kmkat and her kneedles

The face of guilt.

Smokey and I were talking when we heard a clunk! clearly identifiable as something having been knocked off the kitchen counter. When I investigated, here is what I found.

This is the face of guilt.

You don't believe that serene and innocent kitteh could be guilty of anything? Let me direct you to the evidence.

That is organic catnip, purchased on Friday at the local natural foods coop as a treat for the kittehs, but thoughtlessly left on the counter in its plastic bag.

Apparently Hannibal got tired of waiting.

Feeder and feet.

I hung a new hummingbird feeder.

As you can see, it is blue. We all know that hummers prefer red, but I prefer blue. It remains to be seen whether the hummers can be persuaded to use this feeder. I shall be able to keep close track of what happens, however, since I hung right outside my office window.

Will that little red tip on the feeding tube be sufficient to attract hummers? Stay tuned.

* * * * *

After finishing the stealth project (more on that once it has been mailed and received) I cast on for a sock.

Why did I choose these colors? I have no idea; I bought this yarn a couple years ago and its reasons are lost in the mists of time. After knitting on it for eight hours or so, I am becoming rather fond of the tiger-like colors and striping. Tiger-like, that is, only if tigers have brownish-purple stripes.

The most notable thing about the socks is the fiber content of the yarn.

 

I wanted to try knitting some non-winter socks. This yarn feels like cotton, albeit a somewhat harsh, hard cotton. Once knit, though, the sock fabric  feels fine on my foot. It may soften up when washed; that remains to be seen. The yarn is annoyingly splitty, which makes fixing a mistake problematic. Not that I ever make mistakes, you understand, I'm just sayin'.

The other item of interest about these socks is that I am knitting them toe-up, using Wendy's free Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern. (Thank you, Wendy, O Goddess Of Socks!) That is the one where you do a provisional cast-on starting on top of the toe at the beginning of the toe decreases, do a short-row toe, then pick up the stitches from the provo cast-on and continue up the foot as usual. I quite like it, mainly because it is so darned clever. But it also eliminates the need to learn any weird Eastern/Turkish/magic cast-on. I will learn those... eventually. 

Question for those of you who always do a short-row heel: do you get holes along the line of wrapped stitches, especially on one side? Like this? (click to embiggify)

Big holes:                                                      Tiny holes:

  

Am I doing something wrong? I did pick up and knit the wrap during the second half of the short-row toe and heel as instructed, but I only picked up one of the two wraps because it seemed too hard to knit both. If I do have to pick up and knit both, please tell me. The holes just don't seem... right.

Stealth FO revealed, sort of.

I finished a mystery project yesterday. Since it is a stealth knit I shall not give you a good look at it, but I WILL show you how much yarn I had left at the end.

Pin-point planner, that's me.

* * * * *

ETA: I am going to knit a chemo cap for a friend who is going through that process. Of course I want to choose a yarn that is very soft against the skin, and since it is summer I want to knit the cap from something that is not too warm -- cotton or bamboo or silk (unless y'all tell me that is too warm; I have no experience with silk yarns) or a blend of any of those fibers.

Here's what my friend said when I emailed her about color: "Something wild and crazy would be fine - not yellow/green - I like bright pinks - multicolor is good..."

Yarn recommendations? Just remember that whatever I get, it must be available online. And since this is a one-skein project, price is not really a problem.

Thursday awhile back.

After the, um, highly interesting meetings I attended the other week, the meeting of the county's renewable energy committee was like a breath of fresh air. This is a positive group, one that seeks to promote positive change in the county. When I thanked them at the end of the meeting for such a pleasant change of pace, I was told that their positive attitude was possible because they have no power. (Thus, no power struggles?) Maybe, but I like to think it is because this is a group of positive thinkers. Anyway.

We met at the county recycling center.

I love to see how things and places really work and to be able to go backstage, as it were.

The recycling center does an Earth Day open house thing, which I went to last year. Sixth-graders from the several schools in the county tour the place and do activities. There are numerous recycling/energy exhibits by various vendors and groups. (I tried to find my photos from last year and they had disappeared from my hard drive. Gremlins.)

