One Hundred Acres

KoolAid to the Rescue

2012-01-31T09:39:00.000-08:00

Bargains. I love 'em. They engender a feeling of contentment in me. Like I deserved them. There are some iconic fiber-related bargains that have really made me warm and fuzzy for years. The $10 Lendrum wheel. The $5 Singer 155.
A more recent bargain was a box full of wonderful cone yarn (fingering weight) that is 50-50 wool and cashmere. Yup. I scored cashmere. For around $10 a pound. Warm and Fuzzy.

A plus B = ??

I have several colors that are very nice. I have a couple colors that will come back around in 5 years, and I'll still have this yarn, so it's safe to wait. I have two full cones of pink. Hot pink. Saturated hot pink. Even if hot pink comes back around, I won't be wearing it.
I wanted to work out some socks and take down some tension numbers so that I can whip up a right sized pair of cashmere socks at any time downstream from now, with no need for future swatching. Naturally, I reach for the hot pink. I can spare it. I would off a couple of 50g skeins.
Then I spied the bag of koolaid packages in the drawer. Well, why not.
This is what you get with 6 cups of water, 4 packs of electric blue lemonade, and 100 g. of hot pink.

Cooking yarn and Kool-Aid

Not the evenest dye job, but a color I can live with.

I am feeling warm and fuzzy.

Quilt Camp with the Tug Hill Quilters

2011-10-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

DC K and I spent the week at Quilt Camp. We had a wonderful time. We met, over the week, around 90 quilters, and we are lucky to remember our own names, nevermind their names.
Monday through Thursday, we talked, quilted, ate and laughed. DCK came with several projects ready to sew, and I did not get a picture of any of them! That probably works for her, as surely one of them is a Christmas present for someone, and she won't want them to see it here!

DCK gave me a darling pattern, with a kit of 5 fat quarters, to make a christmas tree hanging, and I have the fancy part done. I'll post the picture when it's done. Meanwhile, here are pictures to inspire you.

Thanks, everyone, for the best time!

Headed for the Church craft bazaar

The quilters work and wander

Quilt-as-you-go strip quilt

At the cutting table

Quilter GD's dye project with her daughter

destined for the VA hospital

Hot colors and cut and sew triangle blocks

Beautiful hand applique

These are some of the material from the Ninja Yardsale adventure.

The Boomerang Scarf at Blue Mountain Lake Fiber Festival

2011-09-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sharon's preferred, asymetrical style wrap

Note: the scarf in the pic is an early version. When you follow
the directions below, you will wind up with a longer, narrower, and
easier to wrap, scarf. You'll see, and you'll like it.

I had a great time today at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. It was Fiber Festival day, and the yarn bombers had visited the museum! There were knitting and crocheting (and felting, quilting, rug hooking, and on and on...) explosions all over the place.

I brought the boomerang to share with the other knitters, and I just enjoyed the knitting and sharing and meeting people.

The Boomerang scarf is an easy, warm and stylish scarf. It is all garter stitch, so it wraps like a dream, and wants to hold onto your coat! Knit it in wool, or a wool-silk blend. Wool-alpaca would also work, and the alpaca will lend its drapiness as well. Handspun yarn works well with this pattern. Gauge is not critical. Make it as small, or as big as you want (or as your ball of yarn dictates.) You can knit this at bigger gauges for a softer, less structured knit. It will 'collapse' on your neck better at bigger gauge, and it will 'stand up' better at the tighter gauges.

Let me know how yours turns out.

Directions:

Boomerang Scarf

Yarn- About 200 yards

Needles to knit at about 5 stitches to the inch ( for knitting worsted weight yarn) or 6 stitches to the inch ( for sport weight yarn).

Cast on 2 stitches.

Row 1 (and all odd rows) Yarn Over, then knit to the end of the row. (increase of

one stitch)

Row 2 YO, knit to end of row. (one stitch increased)

Row 4 Same as row 2

Row 6 Bind off 4 stitches, knit to end of row.

Repeat these 6 rows until you have used about half of your yarn.

Then:

Row 1 (and all odd rows) YO, K1, YO, knit to end of row (2 stitches increased)

Row 2, 4, and 6 as before.

When 15 or 20 yards of yarn remain, end row 5.

Then:

Row 1 Bind off 4, knit 5, turn.

Row 2 K 5, turn

Row 3 K 6, turn

Row 4 K 6, turn

Row 5 K 7, turn

Row 6 K 7, turn

Repeat these 6 rows to make sawteeth and bind off the open stitches. If you run short of yarn before sawteeth are done, bind off the rest of the open stitches without making sawteeth.

Knitting in Denver! AND another shrug pattern!

2011-09-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

I gave the LK 140 to myy DDIL, who is not yet a machine knitter, a couple years ago. (Give her time.) I was visiting her (and the new, 4th, baby) to help out for a bit, and I dug out the machine to entertain myself.

DDIL plans to use a Moby wrap with the new baby, Jack. Her problem is that a sweater will not filt OVER a Moby and a baby. Our solution started with Sensations Kashmiri from Joann's.

I started with the free Lion Brand pattern (http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90687AD.html?noImages=) for the simple shrug- I ran a gauge sample and got 4.5 s x 6 r/ inch,and translated the pattern for the machine, using the pattern dimensions given in the pattern. The 34 inch wide panel was too wide for the machine, so made it up in two half-width panels, which I joined by raveling the edge stitch on each piece and drawing 2 loops through two loops. (I set this up by leaving one needle out of work before the last needle, on the left side of piece one, and on the right side of piece 2. This makes the loops you will get by ravelling down the edge stitch a bit bigger. ) This put the mock braid detail up the back of the shrug. I knit the panels with open caston, and later, I picked up the open stitches and hand knit 2x2 rib on top and bottom of the joined panels. I used the Joann’s sensations Kashmiri, and i must say this lively 10-ply wool worked up great, and the machine loved it. (fYI, takes less than 4 full skeins, and kashmiri is 284 yards/100 gm)

My back panel joins make a nice openwork 'braid'. Who would not want one of these?

The new Mom likes her shrug!

Okay, let's review.
You will make two panels, each one 17 inches wide by 34 inches long. Do a gauge sample to get your stitches for 17 inches and your rows for 34 inches. On panel #1, leave a needle out of work inside of the left edge stitch- and on panel #2, leave that needle out of work inside of the right edge stitch. (You could also just move the edge stitch over, but the extra width caused by the ravelled edge stitch more than made up for the loss of one stitch in the width. ) Cast on with waste yarn, and when you start the first garment yarn row, do not use a closed cast on with your main yarn- just knit. When it is the right length, take it off on waste yarn. I collect the open top stitches and the open bottom stitches on a couple of circular needles, leaving off the edge stitch that you are going to ravel, so that you can run it down, a couple rows at a time, while you join up the panels. When the panels are joined you have this great looking 34" x 34" square. Now knit 2 inches of 2x2 rib on the top edge, and on the botttom edge. I used a size 4 needle, shooting for a rib to take full advantage of this yarn's springiness. When you cast off these ribs, you have a square that is 34 " wide, and 38" long. Fold it in half lengthwise- sew up the sides starting from the ribbing, stopping about 8 inches from the top fold.
To wear, put your arms through the armholes, and arrange the ribbing a a shawl collar on your neck, down the front and around the bottom/back of the shrug.

There WAS other knitting in Denver, but it's still on needles. Airplane knitting.

Dotty's daughters

2011-08-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

Before

I like my houseplants BIG. Thus, when faced with having to repot, or divide, the conflict is always how big a plant I can save. Well, D-day arrived for the begonia. This is my darling Dotty, a full 30 inches of danging jungle.
If you read the books, you are supposed to take small cuttings, and start new 'babies'. Then, in three years, you can have THIS! I prefer to root large cuttings and have dangling jungle by winter. So, the pots, the hose, the bag of potting soil, me and Dotty , and an hour, and we now have...

After

This. Dotty's daughters need a few days to rearrange their leaves so they are all facing out- they will look just fine then. However, I now need space for three pots, instead of one. I've got some ideas.

I also chopped up and repotted a variegated philodendron. Just an 'after' picture here, but you can use your imagination.

Also three more pots. Anybody need a philodendron?

So That's a Knitomat!

2011-07-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

There's a new pony in the corral, a Knitomat 160. It arrived today, and it's up and knitting already.
You lay the yarn across stationary latch needles, and then slide the carriage, which pushes the knitting forward , closing the latches and the new stitches are in the hooks. Then you push (manually) the knitting back behind the needle latches, which opens the latches again, and lay the yarn in the latches....
It actually goes pretty fast.

You can see the yarn laying in the hooks right of the carriage.
You can see the 'fingers' pushing the knitting out over the new yarn.

People who like intarsia, or hand manipulated lace, would like this machine. It's 5mm pitch, so passap and superba tools work with it. You could also knit two separate pieces, with two separate yarns, at the same time. Hmm. What comes in pairs? (I know! Socks!) Seriously, You could knit both fronts of a baby sweater, mirroring the shaping, at the same time. Who wouldn't want to do that?

Okay- I saw an episode of Hoarders, and I'm Never watching that again. And knitting machines are NOT cats. But I have avoided counting them (the knitting machines, that is.) It might be time to count.

