Birthday Boy

April 14, 1938 a good set of pipes was born in Holy Cross Hospital, Merrill, WI. The baby boy was the firstborn and so named a "Jr." as was so common then. But he was "Little Ral" to his family, and even now there are family members who will call him that.

Those pipes have enjoyed pipes on vehicles, on radio and television and in-house training films, and singing in church. ADOT even gave him a plaque for being "The Voice".



This shot is taken of Russ when he was recording a TV commercial (as a voiceover) at the AKLC studios in Arnold, PA last year.





Two years ago I took this picture of Russ and Tony Douglas at Tony's in Athens, TX. Each Spring when we go to TX to visit with Russ' daughter Beth, we stop in to see Tony and Mim Douglas. Russ got to know them when he worked in radio in Athens, TX. Tony is a fantastic country singer and fellow COC brother. It was through Tony's father that Russ joined the COC there in Athens. And, it was in Athens that Russ became "Russ" as a good radio name.




Russ wanted a new picture for a project he was working on and felt the silver belly Stetson would fit the bill. He doesn't wear his Stetsons all that much, but he does appreciate the ones he has.

And I appreciate my "Russelluphagus". He was so named when he and our first collie, Chess, were eating cookies and snuffling cookie crumbs and watching "Sesame Street" one afternoon in Willcox when there was nothing else on TV!

Happy Birthday, Honey! I love you.
XXXOOO Sweetums

Saturday Dry Slot

After last night's scattered thunderstorms, we're in a 'dry slot' this morning... shortly to be followed by clouds and scattered showers through tomorrow.

The sky is beautifully clear at 50 this morning and the birds are happily creating their nests. A robin is recreating a nest on the back porch while a starling has taken over a nest spot between the gutter and wall of the garage.

It's Bobmas!

Today is Bobmas, the first anniversary of Ravelry's conception!

Casey took this picture of a sleepy Bob (the Ravelry household's pet and sometime inspiration) this morning to celebrate the event. Casey gave me his permission to post this picture here.

There will be traditions starting today to celebrate Bobmas...Casey suggested cupcakes!


In other news, Cami and her cell phone cover and the Marlenas are in flight to Arizona. Most hopefully they are not loaded into the cargo bay of a grounded American Airlines flight!

Springtime Calling

This morning we are enjoying warming sunshine and more daffodils opening...and...the knitted cell phone cover is finished!

Here the just-finished project has our cell phone in it and is propped very nearly where the Marlena Slippers were enjoying yesterday's photo shoot.

The 'Knitted Cell Phone Cover' is from a Red Heart leaflet and is knit using remaining yardage of Autumn Red Caron Simply Soft on #8 straights. The pattern is very easy and yet keeps this knitter's attention with a sweet little cable on the front and on the flap. It will be a good accompaniment to the Summer Camisole "Cami" and the Marlenas for YE's summer display.

More yardage remains...I'm sure it'll find another project.

Marlenas dancing

Good Morning!

Marlenas Slippers from a Red Heart leaflet and "Wildflower" Caron Felt-It roving/yarn are enjoying dancing in the sunlight by the hyacinths after a rough and tumble in the basement earlier.

The sunlight is to be short-lived this morning, so I really wanted to get some early Spring shots and have Marlenas in their best light. (Click to 'embiggen'!)

This was a very quick project, as they were started on April 6th and finished on the 8th. Actually, they can be knit up quicker than that. I knit them durn slowly....using #15 straights is not comfortable for this knitter who is used to no bigger than a #6 circular!

Marlenas will be twirling to Arizona for a summer display at the Yarn Elf Workshop (World Wide Hobbies)along with the Summer Camisole and the matching Knit Cell Phone Cover. Tonight's knitting will be back on the cell phone cover!

