Morning Edition

I don't usually post in the morning, but I have a feeling we'll be at the pool all afternoon, and then by the time I get Sr. Jr. from camp, make dinner, and get everyone and everything cleaned up, it'll be bedtime :)

This week Sr. Jr. is doing his Adventure Links camp. He loves this camp! Every day they do something different at different parks in the area. Monday was rock climbing day. Yesterday they went caving (messy!). Tomorrow they go sailing on the Chesapeake, then camp out and spend the next day mountain biking. How cool does that sound? Next year he'll be old enough to spend a week away at their overnight camp, as he reminds me almost daily.

Jr. Jr. and I are home together. Mostly, we've been quite lazy, but today it's supposed to be near 100 degrees F, so we'll head to the pool.

I finally managed to get the Gathered Pullover started without twisting. I made a knitted-in hem for the bottoms, and then I'm slowly decreasing up to the bust, to make a more swingy, A-line shape.

Here's a slightly more close up (but somewhat washed out) picture of the hem:


I love the rich, tweedy goodness of this yarn. It's Jo Sharp Silkroad DK, a blend of wool, silk, and cashmere. It softens up a lot after washing.

This is perfect for me right now -- a lot of mindless stockinette in the round, with some added cabley interest, leading to a nice looking sweater at the end. (In fact, I think I knit something very similar last summer at this time, but that didn't quite work out. I might need to revisit that pattern, too...)

Last week I got the latest Socks that Rock sock club shipment. I admit to not really liking the last installment. I started the toe and decided I didn't like knitting the pattern and I wasn't thrilled with the colorway, so it's been sitting ever since. But this latest installment is really nice. The yarn is called "Goody Goody," and it's Sweet Tart colors. Tina even included some Sweet Tarts with the yarn :) The pattern is a really pretty leaf pattern. So far, this is my favorite of all the shipments so far.

I'm almost to the heel on the Thelonious sock. As soon as I finish it, I'll start the STR sock.

I'm also thinking ahead to that part of Fall where it's crisp and cool, but not cold. I've never been a sweater vest kinda girl, but right now I'm craving one. I'm envisioning how it can fit in my wardrobe. (I have plans next week for a day of shopping and lunch with a friend while both boys are at camp, so I'm doing a lot of wardrobe envisioning right now.)

I have some vintage Annabel Fox yarn down in the stash closet (remember her? whatever happened to her? I loved her designs). It's a nice dark brown tweed that would make a fantastic cabled vest. Designing a cabled vest would take a lot less energy than designing a whole sweater... Knitting would probably be pretty quick, too... Must. Maintain. Control. Will. Not. Start. This. Now.

Next week my peripatetic brother drops in. He produces documentary films, and will be in town to interview an expert from Canada who will himself be in town for a conference. They've decided to use my living room to film, rather than a hotel, so I need to get it straightened up. I guess I also need to straighten up the guest/stash/blocking room, too.


Hybrid Question

Mr. T and I are mulling over what kind of car to get next. I'm quite interested in getting a hybrid, but a Prius is too small for us. I routinely haul around a lot of kids, bikes, sports equipment, etc. There are some larger hybrids, like the Highlander, which get significantly better mileage than their non-hybrid counterparts. But Mr. T has some concerns and questions that we can't seem to get a clear answer on, so I thought I'd see if any of you have input or experience you could share.

Mr. T is concerned that there are corresponding downsides to hybrids, like battery life/disposal/ and replacement; resale value because of that; and repair costs. If anyone can provide us with some good information, we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Evening Star - Finished!

Evening Star is finished and blocked. Here are some photos. I didn't dress up for the occasion:






Stats: Pattern: Star of Evening Triangle, by Anne Hanson. Yarn: Lanas Puras Melosa Laceweight in Midnight, one skein. This was a remarkably easy lace pattern. I'm not sure that I love the top edging, because the points aren't as spread out as the points on the bottom diagonals, but I think it's not something people will notice when it's being worn.

