Knitting the Blues

Alpacas Being Intentionally Uncooperative

I always love the blog photos of animals after fiber shows.  It has been my habit to forget about the animals until after I leave and then regret having no photos.  So this trip I decided that the alpacas, being so photogenic, would be wonderful subjects for practicing with the settings on my camera.  The alpacas though, they weren't as into it as I was.

They turn their heads.They decide they're hungry.They go for a run.

Then, when I get all stealth and try to sneek up on them from on direction:

They all turn en masse. And they just cannot be tricked from the other side either.See?

After much persistance on my part, this baby decided she (or he, who knows?) was ready for her close up.

"Make sure to get my best side."

I was clearly not having the same luck that Grumperina was having with the alpaca population. Whatever, I turned my attention to some other stuff. Like yarn.

From Barb Parry as I shoot: "It sure is hard getting those skeins of yarn to sit still for a picture, isn't it?" Wise guy.

And spindles:

I still haven't photographed the little bit that I brought home, but I do need stuff for the rest of the week.

Two hundred thirty-four to go. Getting the yarn to sit still was easier than the spindles. They must have taken their cue from the alpacas.

Mother's Day Weekend Means

New Hampshire Sheep and Wool. It was a great weekend, but really. How different can a post about this weekend be than last year's or a Rhinebeck post, or a Maryland post......... Well, it probably can't, but here are a couple of things.

There was a Fleece to Shawl Competition

Lots of pictures were taken by lots of people. The fun of this should be turning up around blogville pretty soon. Those reports will probably include:

The blue ribbon that was wonWon by a team of pajama clad goofballs women
Spinning and weaving an interpretation of
Starry Night by Van Gogh
Interpretation by the Gogh Goghs

I'll share a little bit more about the weekend during the week. I didn't take a lot of photos, but a few are fun. And yes. I bought a couple of things, and while I'm sure none of you really care, I always like to look at what other people get, and this is at least a record of that, the blog. For when I totally forget what the heck I'm spinning or knitting.

Two hundred thirty-five to go. Paint your palate blue and grey.....

I Have Been Singing This Song All Day!Can't Get It Out of My Brain,So Now You Get It, Too!

Some of us, of a certain age, wait, scratch that. I have a feeling that most of us, no matter how old we are, have memories of Neil Diamond. My mom played that Hot August Night album over and over, I could probably sing and recite every word. It is a part of the soundtrack of my life in a way that, when I hear the songs, I get all happy and weepy at the same time. Song Sung Blue has a way of pulling even the staunchest of non-singers into a resounding belting of the chorus. And really, isn't it true? "Then before you know it, you start to feelin' good. You've simply got no choice!" So smile and sing it out!

Two hundred thirty-six to go. "Me and you, are subject to, the blues now and then. But when you take the blues and make a song, you sing 'em out again. You sing 'em out again!"

Lists

In The News:

1. Guess who is having another baby.
2. And baby makes twenty! (Not my quote, but cute, right?)
3. I know it isn't any of my business how many kids they have, but COME ON!
4. I don't care how organized you are, nobody can parent this many kids they way kids need to be.
5. I think that siblings are important, even great, but they aren't a substitute for parents.
6. And they shouldn't have to be.
7. I wonder if it will make the news when one of those kids rebels.
8. I wonder if the Duggars will be given any grandchildren.
9. Or if the kids are getting over their parenting right now, helping raise their sibs.
10. Pretty soon, they are going to run out of "J" names.
11. I could go on forever on this subject, but like I said, none of my business, effects my life in no way at all.
12. Except to make me thankful for vasectomies.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame......

1. Last week our family went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play the Blue Jays.
2. The Red Sox lost.
3. The game itself was actually a snooze.
4. But we had fun anyway.
5. I observed some things that night.
6. While it is said that Fenway Park is one of the worst stadiums in the league, there isn't another with its charm, that is for sure.
7. No matter how filled the seats of the stadium may seem, there are still just as many people waiting to plow you down on the way to the rest room or to get a hotdog.
8. I didn't have a hotdog.
9. I chose a sandwich from the "Healthy Choice" cooler. 
10. It was a wrap with one leaf of lettuce, two paper thin slices of tomato, a portion of a slice of american cheese and a few slices of deli turkey breast.
11. I only ate the tomato thins and the turkey.
12. I wish I'd had the hotdog.
13. Then to make myself feel better I got Cracker Jacks.





14. The Cracker Jacks ($4.50!) came in a bag, not a box and the prize stunk.
15. The prize was a quiz question/factoid thingee.
16. A better blogger would remember what it was.
17. Most people don't go to the game to watch it.
18. They go to talk to their friends on cell phones.
19. While Erin didn't talk, she did send a fair amount of text messages, one in the form of a photo of the game, sent to a bunch of her friends.
20. She immediately got a reply that said:  "You're here too!?"
21. It was fun searching each other out and waving.
22. Pete turns into everyone's dad when going out like this.
23. He is anxious to get to his seat, he thinks we left too late and are going to hit traffic (duh, it's Boston), he got edgy waiting for Meg to meet us, and he would walk ahead of us, lose us in the crowd and then turn trying to get us to move faster.  It was funny.
24. That night out cost us our entertainment budget for a few months.
25. While I missed the television commentary and still think the best seat for a game is my couch, I can't wait to go again.