Besides its regular employees, the center also employs a number of developmentally delayed people from the Adult Development Center who sort the material to be recycled before it is bailed (paper and cardboard), crushed and bailed (cans), or pulverized (glass). 

Newspaper, pre-bailing:

They have a free cycle kind of thing going for paint.

 

My camera battery tragically died before we were done. I wish I could have shown you the glass crusher bin. Picture an outdoor enclosure of concrete blocks about 10 feet by 20 feet and about 3 feet high. They pile glass bottles in there, then run a crushing machine -- sort of like a small tractor that runs on two big rollers instead of on wheels -- over the glass to crush it. We joked that allowing kids with BB guns to break the glass could be a prize for good behavior at the local schools. The manager said that running the crushing tractor is the most popular job at the center.

Later that same day I went to the good-bye party at the library for the departing library director. He is a local guy who went away to school, got married, served with his wife as Americorp volunteers in the Pacific Northwest teaching the children of migrant workers, then came back to live in Polk County. He has energized the library, which had a perfect location and a wonderful facility -- the old Ben Franklin store on Main Street -- and great community support, but may have been in danger of being *just another library*. Through his effort kids who would never have entered the library have found a second home. There are after-school reading groups and game nights and scads of other programs. Matt is moving on to become the director of libraries for four vo-tech campuses (campi?) in northwestern Wisconsin. A great move for him, but we are sad to lose his enthusiasm and talent. Happily, his assistant librarian, also a creative and intelligent and energetic person, has been hired to replace him.

The tributes left by the after-school kids speak to Matt's popularity.

 

 

My camera battery died (again) before I could get a photo of my favorite of the sidewalk scrawlings: "Our library is the BEST!"

Amen.

Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday, 8 am: attended meeting of the Half Moon Lake Weed Rangers, a subcommittee dedicated to preventing alien invasive species from entering their lake. Learned about curly pondweed, Eurasian milfoil, and one other invasive species whose name escapes me.

Saturday, 9 am: attended meeting of the board of the Half Moon Lake Conservancy District. I am the county representative on this lake association's board. Heard about their walleye stocking, their annual picnic, their weed monitoring, and various other items of interest.

Saturday, 10 am: attended meeting of the Antler Lake Association. This is my own lake, and I am also the county representative on their board. Heard about underground vs. overhead power lines around the lake, the discriminatory pricing of electricity from our electric coop, status of the public landing, and various other items of interest.

Happily for me, all three meetings took place in the same venue, the local fire hall. By noon, I was free. By 1:30 I was taking a nap.

Sunday: swept the winter's detritus off the deck, filled the thistle feeder, arranged the furniture, and installed the umbrella.

I had some help from the animals.

Then I cleaned (half of) the porch in preparation for dinner guests.

Tomorrow, I shall take it easy.

Biking safely.

This is the approximate site of yesterday's bicyclist accident. You are looking down Park Avenue, a one-way street and major arterial into downtown Minneapolis.

From RideBoldly, a cycling site/blog:

If you look at the configuration of the bike lane and the traffic lane at this intersection, and, in fact, all the way along Park Avenue, this tragic occurrence is not surprising. The lane configuration will regularly put a bicyclist riding straight through in the path of turning vehicles, contrary to the rules of strategic lane placement for vehicular cycling.

Incidents like this are challenging, because the bike lane itself ends up being a part cause of the accident. A cyclist stopped at the light may be invisible to a vehicle stopped next to it, depending on lane width, placement, and even the height of the vehicle (like a truck). My advice to cyclists using such a lane with such engineering is to never stop AT the stop line. Be sure to be stopped in such a position that you have a clear view of the rear view mirror of the car in the adjoining lane - so the vehicle is ahead of you. Watch for turn signals. Making noise is also a good plan - sing, clap, whatever. You may look like a goof, but better a live goof than crushed by a truck.

Younger Son told me a lot of these safety tips when he called me yesterday with the news. I am reproducing it here in hopes that it may help someone else someday avoid an accident.

Wednesday whatever.