Now that this is done, I have time to work on some other things. I picked up the Thelonious sock that I had put down a while back to concentrate on the shawl. I got quite a way into the calf pattern, as you can see here:


Today, I cast on for the Gathered Pullover, tried very carefully NOT to twist the stitches when joining them into a round, then proceeded to do just that, TWICE. Then, when I unwound all that I had done, I created a huge knotted mess. Yay me. I've figured out a way to avoid the twist -- use two circulars instead of one, then switch back to one -- so I'll do that tonight. I've decided to use the Jo Sharp yarn, and I'm making the sweater a bit A-liney, I think. It will be snugger around the bust, then flare out a little toward the hips. I may, however, change my mind about that, probably once I've knit 12 inches or so.

Cranky Monkey Mountain Bike Races

Mr. T and Sr. Jr. competed in this week's segment of the Cranky Monkey mountain bike racing series. Sr. Jr. came in second in his age group! Mr. T, however, crashed about 5 minutes from the end, knocking his head and coming up with a few nasty scrapes and bruises. Luckily, there was no concussion, no bones were broken, but the bike was damaged a bit.

Political Nonsense

For the first time in a long time, the state of Virginia has become a battleground state in a Presidential election. For many years, Virginia could be counted on to vote for Republican candidates, so neither party spent much money here during the races. Over the past few years, however, the political climate in Virginia has begun to change, with more and more Democratic candidates winning office, both in formerly Republican districts and statewide. During the primaries, Obama brought in more votes that McCain by a large margin. Overall, almost twice as many votes were cast in the Democratic primary in Virginia than in the Republican primary, and this was before McCain had wrapped up the nomination.

I'm glad to see candidates focussing on us for once. I think Virginia is definitely in play. The plus side here is that we get a lot more attention from the candidates, which is also, amusingly, the down side.

McCain is running an ad here in Virginia (don't know where else it is playing) blaming the rise in gas prices on.... yep, you got it... Barack Obama. The ad conveniently glosses over Iraq, Katrina, tensions with Iran, the falling dollar, et al., and focusses solely on offshore drilling. It's really quite funny. Yup, Mr. McCain, gas prices have been rising steadily for years, long before the 2008 Presidential elections began (and THAT was a long time ago), long before Obama started campaigning.

And because I haven't posted a cute cat picture lately:

What Fun!

That was my car, after being dusted for fingerprints this morning.



That was Mr. T's. I got into my car to go to the market this morning and the glove compartment was open and things were strewn all over the front seat. Mr. T's was in similar condition. We make a point of not keeping anything valuable in our cars, so we don't worry about locking them. I'd rather have people open the doors and rifle through things than break any glass and cost me a lot of money. For a while now, thieves have been going through Arlington a couple of blocks at a time, breaking into cars, mostly for GPS units. Several cars on the block behind us were also hit; one had a radio stolen. The policemen were very nice and efficient, promising that they were going to send out plainclothes officers with decoy cars. They're quite sick of having to deal with this.

Swatch Stories

I worked up swatches of the Telemark and Jo Sharp yarns for the Gathered Pullover I hope to start soon. The Telemark knit up nicely, but was a little scratchy, as expected of that type of yarn. The Jo Sharp feels more substantial and softer. Both knit up approximately to gauge (19 st and 24 row = 4 inches). Stitch gauge for the Telemark was spot on, but 24 rows was only 3 7/8 inches. Easily blockable. With the Jo Sharp, 19 stitches was 3 7/8 inches long, and 24 rows came out to be 3 5/8 inches long.

I washed them both and patted them out to dry -- no pulling or stretching. What a radical change! Now 19 stitches of the Telemark was 4 1/4 inches long and 24 rows was 3 3/4 inches, and much softer. It was even more dramatic for the Jo Sharp, for which 19 stitches was now 4 3/8 inches and 24 rows were 3 3/8 inches.

