Life's a Stitch

Indulge me in a linen rant. Back in the day, about 1977, good sheets were 180 thread count percale and lasted forever. They wore well and improved with age. The elastic in the fitted ones would wear out before the fabric. They cost a quarter the price and lasted ten times as long. 

Fast forward to now. These flimsy things are nearly clear. Don't believe me? Hold them up to the light. Their life expectancy is about a year or two, and they emerge from the dryer looking like elephant trunks, long wrinkled tubular objects in desperate need of a steam roller.

Does that count as a post? It was about fiber, wasn't it?

And (that`s another thing that`s changed over the years, though not necessarily a bad thing, it used to be unacceptable for sentences to begin with the word 'and') because all posts need a photo, I give you the miraculous mother and child cob of corn that appeared in our house last week:

You think I could have sold it on e-bay?

If you're a reader from British Columbia you'll be able to decipher those letters as belonging to the Pacific National Exhibition, our urban version of a state fair, summer's last hurrah. It occurs at the end of the season, usually in rainy BC weather, smells like mini donuts, sounds like excited Hell-a-vator induced shrieks, and feels crowded.

In my family we each have our favourite section, none located near the other. Chuck likes the work horses, Bryant the Super Dogs and I'm a sucker for the chamois, rubber mops and Pink Solution; assorted items hawked by people wearing mini microphone systems, loud promises to make my life easier. There's nothing like a Cutco knife and then the realization that I paid for parking and an entrance fee for shopping in disguise. I AM a sucker, but a happy one especially when chopping onions with my dishwasher safe Double D blades.

Knitting content: Blogless Marsha reminded me that I haven't posted a more recent picture of the Mitered Square Baby Blanket. It's been on Ravelry for a few days, but I neglected to update it on the blog:

Norma recently posted about those sugar coated jelly candies shaped like orange slices. You know the ones? Must be menopause or recent stress, I don't usually have much of a sweet tooth, but they sure looked tempting.

The candy of my childhood, I've written about it before. I remember my dad taking me to the barber, who would give me whole packages of Chuckles, and back then Chuckles were huge. Or was I just small? He would lay claim on the black one and I the red. Going to the movies, my mother would buy us a bag of spearmint leaves, green candies of the same consistency. I loved how they felt on my tongue. Or at the department store candy counter (remember those, the ones with the nuts kept warm under lights), that's where we would get those candy fruit slices, the ones that looked like watermelon slices. I chose the cherry ones, but it seems today the red ones are raspberry.

Forget the Hershey Bars, give me Mike and Ikes. Or Hot Tamales, the super hot ones. Or Fuzzy Peaches. Red Twizzlers. Better still, although chocolate is not my #1 favourite, red Twizzlers dipped in chocolate; to die for. Enough.

Here's some knitting candy, my Toronto acquisitions:

A skein of Seasilk and seven of Jojoland Melody. One skein into the JJ I decided to send the rest back. It looks and feels tempting, but the actual knitting is scratchy and splitty. It was worth the $9 in postage to maintain my knitting sanity.

Really, who needs to knit when there are skeins of yarn this beautiful? This is Valley Yarn's Kangaroo Dyer Franklin yarn in the Pine cone colourway. More beautiful booty from the second blog contest in a row that I won last month:

Lovely Erika, from Knitting at Pantheon Acres, sent the following prize for winning her lucky comment contest:

No kidding, I had the thought last month that I hadn't won a blog contest in a long time, entered three and won all three. Aren't knit bloggers wonderful? I feel like a spoiled brat. Or maybe I should be buying lottery tickets. Or maybe I should be hosting a contest. Stay tuned, cause I missed my fourth blogging anniversary last week, and will be hosting a contest in celebration.