Here is a game that my kids and I totally should have thought of back when we were fostering kittens every summer:

* * * * *
Is anyone else having trouble using their TypeKey id when trying to submit a comment on a blogspot/blogger blog? I have been unable to do that since ::counts on fingers:: last Thursday. What is particularly galling is that when I try, I get a TypePad "Oops" screen asking me what I was doing when the error occurred; when I type in "trying to submit a comment on a blogspot/blogger blog using my TypeKey id" and click on "submit", I get the exact same screen back minus my typing. In other words, my error submission doesn't go anywhere. There is even a little box to check if you want a reply from TypePad. Needless to say, I have gotten no responses to those error submissions.

I finally went the the TypePad site and submitted the error on their generic "Contact us" screen. I did get a reply, but the person said she could not find any errors that had occurred. Well, duh, the error submission doesn't work.

I have replied to her with the facts I outlined about. What are the odds that TypePad will actually investigate the problem? and solve it?

In the meantime I have to submit comments using my Blogger id, which I suspect is why I am not getting many replies to my comments; I do not think it includes my email address. I have to do it this way because I am always logged in to Blogger because I am logged into Google Reader and Gmail.

So, all you people with blogspot/blogger blogs? (Deb, Jocelyn, Cindy, cursingmama, Ruth, Big Alice, Mel, I'm looking at you.) (I'm looking at a bunch of others, too, but I got tired of linking.) What does this look like from your end?

* * * * *
Horror. Younger Son, the one who bikes five miles to work in downtown Minneapolis every day, just phoned. A bicyclist was crushed by a semi at 14th & Park this morning. The online bike forums are buzzing. Younger Son is extremely safety conscious in his riding, but still. Horror.

* * * * *

As many of you know, Claudia raises money for MS research in the annual MS ride. Generous knitters made her the #1 fundraiser last year, and she is aiming to do something similar this year. Last year I was lucky enough to win the grand prize, a beautiful gray alpaca shawl donated by Angela. 

After winning such a gorgeous prize last year I felt I needed to help out this year. 

 

I bought this off eBay. Then I found my copy. Duh. 

Then another package arrived in the mail. It seems I bought it TWICE on eBay. Double duh.

As good as this book is, I definitely do not need three copies. Two of them are going out as prizes in Claudia's MS fundraising raffle/ride. 

So go! Donate! Win a prize! Besides my dumbass books, Grumperina has offered to knit a pair of socks for a winner, and there are other books and fun kits and gorgeous yarns waiting to be won. Let's help out MS research, since we all know what MS would do to a knitter.

One sunny Sunday in May.

We had our annual roadside cleanup.

We had, I think, twelve people to cover the road that (almost) encircles the lake, about two-and-a-half miles. 

Bad blogger that I am, I got no pictures of the hard-working pickers. But I did get pictures of the trash.

  

When we gathered, one of the guys reminded us to watch for morels, which are apparently sprouting right about now. "Look for an elm tree," he said. "They are growing up the side of elm trees."

Okay. But I didn't think we even HAD elm trees here. Not surprisingly, I saw zero morels. Neither did anyone else, as far as I know.

But I did discover a bunch of jack-in-the-pulpit, something I had never seen growing wild in the this area.

I also saw a lot of maidenhair ferns (sorry, no photos), something else that I didn't think grew wild here. I have seen a rare few but nothing like today. Apparently the soil on the other side of the lake, where I saw the jacks and ferns, is limier than our side.

The wild strawberries are in bloom.

They grow everywhere along the road. If we get a decent amount of rain they are delicious -- tiny, but yummy. If we don't get enough rain they are very tiny, more seed than fruit.

Of course the trillium are blooming.

Some years the forest floor is covered with them, but not this year. In my extremely limited experience, they seem to bloom best after a horrendous winter with severe ice storms. The past winter had plenty of snow cover and not too much ice, so spring brought a more modest crop of trillium

I had help for part of the walk.

"Here, Spartacus! C'mere, boy!"

 ::whistles::

Spartacus is the morel guy's dog. He looks fierce and has a scary bark, but his tail was wagging pretty hard today. I didn't bring our dogs -- Bear is too old for such a long walk and Lucy runs away unless she is on a leash. So they stayed home and napped.