Two hundred thirty-seven to go.  Rain, rain, go away...

Commercials Are Stupid

That is really all I have to say about that.  Especially beer commercials.  If I was a man, I'd be insulted that advertising companies think I am so dumb that these ads would work on me.  Actually, advertising has made men look like absolute idiots for years and years.  Along with the subjectification of women, honestly, I'm sometimes surprised it works at all.  And then I go out in public.  That is really all I have to say about that.

I've been swamped, but not in a bad way really.  Just busy, busy, busy.  I'm not checking emails, reading blogs (hardly at all) or even keeping my computer on.  I get up early, head out to work, errands, the gym, stuff, and then come home to get things done here, after which I am totally collapsing into a semi-conscious coma on the couch.  This is when I remember that I haven't even thought of the blog.  Sometimes I manage to come up with something, but I don't think tonight is one of those nights.  It is a night when I am questioning if I will make the Blog 365, knowing full well that there will be something on this site if it kills me.  Then I might just shut.it.down.  Or not.

Meanwhile, if the tragedy in Myanmar shocks and saddens you, and you are wondering if there is any way  you can send help, read this post.  If  you are hesitant, I know Wendy and she has always seemed very genuine and honest to me, so I am sure that she wouldn't post if she didn't trust what her cousin writes.   

Two hundred thirty-eight to go.  "Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts."  -William Hazlitt

I just love Erik Larson, I hope he is working on something great right now. After reading Devil In the White City, I was anxious to read this next of his books, I had pretty high expectations. While I wasn't really disappointed and recommend this book with out reservation, I still think Devil in the White City was a book I enjoyed more. Thunderstruck follows the development of wireless telepathy, I mean telegraphy, by Guglielmo Marconi, the man who saw the potential social and business applications of this new technology and the story of a murder, one that captured the attention of the world at that time. The two stories are told parallerly (is that even a word!?) until the final chapters of the book, when a collision occurs that helps the communication abilities of the times, the early 1900s.  Intertwined, in Larson's expert manner, are details of the history, politics and social feel of the day.  If only history could have been taught this way, who wouldn't be interested?  I have to admit, while Larson apologizes (in his words, half-heartedly) for the gory details of early forensics, that didn't bother me.  The details of the science behind wireless telegraphy though, they were beyond me.  And while there was so much of that in the beginning, including all of the struggles Marconi had and all of the walls he hit, there wasn't so much of the solutions he must have come up with near the end.  Of course, my mind was fogging over with the physics, so I may have missed it.   

If you haven't read one of Larson's books, go do it.  Every one is a page turner of the best kind, because it is all real and true.  I love that as I read each of them, I learn so much about things that we are so used to that we take them for granted.  From cable to communication to wireless!  Ironic that we are leaving some of that for cable again.....

Two hundred thirty-nine to go.  Are you keeping track?  How many days in a row have I posted?   

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Places You'd Love To Go To (That You Haven't Gone To Yet):

1. Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp
2. The Green Monster during a Red Sox game
3. Cruise to Alaska
4. Valley of the Kings in Egypt
5. The Winter Olympic Games
6. The Grand Canyon
7. The Dry Tortugas
8. Austria
9. Santorini, Greece
10. Crazy, wanna come?

Two hundred forty to go.  Oh wait, I think I've gone crazy once or twice.......

My Sewing Mojo Is Rearing Its Head!

Today was a cutting day. I love when I have a day to stay home, plan and cut a bunch of things and then there are projects to sew on in the few minutes I have at home for the rest of the week. Among the things I cut today is the Swing Bag, yes I am probably the last one on earth to the Amy Butler party. That is me though, always the last to jump on the bandwagon, always one step behind the current trends. Whatever. (And yes, you Amy Butler enthusiasts, I know those fabrics are from different colorways, but again, whatever. I liked them and I'm going with that!)

This pattern called for 5/8 yard of two different fabrics, it will be a reversible bag. There is a reminder to purchase more fabric if you are going to be centering any motif, and I had purchased a full yard of each. The first fabric has a smaller pattern repeat and the centering was easily managed. The second fabric was purchased as a yard that was already cut and for sale as a yard cut in the store. I grabbed it and brought it home, which at first I thought was a mistake. Look here, see that large motif?  Had I paid attention I would have had a piece cut that would have left plenty of space so it could be centered. There was a nano-second when I thought I would go purchase more fabric, but I can't get back to the fabric store before the end of the week and I didn't want to wait. After critical examination of the fabric I decide to try and center this part of it.  It could work.  And it did.

Actually, I think I like this even better. I'm especially charmed by the way the branchy, viney things that climb up toward the handle sections. It's almost perfect. Now, had this been a window treatment at work this next little snafu would never have happened, but see the very top of the design at the center? I so would have placed the pattern a little higher so the top of it wouldn't end up in the seam allowance. Crap. Well, even if the bag is reversible, it doesn't mean I have to reverse that hideous thing to the outside, does it?

Two hundred forty-one to go.  Let the sewing commence!