a southern gal knits in the north

the Gardening Ravelry

Look! Keep Your Garden Organized

Whether you're rocking a full-fledged veggie garden in the backyard, have a stellar natural landscape in place of the front lawn, or are coaxing edibles and bee-friendly varietals from random containers on the porch, this online garden journal is for you.

Folia is an easy-to-use tool that's a cross between a wiki, a journal, a social network, a photo sharing site, and more: it's an all-in-one resource center for your garden.

still here

ok... so one post or two in a few months does not a blog make... i know, i know.

just sticking my head in here to say, no i have not wandered off to Ireland or Scotland (oh HOW i wish) but am in the midst of a major cleansing/decluttering/clearing out phase - something that has been on the back burner for a few years and for some reason - in the middle of Feb it moved to the forefront... so lots of throwing out, clearing out, reorganizing going on.

blogging will resume ... soon. 

refuges

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life:
music and cats.

Albert Schweitzer

Life has been a bit stressful lately – domestic problems (as in housing).  It’s been a rough beginning to this year.  January was all about helping family members including a move into what turned out to be an illegal apartment necessitating putting all belongings in storage.  And there were other things – no heat for the entire MLK weekend and then again the first week of this month.  This month has been all about stress over domestic stuff. 

One side effect of all the stress has been a HUGE bout of spring cleaning – as in take everything off the pantry shelves and throw out bags and bags of expired or old food and line the shelves and wash and put back everything and clean/dust/polish everything on all the kitchen shelves and all the pictures and windows and mirrors and lamps and bookshelves and all furniture and the floors and wash all the bed linens (duvets, blankets, pillows) etc.

And back to the piano – after 13 months of not playing – and have been playing 4–5 hours a day since the beginning of the month.  It was rough going at the beginning as my eyes and ears were way ahead of my fingers.   But four weeks on, the chops are coming back….and now thought is going to execution much more easily.  

And also now after a bit of a hiatus am full of knitting startitis…. too many things are calling to be started or finished.  so off i go to work on one of them.

As for the cats, well, how to imagine life without them?

12-25-08

  Ladies' View, Ring of Kerry, Ireland June 2008

Once in royal David's city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

For He is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us, He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;
And He cares when we are sad,
And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And He leads His children on,
To the place where He is gone.

Merry Christmas!

SNOW!

 

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge during the snowstorm in New York City.

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

a neat thing

Measuring a whopping 3 feet in diameter, the Gomitolo Knit Clock is a huge statement. . . . . this crocheted cotton clock by Italian company Diamantini & Domeniconi on our last trip to The Conran Shop and have noticed it popping up in magazines and online ever since...

from Apartment Therapy

who we are

From Knitter's Review...

An updated look at the knitting community as reflected in eight years of Knitter's Review polls

Our love of yarn and needles cuts through many superficial layers of daily difference, connecting us on a surprisingly deep and trusting level. I've only seen two things ever threaten this connection: politics and religion. Oh, and acrylic.

The impassioned discourse prompted by the recent elections has been both enlightening and, alas, sometimes painful and divisive. With the polls closed and the elections over, I've decided that it's time for some knitterly reunification.

read more here

Make History

VOTE

WIP report

It's been a bit of a busy summer and knitting has not been that constant. After a bit of a dry spell, I worked most of a Swallowtail Shawl in a yarn that in the end was WAY too heavy and frogged that = which was about a week of work (argh - good thing i like process).

However as much as I like process knitting I am itching for a product..so before I succumbed to the siren call of the latest HOT sweater on Ravelry (the clever adult working of the February Baby Sweater by Pamela Wynne) I decided to suck it up and deal with some UFOs.

after a bit of time in the UFO pile... out comes CECE. Started last summer (I think) and left with the body done. I am actually making this a variation of the famous CECE pattern by adding much length to the body.

Below is the saga of this WIP. (Updated photos soon).



8/1 re picked up this UFO and immediately screwed up the lace pattern but caught it and quickly knitted up to the length i think will work. i am making it much longer and a bit looser than the pattern.

8/2 picked up the first sleeve and finished the inc and knitted up to where it seemed to be a good length. then discovered that the pattern i am using is the FIRST version without the 3/4 sleeve length - so had to find the later version and print it out and then recalculate.

8/2 started the second sleeve and after catching up on a lot of recorded shows and listening to Gotterdammerung from Bayreuth got almost to the pattern specified length of 13 inches.

8/3 NOT happy with all the SS along the increase seam. after reading the pattern again and reading a bit on the Chic Knits group, decided to rip back to first increase and incorporate the lace pattern along the increases.

Much better. Finished that sleeve and ripped the other one (done with no increases along the seam line) and restarted it.

8/3 am going to run out of yarn. Damn and blast after searching at Yarndex, find this color (3426 Claret Tahki Cotton Classic) is DISCONTINUED! Search of Ravelry and the Nets comes up with NIL. MAJOR AGRO and hair ripping!

Joined the sleeves and started on the decreasing for the raglan top. This will be interesting to see how long before I run out.

8/6-7 a very frustrating night. reached the end of my yarn and still have 28 stitches in the front sections to decrease to 6. after a mad search and claw (at 2 am ) thru all the boxes of my stash (my database said i had more!) could not find any more of the yarn. So after a bit of nail biting, decided to unravel the bottom of the sweater (SUCH A PAIN) . Am starting with the four row border. if that is not enough will have to go higher.

However, I had made this MUCH longer (tried it on and it hits below my bum) so there is a bit of length to work with but the unraveling is a pain.

Oi what we do for knitting!

I think I get to cast on for the February Lady Sweater to assuage my pain. ;o

the perfect knitting bag?

the Lady B from Lexie Barnes