Custom 131

Today, I will review the earliest (20's through 50's) machines: There's the knitomat, the Custom 131, the twinmatic, and the Fleischer Fast Knitter (not really a machine, but not really a knitting loom, either.) I probably need to include the AutoKnitter here. A Steber, too.

Fleischer EME Fast Knitter Illustration

That's enough counting. It's better to knit, don't you think?

Freedom Wright's Wife and her spinning wheel

2011-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

You have to go to the auction when it's next door. Otherwise, the neighbors will talk. We went, in search of entertainment and gossip. We found both, and a couple of things to buy, as well.

The auction was a two day affair, liquidating an antiques business that has occupied the old Freedom Wright Inn for the last 45 years. The wheel in the picture was always marked 'not for sale' in the shop, as it was original with the old house, said to have belonged to Freedom Wright's wife, and marked with her initials, A.W. The wheel was nearly complete, with the foot treadle and pitman lacking, and the top part of the distaff gone, as well. The bobbin and flyer are complete, and the drive wheel is true. It shows both the correct age and wear for a spinning wheel from 1800-1810. There is a bit of linen thread still on the bobbin, so it's a good bet AW was the last person to use it. At some point (1960's I'm guessing) it received a coat of varnish, but fortunately, they did not sand it first.

AW's Wheel

I bought the wheel for $65. I could not believe my good luck. I'll post more pictures when she is up and running. She needs new leathers and a drive belt. Getting out the cotton twine, now.
Freedom Wright built the inn in 1800. He does not show up in the 1800 census, but is there in 1810, and gone in 1820. The census records of the time only recorded the head of the household, so I do not know her name.

Her intials

200 year old flax leader on the bobbin

I will poke around until I learn more about AW. DH suggested that I start by getting the description of the land from the County records, as that would record all the owners.
If you have any suggestions for me and AW's Wheel, post a comment.

Zwanzigstein Fest

2011-07-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

aption

"Grandma, this does NOT look like a festival." My non-rural grandchildren have urban festival notions. We are walking from the car, through a field, toward some farm buildings. My GS and GD are carrying baskets full of spinning supplies, and I am carrying a wheel. I am coming to the Mennonite Heritage Farm, near Croghan, NY, to help out by demonstrating handspinning.
"Well, let's see how things work out," I tell my GS.
Zwanzigstein is an annual gathering of the descendants of the 20 families who first settled here in the mid 1800's. They have acquired National Historic Site status, and are faithfully restoring the buildings and the house. In the house basement, you unexpectedly re-enter the 21rst century, as they are finishing state-or-the-art, climate controlled space for their archives.
The kids had a wonderful time. There were plenty of kid-friendly activities. My GD claims to have climbed the rock wall eleven times. She also rode the wagon, drawn by a couple of picture-perfect Belgians, but she lost count. The GS acquired a bill cap, and flirted with bidding on a John Deere collector's edition toy tractor.

My wheel is on the left, as a young demonstrator prepares to make butter.
It went great with the homemade bread.

I had a great time with the kids, and a great time spinning. In the shade of the narrow front porch, I talked to lots of people, and met friends old and new.
The food (homemade icecream, homemade rootbeer and sassparilla, brats as thick as your wrist, corn chowder, and turker dinner!!) was great.
It's always great to get an upclose look at the old ways, and talk to people who know about those ways.
On our way home, the kids told me it was a pretty good festival.

Yard Sale Ninjas

2011-06-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

beach knitting!

The Yard Sale Ninjas, Annichi, Kayoko, ang Giuki (Number 1 DD, Number 1 DDIL and me), put their plan together after Giuki found the Craig’s list ad. The ad said: Stash of 5 quilters. Some cone yarn for machine knitting. Mechanicsville Presbyterian Church. Sat AM, 8:00 to 2:00 PM.
It was Friday night, and the ninjas were at DD’s Virginia home, packing for a week at the Outer Banks. They were supposed to load the cars, and head to North Carolina before 9:00 AM. “We can do this,” said Giuki.
The target was 30 miles from Annichi’s house, where all three households were gathered for the final stage of the trip to Hatteras. The ninjas were up and out in time to arrive at the sale before 8:00 AM. There was a glitch. Mapquest missed one the the vital turns. We were in the parking lot at 8:04, and we were the 15th car. Rats!

The ninjas disguised themselves as mild-mannered, carefree browsers, who might pick up a fat quarter. Quietly, they inquired where was the yarn? They wondered how many yarn customers they’d have to compete with.
Not to worry, though, there was plenty of yarn, and we did not have to break anybody’s arm to get to in. The prices were so low that our normal dickering was pointless. Only one of the sellers had cone yarn. She had planned to get into machine knitting, but it proved too complicated, she said. She also said she got rid of the machine years ago, so no need to ask her any thing about that. We bought all but one cone of her yarn stash. The cones were priced at $1 per cone, except where there were multiple cones of the same yarn, which were bagged up and sold for $1 per bag. We got wool/rayon, cotton 6/2, cotton flake 16/2, two diferent mohairs, and on and on and on. The seller gave us the totes she had stored the yarn in. The rest of our 45 minutes was spent acquiring a bag full of quilt fabric, including a lot of japanese inspired prints, and a bunch of fat quarters sold 3 for $1. Also acquired another pasta queen ($4) and a bolt of upholstery material ($3). Books and magazines rounded out our purchases. The total for the 3 of us came to $57. It was the Best. Sale. Ever. The adrenaline jag lasted 2 hours.
I had taken the Brother kx350, so we played with a couple of the yarns at the beach house: a little hand transfer lace, a cowl collar, and a maternity number which we designed collaboratively, and I knit up and finished in about 3 hours.

Designed from a 'two silk squares' sweater meets Momma Turtle.

However, only one of us can wear that one. We wound off balls of yarn for each of us, according to our interest. The cotton fluff yarn featured in this sweater was also turned into a bunny pompom tail for ‘chicken butt’, the knit bunny hilariously named by the three year old.

DDIL is a size 6 in her other life. The sweater gauge came in at 4st x 6r to the inch on the kx350. For the back- Cast on 60, mock rib (EON) at tension 0.5 (that's right!) for 50 rows, hang the hem on the empty needles, (120 stitches now) and knit 90 rows at tension 5. take 29 stitches on left side, and 29 stitches on right side off on waste yarn. Those are the shoulders. Bind off the remaining center section. For the front, repeat, except knit 138 rows at tension 5. Graft the shoulders together, and sew the sides together starting 7 or 8 inches below the shoulder seam, and easing the extra front length to come out even at the mock ribbing. Put on pregnant model and admire.

5 (or 7) easy pieces

2011-05-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

So here's the little tiger's bomber jacket and boots. This was knit from DAK shapes, standard sizes. Just put in my gauge and followed. I did use full fashion decreases, and that gave me nice raglan seams. I almost followed this pattern all the way... But...
It's hard to see in this pic, but there's two rows of purl about 3/4 inch above the bottom ribbings. That's where I started to wander.

I didn't want to use rib on the front closing. So, I hung the edge, and used quaker stitch, giving my garter bar a little exercise. It turned out nice and neat, and the buttonholes are hidden in the knit ditch between the two purl bands. In the above pic, I am stretching them open with pins to show you where they are hiding, The ending purl band curls under, so finish is neat.

Then, I repeated the quaker stitch for the cuff of the booties.

Here's a pic of the 5 garment pieces just off the machine. The back argyled nicely. Didn't expect that!

I used a sock weight hand-painted 100% merino yarn from Pollywogs. It took two skeins (each was 50 gm, 218 yds). I used the Singer 560, with the ribber. The ribs were done at tension 4/4 and the rest was done at tension 6.2.

Notice that I used sock yarn, and made socks. Must. Break. Out. of this. Rut.

Already Frogged!

2011-04-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, there's a contest for unfinished projects. Not doing me too much good, because I already ripped my unfinished stuff last month. I had a good day with the ball winder, and my yarn stash grew in inverse proportion to my projects stash. I needed to clean up the mess. It was seriously keeping me from moving forward. I wanted to start some new projects, and the old, unfinished stuff was keeping me from doing that. Seriously, the only projects I have started and completed for a couple months are more socks. Well, we're all socked up, here. And we need to move on.

I did make lace socks, a la Carol Wurst, this week. I made short socks, for my crocs.

Socks, it turns out, are like potato chips. You really just can't stop. Cousin K was here on Tuesday for Quilting day, and she graciously agreed to accept a pair of cashmere lace socks the next time we quilt. I was so happy to have a home for another pair so that I could make them without guilt. Then, as I was efficiently packing away the ripped yarn, I found a cone of 2/6 cotton. Sounds like more socks to me. Perhaps my problem was NOT UFO guilt.

Arigato, Temple Sale.

