The yarnarian Says:

S Day is coming.

The Yarnarian is Stunned!

Wow! Christine just awarded me this amazing blog award:



Is this cool or what? So here's what I have to do:

1.) Show the award. Link back to the blog that gave you the award.

2) Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award because of creativity, design, interesting material, and contributions to the blogger community, no matter of language, and link to them.3) Leave comments on the blogs to let them know you've given them an award.

4) Show the link to the Arte y Pico blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) Show these rules.

Now which blogs to pick. I love them all, you know. If I haven't listed you, don't be upset. I had to pick 5.

1. Margene's blog. This is the first blog I read every single day. Her mountain pics are amazine, she knits beautifully, and there is something so pleasant about her blog. I love her projects. There is something about this blog that talks to me. Take a look and see if you are not hooked also.

2. Carolyn's blog. Do you like llamas? Do you like to watch a house in progress, and now built? Do you want to meet a Renaissance fiber person? Carolyn spins (yup those llamas are spinable), weaves, knits, and dyes. And, she is a wonderful friend I met on the web.

3. Knittyvritti's blog. Fun and games as a Brooklyn shrink tackles the highs and lows of knitting. Intelligent, witty, and she does intarsia! And makes the most beautiful gloves. Inspiring and fun, and occasionally she analyzes her knitting. What could be better?

4. Jo's blog. A word master of the highest sort. Pics of Ireland and every where else she's traveled, charming and funny and I NEED to meet her in Ireland. Great stories, great knitting. Brilliant writer who can do doggerel with the best of them (some of her Ravelry posts are so clever!). Wouldn't it be fun, if I ever get my passport renewed, to meet at a UK wool show?

5. Anne's blog. Yeah, I know this is one of the biggies, but just take a look at her lace shawls and scarves and you'll go delirious with joy. And then take a look at her veggies and her cooking pics, and you'll get hungry. This is my fave of the biggies; she is an amazing designer.

This was hard to do because I had to leave out all the rest of my wonderful blogs, but these are the guys I read daily (along with Lime & Violet's Daily Chum).

And yes, I read Christine's blog every day also. It was so much fun to meet her and she is one awesome sock knitter and a great lady. Go check her out.

I love to be introduced to new blogs. I hope you'll like these as much as I do.

KV - Aw shucks!

Carolyn - You're the Mona Lisa. You're the tops. Can't think of the rest of it.

Ria - Thanks. My overlarge ego is going to explode. Don't worry though, something will bring me back down to earth. tee hee.

Anne and Margene - Thank you for providing me with such great inspiration as well as good reading.

The Yarnarian Enjoys Shabbat!

I'm not a "frummie" (a very observant Jew), so I enjoy the Sabbath in my way and not in the Orthodox way, but I surely do love it.

Shabbat (Sabbath) is a day in which I do no work. Yeah, I'll do the dishes, make the bed but that's basically it. I've alway observed the day by not working. Way back in college, I never studied or wrote papers or anything of that sort and it never hurt me at all. I did have to work on Shabbat in my professional years, and I always resented it mightily. But that was the way it was, so I just did it and grumbled. A lot.

But now I'm retired and have a new career, and I still don't work on Shabbat.

I have to tell you that taking an entire day off and just relaxing and knitting and reading is so precious. And the result? I'm all fired up the next few days. And then when life gets too crazy, I have the next Shabbat to look forward to.

I recommend it highly whether you are Jewish or not, religious in any way or not, an atheist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, whatever you are. Take a weekly day off to meditate, appreciate life, smell the roses, whatever gives you peace.

And what am I doing today? knitting, reading, going to the library, napping, whatever. The Hubbo left at 5:30b this morning to drive into Brooklyn to go walk the dog with Benster-daddy, see the Benster at his swimming lesson, and such. I opted to sleep like a normal person. As much as I adore the munchkin, getting up at 4:30 AM is not where it's at. So, when he gets home, we'll probably have a very mini-field trip. Mmmm. Delicious day.

