call a gauge swatch. It could be a perfect entree back into knitting since we are coming up on Valentine's Day. (Afghan pattern has hearts, yarn is red, get it?) And it's knit in one piece. But something new into the house might be the answer . . . or not. Oh, I'm such a mess!

But the KnitPicks Viola afghan is 206 squares that have to be put together! And it even needs a backing!! Maybe I'll just finish *Beach Socks 2011.

Bona Fide Knitter

*Beach Socks, for those of you who wonder, are socks I knit while lounging on the beach. They usually have some cotton content and after a ribbed cuff they are plain stockinette stitch, simple enough to knit in my sleep. Beach Socks are usually summer socks, but not for wearing on the beach.

Happy New Year 2012

I'm making 2012 my comeback year. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and just life in general took me out of commission in 2011. I've not been knitting. My sock machines, looms and dolls remain neglected. But 2012 is going to be MY YEAR!

This was started as a knitting blog not a nit-picking blog so I will not bore you with the details of my trials and tribulations. However, I will give you a rundown on the months since my last blog entry. Could it really have been as long ago as last April?!!! I was in the throes of a cupcake baking frenzy. I eventually gained all the pounds that were sure to follow from being my own cupcake tester/taster/sampler.

After cupcakes, I abstained from fattening hobbies, but I did not go back to knitting. I found that my knitting was suffering from my inner turmoil. The knit project that I still love still lies mouldering in its project bag. That would be Volt. Remember it? Since there are no resolutions for 2012, (I stopped making resolutions years ago.) I can only promise I will finish it. I'm at i-cording the edges for goodness sake!

Someone turned me onto the Dukan Diet and as much as I am against any diet that excludes food groups, (I'm a Weight Watchers woman.) my cupcake-induced bloated belly made me willing to try anything. It works!!! I lost the bloat. My stomach deflated in a week and I lost almost 20 pounds in a few weeks more.

Over the summer and autumn I spent many weeks on Cape Cod. In fact I was there for the hurricane that never quite made it there even though we evacuated from the forest to what turned out to be what I believe was a hot bed motel. We had a few drops of rain, lots of wind and some power outages.

In October, while I was on the Cape for autumn, my contractor was here in my house knocking out walls and turning my kitchen, dining room, living room into a great room. Since my house is small I call it my "mini great room." That's a perfectly accurate oxymoron for the space.

I spent the rest of the year trying to make order out of the chaos my contractor left after working around and through all my homeless cake pans, ice cream making equipment, dishes, glasses, napery, cookbooks, collectibles, memories, mementos, hobby supplies and equipment and other accumulations. Whew! He performed a miracle and it has been up to me to clean, organize and stage it.

Collectibles and Cookbooks

Mementos and Memories

My knitting account above was not quite accurate. I did knit. I started Beach Socks 2011. I didn't get far, but what is summer without a pair of socks knitted on the beach while listening to an Audible book. Okay, so I didn't ever sit or knit on the beach. I did walk on it a couple of times. I started the socks on the porch though and they won't be the first year's beach socks to get finished back home during the winter.

More knitting content to become the norm this year. I promise.

Bona Fide Knitter