2011-03-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some skeins of yarn from Japan. When I visited my sister there, back in the 90's, we stumbled on to a temple rummage sale in the plaza, next to the train station. I spent a grand total of 1700 yen, and had enough chachkes and dessert and saki sets that I did not need to buy any other souvenirs. It cost me 35$ to UPS my loot home.
I bought a bag of these cute little 25 gm skeins of yarn at the temple sale.
Today, in yet another futile attempt to find something lost in the stash, they surfaced. My first question was, what are they: acrylic? Wool? My second question was: how am I going to find out?
Well, the answer is Google translate. I know what you are thinking. Sure, that works fine if you can write Japanese. Well, I can't. So I had to enter likely English words and see what the Japanese translation looked like.
So, the first skein is 45% acrylic, 35% wool, and 20% nylon. The middle one is 60% acrylic, 40% cotton, and the brown stuff is 55% acrylic, 45% ???? I tried every fiber ingredient I could think of, and didn't get a match for the brown. The little symbols show wash water at 30 degrees C. and there's no X through the little symbol for the iron. Whatever it is, I can wash it.
I have 100 gm. of the first kind, and 50 gm each of the other two. All three are 2 ply, and about half the size of 4 ply sock yarn. So, perfect for the knitting machine!

Blue Toed Tyrolean Clown Socks

2011-03-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

My tyrolean clown is 6'7", with size 13 clodhoppers. He likes a sock with a deep (10" ) cuff, and needs socks that do not bind anywhere, but stay up anyway. I always MK the rib as an industrial rib- a k2p2 half-pitch rib which has 30% more stitches than a full-pitch k2p2. This means that, aside from making humungous socks, the rib part is also eating up extra yarn. I always plan on three 50 gm skeins to finish a pair of socks for DH. If I have less than that, he gets blue toes. I'll be running out of blue sock yarn some time in 2015.

This winter, we were helping to host the Adirondack Mountain Club winter outing, and Mark was always pulling up his pant leg to show people his socks. People would come up to me, and tell me how much they like the socks, and how much DH likes them, too. I told them this is why I don't make him underwear.

Felting in the Dryer, and Little Zippers

2011-03-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some kids slippers, knit from Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky. Top picture shows them after felting, lower is before felting. It is a pattern that I have been working on for a few while, which is why I have knit 11 pairs, not all of them kids sizes.
I wanted a pattern that is simple, quick, in-the-round, and no-sew. This is what I came up with.
The pattern for the kids' sizes is 16 rows. No. Kidding. And it is felted in the dryer- a technique that I got from a friend. The slippers were about an inch shorter after felting.
I've been wearing a similar pair as house shoes for the past 3 months, and they are holding up very well.

A skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky is 125 yards, and will make 2 pairs of kids slippers. You can make these slippers on dp's, one two circulars, or on one longish circular (magic loop). The slipper is knit from the top down, the last row being the middle of the sole. Knit the last row with a needle a couple sizes larger, and you can close the sole by 'zipping' it shut: pulling stitches from alternate sides through one another from toe end to heel end, where your yarn end goes in the last loop. This closing resembles another garter stitch row, and matches the elasticity of the rest of the sole.

This being March Madness, I can tell you that I can knit a pair of these in the time it takes to watch a basketball game. However, as I explained above, I've had a bit of practice. YMMV.

If you would like to have the kids zippers pattern, just send me an e-mail (sharonwue-at-yahoo-dot-com) and I will send it along. It is copyrighted, so please do not distribute. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the pattern, especially the 'in-the-round vs sew-it-up' and the 'zipper closing' features.

Meantime, about felting in the dryer: Here's how I do it.
With the items sopping wet, put them in the dryer with some small towels. (I use hand towels, kitchen towels, golf towels, etc. Bath towels are too big and heavy for this job, IMHO.) Run the dryer on low, or no, heat. Check every 10 to 15 minutes. When you check them, work out the toe and heel with your fingers, where the slippers want to bubble a bit. Don't let them dry out. Re-sop them, as this is a WET process. You can only do it in the dryer if YOU provide the WET environment that felting needs. My slippers were dropped in a basin of water again at 30 minutes in, and, dripping wet, they were flung back into the dryer to continue tumbling. Mine were tumbled for less than an hour, total. Pull, push them into shape and dry. If they are still squishy when you are done felting, I spin them out in the washer to speed drying. After that, I do put them in a (front loading) washer to launder when they need it, but I DO NOT dry them in the dryer.

Bamboo yarn and snake oil.

2011-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

What do you think when you see that a yarn is 20% bamboo? Maybe, how cool is that? Save the planet. Natural fiber.
Me, too.
So, how do you think they MAKE bamboo into spinnable fiber and yarn, and why do they do it?
Hmm.
"While specifics can vary, the general process for chemically manufacturing bamboo fiber using hydrolysis alkalization with multi-phase bleaching technology – which is the dominate technology for producing regenerated bamboo fiber – goes like this:

Bamboo leaves and the soft, inner pith from the hard bamboo trunk are extracted and crushed;
The crushed bamboo cellulose is soaked in a solution of 15% to 20% sodium hydroxide at a temperature between 20 degrees C to 25 degrees C for one to three hours to form alkali cellulose;
The bamboo alkali cellulose is then pressed to remove any excess sodium hydroxide solution. The alkali cellulose is crashed by a grinder and left to dry for 24 hours;
Roughly a third as much carbon disulfide is added to the bamboo alkali cellulose to sulfurize the compound causing it to jell;
Any remaining carbon disulfide is removed by evaporation due to decompression and cellulose sodium xanthogenate is the result;
A diluted solution of sodium hydroxide is added to the cellulose sodium xanthogenate dissolving it to create a viscose solution consisting of about 5% sodium hydroxide and 7% to 15% bamboo fiber cellulose.
The viscose bamboo cellulose is forced through spinneret nozzles into a large container of a diluted sulfuric acid solution which hardens the viscose bamboo cellulose sodium xanthogenate and reconverts it to cellulose bamboo fiber threads which are spun into bamboo fiber yarns to be woven into reconstructed and regenerated bamboo fabric.

This gives some feel for how chemically intensive the hydrolysis-alkalization and multiphase bleaching manufacturing processes are for most bamboo fabrics that are promoted as being sustainable and eco-friendly."

http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html

This is the same process used for making rayon out of wood fiber. In the US, Bamboo yarn made by this process should be labelled "bamboo rayon".

Design-wise, rayon (whether from wood products or bamboo) take a nice dye, has good drape, wears well, etc. I'll keep all that in mind when I'm shopping. But I think I'll keep the manufacturing process in mind, too. And my scotch soul wants to know why I would pay a premium price for something that's half rayon.

I feel I've been a victim of marketing (Look! Green, sustainable Bamboo!), but it was my own fault. We'd all like to think we are doing things in a greener, more sustainable way. But it's way more complicated than buying some bamboo yarn.

Knitting with the lights off

2011-02-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I had a rich fantasy life. I spent a lot of time pretending I was blind- I tried to fool people into thinking I was a blind kid. Why, you ask? I'm sure I had a good reason at the time. At any rate, I practiced using my finger to feel how full the glass was getting, so that I could pour a glass of milk without looking. I walked around the house with my eyes closed, to get used to where the doorways and furniture were. I knitted in the dark.
The only habit I have retained from this skill set is the last one. And, it doesn't have to be dark, really- I just knit the easy stuff without looking. Okay, I check the work every so often...except when I am knitting in the car at night. Knitting-while-riding is a good reason to knit without looking. If you look at your knitting while in a moving vehicle, you have about 10 minutes before you need the proverbial air-sickness bag.
Knitting in the dark does come back to bite you every now and then. An unnoticed yarn-over becomes a stitch...and the next day, in the light, you are fixing or frogging.
Even so, the benefits (productivity) outweigh the drawbacks (occasional fix/frog). And, when you can knit without looking, your neck and shoulders will thank you. Here's how you get there.
1. Start with plain and simple. Do a scarf in garter stitch, or work on the plain body of a sock in the round. Find a comfy chair and put your feet up. (this makes it harder to look at every stitch.) Knit one row very slowly, getting all of you information from your fingers. Feel each step of each stitch. Do not permit yourself to peek until you complete the row. How did you do? If you did okay, turn and do a second row without peeking. Again, keep it slow, and let your brain visualize the picture that your fingers are sending.
Don't worry about keeping a very slow pace. Rhythm is more important than speed right now. Speed will build with practice. If you need proof, just use a timer when you knit your second or third row, then put the timer away until you are practicing row 15 or 20. You will see that you will already be waaaaayyyy faster than when you started.
So, look at your knitting at the end of every row, and (for now) when you turn your knitting to start the next row.
2. Set some goals. When you can knit garter stitch pretty reliably, or knit an inch of your plain sock, take stock. You now know that your fingers can work pretty well without being watched. Your fingers can 'see' the stitches. It is time to let your fingers practice some new skills. Try knitting a plain rib without looking. Let your fingers 'see' which are the knit stitches and which are the purls. Or try turning your knitting to start a new row, without peeking.
It's nothing but a little practice, really. Each new added skill will probably need 30 or 45 minutes to learn and practice.
Whether you peek, or not, there's a great little garter stitch sweater for a toddler on the Lion Brand site, called "Blarney Stone Cardigan". Here's the link:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90739AD.html?noImages=&utm_source=20110211_Feb11&utm_medium=Emails&utm_campaign=Weeklynewsletter&utm_content=P-KnitBlarneyStoneCardigan-90739&r=1

90739ada.jpg

passap and white form computers

2010-10-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

A great, but hot!, day at the Fair

2010-09-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

Darling Cousin K and I went to the fair, with DCK's granddaughter and gd's friend. We were treated to, and entertained by, in no particular order, visits to the places the girls had been yesterday when they went to the fair with spa-purchasing parents, demonstrations of the recliner-footrests in the back seat of Toyota vans; free water at the DEC building; maple cotton candy; frisbee dogs, tigers, the wool barn, and some short forays into the Pigs/llamas/goats/ sheep/ rabbits exhibits; lunch in the international building; the butter sculpture; the home and art center, with all the quilts and needlework competitions; the Agriculture museum, where we found the derivation of the idiom 'to knock off' work; Where all the vendors with $1 water are; the live music by the center for progress; 19 trips through the horticulture building (seemed like); bitty baby outfits; apple dumpling sundaes; and fudge, of course.