Miss P called last night to say that she lost her first tooth! A bottom tooth and she was anxiously awaiting the tooth fairy. She insisted on putting the tooth into an envelope and under her pillow. Her parents tried to convince her to put the envelope next to the bed. Nope, she said, all the kids in school put their teeth under their pillows for the tooth fairy to take. So I hope that the tooth/money exchange took place without waking her.

Bellavitafarm tagged me to write 7 weird/random things about me on my blog.

OK, here goes:

1. My big toes are very much bigger than the rest of the toes. It's a genetic thing; my sister and my kids have it too.

2. If I could figure out how to live on tea, I would.

3. I'd rather have an awesome piece of bread as dessert or a snack than cake.

4. I love an orderly existence even though my house is in a constant state of disorder.

5. I used to wake up my kids on St. Patrick's Day by singing MacNamara's Band at the top of my lungs. Nope, there's not an ounce of the Irish in me.

6. I love solitude, and worked with the public for a gazillion years, and loved it. Go figure.

7. I love the Hubbo, who is a law onto himself. Engineers either have no sense of humor or are wickedly in mischief. You know where the Hubbo falls.


Now whom shall I tag? Mwahahaha! Unfortunately some people I would love to tag have no blogs. Not fair!

I'll have to think about this. Give them a head's up first. And then duck when they throw the computer at me.

If any of you blog readers want to be tagged by me, let me know.

Have a peaceful, gentle Sabbath, whenever you wish. Shabbat Shalom (Sabbath Peace) to you and yours.

Stephanie - As you can tell, I'm not shomer Shabbos, although I come from a frum family. My grandmas wore sheitels. That kind of frum. My parents were much less so, although no lights, no tv, no writing on Shabbat. My father, however, deemed it OK to listen to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts on Saturday afternoon, and my mother loved to go downtown. So there you have it. But in college, I would never do studying or paper writing or research. Period. When it ended, and I didn't have a date, then work would resume. Never hurt me in the slightest. It was a necessary break and kept me fresh. Try it out on an easy week and see if you like it.

Christine - Imagine tagging the tagger. This could get incestuous! Have a great MN day. I need another MN visit, but probably won't go until late Nov or early Dec. And you know there will be lots of snow on the ground.

Deborah - I do too. Sometimes it's very difficult to stop the running and just settle down and relax, but it is so worth it. I love the sense of peace that I get. And to think that it comes 52 times a year.

Mommie update

Now they called me to tell me that she has a bright red spot in the corner of her eye. I'm betting it's a little blood vessel that burst. So off we go again to the doctor. And it's rainy and disgusting outside, and she's not going to want to go out in the rain.

I was going to dye up yarn today, but I've really exhausted and will do a lousy job, so instead I'll write up some patterns for the Hubbo to pdf for me. And I'll knit on my shawl, which is soothing.

Elder care is not easy, but she is The Mommie, and I love her to bits, so off we go yet again to the doctor.

Grumble over, time for another cup of tea!

UPDATE: She has a broken vein and it's nothing to fret about. Whew. I gotta tell you that elder care is a lot harder in some ways than child care.

Comments: If I haven't answered any of your comments in the last day or so, it's because I've run out of steam here. But I love getting them, and I thank you all for reading and responding to my blather. You rock, folks!

bellavitafarm - The Mommie loves to argue and always wins. Always. Even if she's wrong, she wins. I've never figured out how she does it. I don't know whether to hit you or thank you for tagging me. tee hee.

Cici - It's a pain in the neck to stop what I'm doing and take her to the doctor, but then I remember how many times she took off from work and took me to the doctor. So, now it's my privilege to return the favor. She's very appreciative, and she's fun to be with, and I cannot imagine life without her, so she better stick around for a long time. As long as she's healthy, of course. I think that old people are the gutsiest, bravest, toughest people of all. And the Mommie does it with grace and charm. But then, she's The Mommie!

I bet you have tons of mommie stories too.

The Yarnarian Investigates Itchy Red Spots.

Gotcha interested, huh? So here's the story:

On Sunday I had a couple of phone calls from the Mommie's residence that the Mommie had red spots on her legs and waist and they were itching like crazy. Would I come over? The first thought had been to send her to the emergency room, but would I come over and look first.