We're in recovery mode out at a farm without computer access. All went well, Ms. Mar now has a reshaped tibia and her knee cap has been lowered an inch. I always used to ask my kids the best part and worst parts of their times away, so here goes:

The best:

1. Mari's nerve block which stayed in place and kept her relatively pain free for her entire hospital stay:

2. How to do Toronto on $115 a day: downtown Econolodge (clean, comfortable and free continental brekkie) and cheap but excellent Toronto food. Lots to choose from, but my best choices were Jamaican Jerk Chicken, three piece lunch special with sides for $3.99, NY style pizza and the u-fill large container of Chinese food for $5.99. M made fun of me for not walking more than two blocks before I had to have that pizza.

3. My eight mile walk which included Romni Wools and Lettuce Knits.

4. The kindness of friends who transported us from downtown to the burbs, and a very kind dad of her friend who is putting us up until she can fly on Weds. Mari greeted him in his driveway by throwing up.

5. The pre-op nurse who thought I was M's sister instead of her mom. I realize, since this is the first time ever that this has happened, that her empirical skills may have been lacking, however I am giving myself permission to bask in the glory. My eldest daughter, a nurse, tried to burst my bubble by telling me nurses try to err on the side of youth.

The worst:

1. Making a donation of a 3.25mm Bryspun knitting needle to the sealed hospital heating/air conditioning system and discovering that I left the yarn behind for my travelling projects. This is the extent of my progress on my mitred square baby blanket:

2. Discovering that the clerk at Romni failed to include my Rowan Classic Holiday book in my order. I had found it for $17.50. Darn.

3. Lack of internet access. Can you imagine me without knitting and internet? Even tried posting from my phone to no avail.  I'm posting from a very nice community centre on the outskirts of Markham. I'll post again after we get home.

I can't figure out why people stand in line for over an hour, sometimes closer to two, for a 15% discount on yarn. One of our LYS's hosts an annual anniversary sale with most items marked down 15-20%. Knitters line up by the 100's, snaking their way throughout the hot crowded store, until they get to the sole check out station for the privilege of a discount. There are occasional 50% off items, which might be worth the adventure, but I did it with the best of them – spent $6 in gas and an hour an a half of precious time in line, to save $15. All in the name of Babette, who transforms knitters into crocheters.

Babette, if you buy according to pattern instructions, takes over $300 of Koigu Painter's Palette Merino yarn. I am determined to do it a little at a time, using up my Koigu stash of six skeins and many colourful scraps, buying some on sale here and there, and substituting with other Koigu-esque yarns. If however, I'm still working on it same time next year, I vow not to spend a half a day to save 15%.

The kicker? I picked up a bag of yarn for a friend, one she had abandoned out of frustration earlier during the day. At home I realized we were charged double and shorted a skein. Apparently the staff were as overwhelmed as the customers. There has to be a better way.

I'm off to Toronto this week. My 23 yr old is having reconstruction surgery on a congenital knee defect. She saw three orthopedic surgeons here in BC, none with the expertise for her particular problem. So, we're flying across the country to have it done. If all goes well we'll be back in a week. Next time you hear from me it will be from the big T-dot, home of Lettuce Knit, Romni Wools and Sunnybrook Hospital.

  

The recap: A clone of the Carnival Shawl – couldn't locate the Rowan Classic Holiday #3 book with the pattern so attempted to replicate it from a photo.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn, 4 skeins (had about 30 inches left over) size G crochet hook

Pattern changes: the original pattern called for 36 (nine columns of four) hexagons, but I needed  44 for a wearable size (eleven columns of four). The knotted fringe was too tangly due to the "sticky" yarn, so I opted for tassels.

Impressions: A solid colour yarn would have done a better job of showing off the swirls. I do love the Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. There were not a lot of typical Noro issues (detritus, disintegration) with the exception of one or two knots per skein.

Time: Should have taken about 40 hours in total – you get a lot of shawl for your time. The joining of hexagons accounted for eight hours!  In comparison my Charlotte's Webs took 60+ hours.

Would I do it again? I will as soon as I save enough to buy the yarn of my dreams, cashmere or a blend, perhaps?

Let's just call this the Life's a Stitch Equation. Or maybe it's the curse of rating your Ravelry project at 95% finished, Have you noticed the number of projects I have at 95% on Ravelry? Doesn't it seem that they get stuck there for a loooong time?