We needed all that water. It was a scorcher! Happliy, they did not announce the temperature on the fairgrounds.

We all got in for free, some of us for being old, some for being young.
By the time I got home, i was too tired to fill DH in on all of our adventures...

Painting the windows- or - the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

2009-09-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

The windows were installed in 1998. I am painting them nine years later.
To be fair, there are a lot of windows in this house, and I have painted all the other ones, including windows that were new in 2005.
And another point to be considered: While I have not finished painting all the windows, the ceiling trim in the living room has not been completed, and that ceiling went up in 86. We are working on that, too. As a matter of fact, I got out the paint to prime and paint the woodwork before it gets fitted and installed.
We have also renewed our promise to finish the dining room. It's disparate elements do not match each other, never mind matching the rest of the house.
I wonder why this stuff has not bothered us? I think the fact that they were 'on the list' was enough to keep us unbothered in those busy years. In fact, they don't bother us now. We just have the time to do it.
We have never lived in a finished house. I wonder what that's like? do you still have a list? What do you put on it?

What to Name the Cat

2009-09-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

There's a week's worth of kitty crap in the box, but the cat remains without a name. Of course, the cat doesn't care. But, she IS trying to get herself named. She streaks through the house, starting her ascent to the bathroom counter before it is even in sight. She runs so heavily on the upstairs carpets that she would make a pony proud. She energetically fishes the treat off the top of the stool, manuevering it over the edge of the seat, to fall on the floor, where she chomps it down and looks up for another. She leaves a small dimple in the bedspread, on the opposite side of the bed from the dog's big dimple. She works patiently to get every door open, no matter how long it takes. She sleeps in the Old lady's chair. DH thinks that Parker (a la 'Nosy Parker') fits her. I'm thinking 'Bullet' or 'Crash'.
I'm thinking that a young cat takes a little getting used to, after years with a geriatric one. But I do like the way she feels. She's firm, sleek, and thoroughly relaxed in my arms. She drapes on my shoulder. She stretches up to meet my hand.
I like that the dog likes her. Sally suffered the disapproval of the Old Lady without complaint. This cat not only accepts Sally, she enjoys Sally. Sally is ecstatic.
If you have any good cat names, let me know.

Julie and Julia go to the Panda Buffet.

2009-09-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Went to the movies- Sunday matinee- senior discount ticket. I enjoyed "Julie and Julia" so much. The screenplay should get Nora Ephron an Academy Award nomination, and I hope both Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci get them, too!
DH is ready to read "My Life in France", which I have, and he has some notion of cooking a lot of Julia's recipes, as though their happiness (Julia and Paul) was somehow enhanced by the recipes, and not the other way around.
He also said "You blog." Whatever that means. I think he's got a screenplay running in his head.

We left the mall, and went to the Panda buffet for supper. There's ironic contrast for you!

Day #2 at the State Fair

2009-09-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I was back at the State Fair, this time with a couple of knitting machines, and another MKer, to demonstrate machine knitting in the Arts and Crafts exhibit. BMKFF (Best Machine Knitting Friend Forever - left photo) and I had a great time. We had only met by email before today, and we certainly didn't get as much time as we wanted to chat.
Getting onto the state fairgrounds, finding parking to unload, carrying and setting up, tearing down and repacking aside, the day was a walk in the park. Happily, I had help from the volunteers at the arts & crafts exhibit. I especially appreciated Dan's help at the end of the day.
We were set up, and knitting, shortly after 10:00 am. A steady flow of people stopped by all day. We were scheduled to demo from 10 to 2, but before we knew it , it was 4:00!
Around noon, I headed to the Pepsi International Bldg, for a lamb gyro. It took me until 2 to get it all eaten. Driving home, I picked up some caffeine in Pulaski (and I stopped at Collosse Cheese.) By the time I had unloaded the car at home, I knew I had had a long day, but a great one.
Everytime that I knit with someone else, it recharges my MK batteries. BMKFF gave me a big boost, with her noodlings on the passap. She had some terrific samples, and the cutest baby socks. I came home and apologized to my passap, Polly, which I have to walk by to get to Bette Brother , Susie Singer and Sally Superba. I sense Polly needs more than an apology.

The Butter Sculpture at the State Fair

2009-09-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the butter sculpture. This year's entry, called "Cow Power", is a reference to the good old days when milk was delivered. By Milkmen. It also references the generation of methane from manure, a source of fuel that many farms generate and use. So far, so good.
The thing that hit me was: There are 3 cow characters in the sculpture. They are all dressed as males. Not one of the 'male cows' (true oxymoron!!) produces milk. Could we not have had one of them dressed as a female cartoon cow?
Maybe they could have had a female cartoon cow, representing a housewife, accepting a delivery of milk? How funny would THAT be?
I know you are thinking that the sculptor was a guy. Wrong. I saw the tape. Sculptor of this 800 pounds of butter was a woman.
You are also thinking "who cares?" You are right. This doesn't matter at all. Except that the American Dairy Association, which pays for this display, has clearly made sure in the past that the display had 'gender balance': If there's a young boy in the sculpture, there's a young girl.
AND, this is the American Dairy Association, not some other organization that doesn't know a bull from a cow, or which gender of cattle produces milk. Maybe that's the touchy issue here.
Still, I recall butter sculptures in the past (I think they are real memories) that did not shy away from depicting anatomically correct udders- And to tell the truth, you can walk a few hundred feet from the Dairy building to one of the cow barns, and see them in the flesh.
No, I don't think this year's sculpture needed udders. It just needed a girl, cartoon or not.

Yarn Love

2009-08-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

This yummy pile of yarn is the result of an impulse buy -
Let me start over-
I went to Stone Mills during the wool/sheep festival, and I bought a large bag of fleece. The shearer was shearing the vet's flock. The fleece was pretty clean, but mainly I bought it because it was nice and healthy, and it was the right length- around 3-4 inches. There were bags of lincoln cross fleeces (8-10 inches) and romney fleeces (6-8 inches)- but I wanted something that would run happily through the drum carder. So even though I had to skirt pretty hard to get just the quality part of the fleece, I was happy. It cleaned up nice. I spun 17 ounces total, and 1188 yards. So that amounts to a batch of sport weight (more or less). Then, I dyed it with Cushing acid reactive- Used the burner on the gas grill to simmer the batch. After drying, I rewound the skein. It's just lovely and soft. Glad I left it as a single. I am going to try it on the double bed knitting machine. I'll let you know how that goes.
By the way, this was spun on Big Zippy. (Check the old posts under 'spinning' and 'spinning wheel' labels.)

Golf and more Golf!

2009-08-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, DH and I joined the fun at Willowbrook Golf Course for the Resolution Center golf tournament. We were in the coed division. (Wasn't it nice of them to have a coed division? I never mind that the hot golfers come to win, win, win. I just come to golf and enjoy the day, and support the Resolution Center. Still- nice to compete in a different division than the 300 yard hitters.)
On Monday, The Ladies Monday Night league at Cedars wrapped up. We had a nice fun-night, and some great lasagna. See you all next year!
On Tuesday, I met up with DC (Darling Cousin) in Cicero, and we went to Brookhaven Golf course for 9 holes of fun. First time for me at Brookhaven. Nice course. then we went for lunch at Pronto Joey's, and my ankles are still sloshing after the having the wonderful (and very bad for you) eggplant sandwich. We did some other stuff, too, but this post is all golf!
Today, it is raining, and there will be no golf.
Soon, we'll be hip deep in bowling season, and as the days shorten it will get tougher and tougher to find some daylight to golf in. Sigh!

Golf on Friday morning---

2009-08-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was bumbling around at 7:17 this morning, sipping my coffee and going for the paper, when Mark said "What time are you golfing?" THEN I remembered that I was supposed to meet my foursome at 7:15. So I left immediately for the golf course. I was the last to arrive, and I only held everybody up for a few minutes.
After today's round, I think I better golf early in the morning all the time. I carded a 50 (Woo Hoo!!) and I had 3 pars (double Woo Hoo!!!) Of course, maybe it's not the time of day. Maybe it's golfing with no bra. Will find out tomorrow.

Where have I been?

2009-08-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

Boy, there's the question. Do you mean geographically? I've been to VA, NC, and Ontario.
Do you mean I haven't been blogging, and why is that? That's a longer answer.
Do you mean you missed me?
I'll try to catch you up later, but for now, I'll just tell you about today.
Today, I went to Lake Bonaparte, and joined a picnic with hand spinners. There were children in the water, there were wet dogs under the picnic table. There was fleece, and linen, and spinning. There were kayaks and canoes. There was FOOD! I don't know when I will be able to eat again. Not today, for sure.
The breeze off the lake just blew away everyone's cares.
We noticed that there are DEC campsites up the road by the boat ramp. Hmm. We are thinking of coming back here in September, with the camper. The dog agrees that that is a great plan.