I thought these were bloodroot -- something else I didn't think grew here -- but googling makes me think they are not.

I shall have to go back with my Newcomb's Wildflower Guide later today. It employs the accountant's method of wildflower identification: count the leaves, count the petals, look for certain other specific details, then find it in the book.

 

ETA: The mysterious white flowers are wood anemone, A. quinquefolia.

We are in a drought here. There is a 20-inch rain deficit over the past three years a bit farther north and east of here. We only get 25-30 inches of rain a year on average, so that is a lot. The lake levels are low. This is a tiny bay across the lake from us.

 

A couple signs for your enjoyment.

Knitting in the news.

Boingboing led me to a nest of knitting stories over at BBC News. The stories are dated April 24, 2009; March 18, 2009; January 23, 2009; and June 27, 2007, respectively. I present, for your enjoyment, Knitting In The News!

"The model of Mersham, near Ashford, has been knitted by members of the village's 40-strong Afternoon Club over the past 23 years. The group has raised about £10,000 for their village hall by exhibiting it."

Story here.

* * * * *

"A woman from Oxfordshire has started knitting sweaters for rescued battery hens* that have lost their feathers. Jane Blaine, of Eynsham, said when a friend first asked her to knit jumpers for chickens she thought it was a joke. Ms Blaine, who has previously made coats for dogs, said: "When I saw these poor battery hens without any feathers, I thought I'd give it a try."

Story and video here.

* Battery hens are laying hens that are kept in very small cages, typically only slightly larger than themselves, for their entire short lives. Read about them here.

* * * * *

 

Story (no video) here.

* * * * *

 

Story here.

And that completes today's episode of Knitting In The News. Purl on, fellow needlers!

Blog fodder from Elder Son.

World's largest snake found dead:

Amazing but useless skill, 1: World's fastest cup stacker:

Amazing but useless skill, 2: Bobby Bad Fingers, who can snap his fingers thirty (30!) times/second:

There are several others here, but in the interests of good taste I shall let you decide for yourselves whether you want to watch the guy who can pull a private jet with his penis or the guy who could imitate cannon fire, thunderstorms, musical instruments, and animal calls with his farts.

Can you say, "Third grade hero!"? I thought so.

* * * * *

Here's a little prezzie. If you want to keep up with what's happening but hate the ad-filled front page of the NYTimes, try Skimmer. It's free. (I think; you may have to be already subscribed to the online NYT. I am, so it works for me. Let me know if it works for y'all who do not subscribe. If it doesn't, accept my apologies and go yell at someone else.)

Spring (con't.)

Today was a red-letter day.

It was the first time this year I sat on the deck and knitted.

*pause for happy applause*

I got home at about 5 pm after being in county committee meetings all day. A number of issues, all of them potentially contentious or at least widely debatable, were on several agendas. By the time I got home I was definitely ready for a beer and some relaxation.

Lucy and Hannibal were a little unsure about this activity.

Hannibal figured it out pretty quickly, though.

"Pet me. Now."

He insisted on sitting on my lap and purring loudly, which made the knitting part of knitting on the deck... problematic.

But I made good use of the lap-sitting part by checking him for ticks.

Found one.

Want a better look? Click here. If not, don't. This one appeared to be a semi-engorged deer tick rather than a wood tick; the latter get much bigger, roughly the size of a blueberry when fully engorged. 

But to return to a happier topic, what was I knitting?

Sorry, can't tell you. It's a stealth project intended for a fellow blogger who may or may not read this blog regularly. I'm taking no chances. She knows I am knitting something for her, but she doesn't know what. Let's keep it that way, m'kay?

Signs of spring.

The bears have come out of hibernation.

Happy Mother's Day!

A "sincere, beautiful and slightly cheesy Mother's Day tribute... Can you feel it?
(P.S. Because Matthew cares about Mother Earth too, this card is eco-friendly!)"

Click here to view and listen.

Card created and distributed by Preston Kelly, an ad agency in Minneapolis.