I took the spritzer and wet them again, this time pulling them into shape, and got gauge for both. Here they are after drying:



For the life of me, I do not know why Blogger keeps rotating these pictures! Well, here's a shot of the two swatches lounging about after their blocking, showing their drapiness:


I'm not sure how I feel about these swatches. The designer of the Gathered Pullover specifically used a lighter weight yarn at a larger gauge to get more drape, but the versions of the sweater that I've liked on Ravelry seem a bit more structured. I'll have to mull on this some more.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the Star of Evening edging while watching bikers fly down mountains in Europe (sometimes literally, unfortunately). As you can see from today's photo, progress is slow. Each edging point consists of 8 rows, but eats up only 4 shawl body stitches. By my rough estimate, I'm close to 2/3 of the way across.


I'm very ready for this to be finished, so I can move on to the next project.

Amazon Kindle Question

I've been considering investing in the Amazon Kindle as a way of reducing the book clutter in the house. There will always be books that I will get to own forever, but there are many books that I read and never look at again, only to give them away at Temple charity drives or school book swaps. In the meantime, they take up a lot of room in the house. Kindle seems like a nice way of reducing that clutter. Commenter Kippi has one and has given me some great feedback. Is there anyone else out there who has one and would like to give me an honest appraisal? I think the biggest drawback for me at this point is that the books I tend to read are a little more obscure and don't appear to be Kindle-ready at this point. I think I'll make a list of books that I'd like to read out of the next few weeks' Book Reviews and see how many of them are available on Kindle. But I'd also like more input from people with real-world experience with it. (PS, I understand you can now browse Ravelry using it!) Thanks in advance for any help...

In Which Reality Finally Occurs to Me

What was I thinking? There's no way I can design my own aran right now. Even if I could get the design worked up, the knitting itself would be way too complicated for my already busy life right now.

But it's 97 degrees outside and I'm jonesing to get back to sweater knitting. Fall's around the corner, allegedly. I've been knitting a lot of lace and summery stuff, and now's the time to get on the sweater knitting if I want some to wear when (if) the weather turns.

So I trolled around Ravelry for a while and found the Gathered Pullover, from Interweave Knits' Winter 2007 issue. It fits the bill nicely -- mostly easy to knit (stockinette in the round) with a little bit of interesting stuff to keep me (and the sweater) from boredom. It also looks like a nice, classic sweater that will stand the test of time. A lot of knitters on Ravelry have successfully made modifications that I would make to the sweater, as well. So, off to the stash closet to try to find an appropriate yarn. The designer used a sportweight yarn, but used larger than normal needles to add drapeyness to the sweater. That gives me several options. I can use a sport or dk weight and larger needles, or I can use a worsted weight for a more solid sweater. I would like this to be a little fitted around the bust, with waist shaping, so perhaps the heavier yarn would make me look a little bulkier.

Sticking with the sport/dk weights, I pulled several options:


Top left is Elann.com Sierra in a dark green, top right is Elann.com Pure Alpaca in a richer green, with a lot of lighter green and burgundy running through it. Bottom right (with swatch) is KnitPicks' Telemark in charcoal grey. Bottom left is Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, in Cedar. I'm afraid that the pure alpaca would be too drapey, especially on a larger needle. I'm not sure I want a sweater in the dark green Sierra. I'm craving a bit of tweed. It's between the Telemark and the Jo Sharp, but I suspect that the Jo Sharp will win if I like the swatch. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to work on the edging for the Star of Evening Shawl. I had a bit of knitting time yesterday and more today while Sr. Jr. had a dentist appointment. The following picture is from yesterday afternoon, so it doesn't accurately represent where I am now. I'm not quite halfway across the top.


Since my knitting time is so unpredictable these days, I have no idea when I'll finish this. Under normal circumstances, it would be finished tomorrow and blocking on Wednesday. At this point, I'm shooting for next week.

This Week in Camp

This week the boys are both doing a touch-football camp in the evenings. On the one hand, it's a pain to have evening camp, because it messes up our mealtimes and doesn't give me any free time during the day to get things done. On the other hand, it's so freaking hot right now that I'm glad the kids don't have to be out at the hottest point of the day.

The boys and I (and yesterday, Mr. T) went out and played tennis this weekend, since Sr. Jr. loves it so much now. He's pretty good for someone who'd never picked up a racket a week ago. I'm glad we have something new we can do together!

The Heat is On

Ah, our first Code Red day of the year! The swamp that is Washington never fails to assault the senses.