A week At Wellesley Island is like a Month...

2009-06-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

We dragged the camper to Wellesley Island, a whole 35 miles from home. We got there, in the rain, on sunday. We slept 10 or 11 hours. The phones are turned off because we are on 'roam'- nothing but canadian towers in range. We can't get US radio, just canadian. we might as well BE in Canada. the border is actually about 100 yards in front of us- the Canadian Coast Guard boats are by several times a day. Monday, I read. And read. The rain had stopped. We drove back to Carthage to golf inour leagues. Tuesday, we went to Kingston- a little shopping, and lunch at a favorite restaurant. An hour at the casino on the way back. Wednesday, we laid around- friends came by for the afternoon- then more friends showed up for an ADK event- a kayak paddle from our campsite to the rift and back. I turned around before the rift. I didn't want to deal with paddling against the current to get back through the rift. (For those who do not know the waters around Wellesley island, the rift is a narrow granite channel in the river, over which the international bridge, and border, is located. If you paddle in the rift, you can paddle under the bridge at the border!!! (We have done this before, notable on the day after 9-11. You gotta love life in the North Country.)
Any how- we had a great covered dish picnic, with burgers and dogss, and s'mores.
Thursday- we went golfing at the little 9 hole course in Fineview (another state park- the senior greens fee is $6. )
Came home Thursday night, as it was going to rain again.
Now it is Friday, and we are doing a week's worth of laundry and then heading out for a weekend in Corning, with you-know-who, and you-know-who-else.
I hope somebody wants to go to the races.

Sally + Porcupine = Tainted Love

2009-05-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

Oops! It happened again. Sally found the porcupine- her barking told Mark that she had the critter cornered. by the time Mark met up with her three minutes later, she was sporting a face full of quills.
Sally was a good girl, and took her medicine- all those quills had to be pulled. Her face was puffy for a couple days after.
Then, she had a few quills in her face--AGAIN! How could that be? She has been on her leash the whole time.
Well, it seems that Mark collected the quills in a bowl as he was taking them out of her face, and left the bowl on the porch. He found them dumped on the porch. Guess Sally couldn't resist a sniff.
She can NEVER resist. She is ALWAYS sorry..... but she can never, never resist.
I know how she feels.

A job with the Census

2009-04-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

I forgot what a pain-in-the-ass a job can be. No, you can't take your phone calls. No, you can't knit. (16 tons, and what do you get? Another day older an deeper in debt.) Anyway, the folks I am working with are nice, and it's nice to be out running the road, and getting paid. Oh, yeah! Now I remember why I'm doing this. It's the money.
And, I can still fit in my spinning day, my mk day, etc, during the month. And it's only part time and ends in the summer. (I am really saying all this to de-stress myself. Guess I like retirement a lot after all.)
Mark and Sally have been taking long walks in the woods, where Sally can find places to swim (the swamp). When they get home, Sally takes a nap on my side of the bed. The comforter looks like it's been to the swamp. The dog, however, is shiny and fluffy.
Gotta go to work.

Home Improvements

2009-04-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Whew! Home again! We spent a couple days in Tucson and then went to Denver for a visit with Gkids and their adorable parents. Mark decided to tackle a home improvement project- just something small to pass the time. Maybe he'd replace a light fixture. Well, the kids wanted to take the carpet out of the bathrooms and put down flooring. So that's what he started. Mark and Mark would pull the carpet, take out the toilets, and prep. Sharon and Kate would fit and put down the new sheet goods. You can already tell what is going to happen, can't you. I will only say that, by the time we were finished, no one will fall through the new plywood. No, toilets aren't supposed to rock- fixed that.
Anyway- we are back home, having flown on the only day last week when things were not backed up all over the country by weather and wind. Nice ride home. Glad to be in my own bed.
I saw the robins and starlings out shopping for nest material in the back yard. They were pulling pieces of dried daylily leaf from the flower beds. I put out a big wad of wool, knowing from past years that the birds consider it premo nest lining. They found it immediately, and started taking strands of it.

Wobbley Stripes!

2009-03-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

I visited Karen Allen's site
http://www.karenallen-fiberarts.com
last week, and was inspired by her stitch designs. Thought I might have a try at some of these wonderful stripes. I figured out that all of her sweaters, scarves and hats are based on a couple of multistitch tuck patterns. I found one of the patterns in the stitchworld collection, and I recreated the second one from scratch. Then, I sampled.
Pictures 1 and 2 show a 2 color, two row stripe in a simple 1 row tuck. I will play with this some more, as I think this is how the caravan pattern stripes are made-
The pic 3 is knitside, and then, purlside. I used 4 colors and the stripes were 4 rows. Stripe order: BRB, ERE, GBG, EGE, RBR, EBE, RGR, GEG. I am loving the possibilities.
WooHoo!

Big Zippy's Birthday!!

2009-02-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

Now, I built Zippy, and you all know how pleased I am with Zippy. I want to point out that Zippy was put together out of PVC pipe and pipe joints. It is held together with rubber bands, because I have not yet glued the PVC pipe. Even so, Zippy is a work of art because she lets you spin Soooooo faaaaaaasssssst. I have been spinning dog hair, and I can fill a bobbin (2 oz) of a nicely spun single in mind bending time.
DH planned and built Big Zippy. It has a louet jumbo head, so Big Zippy does fat yarn. Of course, DH is not going to put something together out of PVC pipe. Oh, no. He is going to built a freakin' work of art. It not only spins like crazy, but is pleasing in every other way, as well.
(I think Zippy can hear me....) I THINK THEY ARE BOTH BEAUTIFUL!
I'll tell you what part of me thinks that: my feet and my hands! My feet think so because they are not trying to treadle like the wicked witch of the east on her bicycle. My hands think so because they are drafting faster and faster. (My whole body enjoys spinning about 6 feet back from the orifice, a trick that cannot be accomplished if you have to treadle.)
Zippy and Big Zippy join an extensive family of spinning wheels. I have the terrific open spindle spinner that DH made for me last year, the $10 Lendrum, and 2 Adkins double treadle wheels. I feel like Mia Farrow (If Mia Farrow was a handspinner and adopted every wheel she saw...)
Well, you know what I mean.

The Hair of the Dog

2009-02-14T04:17:00.000-08:00

I made handspun yarn from dog hair, for a woman who wants to knit a sentimental piece for the dog's owner. I made 240 yards, and when she picked up the yarn, she wanted about three times more. Okay, then. She dropped off a large bag of dog hair, and that has become my fill-in spinning. When I don't have a project, I spin the hair of the dog. On Zippy. My spinning speed is next to incredible on Zippy. I have gotten faster and faster.
Meantime, I think Zippy 2 will be ready for a test drive today. DH has been fussing with Z2 in the shop off and on for several days. Z2 will be cosmetically more attractive than Z, and has a bigger bobbin and is bobbin drive/flyer brake (it's a louet head).
Back to the Dog Hair.
This stuff is really very soft, and spins up nicely. (Note to BrooklynJogger: If Frederick ever grows any hair, save some for me.)
On to Knitting machines: This event will be known as the Crash of 09. I am talking about a 20 meg hard drive on a 386, with 8 meg of enhanced memory. Is there anybody around who still knows what that is? If so, this part is for you. The only thing this old 386 had to do was run an old version of knitting machine software- a DOS application that is basically a very enhanced bar code reader. She has been doing that since the early 90's. Well, not today. Oh, No! the 16 year old 20 meg seagate crashed. Totally. I did all the things you do, but she was dead. A goner. passed on. crossed over. Kicked the bucket. Not coming back any time soon.
Of course, the tragedy of any crash is not the drive, but what was on it. When I lost the drive, I lost the knitting machine software. The software, which I love, has been through a few upgrades since my version, and I had to go shopping. Sticker shock aside, I located the stuff and I'm still entitled to the upgrade price!! (Look for the silver lining...) So, I will shortly be back in business, with both of my electronic KM's on the same 'page' (of the software, that is). NOW, I'm excited. I am going skiing today. It is 'poke you in the eye' beautiful outside. A brilliant, clear, sunny day, with a couple inches of new snow on a wonderful, dense base. Perfect for a glide in the woods. The dog will get all the exercise she can stand. If you could look out over the corn fields, to the woods, and see the crisp shadows that every stick and stalk is painting with the early morning sun- you would want to be me today. Wish you all were here.