* * * * *

Remember the cozy for the White House fence that was being sponsored by Code Pink for their Mother's Day event? Here it is in situ:

 

Among the sweet anecdotes:

 

Could that be our own Amy of KnitThink?

Saturday. With whining.

This is my Mother's Day present.

Matthew came up here to the lake for the weekend.

The present is in Minneapolis.

::sob::

Memememe.

True: I was doing this meme just because I like it when I took a little break to read a few blogs. And discovered that Jen had tagged me for it. It's karma, baby!

* * * * *

What are your current obsessions?
Knitting. Blogs. Blogs about knitting. Knitting about blogs. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often?
My Merrell clogs.

What's for dinner?
Dinner? Dinner is hours away. Well, okay, spaghetti with Italian hot sausage and sauce from a jar, just because that was what was going to be last night's dinner until we decided to go out instead. And asparagus. We have lots of asparagus in the refrigerator.

What's your greatest fear at the moment?
That the economy will tube so badly that Smokey and I will have to retire to subsidized housing, eat mac'n'cheese for the rest of our lives, and never, ever get to travel ever again.

What are you listening to?
My iTunes playlist, "Singalong Rock." Right now the Dead are singing Truckin'; the last few songs were Don't Look Back by Boston, Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly, Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Rag Doll by Aerosmith, and Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers. My musical tastes are heavily influenced by the 70s.

If you were a goddess what would you be?
But I am a goddess...

What are your favourite holiday spots?
Right here in my house on the lake is my favorite. If I have to go somewhere, it would be the Florida Keys. If I cannot go there, I'd go to New York to visit Andrew. And if I only have $20 to spend I'd go to Minneapolis and visit Matthew.

What are you reading right now?
The Waters of Babylon by Nelson DeMille. Hey, I may be a goddess but sometimes I read total crap just like everyone else.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Heh. I realized about a year ago that my guilty pleasure (and those are exactly the words I used to myself) is George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Smokey and I are going to see them in concert in August at the Grand Casino in Hinkley, MN.

Who or what makes you laugh?
Smokey, Matthew, Andrew, our dogs, our cats, lolcats, people in general. I like to laugh.

What is your favorite spring thing to do?
Inhale. Listen to the spring peepers.

Where are you planning to travel next?
Camping in the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming in June.

What is the best thing you ate or drank lately?
The fresh pasta with vegies, including ramps, at Common Roots restaurant at 26th and Lyndale in Minneapolis last week. Although the chocolate chip muffin I just ate was pretty darned good, too.

When was the last time you were tipsy?
That night last week when I had two glasses of wine -- instead of my usual one -- at bedtime.

What is your favorite ever film?
The Big Lebowski. That one has been amusing me for at least ten years.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned from your children?
How much fun they are and how much I enjoy their company. I didn't expect that.

What song can't you get out of your head?
My head is totally empty. No songs in there at all.

What book do you know you should read but refuse to?
Love in the Time of Cholera and Gravity's Rainbow. I have tried numerous times with both, haven't gotten past page 20 in either one. Yet.

What is your physical abnormality/abnormal physical ability?
Sorry, don't really have one.

What is your favourite color?
Red. Blue. Jewel tones. Hate pastels.

Where's the best place to get decent Indian food within 10 miles of Northbrook, IL? (in case you can't tell, this is the question Jen added).
Sorry, Jen, no idea.

If you were a day of the week, which would you be?
(Seriously, this was one of the essay questions on Andrew's college application for the University of Chicago. He wrote eloquently about why he would be Wednesday.)
I would be Sunday evening, the time of the week when everyone else has to leave their lake cabin and drive back to the Twin Cities and I get to stay here. Neener, neener.

* * * * *

The rules of this meme are as follows:

• Respond to and rework the meme.
• Answer the questions on your own blog.
• Replace one question and add one question.
• Tag 8 people as many people as you think appropriate.

I tag Erika, SheepishAnnie, Chris, Diane, and Ann. I think at least one of them doesn't do memes, but I cannot remember for sure so I will tag them all and let them sort it out.

An FO for Amy.

Awhile back I blogged about the Pay It Forward thing that I read about over at Norma's. Briefly, I offered to knit the item of my choice for up to three people, each of whom promised to pay it forward by making the same offer on their blog.

