a gauntlet!

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14

thank you so much for all you gusset input! I cast on again last night and have made great progress — despite the murky translation, this is a really great pattern. Kathleen came to lunch yesterday along with Sue, Granny and Peggy and Sue showed me the way of the gusset. Of course, me being me, I still had to mess around with it, but so far so good. If it actually works out, I will let you know what I did.

The excitement yesterday was D#2 was rear-ended at a stop light.  As a matter of fact she was the fourth of a five car rear ending.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  The Subaru however needs some repairs so Chez Swine is in the midst of a car shuffle.  It is always something.  How about we all channel a little Roseanne Roseannadanna     “If it isn’t one thing it’s another”    ~sigh~

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16

We were visiting college friends in PA this weekend. [yes, the Boar and I are college sweethearts. awwwww!] Anyway, these friends have a vacation home at Seven Springs which is about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. This means long car rides. Which for a knitter can be a wonderful thing. I went there with every intention of knitting a pair of these and also one of these.

The cabled fingerless mitts have been ripped —- I am having trouble getting gauge – she doesn’t say what gauge is and believe me, when a pattern is free, I am not complaining. Things were looking great, but when I got to the thumb gusset increases I began to think that my row gauge was way off. Speaking of the thumb increases, if you get a minute, read the directions for that part. I believe that she means to increase two stitches every third row for a grand total of eight stitches increased. Of course, the stitch count doesn’t quite work out if I interpret them that way, but if I increase eight stitches three times it is way off too. argh!

So when my brain got sick of trying to figure this one out, I turned to the other project I brought along. A simple cowl neck thingamagig. There are actually two patterns and I did one that it not pictured. Nothing easier than alternating rounds of stockinette stitch and garter. And it’s true — it was the perfect car ride project. Ideal knitting for hanging out with friends and drinking beer. When I got home last night I had a stroke of genius and decided to put it on a lifeline before doing the bind off. I thought I would be checking for length. Well, I looked like a goofball in it and so after a brief moment I ripped that back as well.

so there you have it — a solid 16 hours of knitting and nothing to show for it!

score card

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10

On the trip up to Rhinebeck, we were discussing cars and how souped up they are these days. How you can even get them with satellite tv’s and while this may seem like nirvana to parents on long road trips that something is lost. What about “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”? What about all of those this-trip-is-never-going-to-end-so-let’s-stare-out-the-window-and-play-a-game games??

Have you ever played the license plate game? Well, we did!

We had a lot of laughs with this and played it both coming and going. Rules were set up – no parked cars, only vehicles with someone behind the wheel. We were all surprised by the variety of plates we saw. And something was definitely up with North Carolina —- there were tons of those cars on the road.

That’s my column there on the left hand side. I almost ran out of room I was so good at that game. ; ) There was some fierce discussion from a certain poor loser in the back seat about what value a Consulate plate should receive. I believe they are the wild card of the license plate game and should have extra points attached. I know I didn’t need to argue about it since I was so far in the lead, but it’s the point of the matter. And check out Vicki spotting another cheesehead on the road!

discuss.

he had me at ‘art’

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27

so yes, Rhinebeck was great. The people are great. The food is great. The animals are great. The fiber is great. The fairground is great. It is all very very very great. It is fabulous, wonderful and magical and everyone should go.
But what really makes this year’s festival significant is the part where I fell in love with a priest.

A Greek Orthodox Priest. Vicki fell in love with him too and she and I are going to have a bitchin’ smack down to see who gets him.

Here is how it happened ….. it was Saturday night we were all sitting around the lobby of the Courtyard Marriott, la Isla Poughkeepsie. And we were knitting. And chatting. And knitting.

Two priests check in at the front desk. Cara immediately identifies them as Greek Orthodox. She also begins to yammer on about diamond breastplates and the movement of ambitious priests up the chain of holy command, but no one really pays attention to that part. Although I will admit, she did have my full attention when she explained who is celibate and who is not.

Anyway, the elder priest goes straight up to the room, but the younger guy is smiling and watching us for a minute and then he says, “I didn’t think anyone did this art anymore”.

please note that he spoke with an accent and used the word art

He goes onto tell us that the last time he saw anyone knitting it was his grandmother in the mountains of Greece. I would swear he had a little note of melancholy in his voice.

also note he loves his grammy

but by far, the very, very best thing he saved for last ……. as he was leaving he said, “God bless you and your beautiful hands.”

Vicki and I both muffled a little sob and I may have even blacked out for a moment.