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April 29, 2005

And So It Begins

Today we head out for our first "official" reenactment of the season and the whole family is very excited. (You will remember that Calvin Harlow Day at the beginning of the month was a washout. It was, in fact, the only washout in the last 45 days, but it was a washout nevertheless.) My 19th century clothing and cookware and knitting is packed. My cookies, cakes and pies are baked and I am ready for the adventure of Civil War reenacting.

Wendy (hi Wendy!) and I are supposed to be teaching a knitting class over the weekend to our fellow reenactors. I think hope they want to focus on socks, since that's what I'm prepared for, but if not, well, we'll just wing it. Wendy and I make a great team and we've done it before.

I promise to tell y'all about it on Monday. And, of course, I'll have a picture of the traveling sock in the lovely town of Millis. Woo Hoo!

Posted by Carole at 8:37 AM

April 28, 2005

Socks A-Go-Go

I know if I talk about Yarn Harlot again that y'all (she's been in Memphis this week) will think I'm obsessed, but I can't help myself. It's about those traveling socks of hers. Last summer she had socks that traveled to New Foundland. Her socks have been to concerts with her super-cool music producer guy Joe and listened to Gordon Lightfoot music, her socks have been to Memphis and seen the freakin' Elvis Presley statue. They have been to water parks and amusement parks and to a Prince concert and all over Toronto, for the love of wool. (I stole that expression from Yarn Harlot. Maybe I am obsessed.)

I cannot compete with this. I take my socks everywhere too, they make great traveling knitting. And, oh gee, my socks have been to, ummm, Carver, Millis and Uxbridge.

Last Friday they did go to Portsmouth, NH and that was pretty cool. Not cool by Yarn Harlot standards, but still cool.

I actually have a funny story about last Friday's trip to Portsmouth. It was school vacation last week so I took Friday off to do something with Dale and Hannah. We had no definite plans, just the idea of doing something fun. We nixed the idea of going to the MFA to see the Ralph Lauren car exhibit when we realized that tickets were $22 each for adults. We nixed Newport and Slater Mill because it's too early in the season. We were definitely at loose ends for plans, which is not like me (although it's definitely like Dale) at all. So, Friday morning we're making the bed and had a conversation that went something, but not exactly, like this:

Carole: I'm fresh out of ideas for today. Do you have any suggestions?
Dale: How about we go find some of those yarn shops you're always talking about.
Carole: (stunned silence)
Dale: Honey? Are you okay? Honey? Get up off the floor, please.

I. Kid. You. Not. Dale suggested yarn shopping as the day's excursion. I don't know if he's hoping to win a Husband of the Year award (yah. uh huh.) or if he was just hoping to get written about in the blog, but, honestly, his motivation for the suggestion is unimportant to me.
As soon as I recovered from the shock of it all, we headed for one of those yarn shops I'm always talking about.

Posted by Carole at 7:43 AM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2005

Late, Again.

I had lots of plans for this morning. I got up early on time for a change and figured I could not only get ready for work but also make a meatloaf, wash some dishes (can you believe I ran out of dishwasher detergent?), and fit in some knitting time before I left the house. Yeah, right. I did get the meatloaf and dishes done and managed to dress myself and do my hair and make up. I had 5 minutes to spare. There's not a whole lot you can do with 5 minutes. But then, I thought of you all, my faithful readers who don't leave comments, and yesterday's entry about other blogs. I thought of how I hadn't written a blog entry with pictures for a while. I thought of how you were all going to start reading those real blogs I told you about and abandon mine forever. And I took only 5 15 minutes and snapped some photos of my progress on the Rosebud Cardigan.

Here is the jumbled mess at the moment. The things on the needles are the dreaded sleeves. They are almost done, thank goodness.

Here is the back, all nicely pinned out. The color is much prettier than it looks here and the yarn is wicked soft.

Ah, and here is the lovely Mason, sitting on the fronts. They match, I think hope.

So much for getting up early on time. Somehow, I managed to be late for work again. I have no idea how that happened.

Posted by Carole at 8:02 AM

April 26, 2005

Real Blogs

I feel inadequate. Do you people (and I know you're out there reading this, even if you don't leave comments) realize that there are real blogs you could be reading? I shouldn't even tell you this because once you get a load of this one or this one or this one, you may never come back. But, please, go ahead and look at them. I'll wait.
Amazing, huh?
When I grow up, I want to be Yarn Harlot! I have spent the last week reading her archives as I only started reading her blog right after I started my blog. Believe me, if I had been reading her blog before I began my own, it probably never would have happened. This is what a real blog looks like, my friends. Stephanie manages to not only knit amazing works of art but she also works, raises her family and writes a blog entry the equivalent of a New Yorker piece every freakin' day. She has published a bookbookbook and another one is one the way. Sigh. I will never measure up. When the Yarn Harlot makes a mistake, it's on an amazing pair of Latvian mittens. When I make a mistake, it's on a simple baby cardigan. Heavy sigh.
On the other hand, I don't think the woman sleeps. There, I feel better now.

Posted by Carole at 7:48 AM | Comments (2)

April 21, 2005

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I know that blog entries without pictures are boring. But no blog entry at all is more boring, right? So, I give you a blog entry without pictures.
Yesterday was a beautiful day! It was warm and sunny and felt like June rather than April. I took the day off from work and stayed home and quilted and knitted and read. Sigh. I wish every day could be like yesterday!
I made quite a bit of progress on the Morning Star quilt - the top is done with the exception of the pieced border. Hey, I had to save something to do at quilting next week.
The back of the Rosebud Cardigan baby sweater is finished and I started the left front. I also managed to work in a few rounds on the purple jacquard socks and read the book The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman.
What a day! Knit on!