Two Left Hands

2009-01-31T06:52:00.000-08:00

My regular readers know that I am left-handed. All the lefties have figured out how to get along in a right-handed culture, and I don't know of any that would want to change hands. Of course, the older you get, and the more things you do, the more you learn that you were born with a PAIR of hands, and while one is, so-called, dominant, most tasks take two hand cooperating. Lefties don't have a dominant left hand, so much as their 'control center' for two-handed operation is not in the same brain real estate as the righties.
Lefties are 10% of the population, but are way over-represented in sports (go Rafa!), politics (lot of left-handed presidents including Obama), and science and engineering. I think part of a Lefty's success comes from being in the minority nearly anytime they are in a group. Lefties adapt.
Lecture over.
I had a treat of a day last Tuesday, when K came for the day, and we quilted ALL DAY! K is also a lefty. We had the pleasure of sitting side by side at sewing machines, and sharing cutting space and an ironing board. A lefty and a righty teaming up for this would have a different dance to do. Odds are, the lefty would have been a bit hypervigilant to keep out of the righty's way, and the righty would not have noticed. Ah, but TWO lefties - it's all good.
K finished an adorable quilt top in crayon colors. I made another tote bag. (Quelle surprise!)
Wait- I know that THIS will impress you- the bag is finished! Totally!
Now, since the sun is shining on the several feet of brilliant snow that we have, and since, while the temperature is bitter (0 degrees), there is no wind, we will be taking the dog out for a romp while we haul in firewood. We will have to shovel our way to the woodpile, but it's fluffy, sort of. We have not had any warm weather, so there will be no icy layer to make the shoveling interesting.
We have definitely arrived in the pit of winter. The bird feeders in the side yard are bracketed by two knife-edge drifts. The birds are hanging out in the deep valley between the drifts, under the feeder. They are cozy and out of the wind, with free food all around them. You can't see them on the ground, unless you look down from an upstairs window.
But now, at the end of January, the sun is high enough that it will warm you, even on a 0 degree day. Spring will come. It is inevitable now.

It's up to 40!!

2009-01-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

Degrees, that is. that's the first time over freezing since Christmas time. I went out in the sunshine, with a shovel and cleaned off the steps and the walkway. Such a treat to see the packed snow peel up on the shovel, and the steps and bricks reappear. We have not been able to keep the walk bare- too much snow, and no place to put it, really. With a little above-freezing weather, the top of the snow crust melts a little and slumps, so that what was 27 inches is more like 15. And, you can finally see what slobs the birds are! Under the feeders, the seed hulls and chaff are appearing out of the snow. The dog wants to stay outside. She curls up on the snowbank by the door, and snoozes with her nose in her tail. It's quiet outside, but a very alive quiet. I shoveled out the end of the driveway, where the plow has shoved the road-scraped packed snow and ice. It is heavy work, but I went at it slowly, stopping and leaning on my shovel and giving a neighborly wave when any car passed.
Inside, I watered all the plants. Great news! The Amarylis is preparing to bloom! The flower bud has emerged from the bulb and is headed skyward. It's about 4 inches tall this morning. It will be 8 inches tall tomorrow. The amarylis is another of my houseplants with birthdays, though she is only 5 years old. She was a marked-down-to-50-cents after-Christmas purchase in 2003. I brought her home, where she bloomed in February. Then, I put the pot outside under the lilac branches, and forgot her. In the fall, I noticed the bulb was showing good green color under the brown husk, so I repotted her and brought her in. She bloomed in February again. I have repotted her annually since, though I have not really put her in a bigger pot. She bloomed twice in 2007, and once in 2008. Each time she blooms, she gives me 4 or 5 big blossoms. I have no idea how long this can go on. Does the bulb ever divide? And who cares? Come February the first, there will be big red blooms in a south window, looking out over the snow. I can never repay her.

Alternate Bowling Arrangements

2009-01-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

So, I got picked up by another team at another bowling lanes on a Friday night league. It's a little like being adopted- There's loss and guilt to deal with, and not as much joy as you'd think. However, when you gotta bowl, sometimes you are going to feel dirty. I'll get over it.
I wasn't thinking about bowling today. When the snow finally stopped at noon time, I headed out to unbury the vehicles and get some firewood in. Two hours later, I was stripping out of wet jeans, and I had been through three pairs of heavy wool mittens. The wood was in, the cars and the driveway were cleared. That is the moment that the plow came by, winging back the bank, and filling the end of the driveway with heavy, chunky road snow. I took some tylenol, and after it kicked in, I booted up again, and put in another 30 minutes clearing the driveway. The banks are high, so each shovel-load had to be flung up, over the banks. I was so aerobicized today I made Mark get those Pepperidge farm raspberry turnovers, and some really great vanilla ice cream to help reclog my arteries this evening.
The rest of the fun I had today involved entering several months worth of bank transactions in Quicken so I can start the taxes. Mark has been handling Quicken for the last couple of years. He stopped putting in transactions a few months ago. Surprise.
Oh, well. As Scarlet says, "Tomorrow is another day." I hope its not like today.

Oh, No! Not the Bowling Alley!

2009-01-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

I awoke this morning to the news that my bowling alley is gone- burned down last night. I am is shock and in mourning. Once again I find myself a member of a very small set: bowlers whose lanes have burned down THREE TIMES! What are the odds? I mean, this isn't Baltimore, or some other fine bowling city where people actually insure their bowling alleys for what it would cost to rebuild them if, god forbid, catastrophe strikes.
The first disaster was January (I think) 1991. Okay, the alleys burned, but they were able to save the outer walls, and we were bowling again by September. The second time was '99. The alleys were not rebuilt. So, I bowled a couple seasons at Pine Plains, and then went to Lewis Lanes. I can tell you this: there is no joy in Lowville (or Carthage) today.
As it happens, I AM bowling today- at Pine Plains with the Senior Citizen league. The mood will be glum. Every person in that league bowled in one or the other of the lanes that are no more.
You know what? I bought a new ball on Friday. So did 3 other members of my team. My ball is with me. Theirs are all at the bowling alley. Pass some more kleenex, please.

Getting back to knitting (spinning, quilting)...

2009-01-02T04:38:00.000-08:00

It's January 2, and 2009 is spread out before me. I want it filled with knitting, spinning, and quilting. Prospects look good for January. The calendar reveals a spinning gathering on the 14th, a roadtrip the 16th - 18th to pick up a new (to me) knitting machine, and a January 27th day of quilting with Cousin K.
I had planned to forego resolutions, but I think I was just reluctant to name my true resolutions, as they had nothing to do with self-improvement, and everything to do with bliss. Mine.
The mice were in the kitchen again, which resulted in a New Year's foray - drawers were emptied, implements put in the dishwasher, traps were put down. An execution occurred sometime during the night. While reassembling the kitchen, I sorted out some items to be discarded. Wooden spoons. We don't cook with wooden spoons. DH said he could use the kindling. I noticed that each wooden spoon had a groove or knob at the end of the handle, just right for a half-hitch if you had a mind to use them as drop spindles. Spoon number 1 had a wildly eccentric spin, which I could have predicted if I had looked at how warped it was from tip to tip. Spoon number 2 spun well, and was heavy enough to produce a decent yarn. DH and I discussed the merits of spoons a spindles. I recalled Ruth Allen's demonstration at the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival last September. I described to DH her insights, which she shared while demonstrating spinning using a twig and a rock. DH suggested that the spoon would spin as well as a drop spindle with a conventional whorl.
I don't think so. I think it works. A 'twig and a rock' works. A drop spindle with a whorl works. But one works better than the other. One reason the spindle with whorl may work better is that it would be less affected a breeze- just in case you spin outside - and if you spin and walk, that spindle and whorl might just keep spinning better when you swing it, or when the camel you are riding sways from side to side. I'm just saying. But you know I will check this out as soon as the snow melts. And I get a camel. But the other stuff, sure.
Advice for all my friends: Bliss is where it's at. Don't wait. Make your resolution.

2009- more or less the same?

2008-12-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

The snow was up to out butts, and we had not seen the ground in 5 weeks. It was definitely time for a road trip to Virginia and a nice visit with DD, DSIL, and DGS. It was marvelous to take the dogs for a walk around to Dunkin Donuts and back. The dogs were happy to go, anytime a leash was offered. On Saturday the 27th, the temperature was in the high sixties. We watched the weather at home, and it rose into the 40's there, as well. It rained at home. Perhaps some of that g--awful snow will be gone by the time we get home.
Aunt Ida called me today, to wish me a merry christmas and catch me up on my cousins' doings. It was a wonderful holiday surprise. I sent her greetings from all my siblings. I am making my plans for the new year. I wonder if I can forego resolutions that involve self-denial or self improvement. Do you think I could just promise not to be any worse than I was last year?

Some unfortunate physics involving knit cotton underwear

2008-12-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

It was 19 below last night. It got up to zero today. (That's farenheit, so another 32 degrees before anything actually melts.) We went to our Monday bowling league. Now a bowling center is not an easy or cheap thing to keep heated. Lots of square feet and cubic feet, and big blowers and fans... So the bowling alley does not keep the place heated overnight (except the rest rooms so the plumbing doesn't freeze.)
We got to the bowling alley on Ft. Drum at noon, and the temperature inside was 44 degrees (again, farenheit!) We kept our coats on. I kept my mittens on between frames. Three hours later, we were done with bowling, and the temperature was up to 57 degrees. I made a few unnecessary trips to the ladies' room, just to warm up.
Oh yeah, underwear. In dressing for bowling, I gave consideration to the fact that the bowling alley would be cold. (My estimate was seriously warmer than the alley. Nevermind.) I put on a cotton knit turtleneck and a wool pullover sweater. These two garments generally get along well, acting as one shirt. However, when throwing a cotton knit sports bra into the formula, things get to fighting with one another. I was doing a clothing adjustment after every frame. The turtleneck crept up with each arm swing, taking the sweater with it, and the bra did not allow the shirts to get back down on their own. They had to be wiggled and yanked back into modest compliance. This probably explains why I was not as cold as some people. I was working it!

