Google Reader getting the pink slip

Nooooooooooo!!!!

So sad. Stupid Google. I am already trying to set up an alternative. But all of those sites are crashing, no doubt because of the huge influx of traffic.

 

don’t cry little katie

I had a rough couple of weeks. For a few reasons. But you know what cheered me up? Getting THIS in the mail.

From left to right, that’s my brother, me, and our cousin at a family portrait studio, circa 1985. This hung in my grandparents living room, first in the ranch house where my dad grew up and then when that was destroyed by a tornado, in grandma’s smaller house in town.

My parents called a few months ago…they were cleaning out the little house and did I want anything? Yes! The picture of me throwing a fit!

My mom said that the photographer was “kind of a goofball” and I guess somewhere in the process I decided that I wasn’t happy. Or maybe I was grumpy from the start and his antics just made it worse. I could not be persuaded or bribed into smiling, so at a certain point mom threw up her hands and said take the picture already.

Have you ruined any family photos? Or like my brother, are you the one being angelic while someone else ruins the shot?

on the needles

I didn’t get to Rhinebeck this year, but I have more than enough yarn and fiber for another year’s worth of projects so I’ll be alright.  If I wasn’t festival-ing what was I doing?

- a hat in aubergine tweed

- the makings of a new pattern idea in the most wonderful olive color from Christine. I knit the entire front and blocked it, only to realize that it was a lot floppier en masse than the small blocked swatch. So I will start again with a smaller needle. blehh

- and a continuation of the quilt! There’s an art show going up on campus for students, faculty, and staff. I got asked to put something in the show and decided to submit this. The hand-quilting is going faster than I expected, but I need a name for the piece. I hate naming things….help!

Familiar yarns

After monster knit I needed something portable and quick. Baby knits are good for that. I whipped up this little cardigan in a few days using the shawl leftovers.

My friend is due in late September. They’re not finding out the sex of the baby ahead of time. Super surprise. If it’s a girl I think she’ll still dress her in gray and blue because she’s cool like that.

I started the cardigan according to Henry’s Sweater, but after splitting the yoke for the sleeves I just kind of went my own way with it. Gave it 3/4 length cuffless sleeves, a garter stitch hem, and a garter stitch shawl collar. The collar looks good up or down.

I crocheted a little button loop for a collar button and then the rest hangs open.

Style input?

I bought this dress from the sale section of Macs.com. I tried it on last night and Read summarized pretty well by saying that it’s “not the usual me, but it’s pretty”. It is. I think I’m going to wear it to a family friend’s wedding in Charleston in late September.

But what shoes? And what jewelry? It’s my first attempt at one-shoulder so I didn’t have any immediate inclinations as to what to look for. You’d think with all that Project Runway I watch I’d have some ideas. So what do you think it needs?

Southwestern Shell: simple summer sewing

This is the post script to the sewing binge I went on a couple weeks ago – a sleeveless shell made from the aqua southwestern print from L.A.

I traced the pattern from a turquoise Banana Republic shirt…it’s one flat back piece, and one front piece with bust darts.

I was stumped as to how to finish the edges, especially the neckline. I love the loose tie on the turquoise shell, but my machine was having trouble finishing the raw edges of this fabric…all my attempts looked shoddy. Then I remembered that a coworker had recently handed me a package of black bias tape in the office kitchen: I meant to buy iron-on hem tape, but instead I got whatever this is. Someone said you sewed so can you use it? 

Yes! It was just what I needed to tidy up the armholes and neckline…

While I had the machine out I started going through my scrap pile and playing around with the beginnings of a quilt. I haven’t pieced a quilt in a while, but so far I like where this one’s going…

Samson’s Ohio homecoming

It’s been eight years since Samson was a stray in Hocking Hills State Park, and in that time he’s made two cross-country road trips and lived in four different apartments on two different coasts. At some point in the past year I was struck by this idea that we would take Sam back to his old stomping grounds for a visit. A dog homecoming. Would he recognize it? Would he care? Was I being really super weird?

