Presents!

Nothing like presents to pull a girl out of a slump. Yesterday was our 20th wedding anniversary (time flies when you're having kids). Since the etiquette books say 20th is for china, and I'm fresh out of funds for Haviland, and went down to Fishs Eddy on 77th and Broadway and bought a set of mugs (no more snagging our lips on chipped vessels) and an oyster dish and some forks (aphrodisia) and a bag of colored marbles just 'cause.

Sam got me a pair of earrings--nothing to do with china but lord they are gorgeous. Pictured on the right with the beginnings of the Multidirectional Scarf as background. This is a really fun pattern, going quickly--especially for me, the World's Slowest Knitter. Join the yahoo group and get it for free. As usual, I'm hypnotized by the Noro...Resistance is futile...Must. Buy. More. Yarn.

We went to dinner at Lavagna in the East Village--highly romantic, highly recommended. Then we had a beer at Great Jones Cafe, which is actually where we met lo those many years ago. Sam was a bartender; I was a barfly who tipped very well, and the rest as they say is history. Anyway, nobody in the bar looked old enough to drink. We chugged our beer and splurged on a cab home--and went directly to sleep. So much for aprhodisia. Like I said, time flies. And yes, Sam, if you're reading this, I'm having so much fun.

Consolation Yarn

Well, my first born is officially at college, and I am officially a wreck. I didn't think it would be so weird. Sam and I were going to stay overnight in Philadelphia, but our heart wasn't in it so we slunk home (and I missed my planned yarn excurstion). I still have two kids left, but there's a big ol' hole in this apartment. Sigh.

So, as a consolation prize, I went down to Purl and scored some Noro Silk Garden on sale to make Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Scarf; I joined the knitalong group a few weeks ago but haven't paid much attention to it. Hoping a new project will yank me out of my little slump. Sigh.

Post Mortem

Now that I've finished my copious weeping over television characters who aren't even real people, for chrissakes, a few random notes on the Six Feet Under finale:

• Ted: Nice butt, dude, but you're still a Republican.
• Maggie: You are so pregnant.
• Ma Chenowith: I loved the dumping of Maya's monkey--don't change, babe.
• Ruth: Frances Conroy, you are the best. actor. ever.
• Keith: How come the black guy is always the first to get snuffed?
• Brenda: OMG, Billy totally talked you to death--my absolute favorite moment of the epilogue.
• Nate: Shut up.
• Clare: Keep your eyes on the road, and I wish somebody would unfreeze my trust fund (more yarn).

Six Feet Under - The Definitive Finale

Great ending to a good show. I'll leave the analysis to the critics. I do, however, think it should be mandatory that every television series end with definitive answers about their characters' futures. I still obsess about whatever happened to Hope and Michael Steadman.

The Accidental Tea Cosy

Sometime last year, I made a hat based on this very nice free pattern. Well, I don't know how big Cameron's head is, but it wasn't working for me--the end result was big enough to carry groceries. I tried felting it, which (if I knew then what I know now--thank you French Market Bag) helped the height but did nothing with the width. So, I stuffed it in my closet.

Well, remember those flowers I was playing around with a couple of posts down? I made a few more, retrieved the failed hat and voila: The Accidental Tea Cosy!

Then again, maybe it should stay a hat; Pink does look rather chic:

I Made a Button

I loved this picture so much I made it into a button. Scroll down on my sidebar if you want to take it.

A Pocketful of Posies

Well, maybe not a pocketful...more like three. I took a break for a little instant gratification and made some flowers from stash yarn. Based them on the embellishment on Jill Moreno's Folly sweater pattern, then noticed that in their nascent state they looked a lot like the infamous Potato Chip Scarf, source of the great Knitters Review copyright controversy.















I guess there's not much new under the knitting sun; don't think I'm violating copyright if I tell you that to make an easy flower, cast on 10-20 stitches, knit a couple of rows, knit a row with a bar increase in each stitch, knit another row, knit another increase row, bind off, twist into a circle and sew together in as haphazard a manner as you please. If you want to make a spiral scarf, cast on a bunch more stitches and keep knitting until you die of boredom.

The Best Laid Plans

I had a couple of resolutions at the beginning of the summer: to get a lot of knitting done and to post more. I've fallen short on both accounts. I mean, I have knit quite a bit, but since I've been working on the big ole sweater and the complex scarf, rather than the instant gratification hats and baby stuff and facecloths of last summer, I have had less to show and less to write about. So, I remind myself that there is Life After Knitting...

I've been reading a lot this summer. Aside from the obligatory Harry Potter, the dominant theme has been retro-reads--returning to the books I used to sneak off my mom's bookshelves for the naughty bits. I plowed through Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar and Youngblood Hawke, and just finished Mary McCarthy's The Group. A very complex read...not as turgid as I remembered it and eerily timely, particularly the child rearing stuff--kind of like Urban Baby set in the 1930's. I loved the characters in spite of McCarthy's clinical detachment--she must have been a piece of work. Anyway, Peyton Place is around here somewhere...additional retro-read suggestions welcome.

F.O.'s--Not

So, Sam's sweater is a back, two fronts and one complete sleeve. And the Forbes Forest Scarf is long enough to go halfway around his neck. Can I stop now? Please?? Sigh, back to my knitting.

R.I.P. Nathaniel Fisher

Since watching TV is second only to knitting on my list of life's most important things, I had to note the passing of Nate on Six Feet Under. Lots of speculation on Television Without Pity, but I don't think Alan Ball and them are faking us out this time. At least I hope not--Nate has been a Class A jerk all season; from the beginning, actually. No redemption in death--broke up with his pregnant wife from his deathbed. Anyway, for obligatory knitting content, at left is a miniature coffin cover. It's crocheted, but still...