The Yarnarian likes Hundertwasser!

Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna

I'm thinking of dyeing this week's yarn with the inspiration of Hundertwasser's paintings. We are talking bright and cheery. When my kids were in Vienna, they paid a visit to Hundertwasserhaus, and were enchanted by its general weirdness. There's a certain Gaudi-ness to his apartment house. And who can resist Gaudi? Not me.

Now that I've finally figured out the "buy now" button on Ravelry, I am going to post some of my patterns here and there. Today's pattern is a natural for this time of year: Leafy Green Socks. I did these about 1 1/2 years ago, and gifted them to a daughter. I loved them, and really ought to make a pair for me.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the gym I go. I ate too much, and now I must work out, work out, work out, work out.

Fan Dance Shawl Pattern

Fan Dance Shawl

Ah ha! The button works. That means that I can plop patterns here now and then and they can be ordered directly. Whadda woman! Ahem. What a Ravelry idea!

And my dyer buddy bought it. And Meg! Yippee! This is so cool. Thanks, Lindsey and Meg!

itsJUSTme - It's one of my favorites. Too bad I didn't dye up another skein of that colorway. Couldn't repeat it if I tried.

FYI

Remember yesterday's post where I kvetched nonstop about doing my bills? I actually did them. Had 8 checks to write. With all my moaning and groaning you would have thought that I had 100 checks. Hah. I swear I'm going to write them as bills come in so that I don't have this meltdown every month. Ya think? Probably no. I'm so adolescent.

The mockingbird is asleep, I hope.

Knitting news: I started a shawl for me and realized that charting up the edges was going to drive me nuts, so this one is not going to be made into a pattern. Unless....Nah. I have plenty of patterns.

This morning's tea is Boston tea by Harney & Sons. One of my favorites.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. Have a good weekend. It's sunny and lovely here in metro NJ, and just the way I like it.

The Yarnarian is mocked!

It's 3:23 AM and I'm up. There's a mockingbird outside our window and it's going through it's entire repertoire. Somebody needs to tell it that it should take a nap. Fascinating songs, but it's pitch dark out and it's sleepy-bye time. Silly bird.

"The Northern Mockingbird, in addition to being a good mimic, is also one of the loudest and most constantly vocal of birds. It often sings through the night, especially unmated males, or when the moon is full. It sings year-round except sometimes for the late-summer molting season. Individual males have repertoires of 50 to 200 songs; females sing as well, but more quietly and less often than males. Mockingbirds usually sing the loudest in the twilight of the early morning when the sun is on the horizon." Wikipedia

Caryn - Yep, a woodpecker would be worse. Can you imagine the 2 of them in cahoots? Scary thought!

The Yarnarian is Hooked!

By crochet. I'm in love with it. It's my sister's fault, of course. She's a wonderful crocheter, and so it's her fault.

As you may have noticed, I'm into these hooky scarves. I like the ease and speed of them, and I think they have an impressionist quality when done in variegated yarns. And sock wt yarn done on a D hook makes light weight drapey little pieces. So what could be better? Plus, they are so portable.

So here's my latest, which is almost done.




The Hubbo and DD are not admiring it much. I suspect that they think it's way too busy with those colors, but I like it. I see it draped around my neck and the colors appearing here and there just like an impressionist moment. OK, I just like it.

Tea notes: Today's tea is Tiger Hill Nilgiri FOP. Yummy. I don't remember where I bought it, I think it was in a tea shop in Tarrytown, NY, but am not sure. Anyhow, it's tasty and delicious.

The Schmutzmeister (aka DH) found this neat tea cup - infuser set. It came with a container of tea, and it cost him about a half buck. Yay, garage sales and DH!





You plop your loose tea into the infuser, put it into the cup, pour in your water, cover, and voila! in 5 minutes you have a tasty cuppa. I have a bunch of regular infusers, but this one is the infuser of the moment. The mesh is thin enough for me to use it for rooibos tea, which makes it even better. And the infuser fits into all my mugs but one.

Now and then I actually use a tea pot, but I usually make one cup at a time, so it's just easier this way.

Disgusting, miserable moment: I have to do my bills today. I hate doing bills, really hate it. It's not that I don't have the money; I do, I just find it beyond boring, and I hate boredom. I suppose there's a syndrome in the psych books for this, but I don't care. I just hate writing out checks. Go forth, Yarnarian, and be mature. Blah.

It's almost Cape Cod time! I'm counting the minutes! Whoo hoo. OK, immature 66 year old woman is going to do her bills with much muttering and kvetching and grumping and general infantile behavior. Maturity is a phase; adolescence is forever! sigh.

itsJUSTme - I'll post when I get back home. I try to keep computing time to a minimum when on vacation. I need to get away from work.

Scrabblequeen - I'll do almost anything to avoid paying bills, even bopping around from topic to topic. giggle

Deborah - It works up very nicely. I'm thinking of even trying a size E, which would work well with heavier sock yarns.

The Yarnarian gets inspired, yet again.

Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife

This time by paintings by Sargent, he of the magnificent colors! When I look at a painting, I first see the composition and subject, and then I look at the colors, and Sargent was brilliant in his choice of colors. What I did was look at each painting, and then whatever area of colors my eye was drawn to, that's what I tried to dye. So if you should look at any of these paintings, please note that I singled out a small portion of each one.

A Boating Party. Yep, that boat got to me pretty quickly.

Artist in Simplon: Look at his painting of the mountains!

In the Garden, Corfu: Her skirt, of course.

Mountain Stream: Those rocks and boulders!

Olive Trees, Corfu: Look at the grassy areas.

Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife: All the lovely grassy areas.

The Sketchers: Various grassy and flowery areas.

You know the drill: if you want before I post on Etsy, email me. fritzL234 AT yahoo DOT com

The Artist in Simplon is grabbed.

The Yarnarian Learns Patience.

Miss P's Shawlette

NOT. Etsy is having some sort of melt-down today, and I can't load up pictures. I am not a patient person. Needless to say, I'm grumbling a lot. I did go to the gym, and got those lovely endorphins flowing, so that helped. But Etsy, my Love, you need to get your act together today. Can't sell if I can't upload images.

There. Now that wasn't too bad of a rant. It was the endorphin factor. Boy was I irritated before I exercised.

It's working again! Yippee! Whew relief.

Project news: I finished it. Yep, you saw it last week, but now it's done and washed and happy, and I even wore it the other chilly day.




Miss P's shawl is finished and delivered, and she too has worn it in her usual 7 year old galumphy way. How many kids her age get a merino/silk shawlette designed and knit just for them? I hope it survives. But it was a lot of fun to do, and anyhow, I'm doing a much larger version of it in lace yarn. I'll do patterns for both at some point.



I would show you a pic of her wearing it, but I want my grands to have privacy, so trust me that she looked quite cute in it. We all went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant and she gave it to me to hold. Didn't want it to get tomato sauce on it.

We had a wonderful time in Minnesota as usual. DD took us to Northfield to wander around the shops and such. We love little town, especially college ones, and this one really appealed to us.

And now I'm going back to fight with Etsy some more. Hah! Dyeing tomorrow, I hope. I have some lovely inspiration to play with. If it works, I'll tell you. If not, I won't reveal my source. Heh heh.