Standin' On The Corner

This morning I opened my email to find a picture from Yarn Elf! It was timed at 6:52 AM my time, which is 3:52 AM his time! That Elf never sleeps! {But then, we knew that about elves because they are (whispered) "magic".}

So, here we see Pools in the River in Bernat Natural Alpaca, color Persimmon, displayed on the corner of Haskell and Maley in Willcox, Arizona. (Stop in if you're traveling I-10 in Southeastern Arizona! It's right downtown by the stoplight!) With her are a hat in Bernat bamboo and a scarf knit by our most excellent fibery friend Yarn Vixen. Still to come are projects knit by Yarn Elf. Now I can hardly wait to see what Yarn Elf knits. He is such an amazing Yarn Elf!


Doesn't she look pretty?

I hope that the display will encourage customers and "wanderers" to purchase yarn and accessories from Yarn Elf. When I worked two doors down from YE, there were days I would just go in to World Wide Hobbies on my lunchbreak and stand back from all the yarn, just soaking in colors and color combinations. On those days, I was a "wanderer". It is so much easier to see the possibilities of a yarn when a sample knit is there for the touching!

Ooh, now where'd I leave that project last night....?

FO and Progress

Cami is finished! She enjoyed this morning's warm sunshine and the assistance of George the orange tabby cat from next door in the photoshoot!




Then, a matching knitted cell phone cover was started immediately. This is out of the remainder of the skein of Autumn Red Caron Simply Soft. I am pleased with the stitch definition.






(Click to 'embiggen' any photo.)




Finally, last night I started a felted slipper pattern from the web using Caron Felt-It, color Wildflowers. If this works....then the slippers will also be part of the Caron display later this summer at Yarn Elf's Workshop in Willcox.

Saturday progress

Sunshine! Apple blossom buds!











Cami's almost finished! Her icord straps are knit and one is on. The little wave in the corner of the pond is a frog. He/she isn't friendly so won't let me save him/her since there isn't a lily pad to relax upon.

Cami Coming Along

Cami's not a curtain any more! Started is the bodice,then the garterstitch decrease and the bottom lace shown a few days ago.



And here she is in entirety with 14 inches of lace at bottom, then the other features.

I wanted to wait to show Cami until she looked like more than the curtain Russ thought she appeared to be to start with!

It's a pre-storm 61 degrees this morning...and that's no April Fool. The clouds are whipping from the South, creating darkness not helpful toward taking outdoor project photos.

PLAY BALL!!!

( logo courtesy Pittsburgh Pirates website)

Take me out to the ball game.... Tonight in Atlanta the Bucs try for #1 of 163. Opening Day in Pittsburgh is next Monday. It'll probably snow!!!

Saturday Sky

Now This is what we want to see in early Spring -- blue sky and the maples in pre-leaf (pollenating)!

A little warmer would be helpful....

Summer Camisole

I apologize. I'd promised to post about this yesterday but life got in the way.

First of all, I was motoring along on this project two nights ago and didn't pay close enough attention. I knit on the purl side....tried to tink. That didn't work. Had to frog the whole thing, about 2 1/2 inches worth. So, recast on and knit 4 rows before going to bed.

Then yesterday DH had an eye appointment in Kittanning to check the "cadillacs" he'd known he'd had for probably 7-8 years. The (new-to-us) eye surgeon did the whole work up. DH still has 20/20 corrected vision, so "cadillacs" are not to the point of needing surgery. After that, I had to drive the 20 miles home....not a problem except the 'new' high Rt 422 bridge, of which there are 3 coming home all together counting the bridge and the exit ramps, triggered my depth perception freaking out and it was a tedious drive down the very steep hill onto the bridges and across the bridges. I was disappointed in myself since the perception problem hadn't kicked in that way in a few years. But the drive was otherwise uneventful. On the way home DH said he might as well go visit the chiropractor, so we did that.

Whew! It was a day!

Finally last night was able to continue working on this project for YE Workshop display:




It looks like a great project to encourage especially young knitters because of its style.