Amy took me up on my offer, but -- generous soul that she is -- didn't want anything for herself. Instead, she instructed me to knit something for the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary

Well, my PIF item is finally done... about six months later than the twelve-month time period given in the original post. Here it is, a dog blanket/bed for some sweet and possibly disabled pooch at the Ranch:

Yarn: (black) Red Heart acrylic, a bit more than one skein; (red, blue, and green) Caron Simply Soft, about three-quarters of a skein of each; all worsted weight held double.
Needles: Boye US#10.5 or 11 circ. It has been so long since I knit this I don't remember for sure.
Pattern: the (in)famous Mason-Dixon dishcloth. This pattern would make a great afghan, too.
Size: about 30 inches square.

I actually finished knitting it over a year ago, but decided that it would benefit from a backing. That part took... a while. This week I have been cleaning the laundry/sewing/craft room, which has involved finishing up a multitude of projects that had been cluttering up the table in that room. This was one. The backing is a double layer of fleece zigzagged on the sewing machine to the back edge to the *dishcloth*. The knitting looks pretty good; the backing, not so much. But it makes the whole thing a bit thicker and more durable.

Sweet dreams, doggie!

Make Norm go away.

I am sure you have heard about Norm Coleman's never-ending quest to drag out his election challenge to Al Franken, but have you heard about NormDollar.com?

"Al Franken will be the 60th Democratic vote, so DC Republicans are funding Coleman's endless court appeals. If thousands of us donate $1 to defeat Republicans each day Coleman doesn't concede, we'll reverse the incentives! Can you donate $1 a day?"

From an email I got yesterday:

Our progress together is pretty amazing:

"So far, NormDollar.com has raised $15,000..." -- New York Times, April 19

"Norm Coleman Raises $28,000 for Progressives" -- Huffington Post, April 22

"About $40,000 has been raised..." -- Texas blog Burnt Orange Report, April 29

"Coleman Raises $60,000 for Progressives" -- DailyKos, May 1

And today, we're up to $71,500! This weekend, I ran into a major reporter and told him how much Norm Coleman's stubbornness was raising to help progressives defeat Republicans. He said, "Wow!! That's a lot!"

Together, we're making a difference. Thanks for being a bold progressive.

--Adam Green, co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, BoldProgressives.org

This is almost as good as the donations to Planned Parenthood in honor of Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign.

The triumph of science.

Thank you so much for all your good advice yesterday on my Cherry Tree Hill DK question! I took it to heart; here are the results.

First, following Carrie's advice, I checked Ravelry for comments on CTH Supersock DK. No luck.

I did, however, find seven sock projects there using the yarn, so I sent a message to each of those Ravelers asking about their experience with washing their socks. What I learned was that many people are far more careful about how they wash their socks than I will ever be -- they wash them by hand or on the gentle cycle in their machine in cool water and do in fact lay them out flat to dry. Huh.

Never one to be totally won over by other people's opinions or experience, I followed Erika's advice and swatched the CTH for my own laundry experiment. As I did so I remembered several other yarns in my stash that had I purchased with sock intent but about which I had reservations. So I swatched those, too.

Yesterday and today were laundry days, and each of these swatches went through the washer and dryer twice, in the company of blue jeans, dark t-shirts, dark sweatshirts, and other socks. Before I threw them into the washer, though, I traced around each one so I could judge shrinkage. For the record, my washer is a first generation Maytag Neptune front-loader circa 1998 and the dryer is its mate. I washed both loads in warm water with cool rinse on the "sturdy cottons" cycle and dried them on medium temperature, which in this dryer is still pretty darned hot. The swatches were all a bit wrinkled and rumpled when they came out of the dryer so I steam-pressed them but was careful not to change their dimensions.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK, swatched on a US#1, shrinkage = a little:

Felting, none:

One Raveler did mention, though, that her CTH socks did not felt in the first wash: "The socks I've made that have felted have always taken several washings before they begin to shrink noticeably." So perhaps my results are inconclusive. I'll wash the swatch a few more times in the coming weeks and see what happens.