The answer to all three was, maybe. But the idea wouldn’t shake. I cautiously rolled it out to a few friends and family members, presenting it as a half joke. Only it seemed to resonate with people. The notion of returning home after a long life adventure is such a powerful storyline that I think we can’t help but be moved by it…even for a dog. Soon we began planning a week’s vacation in Ohio that included a couple nights of camping in the park.

My parents and brother met us there. They brought their old green Coleman stove that I remember from camping as a kid, some tents, and enough food to feed us all for a month.

So….how did my old dog like it? I will say that I haven’t seen him acting so puppyish in a long time. There are days where he looks pretty stiff walking up the apartment stairs, but in Hocking Hills he was scampering up and down rocks and scouting out every cave and holler. He ate s’mores, growled at a raccoon outside our tent, and wooed the little girl in the neighboring campsite into giving him some of her breakfast.  ”He seems so happy,” my mom said. I think he was.

We were too! Even with the drought as bad as it is – all the falls were dried up – Hocking Hills is a beautiful place. I was happy that Read got to see it.

Read took this picture of me and Sam and afterwards laughed, It looks like you’re having a conversation. Hmm yes well in fact we are! I am asking him if he liked his trip and what reflections he might be having about adventure, returning home, and growing old. And bacon, of course. Always bacon.

New additions to the herd

In June we received a Call For Submission email from Read’s mom. A trio of baby goats was on its way to Oregon and they needed names. They were Nigerian Dwarf goats, which sounded pretty freakin’ cute, my only points of reference being dwarf rabbits and dwarf hamsters…both “aww” worthy.

Last week we were in Oregon for Read’s sister’s wedding and I got to see these little buggers in person.

Did you just say awww out loud? What about when I tell you that the black one sat in my lap and promptly fell asleep and started snoring? haha So cute.

 

I’m actually not sure what they’re names ended up being. I heard someone say Asteroid. Maybe a space/celestial theme? I was the big LOTR nerd who suggest Frodo, Merry, and Pippin, which I maintain are good names for troublemakers like goats. Obviously I’ve taken every opportunity to announce to Read that in addition to a sheep, I now want a trio of dwarf goats someday.

100 Beanie Drive: quick knits for a good cause

 

I just got back from vacation and oh man was it wonderful. I’ll be posting snippets this week once I get the photos uploaded. Get ready for some good ones of Samson re-exploring the caves and hills of his youth in Southern Ohio!

There’s no vacation like a screen-free vacation, so it wasn’t until I returned that I saw Kami had been mentioned in this 100 Beanie Drive by Epheriell Designs. A few folks have already posted their Kami Hats on ravelry with a note that they’re for the drive. At least 141 hats, mittens, and scarves have been pledged in under a month, which is awesome! The items will be donated to the local hospital’s oncology unit….won’t you join in? Just follow the link above and add your pledge. Items are to be sent by July 31st, and the Kami hat is such a quick knit you could easily make one in a night or two.

Boston Fireworks

I didn’t get to see the fireworks on the 4th. Major bummer. Because contrary to my sweetie, who hates crowds and therefore stayed at home, I traipsed downtown with a friend and her three little girls two hours early to grab a spot on the Mass Ave bridge. At 8pm it was already packed.

It was nice just to sit there and relax. I was still working off a surprise champagne buzz. “Surprise” because I drank just one glass but it was hot on the heels of two Benadryl since I was bitten by the world’s meanest mosquitos at Walden Pond this week and the bites turned my forearm into a big swollen blotch. When the Benadryl package says not to mix with alcohol, apparently they aren’t kidding.

The harbor was filled with boats, the Charles was lined with lawn chairs, Jennifer Hudson was singing somewhere on shore….

And then the lightning started.

I got one good shot of it cracking across the sky. OOOH! Yeah okay, this storm was kinda serious. There were announcements from the loudspeaker on shore, but nobody could understand what they were saying. Then the cops started evacuating the bridge, and there was a lot of confusion, and my friend’s littlest girl started to cry. We imagined what it would be like to be caught in a downpour with three kids, three bags of stuff, amongst a million pedestrians trying to get on the subway. So we cut our losses and went home. I heard from my coworker that after 45 minutes or so they went on with the show. I think she was trying to make me feel better about missing them when she said that they weren’t that impressive.