So the Hubbo and I went to check her out, and sure enough, she had itchy red spots. To my medically untrained eye, they looked like flea bites. Having owned a flea-spreading cat, I know these rotten things.

So we picked up an itch-relief lotion and she tried it out and said it was OK. We changed her sheets, flipped the mattress, did whatever we could without bombing the room. (This is a residence for elderly folks, so you have to be careful here).

I went out into the dining room, where I can generally find lots of the staff, and said it was bug bites, and that they might want to deal with this. No, I had no idea where she got them.

Tues. AM I get a phone call from the director of the residence. She is a lovely, caring woman who worries about her charges. She said that I should take the Mommie to a dermatologist. Nope, says I, I'll take her to her primary care physician.

The earliest I could get an appointment was Wed afternoon, so we went and yup, bug bites. The residence is going to call the exterminator to deal with her room.

And that's the story of the itchy red spots.

By the way, we had a lovely time together. I picked her up early, and we went for pizza at my local Whole Foods. There's a beautiful display of pumpkins outside the door, and she just loved it. Then we went inside, and directly in front of us is the flower section. The Mommie couldn't get enough of the flowers. We had our pizza, chatted about stuff, and had a wonderful day together.

And I hope I didn't get her bugs on me!

The Yarnarian is Overwhelmed.

Not underwhelmed, not even plain whelmed. Overwhelmed. Ack!

It occured to me last night that Oct begins next week, and Rosh Hashanah is next week, and of course, Yom Kippur is the following week. "Yeah, so?", you might say.

Um, I have a sotm for Oct. Now I do say that the shipping will be in the middle of the month to cover myself, because the Great Procrastinator has no sense of time, and has to always build in extra. So, I'm really OK here, but I would love to get the shipment out early as usual. So I have half of my dyeing left to do. And writing up the pattern.

Ya getting the idea, here?

Next piece of hysteria: Renee wants to open up the sign ups for the winter mystery shawl after YK. OK, that's not overly bad. I can dye these skeins up very, very quickly. So what's the panic? I need more yarn!!!! And Sarah is out of it, so now I have to wait for her and she's waiting for her shipment.

Panic Attack!

You know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple of weeks in between the holidays. I've finished all the existing Zephyr yarn for the shawl, so I just have to be patient. I'm not a patient person.

Panic Attack!

Actually I do my best work when under the gun, so this is not a tragedy at all. And, boy, am I ever revved! Whoo Hoo! Yes!

OK, so in the meantime, while twiddling my thumbs instead of dyeing sotm yarn, bad Yarnarian that I am, I've dyed up the most gorgeous merino/nylon sock yarn in the universe! Soft beyond belief, great yardage, and it's sock yarn with that nylon in it. I'm going to charge $20/skein for these because they cost me more than other yarns I carry. But that's not too much of a price increase here. I do aim to charge fairly and not kill my customers. Here are some pics.





And now the Yarnarian has had a long enough break, and needs to go skein up some yarn. I skein, therefore I dye.

Added at 4 PM: I'm pooped, just pooped. But, I got it dyed, am about to put a loaf of bread into the oven, and then I'm off to the post office to mail off some yarn. Tonight I skein up, and if I have anything left, I'm going to knit, knit, knit! So there! I love petulance, don't you?

KV - Matzo balls. Soup. Help! There will be only 3 of us that I know of at the moment. So the usual chicken something or other. Nothing fancy. I do want to make challah, but that's not a big deal either.

Ria - "Normal" crazy would be fine just about now! At least there are no vrittis!

The Yarnarian Waxes Philosophical.

No, you silly people! The Yarnarian is not waxing the car; she's waxing philosophical. Get a grip here.

So what is this philosophy about? Well today I had an insight. I get insights every now and then, and they are never earth-shattering, but valuable nonetheless.

We spent Saturday just wandering through downtown Summit, NJ, having lunch and then happily thrift shop shopping. Nothing exciting, although lunch at a Thai restaurant was wonderful. And it occurred to me that for us, the great joy of living is simply being. We, the Hubbo and I, don't need excitement, travel, retail therapy, etc. to be happy. We are joyful just wandering around in each others company. It doesn't matter if we buy anything, or eat a fabulous meal (ok, the food has to be somewhat decent), or look at the world's greatest art. We are content simply to be. And for us, that's who and what we are.