The second yarn I swatched was the Pagewood Farms Denali hand-dyed sock yarn that I bought at Yarnover a couple weeks ago. The lower part of the swatch was knit on a US#1 needle; the upper part, above the row of purl stitches, was knit on a US#0.

The results, shrinkage = minimal, and possibly confined to the lower portion:

Felting = none.

This makes me very, very happy because I love that yarn and look forward to knitting it -- on an Addi US#0 -- into a pair of socks for myself.

The third yarn was Araucania Ronco Multi, swatch knit entirely on US#0.

Shrinkage = oh, yeah, I gotcher shrinkage right here, baby.

Felting? We got that, too.

I am very glad I tested this one -- a pair of socks knit from it would have been unwearable after two washings. Must ponder: knit them too large and be the proud wearer of a pair of felted socks? or use the yarn for something else?

I think I will throw swatches #1 and 2 into the wash a few more times so I can be sure of the results. In the meantime I'll knit other things.

=Tamar gave some excellent advice, too: "...hand washing and flat drying does make the socks last longer because the dryer beats them into lint and they get threadbare sooner. That may be the real reason behind the care instructions. I use a mesh bag in the machine to keep socks together and out of the machinery."

I already have some mesh bags designed for hand washables. I think I will put them back into use for my merino socks.

For the record, my socks knit from Opal and Lang and Online fingering weight yarns are surviving fine with being thrown into the wash with everything else. My one pair of Koigu socks are rather the worse for it; I now wash them inside out.

I went shopping.

A few weeks ago I made a foray into a department store, something I do about once a year. What I found was appalling. Who decided that every woman in America needed to dress in baby doll tops? That is definitely not my style, so I left the baby dolls in the store, found some pants that fit, purchased same, and left.

On my flying trip into Minneapolis last Thursday I had a couple hours to spare between my real estate tax errand and meeting Younger Son and GF for dinner, so I cruised through the sale racks at Macy's in Southdale. And discovered that when that baby doll thing is done in black linen by a master -- in this case, Ralph Lauren -- it works better.

This is what I got:

and that is what I wore, with black pants and the gray alpaca shawl, on Friday night. (I buttoned my blouse all the way up. Boring, I know.)

I would never, ever pay full price for a designer label, but this was 40% off, plus another 25% off when I got to the register. Score!

The other thing I got -- with those same discounts, yay! -- is a white shawl-collared blouse, cotton so finely woven it feels like satin, with long, French-cuffed sleeves and pearl cuff links. The blouse fit except that the sleeves were much too long, so today I removed the cuffs, cut 2-5/8" off the sleeves, and sewed the cuffs back on. Perfect!

Sometimes it is really, really handy to be able to sew.

The FOs, they just keep coming.

1. Avoid :: maneuver
2. Castle :: crenelated
3. Episode :: The Office
4. Limited :: edition
5. Nail polish :: remover
6. Dip :: onion
7. Share :: blog
8. Damage :: estimate
9. Improper :: procedure
10. Handle :: suitcase

* * * * *

Does anyone remember the faggot-y (that's a stitch, not a value judgment) scarf-y, stole-y thing I started last summer?

I didn't think so.

I barely remember it myself. During the intervening months I have knat upon it for the odd few rows, but mostly it languished. I sat down on Monday evening, however -- when I should have been at a meeting but couldn't get there because Smokey had my car and had forgotten to leave me a key for his -- and finished it.

Can I get a woo? and a hoo? And maybe a w00t for good measure?

Thank you.

Here it is looking all faggot-y and ass-y in its unblocked state.

I think I should block it.

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Question: has anyone knit a pair of socks from Cherry Tree Hill DK superwash merino (with high twist)? Cathy-Cate gave me a skein of it in the Moody Blues colorway, it is gorgeous, and I want to make socks. But I know I will never "hand wash in cold water for best results " nor "dry them flat", as the label says. Somebody please tell me the CTH folks are kidding about that, that I can machine wash them inside out in warm/cold water and throw them in a lukewarm dryer with the rest of the laundry without felting them. Please? If not, I am thinking hat or scarf.