I Am Not Fond of Sewing Up

As I wrote the title I said it with my best Queen Elizabeth accent. Probably because I finally watched The Queen today. What a great picture. Helen Mirren is spectacular.

But I digress.

I've always hated sewing up my work. It's tedious, fiddley and boring. Now I really enjoy fiddley when it's cables and bobbles and actual--dare I say it--knitting. I hate it when it's sewing.

So imagine my surprise when I found out I was doing it totally ass backward. I was flipping through a pattern book recently and found out that I was doing a completely ridiculous version of blanket stitch and could have spent the past 35 years, if not enjoying the sewing at least not hating it.

With my new skills in my arsenal, I finally finished Molly's Carolyn sweater. I started it out so log ago that it was supposed to be Bratty Girl's sweater but she outgrew it. It's Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted. Some people write off the Brown Sheep yarns as old fashioned but I find them to be lovely. The price is reasonable. The yardage is great. And their are tons and tons of colors to choose from.


It is now patiently waiting for buttons. I am going to be in Halifax for one day next week so I'm going to look from some there. If I don't find them, then a trip to M&J will be in order.

My newly found sewing skills also led to this. Although I wish I had read the Yarn Harlot's tutorial on picking up stitches today. I love learning from other knitters--particularly those that also give me humor and inspiration.


This is the first in a series. I made it for my friend Paula. I know it is just in time for New York Summer Heat but it will still fit her in the fall. I loved this pattern although I did make a few changes. Mostly, I totally ditched the short row shaping on the back. I kept trying the shrug on Paula all through the knitting process and it really didn't need the shaping . And it was giving me a hard time so I just skipped it. I like to count rows rather than measure things so, in my total nerdiness, I ended up with an excel spreadsheet for all the shaping. It made my life about a gazillion times easier so I don't really care if I'm a big old nerd.

The next one is pink for Yvonne followed by--hmmm what color should I do--for Joyce.

Paula also got my yarn money for the week. She is flying to Chicago to participate in a suicide prevention walk in honor of a loved one that she has lost. If you would like to support here, just click here. I'm sure she would appreciate some love from the knitting world.

VT Part 2

Ta Da! Let me be the first to show you the site of the new family summer home.


Okay, if you're going to be so picky about it, it doesn't really belong to the whole family. My sister and her wonderful husband just bought it. There's no house on it (there used to be but it burned down). But there will eventually be one with a nice big porch so you can look out over the pond and , of course, it will have a bedroom for me!

I went up for the night with Sissy for the closing and got to spend the day tootling around Southern VT. We stayed at the Windham Hill Inn which is beyond fabulous! The food was great, the property is beautiful and the rooms are to die for. Click the link and take a look.

I'll wait here till you get back.

So, was I right. It's gorgeous. Actually it's even more gorgeous than the website if you can believe it. And it's right down the hill from the property. Katia, Bonnie, Dan and Jared were wonderful hosts. Jared even charmed the snake back into his hiding space so that my sister could have breakfast.

Of course, it poured rain all the way home so I had a bear of a ride. I am pretty proud of myself that I managed to stay the hell out of Webs although it was very, very tempting to pop in. Anything to get the hell off 91 for a while. But--I'm on a tight budget and am doing my best to keep all my yarn money local.

The Y.O. visits the V.T.

Okay first things first. I saw a Moose. A real one. In the wild. It was pretty amazing. They pretty much look like anorexic horses. They are gangly as all git out and are all knees and elbows. Not unlike the Olson twins.


And I saw a snake. Now understand that snakes don't bother me one bit. They do, however, bother my sister. This poor little guy had to deal with a 6'1" blond woman screaming at him and doing a pretty amazing oh-my-god-its-a-snake dance.


Don't get me wrong. I am a huge advocate for other people's animal fears (mine is spiders--eww) but first thing in the morning it's pretty entertaining to watch someone who hates snakes react to one. I know I will get my punishment for this. It's inevitable.

So there are snakes in VT. What are you going to do.

On the other hand, there are also waterfalls.


And lupines.


And stone walls.

And fresh air poisoning. I have had way too much of that nice clean air in the past 24 hours and now all I want to do is sleep like a baby.

So you'll have to wait until my next post (maybe tomorrow) to find out why we went to Vermont and take a peek at where we stayed.

On the knitting front, I did get a little bit of work done today on a very cute shrug but I'm too pleasantly sleepy to blog about it right now so that will have to wait too.

If My Life Were A Shakesperean Play....

my name would be Pathetica and the man in my life would be named Assholio.

Sad News

Tinycat didn't make it. She continued to have seizures and, with our wonderful vet, we helped her pass peacefully.

Meet Tinycat

This is Tinycat. Isn't she cute.

She's my sweet little snuggler and she is sick sick sick right now. Yesterday morning she had some sort of "incident" that had me running to the emergency vet. They're new and I thought they were terrific. Dr. Gerard did a full work up on the little girl and, although it was clear that something happened, she seemed otherwise healthy. We now patiently await the lab test results.

And I say patiently with every drip of sarcasm that I can get into the word.

I am totally freaked out by this. She's always had a bad back and is somewhat limpy (she walks sort of like a fat raccoon). But this was something different. She was jumping and jerking on the floor and I thought we were losing her right then and there. She's been very very weak today but has been eating and drinking so I am hoping for the best. (I'll leave out the part where she peed on me--I think it was an accident.)

I sat and snuggled with her this morning while I worked on the button band for Molly's Carolyn sweater so I am hoping that she got some good wool vibe and will be well soon. This sweater has been sitting unfinished for way too long--especially since all it needed was the button band. I'll finish casting off this afternoon and then sew up the sides and hope to hell that it still fits Molly.

Happy Mother's Day

I will spend the afternoon with Granny and Sissy, but decided to spend the morning with nature and knitting. I have an amazing spot right by the Bronx River where I spend a lot of time with some socks and my iPod. And who do you think was there waiting for me this morning.


I call her Harriet. She's a Great Heron and she is gorgeous. It was very breezy (okay, windy) this morning and her tail feathers were blowing in the wind. It was almost too beautiful to be real. I wish the photo was better but she was on the other side of the river.

I'm taking her as a sign. This morning I decided it was time for me to let go of the things that have hurt me in the past. I need to get back to the normal, happy person that I used to be and not the shrew I have been for the past few months.

So it's a new day, with Harriet as my guide.