It's been a pretty busy week. Jr. Jr. has baseball camp, and Sr. Jr. has tennis camp. He'd never played tennis before, but wanted to learn. The first afternoon I went to pick him up, he came toward me with a huge smile on his face. "I really like tennis!" he said. He's picked it up pretty quickly. Even today, at the end of the session, he's still in love with his new sport. Both Jrs. are signed up for another tennis camp in August, too. Between now and then, I'll take them out to play, and maybe I'll sign Sr. Jr. up for some lessons in the Fall, too. It's been very nice to see him so happy. (He won his tournament, too!) Next week is football camp for both boys.

There have only been a few hours this week where they were both at camp, so I did fun stuff like have a mammogram (no cancer!) and a dental check-up (no cavities!). In between, there was a little bit of knitting time. I finished the main body of the shawl and have just started the top edging:


Here's a slight close-up:


It wasn't easy trying to take these pictures. I had to use one hand to fend off the cat, who really wanted to jump up and sit on the shawl, and did, the moment I turned my back for a second.

There was an error in the part of the pattern that started off the top edging. It was clear from the pattern that she originally had another edging planned, but went back and changed it to continue using the same edging that was knitted on with the body of the shawl. In the course of cutting and pasting, not everything got cleared up. It was a pretty easy error to spot, and of course, this being a Knitspot pattern, the corrections were up on the website (but were easy enough to figure out on my own anyway). So if you buy this pattern, make sure to note the errata before you start the top edging.

Poor Mr. T has been working like a dog this week. He even worked a bit during our vacation (which really isn't that unusual), but this week has been tough. I suppose it's good that he's busy, because it means business is good and he's in demand, but it also means a lot of stress for him.

It doesn't help that my father is pulling his jerk routine, either. That's not new, but never appreciated.

Now I must go tend to the house, which is a wreck, before my friends from Texas arrive this evening :)


Fun Stuff

If you haven't checked out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, go now! It's hysterical.

Home Again

It's good to be home again. Our trip was very enjoyable (except for the food), but there's nothing quite like the comforts of home. I admit to being a very particular person, one who likes her stuff her way.

For the last part of our trip, my SIL and her family came to stay at the beach with us. SIL has a son, M., the same age as Jr. Jr., and a step-daughter, J., who's a year older than Sr. Jr. The kids get along famously. The boys don't get to see their cousin M. too often, but when they do, it's like they were never apart. J. is a really neat girl, too, so it was fun to have her around. There was some definite flirty-flirty stuff going on between her and Sr. Jr. His chest puffed out and he got all macho. It was very cute.

Here are some pics of the kids at play:



And the grownups at rest:


While we were there, I stopped at the little yarn store on the island, the Courtyard. The Courtyard sells yarn and knitting supplies, as well as used books. It's a cute little place, and the owner (if that's who was working there that day) was very nice. It doesn't have a huge selection of yarns, but what it does have is lovely, including a selection of Aracaunia hand-dyed yarns that I hadn't seen before. So one of the rights that I retroactively reserved for myself as part of my birthday "year of stash" pledge was to be able to buy some souvenir yarn while on vacation. Thus, I came home with --


Five balls of Elsbeth Lavold's Hempathy, to make a nice lacy summer scarf/shawl.

I have only one repeat left (plus the top edging) to complete the Star of Evening shawl. It's the loooooong top rows, however, so it may take a while in these knit-free summer days. I'm beginning to feel the pull of the sweater yarn... it's been a while since I made myself a nice aran... hmmm... I think my next project will be an aran that I design. Don't look for it anytime soon, though, with the aforementioned knit-free-ness hanging over my head. I hope to have that done by the beginning of Fall, just in time for Nancy Bush's new book, Knitted Lace of Estonia, to arrive. If you haven't picked up the latest issue of Piecework to see the previews of this book, go NOW and look. I'm sure I will be itching to get one of those shawls on my needles when I get my grubby little hands on that book.