So,
here's my math: Theoretically if I rate a project as 95%  in terms of
time, I should have 2.5 hours left on a 50 hour project. But noooooo,
as soon as I rate a project as having 5% left, it ends up growing
exponentially. In the case of my Carnival shawl, that 5% grew to 26%.
I'm afraid to do the math on the still being punished Print O'the
Wave. 

So what was the hang up? Despite the kind advice of two
knitting friends, I went ahead with fringing the Carnival. I did the
knotted fringe shown on the pattern. What a MESS:The Noro Silk Garden sock yarn sticks to itself like Velcro. To tame it I attempted a second row of knots:

Attached to hexagons they hung at different angles. Hence (I wanted to say that just like my college math teacher), a bigger mess. The lovely blogless, but Ravelrous Zoe B, helped me untie 225+ knots in order to attempt a do over. We reduced the number of tassels by half and hopefully they won't turn into dreads. I was afraid that the fringeless Carnival would look like a tablecloth. FO photos in my next post.

Some knitting goodness, I've recently won two blog contests and the first package arrived this week courtesy of Kristen (Audioknits). What fun I'm going to have with the Trekking handpaint and Sheep Shop Number One in yummy colours. Then there are the foodie goodies. As an east coast girl I've heard of clam fritters and coffee syrup, but the Hot Weiner Sauce mix is new to me. I look forward to it. Thanks, Kristen!

So I started crocheting (needle art with the reputation of knitting's poor, but fast, cousin) a Carnival clone, made from Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn. Oh, you're making pot holders, someone said. No, it's a shawl. Next person commented on my coasters. Actually, it's a shawl. Yet another told me his grandma made dishcloths just like that. And one of my ravelry-mates told me that working with one needle just does not compute.

But I forged on and finished 44 pieces, or "motifs" as they say in the crocheting world, nothing like a little French to class things up. Took some time to develop a layout based on Noro's lovely shading and now comes the tedium. I enjoyed every part of this crochet project, its portability and particularly its speed, each motif taking about forty minutes. But who'd have thought the joining would move at a snail's pace? I'm betting on eight hours of stitching time. No whip stitch for me, I'm doing the crochet version of the mattress stitch, paying particular attention to yarn colour. It's slow, but the result has me hooked. I'm looking for yarn for my second Carnival clone, although I'm not sure any could be more perfect than the Silk Garden sock yarn.

I have nothing to complain about, but my poor husband might. I led cheer as he laid tiles. I did get my chance to participate, scrubbing cement and grout for two days, and I have the bruised knees to prove it.

Have you ever gone to major expense just to hate something for years? We still maintain a US address in the form of an apartment in Washington state. 17 years ago it needed updating on a shoestring and we covered the floor with a pinkish/grayish industrial carpet found on clearance. Made from recycled plastic bottles it was so sturdy that you supposedly could use bleach to clean it. So practical, we thought, since we'd be using it as a vacation rental mortgage helper.

That carpet was a disaster from day one. How to describe the feeling on your bare feet? Dirty, sticky like velcro, and soapy come to mind. Anything, including water, and we have plenty of that being tracked in from our Pac NW cloud cover, left a dark grey stain. How short pile carpet could mat to such an extent is beyond me.

After visiting one of those four million dollars parade of homes houses in Florida, I had a scathingly brilliant idea (always loved that term from the Parent Trap). A quest was born to find indestructible Italian porcelain tiles for the kitchen and hallways, that looked like hardwood, at an affordable price. Sacrificing ideal colour for price we found them on sale for $1.97 a square ft at Seattle's Tiles for Less. Although we're experienced tile setters, we didn't figure into the cost, a full week of 12 hour days of sweat equity in 90 degree weather, all due to a crumbling sub-floor. Once again, thank goodness for the support of good friends.

This is getting to be the kind of woe is me long story that I'm not fond of. Here are some before and after shots, baseboard moulding still to come:

And here are the project mascots, banished to the outside. Blogless Marsha's Riley the Airedale and our Gracee: