I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb

My husband finally came home.  The house felt warmer and safer last night.

It's always interesting being home alone. For two weeks, I knit to my heart's content, ate some really unhealthy meals, some of which were just popcorn and fudgesicles. I changed into my pajamas pretty much as soon as I got home from work every night. 

I didn't clean my house, I made a half pot of coffee last for two days. I compulsively watched election coverage and made some purchases  so I could get packages in the mail and not have to go shopping in my pajamas.

One of the surprises that came in the mail wasn't actually from me! JR sent me an iPod Nano. AND he had it inscribed with a personal message! Best of all? It's candy apple, red lacquer nail polish red and it is the most precious wee little thing ever!  Oh, my gosh, I feel so up-to-date....so current...so, "I'm not really sure what to do with this thing!"

   For two whole days I just held it and looked at it.

Yesterday, I figured out how to load music.

This morning, I was merrily (and loudly) singing along to Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Stahl, and Patsy Cline.

JR is afraid he has created a monster. A singing, joyful, happy monster.

Modifications are Fabulous. And Amazing. Can't knit a sweater without them, really. The longer I knit, the more comfortable I am with my own body and how to change up a design to make it work for me. I think more and more that is why I like making my own clothes....or altering off the rack items.

My version of Hey, Teach!

Preferring a v-neck, and inspired by a certain famous designer sweater, I was determined to create my own version of Hey, Teach! I have knit the 43” bust size, because I am knitting at a smaller guage. With the set-up row of the lace portion of the bodice, I ended up with 45 stitches. Because there are 10 armhole decreases, and 18 stitches to remain on the shoulder, it left me with 17 stitches to decrease to create the V. Doing some math, accounting for my row guage, I ended up doing a decrease at the neckline every 4 rows, until I had 18 shoulder stitches remaining. Worked perfectly.

For the front band, I simply added one buttonhole at the ribbed waist shaping, which holds the big vintage button for closure.

Sleeve modification went as follows: A Wider, 3/4 sleeve, which a started with 73 cast on stitches. I worked a 1x1 rib for about 1 1/2” and then knit stockinette. Needing to gradually decrease from 73 stitches to 59 stitches (as per the pattern),  I am worked my decreases every 6 rows. Sleeve cap shaping was completed as per pattern.

This is another winner for me. I love the shape of it, and how it fits.(The back does fit a bit more loosely under the waist ribbing than appears in the photograph...I had my hands holding in the sides in a weird way.)

 

The merino is super soft and warm, and this is almost like a little jacket.

It's a race to the finish with my Trick or Treat Sock...I should be able to have it completed for tomorrow and off to my pal...just in time for Halloween!

Ten on Tuesday....the best meals I've ever had.

 

(Meet Bun Bun, Jon J's favorite birthday present) 

1. Beef Filet dinner at La Cellierin the Canadian pavilion at Epcot.

2. Thanksgiving dinner...the way we make it.

3. Breakfast at a tiny little diner in Eastern Vermont two years ago.

4. Steak at Mike's American Grill in Alexandria

5. Moons over MiHammy at Denny's.

6. Chiavetta's Chicken Barbeque from my grill, my potato salad, and corn on the cob.

7. Dinner at a Mi Tierra Cafe  in the market area of San Antonio....about 20 years ago. Best Mexican food I had ever eaten.

8. Seafood Nachos at the now defunct ChiChi's.

9. Bill Gray'sCheesburger

10. My Valentine's Day Chicken and heart-shaped biscuits, with overnight coleslaw.

Man, oh, man, have I ever been in a cooking and baking mood since JR's been away!  And I'm sharing the love at work.  Pound Cake and cookies, soup and pie. Of course, I really haven't had to get "groceries" since I'm alone, but you just should see my shopping list from yesterday... sugar, butter, eggs, milk, half and half. And turkey.

I am remembering that this is a knitting blog. And I really have been knitting...miles of stockinette, mostly.  Want a peek?

    

Fair Enough, and my modified Hey, Teach. You can find details of my mods on my Ravelry page.

I love knitting.  And cooking.  And eating.

Every morning on my way to work, I talk to my daughter while she is driving the boys to school. Meghan has recently moved back to the area, and it has been so stinking cool to have Jon J and Augie close by. We get to share birthdays and surprise visits, and baking cookies together.

 

In fact, they live so close that we often pass each other on the same road while we drive in. Nothing makes my day more than seeing those little boys waving at me.

Most mornings, one or the other of us have to say...

"wait a minute. Cops." then the muffled voice coming from a lap.

Once I was pulled over for talking on my cell phone while driving. Interesting thing is, it was the one time I wasn't talking on my cell phone while I was driving. Mr. Police officer was nice, though, as I explained that I had a really bad headache and I was holding my aching head in my hand as I drove. After telling him that, he was really nice...and very aplogetic.

No doubt,though, as soon as he drove off, I called my husband, mother and kids to tell them what happened.

I'm normally not a rule-breaker. The other morning, Meghan and I were reflecting on all the things we do other than talk on the cell phone while driving, which in our opinions are probably far more dangerous.  So I was thinking:

Try putting Horsey Sauce on your Arby's roast beef sandwich while driving.

How about turning around to yell at  kids in the back seat while you're driving.

Taking off your  pantyhose?  Plucking your eyebrows?  Knitting a dishrag?    

Confession time...

What do you do while you're driving? Talk to me.

 

Aw, gee thanks!

    

Ericah, Julie and Marisol, you are some of my favorite readers!!!! I would like to give you the "I Love Your Comments" award!

I've been blogging for awhile. And very often in these past several months, I have wondered if I had it in me to maintain my blog any longer. I wondered if Ravelry would be enough. I have wondered if I even have anything more to say, or if it really matters. But I have decided that my blog for me is a creative outlet for journaling the interesting and not-so-interesting things in my life.  How else could I tell you about my day? For example...

Yesterday, my husband went to Virginia to work for two weeks. I miss him already. My coffee wasn't ready when I got out of bed this morning. Imagine that.

I went to the basement to get the bag of coffee beans from the freezer. My freezer had died. So with just  90 minutes before I had to leave for work ( during which time I still had to make my coffee, take a shower and put on make-up),  I proceeded to bag up the food. Two big garbage bags full of food. I really protested having to dispose of two pounds of less than chilled shrimp which were soaking in popsicle juice. Fortunately, I was able to save some stuff that was partially frozen.

I called JR.  I woke him up.

"What am I supposed to do? I did put two roasts in the crock pot so I can make beef barley soup." Then I'll freeze it."

He: You're going to freeze it?

"Oh, yeah, duh. I guess I'll take it to work tomorrow and we can all eat soup for lunch. JR, that's two big bags of food! All of my Lean Cuisines, too!"

He: Lynne. What do you want me to do? Keep what you can, and throw away what you have to. It's only food.

"I bought all those chicken legs on sale! "

He: Throw them away. It's not the end of the world.

In the time it took us to have this conversation, I had eight recipes in my head, and dinner parties planned for the next two nights as solutions to all of this thawed food. I already had a second crock pot plugged in.

It's not the end of the world, huh? He'll never understand what a big score it is to get a buy-one-get-one-free chuck roast. Or how hard it is to throw away the ice cream I was going to eat tonight.

How about that Wendy Bernard?  Amazing...she can even make fair isle look sexy. So now, I have to knit that sweater. Will I look sexy? I doubt it...but she makes me feel like I could look sexy in that sweater!  Anyway, my yarn is on the way. And I will no doubt drop everything to start "Fair Enough".

    

 

We have been enjoying the most amazing weather in Western New York. The fall colors are starting, and the days have been  gorgeous. Last night, I had family here for dinner and it was so nice to end the evening on the porch...still warm enough at 7:30 to be out without a sweater or jacket. Tonight will be the same.

I took Meghan to lunch today at Cheesecake Factory. I had a Reuben, she had the Cuban. Isn't that cute how our lunches rhymed?  We just got to be mom and daughter, talking about everything like childbirth, food and relationships... then we spent the afternoon shopping around for candles. Something about autumn that makes me want to have good smelling candles in the house. We sniffed and sniffed at Target and Pier One, and I came home with an aromatic assortment. "Freshly Baked." "Harvest Spice Cake." "Spiced Vanilla." "Autumn Leaves." ( it doesn't smell like Autumn Leaves at all, but smells like Spicy Autumn Baked Something.)

My house smells delicious in candlelight.  Which JR would certainly find far sexier than any fair isle sweater...unless of course, I rubbed a little cinnamon behind my ears while I was wearing aformentioned sweater.

cerebral cortex - the furrowed outer layer of gray matter in the cerebrum of the brain, associated with the higher brain functions, such as voluntary movement, coordination of sensory information, reasoning, planning, learning and memory, and the expression of individuality.

sometimes my mind works overtime when it comes to knitting. Projects are lining up in the folds of my brain and I just can't stop thinking about them.

What's on my mind these days? With precious little knitting time this past week, I've thought a lot about needing to finish my second Trick or Treat Sock.

And finishing the modified Hey Teach.

And in on my knitting urgency list? The "planning part" of my gray matter?

Eurasia, from Rowan 42

This will be knit with yarn from the failed Josephine which, as you may recall, I completely  knit and then completely frogged.

Arisaig from Yosalda

         

and another Yosalda design...Little Birds.  From the Twist Collective Fall Premiere edition. 

( I must admit, the project photographs really excite me, but don't you just love the articles?) I must confess to something else. I love Little Birds so much that I read the pattern every night before I go to bed. Sometimes I sneak up to bed early just so I can read it.   

                                              

What  knitting projects lurk in the folds of your gray matter? Take a visit to the

Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art.  And check out that knitted brain by Karen Norberg.

These brainiacs ought to inspire you. And I merely cogitate about knitting sweaters....and then knit them. It has never occurred to me to knit my brain.

Ten on Tuesday... What are the ten worst/best things about televison?

I wonder what life would be like without televison? As much as I hate it, I love it.  It brings out the best in me, and the worst in me. Can't live with it, can't live without it.

Best things about television?

 

1. I can watch what I used to watch years ago
2. I Love Lucy
3. The Andy Griffith Show
4. Digital Video Recording.
5. The Office
6. HGTV
7. Diners, Dives and Drive-ins
8. What Not to Wear
9. John and Kate Plus Eight
10. I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan with my own eyes...and it wasn't a video clip.

 

 

Worst things about television?

 

    1. There are things on late at night that make me blush

    2. There are things on during the day that make me blush.

    3. I have to explain things on television to my mother that make me blush.

    4. There are things my girls have to explain to me that make me blush.

    5. The Office is only a half-hour program

    6. Stuff that is "news" is not always newsworthy

    7. Richard Simmons

    8. Bias

    9. There are hundreds of channels and I feel like I'm always watching the same thing.

  10. Weather Channel Music Addiction.

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago we spent the afternoon with Keith, Dana and their little Sweet Pea. After lunch, Dana took me to a very, very interesting estate sale. I haven't really spent much time this summer rummaging and foraging for stuff, so it was fun to snoop around dead people's personal effects once again.

Isn't it amazing to see just what people leave behind? Everything from a stuffed deer heads to autographed sheet music of the Andrews Sisters to the good Doctor's plastic surgery impliments and his medical licence. Interesting, isn't it, how it all comes down to this. The things we can't take with us... 

But for a few dollars, I get to enjoy these bits and parts of someone else's life, so that I, too, can leave it behind some day so that people can paw through my abandoned belongings.

What do you hold on to that you will someday leave behind?

Can you think of any ways for me to use these big chunky old ivory dominos?