Has the snow let up?

2008-12-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

No it has not. It has pretty much been snowing since Thanksgiving, though the weather has cooled off, so no more power outages from trees falling over with the weight of heavy wet snow. Now the snow is anything but wet. It has reliably remained below freezing for the last 4 days, and the snow (lake effect) keeps coming. Going anywhere is an adventure. The roads are plowed, but not salted, so things are slippery (packed snow on the roads) and visibility comes and goes. When it goes, you'd like to not be on the road. We check the radar before we go to the store (1.7 miles away.)
Our foster dog, Buddy, has been here for the weekend. Since the Old Lady is gone, he finally had permission to go upstairs. (That was her bailiwick, and no visiting dogs were allowed.) I put his bed in my bedroom, so he could sleep in the same room with the rest of the pack.
The dogs went out, the dogs came in, the dogs went out again. And so it went all weekend. It kept the blood from settling in my butt.
When I was not shoveling, I spent several hours sampling on the passap (knitting machine). I really made a lot of progress. DH was working in the shop doing the christmas present thing.
It's fun to wander out to the shop, warm yourself by the stove, have a cup of tea, then go back to my own projects.
Well, it's time to shovel again. This is getting old.

Half a Turkey is better?

2008-11-29T04:40:00.000-08:00

The snowfall was gorgeous. The power outage was predictable. Cooking the turkey was the problem.
What a wonderful Thanksgiving day we had. We spent the day hauling firewood in to feed the woodstove in the living room, and sweeping up chunks of snow from everyone's boots and from the dogs going in and out as well. The boy, who is too cool to wear snow gear, was changing out of wet jeans and socks every half hour, and the wet things were piling up. We put stuff near the stove to dry. Gin rummy was played.
Most of the cooking was done the day before, including the cranberries, the squash, the rutabaga, the rolls., the pumpkin pies. We just had to cook a 24 pound bird, make gravy and mashed potatoes. The resources available, and the clock moving steadily onward, figured in the final solution: cut the turkey in half, and cook one half on the gas grill. With the second half of the bird safely in a cooler on the back porch (38 degrees), our fearless grillmaster left the house carrying the roasting pan to the back shed, where the grill was set up, out of the snow. Thirty minutes later, the power was back on.
Cooking was finished in the kitchen. (In the evening, I cooked the second half, and made more gravy, as we all know, there is no such thing as too much gravy.)
I hope your day was as satisfying, though if you did without the snow and the power outage, you don't lose any points.

Hope for Chicken Cacciatore. Expect Chili.

2008-11-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

In my mother's kitchen, you did not stop your meal preparation to go get a missing ingredient. Actually, you did not stop if you were missing all the ingredients. You substituted. We still recall Mom's recipe for chicken cacciatore: Brown a pound of ground beef. Add tomatoes, onions, celery, and beans. Season with chili powder. Serve over mashed potatoes. We all faithfully follow this recipe.
I was thinking about this yesterday, when DH said, by the way, there are some really great frozen tacos in the freezer. I asked him how he had failed to tell me this last night, as he watched me eat a swanson mexican combo frozen dinner. He had no answer. Actually, his excuse was that he was nearly comatose in front of the tube when I got home from my bowling league, but this is not where I want to go with this post. Back on track!
Oh, yes. recipes. Actually, my chili recipe is constantly evolving. (Sounds much more creative than 'substitute'.) It has gone low-fat (ground turkey) or vegetarian (tofu) or shabby chic frugal (diced pork roast). It has gone 'green' (Verde). Apparently, that's what recipe's do- they evolve. Which leads to interesting questions, like do recipes arise, like life in the premordial soup, over and over again, or does a recipe arise once, and evolve endlessly into a thousand diverse offspring? And who cares?
I plan to make chili on Wednesday. People are driving a long way to visit for the holiday, and they will need something familiar and tasty to eat when they get here. It has to be no-fuss. But it needs to demonstrate just the tiniest shred of having evolved from the last time. Can't say what that will be until it happens. I see some chicken in the freezer.

Birthdays for House Plants

2008-11-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

It's official. One of my house plants is old enough to vote. Now I know that most people do not know how old their plants are. Tell me: How can that be? (You don't know either, right?)
It's the Grapefruit tree. Of course, I didn't find her, she found me. One day in November 1990, I was eating a grapefruit. (duh.) One of the seeds was already sprouted. I shoved it into the soil of the nearest potted plant, a very maternal philodendron. It grew and it grew. By the time it was 7 or 8 years old, she lived in a huge pot, and I tried to get her to spend the summers outside, and her winters on the porch. She suffered severe winter kill in her 8th year. Nothing budded in the spring. I was whacking her trunk off to make it easier to get the body off the porch, when .... TOO LATE!!!! I saw the green rim of live just beneath the bark in the very terminal cut I had made. I was miserable. I dragged the tree outside, and went back for the pot. That's when I saw the tiny leaf budding an inch below the cut. She wasn't gone after all.
She just had to start over. I don't prune her. My Big Guy keeps talking about how she needs a good clipping, take out those crossed branches, thin out the limbs where they are too close. I can't bring myself to do it. Who does he want her to get pretty for? I say, leave her wild. She looks good to me.

The Old Lady's nap

2008-11-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Old Lady has taken up napping in the dog's bed. This leaves Sally flummoxed, since she recognizes that the cat has higher pack status than she does, and if the cat is in the Sally's bed, the dog cannot get into the bed until the cat invites her. The Old Lady will not be inviting her, as she cannot imagine anyone waiting for an invitation. This is how I know that we will not be able to effectively communicate with creatures from other parts of the galaxy, when they arrive on earth. Maybe they've already been here and left, looking for a more understandable species.
At any rate, the Old lady is in the dog bed only because she cannot jump up on the couch, her preferred nap space. When I do find her napping on the couch, I know that she tried and failed at least twice, before her old, wasting hind quarters could launch her from the floor to the couch. She will not use the kitty steps I have placed for her.
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. Youth is gone, and with it, the competent comfortable body. Expectations have not changed. I expect to nap on the couch. I will probably use the kitty steps.

My Inner Knitter's OCD

2008-10-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I made this shrug- a great color, a wonderful texture. It's huge, and light, and warm. It's up-to-the-minute in-fashion. What's wrong with this picture? My IK is NOT happy with the edge. (You can't SEE the edge, I tell her. You know it's there, she answers.)
There IS a lot of edge to this garment. But you really can't see it when it's worn. IK is worried that another knitter will examine it, and will be able to discount the garment for it's glaring faults, the way IK can, when she sees a garment that she wishes she had made, but upon close inspection, finds the flaws that allow IK to just KNOW she would have done a better job.
It6 was my first shrug, I told her. It was idiot knitting, she answered. After lengthy dialogue, IK and I arrive at a compromise. I will immediately point out and confess the flaws to anyone who looks at the shrug. IK is not particularly thrilled with this course of action, but has to live with it, because it demonstrates that IK is right, something IK is not capable of disputing, ever.
Because IK is very prickly after this conversation, I have to decided make something that IK will not have a problem with. I am considering what that might be. Pie, perhaps. Apple pie. Ala Mode.

When a pain in the ass is a good thing

2008-10-20T04:31:00.000-07:00

I always imagine that when I bowl a terrific score, it will be because I am physically, mentally, and spiritually in the zone. Consequently, when I began my first game on Friday, and immediately felt a painful cramping of something deep, deep in my right cheek... Well, no spectacular bowling tonight. There was a serious hitch in my get-a-long, a pinch, a cramp, a strain of some kind deep at the point of my sitting-down bone. You know that stretch that you do after aerobics class, the one where you sit on the floor with your left leg out straight and your right leg bent at the knee, with your right foot crossed over your left leg, and on the floor to the left of your left knee, and you pull left on your right knee and turn your upper body to the right, and you feel that spot loosen up in the stretch? That's the spot.
Anyway, I slowed my approach way down, so as not to aggravate the cramp, and I stretched it out as best I could between frames. I started rolling strikes. My first game had 7 strikes, and a 190 total. My second game was a 220 and I finished with a 212. My 622 series will get me mentioned on the local sports news. ("Yes folks, that sometime 600 bowler that we have not heard from in the past couple years is back...")
All of a sudden, being 62 just got better.
That was Friday night. Today, I bowl in a daytime league, with other retired people. They already know what happened Friday. What will happen today? Will I be able to live up to my newly recovered reputation as a scratch bowler? Or will I be no better than I was before Friday? Expectations have changed. But I don't know that the world has. Am I the Red Sox or the Rays? I'll let you know.