I love how this Caron Simply Soft shines! And it is really soft. It actually is the recommended yarn in the "Knit N Style" pattern, current issue, #13. Since I almost never have knit the recommended yarn, this is rather amazing.

Instead of three colors as the pattern shows, I'm knitting it in two. Will be using the Autumn Red for the empire stripes and the icord straps.

It really is fun to knit, if only I pay attention!

Yes, Spring

Ahh, Spring.

It looks like Spring.

It smells like Spring.

It feels like Spring.



It must be Spring!

Look, some of the rock iris were blooming yesterday! And with them? The contents of The Box from Yarn Elf that arrived for the next display projects! (As always, to see in detail, click on picture!)

The new 'Knit N Style' magazine has an article by Michael Del Vecchio on SHP's anniversary. Of course it will be saved and into the notebook it'll go.

No surprise, I started the next project last night! More on that tomorrow....

Warming Tuesday

A frosty 21 degree dawn has melted as the sun has warmed us to above 30 now on the way to over 50. We have been below average high temperatures for so long that 50 will seem like a heat wave when it is still below average!

I had to take advantage of the sunshine and the hyacinths by the pond to show the progress on my Armenian hat. It is shown atop Meg and Joyce's "Armenian Knitting". I've knitted the chart Meg used for the checkerboard at the bottom and Joyce's knit/knit stitch patterns for the main hat design. Again, these are Jamieson and Smith 2 ply Shetland yarns.

Oh, and the stitch marker? It's a charm bought on the S.S. Badger at their gift shop last summer as we were crossing Lake Michigan to Retreat 2.75.

Easter Butterfly

Okay, so rebooting did it in the end....

Easter afternoon the butterfly comes out of its coccoon to see the world after greeting the dawn at a sunrise service. Notice the blue sky and sunshine.



The back...


Tawny just had to get into the act, as did DH's shadow.


Nikki wants to know why anyone would leave a nice warm house for 40 degree sunshine?

The Butterfly Jacket
Wool Gathering #78 March 2008
Lamb's Pride superwash in Blaze, just over 2 skeins
Patons SWS 'Natural Green' trim
#5 and 6 circulars

download...not

well, still can't get my camera to download to computer, which isn't recognizing the camera. finished the butterfly and wore it to easter sunruse service and it was a sunny but cold day....when the download decides to work, i will share.............

Wearing a Sweater in my Neighborhood

In the early 1950's as a mere peapod, one of the shows I loved was "The Children's Corner" on WDTV. There was a lovely Josie Carey and a puppet master developing his craft with my all time favorite, Daniel. The Puppet master was born in Latrobe,PA, not many miles away and had become a Presbyterian minister. He was born as Fred McFeeley Rogers, but we knew him as "Mr. Rogers".

WDTV was the first and only television station in the Pittsburgh market, owned by Westinghouse, and became KDKA. In the 1960's, the program changed to WQED, Pittsburgh Public Television with the name change of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood". It later moved to Canadian public television, then home-based back in Pittsburgh. But the sweater Fred Rogers wore remained on air all those years. It became one of his trademarks. And his mother used to knit him those cardigans from childhood on.

Today would have been Fred Rogers 80th birthday. Yet he's forever with us on PBS reruns. We wear a sweater in my neighborhood, this First Day of Spring and Fred Rogers' birthday.

The sky is sniffling...

The sky is sniffling. We have not had all that much rain, nothing like the flooding elsewhere from this system. Our heaviest rain is yet to come over the next 24 hours. At least it's to be almost 60 today.

Heavy cloudcover and misty-drizzle precludes outdoor shots, so these, taken on a living room recliner, will have to do. (Click each photo for detail.)


First, we have an update on the Butterfly Jacket. One front is completed with the second being in the short row increase area. This is really enjoyable to watch take shape.

Yesterday, however, I had a case of startitis.


Being on the Ravelry Armenian knitting list and being a co-moderator, I was overdue to start an Armenian knitting project.

