One sock down, one to go

I’ve been spending my evenings teaching myself the fine art of knitting with 3 needles — well, four actually. I’ve also taught myself how to turn a heel, work a gusset and graft stitches — all words that were totally foreign to me just a couple of weeks ago. And here’s a pic of my first sock…….

…..which I took just before I grafted the toe seam. I was just so proud of it!! Notice how I shaved my legs and polished my toenails just for this occasion!!

The yarn shop that I am frequenting had the most interesting sock/in progress work/metal slider thingy. I tell you, I just don’t know what to call this thing, but according to the owner of the shop, she has a guy that makes them for her and her alone. There’s not another source for it in the whole U S of A, I’m told. So of course, here are some pics of the little beastie.

This is what it looks like assembled with your knitting inside. It’s really made mostly for sock work. You line your needles up into a side by side arrangement and then slide it into the tube. There is a short cover that goes over the end to hold it all in place.

(This is the beginning of my second sock!! So cool!!)

And this is what it looks like apart — see the big opening on the tube? That’s where you slide your needles and sock or whatever in progress into. It holds it all together nice and tight — you can just toss it (literally) into your purse or pocket or what have you. It stays together!!

If you would like to see more information about this fabulous accessory, Click Here. On the left side of the page, there is a box titled “What is all the buzz about?” and there is a link below that says “Find Out Here”. It gives a much better description (and also a brief history of the item) that I have in this blog.

Has the world gone nuts?

Just what has Paris Hilton done to garner so much publicity? Or for that matter, Anna Nicole Smith? Or Britney? Well, okay Britney is/was a singer of sorts, but I just don’t get the other two and I still don’t totally understand Britney. It’s because of examples like these that I don’t watch television any more than necessary — and it’s usually PBS when I do. Ditto for radio — and I try not to read anything on a computer’s homepage. From where I sit, the media has way more influence and power than it should. And I don’t agree with the “the people have a right to know” mindset. Just because they have the right, it doesn’t always mean that they should. Or that it should be mandatory, shoved down your throat on every channel.

Thanks, I feel better.

What’s on your iPod?

I was at the gym this AM walking on the treadmill and wondered what everybody was listening to on their iPod or MP3 player.

I love country music, so of course I have a few country songs on mine. However, I do hate to spend money just to download a few songs, so I’m very selective about what I download from I Tunes. Plus, I have a friend at work and we’re always trading CD’s back and forth. Requesting CD’s from your local library is also an inexpensive way to increase your library. The only drawback is that you may have to wait awhile to get a popular CD.

Believe it or not, I also like trance. Yup, trance. That’s the stuff that kids listen to at raves and parties etc. I like to walk at a beat that’s between 130 and 138 beats per minute and trance music fits that bill. Plus there is very little trance music that has lyrics, so it’s just music and the beat.

I do most of my downloading for trance music from CNET music downloads – it’s a site where up and coming artists can upload their music to get it out there. Best of all, it’s free. Well, oaky, some of it’s not, but it’s easy enough to find music on the site that is free. If you’re a walker and looking for something different, you might want to try this.

I think I’ve finally made the decision

So far, I’ve managed to keep this blog theme for more than 12 hours. The picture is one that I took through my front door window looking into the street. I’m actually pretty happy with it. Maybe my “theme jumping” is finally over.

And on a lighter note…….

Is there such a thing as a 12 step program for obsessive bloggers? “Hello, my name is Marcy and I’m a blogging addict.” Something will happen during the day and I immediately have this phrase running through my head “remember to blog that later”.

It was actually a good day to write. I got up later than usual to a grey, dismal, drizzly day that progressed rather quickly to a dark, rainy and stormy day. I just love morning thunderstorms, even more so when I am inside warm and cozy in my jim-jams, drinking my first java of the day and watching the weather outside. A lot of people say that on rainy days, the most that they want to accomplish is cozying up on the sofa with an afghan and a good book. Although that is very tempting, I often will go the other way — I will get a lot of work done around the house, then when the weather has cleared, I won’t have any chores calling me to get them done before I venture outside.

Speaking of outside, I was looking out the window and saw that Sweet Baboo’s poppies have gone by, so I will get out tomorrow morning with the clippers and clean them up. I also still have a couple of plants to go into the rock garden.

Sunday Scribblings #63 Spicy

This week’s Sunday Scribblings is “Spicy”. I do not like spicy food. Not for lack of trying. I have tried jalapeno peppers and chilies and so on. It just doesn’t flip my skirt.

A few years ago, Sweet Baboo and I went to NM for a few days. On the way back to Albuquerque from Las Cruces, we stopped in Hatch — billed as the Chile capital of the world. We got off US 25 and drove through this little burg that is literally surrounded by chile fields, which is in turn surrounded by the desert. In town, everywhere you looked were dried chiles, chiles in baskets, chiles in bags, braided chiles — you get the idea. The only thing you could smell was the aroma of chile. Even now if I think about it, I can remember what the town smelled like and even though I don’t eat it, the fragrance was pleasing.

Hatch throws a Chile Festival every Labor Day weekend. If you’d like to read more about it, click here.

Ambling around the yard

Just took a spin around to see what is new and blossomed. All of these pictures are clickable so you can see them full size.

This is my first peony of the year. I bought 3 peony plants a few years ago in a Woman’s Day magazine — two of them blossom every year and the third has never gotten bigger than a foot high and doesn’t blossom. I just love peonies. Can’t say the same for the ants that help them flower.