Camping with Zippy

2008-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

There are weeks that you would pick out to live over again. I'm putting last week on that list.
We took the camper to Letchworth state park- and had a beautiful couple of days in the sunny, warm indian summer. We hiked the trails and I think we got to every lookout. The scenery was stunning, and we had the place nearly to ourselves. (As we checked out on Friday, though, we could see we were in the nick of time- the campers were rolling in, and the extra parking was marked out, and the shuttle stops were already marked, for the giant craft show this weekend.) I already had my treasure. We had wandered into a little 'antique' shop in Mt. Morris, where I found a $15 box of 'sewing items'. There was treasure in that box.
When we got home, I pored over the items in the box, enjoying the company of all the ghosts.
Among tons of other stuff, there were two sets of steel sock needles, in the original wrappers- gilt tipped and imported from England. I am putting socks on one set as we speak.
Why do I like these old things? I think I feel connected to all the people who have ever knitted when I use the old needles. They remind me that I'm doing something useful, and that I love somebody.
I used Zippy on the picnic table, and I must say, I love her more each time I spin with her. Zippy and I filled a couple bobbins of natural grey wool, which I'll get plied up at home. One of the things I am appreciating about Zippy is that I can work several feet away from the orifice. When you have to treadle the wheel, you can only back up so far... I am trying to figure out if there is a real advantage to my long-draw, 5 feet from the orifice style, or if it's just a no-dif preference. I need to ponder that one for a while.

The Old Lady's DNR bracelet

2008-10-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I answered a knock at my door, and there was Pat, whom I had not seen in several years. She was on an improbable mission. Her son, Isaac, a 25 year old graduate of West Point, is now in some further military training in Alabama. He has a girlfriend, and he and his girlfriend are going to make the trek to Upstate New York to meet mom (Pat) this winter, just after Christmas. So, she' s not just a girlfriend. Pat makes wonderful felted mittens, usually by felting a recycled wool sweater, then cutting the parts from the felted wool, and blanket stitching the mittens. Isaac wants some as a christmas gift for his girlfriend. But they have to be black and white houndstooth pattern, because that is the 'tartan' of her college. They have been looking, without success, for a wool sweater in the required houndstooth pattern. Pat is on my doorstep because she knows I have knitting machines, and maybe I can knit some 'sweater yardage', which she can then felt to make the mittens. Why, yes I could. We were figuring out the details for the knitting project when I remembered that I had a houndstooth sweater that I had machine-knit in the '80's. The sweater was not black and white, rather it was knit from two natural, undyed wools, one as white as unbleached fleece gets, and another of natural charcoal grey. Pat consults Isaac, and they decide this sweater will do the trick.
A barter is struck. The crisis is over. The clouds part. The sun comes out. Everything is wet and sparkley.
Then the cat wandered into the room. She wobbled to the center of the rug and didn't sit down so much as fall over. She reclined on her side with her feet out straight. This is her habit of the last couple years. The arthritis, especially in her hips, keeps her from walking no further than she has to, and staying upright no longer than necessary. What drives the Old Lady to keep going is her innate nosiness. She is always interested, and has to come and see what you are doing, especially if it involves yarn, and no matter that she must follow you up and down the stairs.
Pat and I reminisced about the Old Lady. Fourteen years ago, I had told Pat that I was looking for an indoor house cat. I wasn't looking for just any cat. I didn't want to raise a kitten. I wanted a cat that was already 3 or 4 years old, reasoning than noone keeps a closet shitter that long. I wanted a female, preferrably already spayed. And, I am partial to calicos. Pat called me back a week after that conversation, and put me in touch with a woman who needed a home for a 4 year old female calico. Ipso Fatso came to my house and has been in charge ever since. She is eighteen years old now. And for the last couple years, she had been called the Old Lady twice as often as she had been called Ipso. She doesn't answer to either name.
The Old Lady's teeth are going, along with everything else. She's contributing to the financial health of the local animal hospital on a regular basis. One of these days...
Meantime, while you are here, if you want it, ask your friends. They've got what you need.

The perils of emulating Brooklyn Jogger

2008-10-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

So-From reading brooklynjogger's blog, I heard about the 'Couch to 5K' plan. Sounds so innocent. Sounds so easy. Don't believe it.
Actually, for most people, it will work out well, but some of us must start much further behind the line than 'couch.' That would be me. I was born in 1946 (You do the math). My body fat percentage is north of 30.
After attempting week 1 of the plan, and finding that neither the jog cycle of 1 minute, not the recovery cycle of 90 seconds were working. I slowed the whole thing down, and have now started over with a 40 second jog cycle and a 2 minute recovery cycle. At least I can breathe! I reckon that whenever I get to week one, I will have a party! Maybe Brooklyn Jogger will bring the guacamole.
On the spinning front, Zippy and I finished the alpaca roving, and I have 7 ounces of wonderful yarn to imagine the possibilities with. I am amazed at the speed with which I spun and plied on Zippy! Also on the spinning wheel front, I picked up two old sewing machines and 'harvested' the motors and foot pedals. Zipparina and Zippidy are already on the drawing board.

Sharon and Zippy visit the alpaca farm.

2008-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

It was a cloudy grey, damp day on Saturday. I visited Riverbend Alpacas near Croghan, New York. It appears that all the Alpaca farms are having open house today. I had volunteered to demostrate handspinning. My host, Ellen Chamberlain, has a small shop full of alpaca garments and yarn. She had her loom set up under a tent, and I joined her with Zippy and a more conventional looking spinning wheel.
Quite a few people stopped by to enjoy the open farm. The dozen or so alpacas were charming hosts, and alpaca roving was the obvious spinning choice. Zippy did a wonderful job spinning alpaca. She's very fast, and very easy to control. We spun a lovely single, and plied it up at the end of the day, into a sleek 2=ply fingering weight.
Back in the real world today, DH and I spent the morning taking up the pavers, and digging up the compacted gravel to receive the new concrete steps on Monday. This 'weekend project' has leaked past the middle of the summer and bled right into fall. I have robust leg muscles from climbing into the house without the use of steps, since the beginning of August. I have robust arm muscles from swinging a sledge hammer and shoveling crushed stone. I am still pretty soft in the middle, though. And, in a cruel twist of happenstance, the new bathroom scales are 3 pounds 'heavier' than the old ones. Oh well, at least I can blame 3 pounds on the scales.

Day 6 - (sounds biblical)

2008-09-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. There has been progress. The 31$ worth of PVC pipe and fixtures made a respectable base for zippy. The motor, rewired and renewed in other secret ways that I know nothing about, hums along. the belts will be here tomorrow, so the final adjustments can be made, and PVC things made more permanent with glue. In it's final configuration, the maidens will be shorter, too. Currently using a big rubber band until the 'real' belt gets here.
It Spins! Fast! Beautifully! And, Look, Ma - no feet! (The picture doesn't show the foot pedal speed control.)
I wound up using an old Lendrum flyer, flyer lead, bobbin brake.
My spinner-building partner is all excited to make a better one with a different motor, a nice wooden base and case, and the Louet flyer. I'll keep you posted.

As if getting zippy nearly finished wasn't enough excitement this week, I went the the Genessee Valley Handspinners Guild Fiber Festival. It was held at a county fairgrounds, and vendors and demonstrations filled FIVE buildings. Maybe I saw you there. That was you with the big bag of yarn, wasn't it? Had a great time, with great company. Added to my stash, of course.

Electric spinner- And Away We Go...

2008-09-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wait until you see this!
To begin at the beginning, I showed my shop guy a flyer/bobbin assembly that has been waiting 25 years to be part of a spinning wheel, and said I wanted an electric spinner. He showed me a sewing machine motor with a foot pedal control that has been waiting 25 years to be part of a spinning wheel. I got chocolate in his peanut butter, he got pb on my chocolate.
We went to Lowe's and bought PVC pipe and fittings: six from column a, two from column b... We bought new lamp wire to replace the shabby old wires and plugs. Looks like we have nearly everything except a belt for the motor to drive the flyer. We have spent $31.69 so far. Of course, 25 years ago, we spent 30 dollars for the flyer/bobbin assembly. Louet jumbo, I think.
This is day one of this project.

Hi, I'm Sharon, and I own too many sewing machines.

2008-09-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

A sewing machine is like a hammer and nails. You can use the same tool to do baroque or rustic. My fixation with the tools is not confined to sewing machines. I also love knitting machines. Additionally, I'll put my yarn stash and/or my fabric stash up against anyone's.
I learned to sew in the '60's, a decade after learning to knit. Both have always been a joy.
I have made perfect pants (I'm talking about perfect fit, here), which makes shopping for ready to wear pants just like torture.
I am not a quilter. I always said that I was 'saving' quilting until my retirement. Now that I am retired, I'm feeling more like playing in the same old sandbox, rather than moving my energy and concentration to another sandbox. We'll see.

My stash has gotten away from me - seriously,

2008-09-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

So, I just wanted to paint the window. The window in the spare bedroom. Trouble was, I could not get within 6 feet of it. It was behind a barricade of plastic totes, 2 deep, 2 wide, and 3 high. Guess what's in the totes. Yup.

I forgot how much yarn I have. Several of the totes contain nothing but balls and hanks of handpun wool. Some hand dyed as well. A little silk, a little alpaca, but mostly wool. A lot of natural gray and silver wool. A lot of white wool. Some of it waiting for a dye bath, though I just like the stuff plain most of the time.

BTW, the totes do NOT contain any of the machine knitting yarn stash. That is another octopus stored in another spare bedroom.

What I am going to do is paint the window, and put the totes back. But before I do, I'll get the whole mess out and organize it, so that I don't have to visit all the totes each time I'm looking for something. This COULD be a late new year's resolution.

Actually, what will REALLY happen is this: I'll have a fun afternoon pawing through the totes. I might make some notes, but I'll still have to look in every tote each time I'm looking for something. Not a bad thing, really. Not a bad thing at all.