This will be a hat. I'm using J&S shetland 2 ply on 16" size 5 circ to knit first a rolled hem, then a checkerboard from Meg's cat hat example in the book. The main design will be Joyce's 'Knit' design and....not charted but hoped for, an example of the knit stitch on the rest of the patterned area.

The Luck of the Irish

It wasn't the potato famine that brought my grandfather Claude's family to American shores. His uncle was stoned to death in Northern Ireland for being a Protestant in Northern Ireland. The family then immigrated to Northwestern Pennsylvania where my great grandmother was born in Pithole, PA in 1859.

Pithole,PA is now somewhat historically reconstructed, I understand, as it was in existance for only three years during an oil boom.

My grandfather was a prankster, but was extremely serious that I must wear orange on St. Patrick's Day. He had heard all the stories in detail from his mother, but I heard only the above. That was to be enough for me to understand the importance of the Wearing of the Orange, not the Green. While I was in public school, though, one had to have green on for St. Paddy's Day or one was pinched throughout the day. Socks counted.

Although my grandfather didn't imbibe much, my mother bought him the pictured trivet in remembrance of the Irish flowing through his (our) veins. In the Pittsburgh area, everyone is Irish on March 17th. Green beer courses through the taps. Silliness abounds.

Pi Day

No, not This kind of pie...




Rather, This kind of pi...



or,


This kind of pi!

Happy 3.14!

Flitting progress

As the Butterfly is flitting through its metamorphosis, I'll share its stage this afternoon in glorious 57 degree sunshine by the pond.

Since yesterday the phony seam has been started and the increasing (short rows) for Armhole #1 is under construction.

"Nancy"

What Nancy Means

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Butterfly Jacket

So I couldn't stay with the socks or the Bohus or the stole after shipping Pools in the River off to Arizona yesterday!



Last night I started the Butterfly Jacket from WG#78, March 2008, as shown in the last post.

With a #6 circular, I am getting gauge knitting Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Superwash, 001 SW145 Blaze. So far it is soft and 'squooshy' and elastic. This is from stash, thanks to Yarn Elf.

The Butterfly starts out with a provisional cast on. Of all the projects I've knit, I had always fudged a provisional cast on before. This time, I sat down with Meg's Glossary to review what I had seen demonstrated and quickly learned it. Each project must teach me a new skill!

The markers visible in the photo are where I am increasing along the armhole. I want to match them on the other side per ridge.

Monday Mail --WG!

WOOT!

Monday mail is Gooood to-day!

Although I had heard of EZ's Butterfly Jacket, I had not seen one until last summer at 2.75 when Ann made one as part of her contest entry. We discussed how the shaping tended to be flattering on figures for which the ribwarmer didn't quite work. Here, in the new Wool Gathering #78, Meg has knit a butterfly and a variation on the same for the very first time herself (EZ had knit the original, not now available, and Meg didn't have the pattern until a lovely lady sent it to her from the original magazine!)

I am wondering about using 2/3 strands of J&S rather than unspun Icelandic to make one... any thoughts?

Meg also promos books that she will be printing in the next year. These are definitely on my list!

2008 is the 50th Anniversary of Schoolhouse Press and the 35th Anniversary of Knitting Camp; so, there are some very special activities happening.

Cyber blips

Although both Bloglines and Ravelry have had problems today, by far the Ravelry message is the most amusing.

Anniversary

On this day in 1985 the Russelluphagus and Sweetums tied the proverbial knot. He brought me the card and carnations this morning.

Isn't he a sweetie?

No Chance for the Frog Pond

We are back from warmer climes where one day it was 82 delicious sunny degrees.

Very blessed on the trip, we were basically behind and ahead of the rain/ice/snow. We did not miss out on the wind, though. The first night just north of Nashville we missed the snow and ice but were in wind....DH was given his sinus attack there. Mine came Sunday outside of Austin in 40 mph gusts. When I could taste the dust, I knew I was in for trouble.