Earth-shattering moment? No, but great insight into what makes us tick. It could be our age. In our early 60's, we are not even middle-aged any more, but hardly doddering. Yup, the knees hurt, and we take meds for high bp, and cholesterol, and such, but our heads seem to be in the right place. The body ain't what it was, but the head is better than at any other time in our lives.

OK, wake up here. The Yarnarian will not wax philosophical again for quite a while.

Knitting news: I have too many projects on the needles. I've got to finish a bunch before I start anything else. Startitis reared its nasty little head, but I'm over it for a while. phew. The source of all these UFOs: too many project bags. Let's face it: I have a thing on project bags. I love 'em. But every time I get a new one, I feel immediately compelled to start yet another project. I'm out of space with these guys. I'm going to need yet another tub for project bags filled with projects. Arrgh. ( Whoops, sorry about that arrgh; pirates are done for the year.)

The trouble is that all these lovely bags and projects contradict my new-found insight. Well, nothing is perfect. Insight breaks down when it comes to yarn and knitting. And let's face it: yarn rules!

Knitting Club news: My little poll and communication with the PennyRoses group on Ravelry have lead to this conclusion: I'm now planning on 2 clubs: a sock club AND a lace scarf club. Sotm to run every other month, starting in Jan or Feb. Lace scarf club to run 3 or 4 times/year starting in the winter. When, and what on these two is not yet decided. I'm at the noodling around stage.

I have 2 shipments of the sotm to go, and lots of lovely lace dyeing for the winter mystery shawl, and I need a bit of time off to recharge my batteries. But this seems to be the direction I'm heading in.

I like the idea of every other month for the sock club. Lots of folks belong to a number of sotms, and there are always new socks to be knitted on Ravelry, so this gives people a fighting chance to actually knit a pair or two. And the lace scarf one: these take time to knit, and 3 or 4 of them a year is plenty.

Boy, talk about a wordy blog! It's putting me to sleep. Nitey night.

KV and Jean - Maybe our heads are better because we have less obligations? Kids are grown, out of the house, have their own kids. Retirement! (although that presents its own set of problems). At this stage, the aging process is not very advanced, so we still have energy, whatever. Of course, now I have aged parent obligations, but so it goes. Not many vrittis. Whatever the reason for this, it's a wonderful time of life, and I feel so fortunate that I have this moment. After all, maturity is just a phase; adolescence is forever.

Arrgh!

And do ye know what day it is today? Arrgh! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Shiver me timbers! Ye must swab the deck, ye scurvy landlubbers!

Carolyn - Arrgh! Eat them Caribee cakes, will ya? Ya better eat quickly afore ya swabs the deck, me heartie.

The Yarnarian Asks a Question.

I'm busy thinking about the next sock club. Hey, I like to be prepared.

So, a question for my dear readers.

What would you think about a club that had a sock, then a lace scarf, and then another sock? Patterns of course for all three. Cost: probably around $85, same as now. The lace scarf would feature Zephyr, my ultimate fave in lace weight yarn, and I would keep the club cost low because I would use only a 630 yd skein. More than enough for a scarf. You could probably get 2 scarves out of it.

You can vote in a poll that I set up over on the top right. This is so neat. Yay, Blogger!

See you later.

The Yarnarian is bejeweled!

I should have called this post: "Ruth's Loot" because that is just what it is: my jewelery finds on this weekend's trip to New Hampshire. Never mind Fruit Loops; we have Ruth's Loot. OK, bad play on words. Tough nuggies.

On Saturday, on the way to Peterborough, we found a crafts fair in Dublin, and oh, my, what lovely goodies. No dumb floppy-eared bunnies or ugly stuff, just lovely jewelry, wood carvings, soaps, pottery, and jewelry.

I'm such a sucker for pretty earrings. Someone told me once that as women wear more and more casual clothing, jewelry and make-up and accessories become more important. And I think there's some truth to it. Now that I'm retired, I never wear my wardrobe of beautiful work clothing. What's the point of it. Even in my last couple of years on the job, I wore much more casual clothing. So, how do you jazz that up? With pretty accessories.