Posted by Carole at 7:42 AM

April 19, 2005

Hotel Sox

Those of you that know me well (and probably even those that don't know but are clever) will giggle at the title to this post. I would explain but can't since this blog is rated G (hi Hannah!)
Here's what I can tell you: Dale and I took off on a mini-break on Friday and headed for Cape Cod with really only one goal in mind. Yeah, that one. So we found the Bayside Resort - a lovely place (yes, we took the room with the jacuzzi) and spent the night there. It was really quite nice so we decided not to go out for dinner but rather found a pizza place nearby and brought it back to the room. I've never eaten pizza in a jacuzzi before but have to report that it was pretty cool. I've also never even pizza with champagne before, being more of a pizza and beer kinda gal, but frankly, it was not a bad combination!
As for knitting, well, knitting in a jacuzzi would be great if it weren't for the fear of getting hot water all over the knitting and thereby felting the knitting. So, while I really wanted a picture of me knitting in the jacuzzi for the blog, it just wasn't meant to be. I did, however, finish the first of the regia sock set while on our mini-break. It's quite lovely. See?
Sunday, I had two goals in mind - start the second sock and start the Rosebud Cardigan baby sweater from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. And I am quite pleased to report that I accomplished both of those knitting-related tasks. It was a beautiful afternoon and I sat on the deck and (mostly) knitted. There was a break or two for gardening and cooking dinner but I managed to meet my goals for the day. Truly an amazing feat.
Monday we marched in the Lexington Patriot's Day parade with the 25th MVI, our Civil War reenacting group. Along came the sock and I now have a new meaning for KIP - not knitting in public but rather knitting in parade. I sat on the side of the parade route while we waited to get going and happily knitted away. It was a gorgeous day and the cuff of the sock was finished by the time we got home.
I worked on the baby sweater for a bit last night but was pretty beat from the day's festivities! Too pooped to knit on!

Posted by Carole at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)

April 12, 2005

The Absurdity of it all

I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done over the weekend but I did manage to make 8 of these blocks.
The quilt pattern is called Morning Star and it's from the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode. The patterns in this book all start with 5" blocks and the theory behind it is that you should cut all your leftovers from other quilts into 5" blocks and also cut a 5" block or two every time you buy some new fabric. Then, when you want to make a quilt you've got a ready supply. Sounds good in theory and it works well for scrap quilts but this one I'm doing is for my blue and yellow bedroom so I actually cut up a whole bunch of fat quarters to make this quilt.
Sometimes it sort of disturbs me, the whole process of quilting . . .just go with me here for a minute . . . we buy big pieces of fabric . . . we cut the big pieces of fabric into teeny pieces of fabric . . . we sew the teeny pieces of fabric into big pieces of fabric to make a quilt. Hunh. It all just seems a little absurd now and again.
See, at least with knitting you start with something in a raw state - a skein of yarn - and turn it into something in a finished state - a sweater or bag or whatever. Not that I'm saying knitting is better than quilting - it just seems slightly more logical, ya know?
So, on the knitting front, once again I have to report that the Charlotte Bronte shawl is progressing nicely, as are the purple jacquard socks. Sigh. No finished objects in sight. Heavy sigh.
Guess I'd just better - knit on!

Posted by Carole at 4:43 PM | Comments (1)

April 8, 2005

Slow Movers, Not Shakers

Here's what's going on:
1. The socks are coming along nicely.
2. The Charlotte Bronte shawl is coming along nicely.
3. I ordered yarn from elann.com
4. I knit on a bus for the first time this week.
5. I need to work on something that provides instant gratification soon because all my current projects are slow-movers and don't offer much to blog about.

Posted by Carole at 9:14 AM

April 4, 2005

I'm knitting in the rain

You all know that my husband and I are Civil War reenactors. Dale has worked tirelessly the past few months to put together a living history in our town of East Bridgewater at Sachem Rock Farm and this past weekend was the selected date. We had planned on about 50-60 reenactors, a couple of sutlers, a minister, a handful of token confederates, Boy Scouts, the History Alliance, the Friends of Sachem Rock and more. Then we started hearing the weather forecast. [Last Monday Dale flipped out a little about the weather - which is actually a major event in his world, the guy never flips out. It was good, made me realize he's human after all.] Anyway, we spent the week preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. You all know how this story ends - Saturday was a bit of a soaker. The rain was particularly heavy in the morning, right about the time we expected lots of people to visit the camp. Ah well. People came anyway and we had a ball. The most frustrating part of the whole thing is that Friday was a beautiful sunny day and Sunday dawned beautifully as well. Unbelievable and welcome to New England!
To make this somehow knitting related, I spent most of Saturday sitting in Matt and Sarah's tent (they have a woodstove) happily knitting away on my regia socks, pictured here. They are coming along nicely and it was just so pleasant to visit with friends while we all knitted. Thanks to Wendy, Sarah and Sharon for making it such fun!
Speaking of fun, look at that cute little sock stitch marker! I came home Saturday night after the event to find the package I ordered from The Knitting Zone. Besides the stitch marker I also got the Fiber Trends felted flamingo pattern and a shocking pink Cascade 220 to knit into those flamingos. Very cool and I can't wait to get started on this project.
But I do want to finish the CB shawl so I spent a fair amount of time working on it Sunday afternoon while watching Little Black Book. It was cute and better than I expected. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, knitting . . . friends . . . movies . . .
Knit on!

Posted by Carole at 7:22 AM | Comments (1)