We had good weather in Oklahoma City and the very excellent news that I have been accepted in 2.75 this summer. Linda was so funny. She showed us where we were to sleep and said, "Your invoice is on the pillow." I said, "Uh..." and picked it up for it to be the invoice for camp. Hugging and squealing ensued. She and many other friends will be back there this year.

Tuesday was a wonderful day with Linda and her DH in which we toured the OKC Memorial and Museum. Very emotional. Pictures are on 35mm film which has not yet been developed. That night I sat in on her class and lost my voice without even talking.

Home we are, 13 hours before the rain. We go under winter storm warning at 5 p.m. today.

Now for pictures -----

This is one of the patterns in Pools in the River.

Here we see the inside of the sweater which is less fuzzy than the outside.
And, voici!, we have a finished Pools drying in 40 mph wind on the hood of the car in Austin. It was finished Sunday, March 2nd. Although it was washed in girly teenage girl shampoo and conditioner, it does still have a faint 'petroleum' odor. The yarn is distinctively odoriferous and has plenty of alpaca guard hairs. The label recommends scarves or hats or mittens, but I wouldn't want to use it for scarves or hats. It is easy to knit with and is curiously heather.

What fun to have it displayed in YE's establishment!

Warmer Climes

Warmer climes here we come

Saturday Sky?

Am very tired of the roof, ground and sky being the same color.

Pools Update: Sleeve #1 is finished!!!!!!

With every thought of southern climes going into the suitcase, warm blue sky is beckoning (keeping fingers and toes crossed.)

Weather Tracker

The full lunar eclupse last night, taken 10:25 PM from the back porch doesn't show the magnificence of this lunar event. The Moon was mottled blood red with Saturn and the lead star from the constellation Leo bright as could be imagined. It was truly spectacular.
Then, back inside, watching The Weather Channel, a picture from Massachusetts which shows the moon a bluish color rather than the red I witnessed.

Here we are with TWC again showing the positioning of our sun, Earth and moon for the eclipse not happening again for three years.
This morning we awoke to the radio declaring 4 degrees at PIT while we are in the banana belt of 10 degrees. The temp is climbing now. Just look at the sun coming through the trees! Heavy frost and nature's diamonds always amaze me.

It's only running 20 degrees or so below average. And tomorrow is to bring another round of weather mayhem that's coming up from the southwest, where they don't want it either.

Pools is coming along beautifully. Sleeve #1 has 7" knit on it from shoulder down so far. Yes, was breezing through it yesterday. I forgot to mention that I kitchnered the shoulders. And, for the first time, I just did it. No instructional 'cheat sheet'. I realized that on the second one and was proud of myself! (We have to take pleasure in small pleasures or we miss the purpose of it all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Pools is vested

We're to a vested state in Pools in the River (WG#60 OOP).

Neither picture is an accurate color...just haven't found the right lighting yet! It would help immensely if I washed that mirror! I did want to show that it fits. (Click on either pic for detail.)

To this point, the body has been knit in the round to the arms, then separately knitted front and back. There are short rows at the back neck to prevent riding up. An inch of 2x2 ribbing bound off as it presents itself completes the neckline.

Next up: sleeves!

Robins!

I know you can't tell, but a whole flock of robins arrived just before noon today! Robins! Spring is coming even though snow showers are predicted this week and we've about a 2" snowpack!

700 knitted panels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0-1GKXZEA This is truly amazing. I found it on one of my lists and Lark found it on one of the blogs she reads. It is a UTube short movie with over 700 knitted panels creating a short movie, including music.

Saturday Sky 10:10 AM

Cold, crisp, diamonds on the snow. It's a February morning in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The fact that it's to be 50 tomorrow with rain; well, that's more of a March day. Three days of sunshine this week! We had only three days without precipitation from the middle of January to the 9th of February. Depression was settling in.

Now, if I can get rid of this cold. I really didn't even realize it was a cold until yesterday since it'd been so long since I'd had just a regular cold.

Sunshine will help.