Here's the neat thing: the Hubbo loves to buy me earrings. I wear them every day and he likes seeing them on me. So, here we were at this neat crafts show, and there was jewelry all over the joint.

Here are the earrings the Hubbo bought moi:



The bigger ones are the ones I bought; he bought the 2 pairs of green and iridescent ones.

And now, ta da, feast your eyes on this set. I never buy sets, but this was irresistible, so I plunked down the money. And remember, New Hampshire has no sales tax!!!! The stones are Ryolite, aka Rainforest Jasper.



And then, because the Hubbo cannot resist a good thrift shop moment, he found this cute bag to add to my project bag collection:



The best find of the weekend is not ready for photography yet. And when you see it, you probably won't be impressed. But we're quite in love with it.

So what else did we do in NH besides bolstering up the economy? We walked and walked. We stayed in the same place as last time because the location is terrific and the little inn is cozy and unpretentious. We are so way past pretension. Give us comfort any time. We stayed at the Carriage Barn B&B, which is right on Main Street about a couple of blocks from where the down town area begins. Very quiet and cozy and about as basic as you can get with still being very comfy. So, we walked downtown, and then onto the library (of course) and onto a very unique collection of stores, and more walking, and more walking. We were gone over 5 hours, and except for lunch and the library, were on our feet the whole time. No car. It was just great. We thought it would rain, but it held off until we got back to the inn.

This was a nothing-exciting weekend, but one we so enjoyed. We came back home really refreshed and ready to go again. Yup, yarn is soaking for dyeing.

Bev and Ria - I am now so elegant. Wore the large earrings yesterday after the mammoth dye session. Boy, are they heavy! And larger than I usually wear. But quite lovely!

Darcie - He really knows my taste in earrings, too. The Hubbo is a sweetie, and if he reads this, he better not get a swollen head! ;-)

Sharon - I feel the same way about craft fairs; they are very dangerous to the pocketbook. But no sales tax? Whoo hoo!

The Yarnarian's Sock is Famous!

Stop the presses! Such news! Such excitement! The Yarnarian is beside herself with joy. (I'm not exactly sure where she is; just that she apparently is standing beside herself.)

Eve's Temptation Socks just got featured on Lime & Violet's Daily Chum.

You know the socks. The ones with the Heel from Hell that I added a normal heel onto for those folks not brave enough to try the h from h.

Uh oh, the Yarnarian is running up the stairs in her split level a la Rocky. Standing on the landing and doing the Stallone boxing dance.

Thank you, Daily Chum! I feel quite honored to be amongst all the lovely patterns you show. And thank you, all your brave knitters who struggled with that cutie patootie heel and either conquered it or swore at me. Either way, we have a sock pattern!

Whoo Hoo!

KV - Thank you indeed. It's kind of neat having my 15 minutes of fame. Now I can go to sleep and dream of hordes of sock buyers. tee hee. How are the gloves coming?

Ria - the best part is that I actually have knitted the second one so I have a pair. I can wear these babies. Yee Hah!

Tasha - Chum is the second site I visit every day. You all do a great job! And not just because you chose my sock. ;-)

Holey Moley! Wow!

My last post has brought more comments than I can handle at the end of the post. This is so much fun.

Here's the deal: we are both pack rats. I'm the good one, of course; he's the bad one, of course. That's a given. I collect good stuff like yarn and books and needles and more yarn and more books and patterns, etc, etc. He collects the weird and the wacky.

We have reached a crisis point in our chaotic lives. Basically his son, who I think is the best son in the universe, don't even try to convince me otherwise (he's always on my side!) told him that he was out of control. Tee Hee. So now the Hubbo is obsessively attacking his piles of junk (whoops, I mean stuff) and tossing and organizing and other good things.

Here's the problem: He's upped the ante in neatness, so now I feel this urge to top him of course. We are very competitive, especially in Scrabble. So now I need to organize my beautiful stuff (junk, no never junk. Just beautiful stuff).

It's hilarious. And I have to win. why? Because I'm the good one, and he's the bad one. Of course you agree with me. How could you not? ;-)

So I did my share of pick up today: I organized the living room coffee table, otherwise known as a flat surface with needles, books, patterns, yarns, tape measure, coaster for the cup of tea all on top of it. And our coffee table is really a pretty piano bench that he found at a house sale. (Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, he really does find lovely stuff.) So you know that it is not particularly large. And organize it I did. In nice neat piles. And tossed the umpteen pieces of yarn and scrap paper with hash marks on them and other detritus of my knitting habit. And now it looks quite neat.

Needless to say, I'm totally exhausted by that bit of straightening out and need to eat some muffins that I just made.

So to answer all the latest comments, here goes:

Ria - you have the essence of it. We have the good junk; the guys have the bad junk. I'm with you except in the case of country music. I'd prefer Beethoven, but the Hubbo falls asleep at concerts and opera. Still, he is THE Hubbo, and almost perfect. I, of course, am perfect. And I know you agree with me.

Pam the Yarn Goddess - But if he's not a pack rat, and you are, what do you squabble about? One can have a perfectly good rant at one's other half if he's collecting bicycle tires. (mine doesn't). But here you have this perfection of a man, and how do you let him know that you're the good one and he's not? Tell him to mend his wicked ways.

Carolyn - Yes my stuff is my friend and I like to have my friends around me, although as much as I hate to admit it, I'm having too much company lately. But now that the piano bench, aka the coffee table, is neat, and some of the friends have gone home, I feel more secure. And when are you going to litter up your studio, hm? Tell you what, I'll send you some stuff, any stuff. Remember: A neat house is not a happy house.

Ria - there is nothing that I can say except to giggle. Guy engineers fall into 2 groups: those without any sense of humor at all, and those with an enormous sense of mischief. I think our guys are in the mischief group!

Is this not fun? I love to pick on the Hubbo. Don't feel too sorry for him; he gives it right back. Tee hee.

The Yarnarian Has Words with the Hubbo!

Lots of words. We word-play all the time. Nope, these are serious words. Come, read my tale of woe:

Scene 1: The Hubbo is what we would politely call a "collector". He collects articles that range from lovely to odd to beyond odd to really weird to junk. He collects lots of stuff, more stuff than you can imagine.

Scene 2: The Yarnarian collects books on knitting (borrows all the rest from the library), yarn, patterns, more yarn, more patterns, more yarn.

Scene 3: He collects the bad stuff; I clearly collect the good stuff.

Scene 4: He has stuff all over the place; way too much stuff. We are inundated with junk in every room of the house. I have yarn stuff in every room of the house. My yarn is lovely and decorative.

Scene 5: I never was neat, but he has brought me down to his level, which is a step above being condemned.

Scene 6: He has started to clean his junk up, move it out, pack it up, get rid of it!

Scene 7: He's upped the ante here. If he gets rid of junk, I should organize mine and get it off every flat surface we own, including tables, floor, and an occasional chair.

Scene 8: I'm having words with him over this new avocation of his. Now the unspoken pressure is on me to become neat. Not fair, simply not fair. We are now going to have to compete in the neatness division.

I ask you: Is this not a reason to call the Hubbo a few choice words? So today, I feel compelled to clean up my stuff.

I don't know how we are going to deal with "our" stuff, as in the Passover Haggadahs that are still hanging around in the dining room. Given that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are around the corner, it might be time to put away the Passover stuff.

Tea of the morning: Scottish Tea: "Dark and Rich". Strong and almost done. I won't replace it because there is so much tea in this house that I need to finish up a few tins. Then I can get more. And, my teas are organized and NOT all over the house. Phew!

Knitting News: no knitting news except that my left wrist is not happy with life. I think I overdid it. So we shall rest the wrist today and see if I can knit in tiny bits tomorrow as we drive up to NH.

What I'm reading: Franklin, Ariana - The Serpent's Tale

Shortoldlady - I'm way past shelves! I have an awesome collection of knitting and stitching books. We bought an entertainment center from the Door Store, and it has lots of shelves, now all filled up with books. I'm going to have to move to a mansion with a large library! The not-in-use yarn (i.e. the stuff that's not in dyeing mode) is happily stored in plastic tubs and lives in the basement. I need to figure out how to store my vast collection of project bags, each of which contains a worthy project. I like to be able to just go through them quickly and pick out what I want. Plus they're pretty. Today's task is to file all the patterns for lace shawls that I've downloaded. And file away the needles and such. Then I'll feel much better. I'm thinking of listing the books that I really don't use on the blog with a reasonable price and see if anyone wants them, or put them on Ravelry.

JennaKate - Our house is relatively clean, but slobby, really slobby. My son-in-law told me that pretty soon we would have paths between the piles of stuff on the floor. I've gotta get my act together and clear away the piles. After a while I don't even see the piles. Sigh. Neatness is not my thing. I wish it were, but it's not.

The Hubbo Invents a Yarn Drying Device.

You all know that the Yarnarian is married to the most wonderful guy in the world. There's one teensy weensy problem here: he's an engineer and loves to invent. Some of his inventions are beyond odd, some are hilarious, and I can't post those here because he won't be happy. Aesthetics are not his strong point. What is his strong point is taking an object and turning it into something else. And he's a garage sale/thrift shop junkie, so you never know what he might come home with. So, I present to you his lastest greatest invention:




What is it, you ask? It's a yarn drying device, aka a yarn hanger. Are you amazed, fascinated, intrigued, confused?
Here are its properties: one of his millions of tripods with a plastic tinker toy thingie screwed on top. Everything that the Hubbo invents is a "device".

Plastic is good, won't hurt wet yarn. It fits into the shower stall and probably also the bathtub. It's portable. It's cute in its own weird way.

This morning's tea: Mocha Mate from TeaNoir. Toasted yerba mate with cocoa, chicory and cinnamon. I like with 1/8 tsp Splenda and a splash of milk. Delicious. I have a thing on mate. I bought my first one here, and have been in love with it ever since.

Christine - I just realized that the yarns on it match the bar thingies. Such talent! Nope, I'm not dyeing for it. There are limits, not many, but some! ;-)

Ambermoggie - It's one of his better devices. I never know what he's going to come up with. He views stuff with a completely different eyes than I do. There was a spell where he was buying old junky printers that were not functional any more. Why, because the cartirdges came with them and matched our printer.

Ria - there is nothing that I can say except to giggle. Guy engineers fall into 2 groups: those without any sense of humor at all, and those with an enormous sense of mischief. I think our guys are in the mischief group!

The Yarnarian Publishes a Sock Pattern! Finally!

Do you remember the pattern, Eve's Temptation? AKA the heel from hell pattern? As soon as the Hubbo turns it into a pdf file, I'm putting it on Ravelry. With one tiny addition: instructions for a normal heel if the h from h is too much to deal with. It's such a pretty sock, and I'd hate for anyone not to knit it because of that h from h! Remember this?





Knitting News: I'm working on the February Lady Sweater, and am enjoying it immensely. I can work on worsted weight yarn if the needles are not too big. I knit very loosely, so that's not a problem. The pattern calls for size 8 and a gauge of 4.5 sts/inch. I went down to a size 6, and it's all working out just fine. Here's a pic, like you can tell what it looks like. At least you can see the color. I'm using Cascade 220 in a blend of cream, yellow and pink, which looks like orange when twisted together. Half of the Ravelry universe is into an orange phase, so I thought I'd join them. Besides, I look good in OJ.



Jen and Bev - I thought it was a pretty neat heel, but my 2 ver experienced testers thought it was the heel from hell. Others found it not too difficult. So that's why the option. I like the way it fits me in particular. And good for clog season.

Elder DD tells a story:

Good NY story:

I was on the subway yesterday. A man across from me spilled some water
on himself, so he moved to the dry seat next to him.

Although he had napkins in hand, he didn't wipe up the other seat.
Instead, he warned every new passenger very politely against sitting there.

When I got off the train 170 blocks later, the seat was still wet and
empty.

True story sent to me by DD #1. Is this not funny?

Back to sleep; more blogging later, replete with pictures.