This is a Siberian Iris (King of Kings, I think. I could be wrong. I’m not very good at remembering the names.) Blossoms beautifully by the front step every year. It gets about 2 feet tall. I have another one out back that is a beautiful purple color, but every year I forget about it until the blossoms are all gone. I think I did it again this year.

This little pink posey I’m sure has a name but I don’t know what it is, or forgot it if I ever knew. It’s a cute little mound of green and pink that just sits beside my step and keeps growing year after year. It was a little bit of a thing when I planted it — about a foot across now, it’s only about 6″ high. I think someone told me that it like concrete so I should plant it by the steps. (That sounds a little bizarre, doesn’t it?)

This is my ten year old bleeding heart. This plant will bloom almost until frost. I’ve never known a bleeding heart to do this, but I think it’s because it’s protected by the house and gets the sun at the end of the day. It was also a little bit of a thing when I put it in. Actually this is the second spot it’s been in. It didn’t do so well at first in another part of the yard, so I moved it. Been doing great ever since.

And this is our crazy doo dah cat, Sadiemae. I call it “Anticipation”. Can you see the nesting box just above her head? I think she’s hoping that a bird will fall out of the nesting box and into her mouth. Always optimistic, that one. The sparrows don’t say much, but I can always tell when she is sitting below the wren’s box because they squawk like the dickens.

Sock Update

When I was a little girl, my nanny taught me how to knit. I remember it very clearly. She sat beside me on the sofa at her house in a small northern New York village while a thunderstorm boomed outside. It was very early in the morning, I’d say around 7:30. I was still in my pajamas. I don’t know why I remember that so clearly, but it’s a great memory.

About the same time, my cousin S, who lived about a mile up the road learned how to knit also. Her mother (Aunt J, a lovely English lady) also sat her down and showed her how to do it. I think.

Anyway, my Uncle A, he of the very twisted sense of humor, took a look at S’s potholder or scarf or whatever it was that she was knitting and pronounced it as her “knotting” rather than knitting. And of course S’s heart was broken. I wonder if she ever knitted after that.

The upshot of this little story is that I’m not knitting a sock, I’m knotting a sock like my cousin S’s potholder.

I always like to say that the first one of anything that I make is the beta version or the prototype, on which I make all of my mistakes and teach myself the easiest and neatest way to do something. So I’ve been experimenting, and learning, and ripping out, and knitting, and ripping out, and knitting……..

This first sock will not be wearable. However, I may just frame it as my first attempt with four knitting needles.

And on I go.

Jury Duty Scam

My sister sent me an email in regards to this — as I do with every “warning” or “alert” that I receive, I checked it out on snopes.com and lo and behold, it’s actually true. Click here for the full story.

Vertigo Episode

Let me tell you, this scared the daylights out of me!! I had a dizzy sensation about 6 weeks ago that lasted for about 3 hours — nausea, rocking and reeling, ears buzzing, sweating — but, I had been having some problems with high BP and a sinus infection so I thought that I had possibly overdone the decongestants. Anyway, after 3 hours it was over. The next day I felt kind of strange and disassociated from myself, also my head felt kind of “cottony” and my body just felt so tired. I figured it was a one time occurrence.

Then it happened again yesterday. Out of nowhere, I bent over to kiss GrandDolly who was sitting on the floor, then stood up and nearly went over on my back. The room was spinning like crazy. I walked very carefully to the living room while steadying myself against the furniture and walls, then sat on the sofa for about an hour, just staring out the window at the horizon. It was the only thing that would make my head stop!! About 3 hours later, it was over, but the nausea and clamminess stayed with me for quite awhile. I called the doctor and was able to get in — after some rudimentary testing, he says he believes it to be vertigo and it seems to be triggered by sinus problems — I have another slight sinus infection. He has referred me to an ears, nose and throat guy to see what’s going on in my ears. Same thing again today — strange feeling, tired, and cottony head. PCP told me to use my nose spray twice as much as I was using it — hopefully it will drain my head and preclude this from happening again anytime soon. So that’s my tale of woe!! It’s such fun getting older!!

Socks

Ayup, socks!! I have knitted the odd sweater over the years — and I’ve probably made 75 square dishcloths out of 4/4 cotton — but decided that I needed to try something different. Thought I needed some needles — the DPNs that all the knitters talk about (double point needles — see how fast I’m picking this up?) So I went to my local yarn shop, which I had never been in before. Big mistake. HUGE!@!! Can you believe that I walked out of there with $50 less in my checking account? Nobody told me that it was possible to fall in love with yarn and all the doodads and absolutely have to have it all — never mind that the price is $17.95 for 100 grams of yarn. This is the color that I got — just love it. According to the label (this yarn comes from Germany) it’s supposed to be enough to make one pair of socks. Or at least I think that’s the little hieroglyphics are trying to say. (For all I know, they’re might be saying “the eagle flies at midnight.) The yarn seems to be saying also that it is infused with aloe and jojoba oil. So — all at once, a little voice in my head told me “you would be three kinds of a fool if you use this yarn to make socks — which, may I remind you, you don’t know how to do yet.” Smart little voice. I mosied mosyed strolled over to the bargain bin and found 2 skeins that were buy one get one free (my favorite words next to Blue Light Special) . Granted, I had to buy bigger needles because the yarn is heavier but they were on sale too. So far I’ve ripped out the cuff at least 4 times, but each time I learn something from it. I’ll tell you, knitting with 3 needles is something that takes some practice. I’m still not very good at it, and the needles have a mind and agenda of their own. So — not only am I down to the wire on my great niece’s quilt, I’m trying to teach this old dog new tricks. More later.