KV and Ria - It's pretty clever of the guy! And yeah, she's seen a lot stranger. In the public library world, you see unbelievably weird people. Ask any librarian and she/he can tell you about some pretty bizarre people. After a while, you begin to think that weird is the norm!

The Yarnarian Knits and Dyes.

It's quiet here in Yarnarian-ville. I sent off the sock club packages the other day and have had my usual postpartum blues afterwords. But I'm back on target now, so that's good.

Knitting news: The vest (see below) needs another inch of knitting and then the dreaded sewing, and I'll have a spiffy new vest for the fall.

Here's what's happening with the lace shawl. Don't forget that it looks like crap until blocked, but you can see the pattern here. I'm loving working on it. I don't know why some lace projects are so delightful to knit and others are not. But that's the way it is.



Next project in mind is the February Lady Sweater, with which I've fallen in love. I've made this as a baby sweater a few times and liked it, and now here is an adult pattern for it. I was thinking of dyeing my yarn, but I've changed my mind and will head over to the Stitching Bee for some stash enhancement. Check out how neat it looks on Margene.

Dyeing news: Here's some of what I've done lately. The very pale yarns are Zephyr for Renee's Winter Shawl. If she likes them,then that's the way I'm going to go on these skeins: very pale with a bit of color variation, but so slight so as not to interfere with the pattern.



Lisa - Thanks. I almost kept it for myself, but what I need are some green sockies.

The Yarnarian has another Mommie story!

When the Mommie retired, she and a lady friend both around the same age and both widows, decided to take one big trip a year. Now you need to understand that the Mommie was always very frugal; she had to be. But as she got older, she passed frugal and became cheap, really mingy. So here is this woman who will not spend $2 on a glass mug that she really likes, and she and her friend decided to whoop it up internationally.

And travel they did. First class was not good enough for them. They toured ultra first class. They once did 2 Perillo tours of Italy, north and south, and complained that it wasn't ritzy enough for them. They took tours because that was the way they could really learn about the various countries, and they were taken care of from the beginning to the end of the tours.

A side note here - The Mommie's friend had lost a lot of weight and was very wrinkled. Both ladies were in their upper sixties - seventies and looked little and old and fragile. Not that they were fragile; they just looked it. And the Mommie's friend with her excess wrinkles looked old enough to be the Mommie's mommie. Every time they met up with their new traveling companions, the other folks would get this look on their faces: Uh oh, we're going to be saddled with these 2 old bags. HAH! Their first trip was to Israel and Egypt. Marched into the King David Hotel, unpacked what they needed to, and then went off exploring. Everyone else had jet lag; not these 2 characters; the literally marched out of the hotel. They also explored Mt Vesuvius on their Italy trip.

OK, back to the story. So the Mommie and friend went to Israel and Egypt, France, England and such, Italy, Greece and Turkey, Morocco and Spain, and the ultimate - Japan. They did part of the US, and I forget what else they did. Suffice it to say that they were all over the joint. They had 2 tours of Japan and had to get from one tour to the other on their own. So they got on the bullet train, got shoved in, and made it by themselves to the beginning of the second tour.

Oh, and the Mommie did get pinched in Venice, which she thought was hilarious, this the prudish lady.

They stopped traveling when illness began to arrive. All in all, I think they made at least 10 month-long trips.

Are you getting the picture? So the other day, an announcement was made at the Mommie's residence: We're going to lunch tomorrow to a kosher Chinese restaurant. Did the Mommie want to come. "No", she says. "But you'll have a chance to get out and see something really new and different. It'll be fun and exciting!" Answers the Mommie: "I've been all over the world. Do you really think that I'm going to find something new and exciting at a kosher Chinese restaurant?" At that point, the organizers of the trip gave up. How could anyone counter that remark?

There are many more Mommie stories yet to be told. And now you know why I've never won an argument with her. Neither did my father. Yay, the Mommie!

Ria - When I was a kid, I was afraid of her. Not that she ever did anything to hurt me, but when she got mad, she gave you the silent treatment, or The Lecture. And that's a story for another time.

Grace - She is The Mommie! NO doubt about it!