Beach Reading

One of the best things about traveling, especially to the beach, is the added reading time. I don't knit on planes, I read. I'm happy to be on a beach with the wind in my hair and a book in my hands. I finished three books this vacation, all of them varying degrees of good. First there was The Maytrees, by Annie Dillard. This was a very low-key book, but a marvelous look at love, compassion, and forgiveness. Next up was The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. I resisted this one for a while, perhaps because it seemed very Oprah's book club-like. Overall, I really liked it. Parts were a bit too obvious in pointing out the significance of social changes at the time the book was taking place, but the story was engrossing and the characters were fleshed out and real. The novel explored the consequences of secret-keeping and fear on a marriage. Finally, I read Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. I first heard about this book at one of the kids' baseball games, when another spectator mentioned that she never read books, but couldn't put this one down. Again, I hesitated, because, really, how good a recommendation is that? But this was beach reading, so I gave it a shot. I ended up enjoying it a lot. The book deals with an old man's memories of his days as the veterinarian for a second-tier traveling circus during the Depression. The social aspects of the Depression were woven into the novel nicely, without the "look! social context!" that I felt while reading Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's not quite as powerful as Geek Love was, but an engrossing story nonetheless. I gave it to Mr. T when I was done.

And now I get to console myself with laundry, mammogram appointments, dentist appointments, and running the kids around to camps and pools. This week is baseball for Jr. Jr. and tennis for Sr. Jr. I love tennis, so it will be nice to be able to play with the kids.

More Vacation, with Knitting Content

(Ah, the joys of traveling with laptop and blackberry. Mr. T is never out of touch and I can continue to blog.)

Yesterday afternoon, the boys went golfing.

This gave me the chance to do some knitting. I pulled out the Star of Evening shawl and got a little bit done. At this point, I've completed almost 6 out of 9 or 11 repeats. Here's the shawl lounging on the couch of the beach house:

Here it is taking a break and enjoying the pool:

Yesterday morning we took a bike ride out to a nearby lake, where a couple of alligators were cavorting.

There were two. One was chasing the other around, and when he caught up to her, there would be some thrashing around and then they'd separate. He'd wait a few minutes and then try again. He seemed to be trying to get amorous with her. She was having none of it. In my mind, the conversation went something like this:

Him: Hey, baby.

Her: Go away.

Him: Aw, c'mon babe, let's get it on.

Her: Beat it, creep. There are people here with cameras!

Him: So?

Her: I don't want to end up on YouTube.

Him: Mais, cherie, it's de rigeur to have a sex tape these days!

Her: Sorry. I'm not that kind of girl. I'm a bit prehistoric.

We've been spending a lot of time at the beach. It's quite lovely here. I grew up on Long Island, where the beaches were crowded, shelly, dirty, and the water was cold. The water here is so warm, the beaches are pure sand, and there's virtually no one around. (At least not at our part of the island; others are more crowded.) Jr. Jr. is gaining a lot of confidence in the water. We got the boys a boogie board, which they love:


And me? I'm but a shadow on the sand.

A very hippy looking one, apparently.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Here we are in Hilton Head. No more baseball, little work, little (well, no) knitting.

Sr. Jr. had his final all star game on July 4th. They lost, but Sr. Jr. got a hit and scored, so he was happy. Overall, though, we were disappointed in this experience. The coach ended up putting Sr. Jr. in a position where he's weakest (outfield) and completely ignored his biggest strength, pitching. I don't think either of us would have minded that he wasn't pitching if we could see that he was not as good as the kids who were pitching. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The head coach let practically every other kid on the team pitch, except for Sr. Jr. We thought that this might have been because he was the only kid on the team who was not on the two winning-est (yes, I know it's not a real word) teams in the league (the Yankees and the Red Sox, natch). Another dissatisfied parent mentioned that a lot of the more favored kids were also on the head coach's basketball teams. Whatever the reason, it was a disapointment -- not because I'm some mom who has to see her pwecious widdle pookums pitch, but because it would have been in the team's best interest. I think some of the assistant coaches wondered what was going on as well.

It's been nice to leave that behind and just have fun. We stopped off in Savannah to see Mr. T's sister and her family before heading out to the island. They'll join us here for a day or two later in the week.

This morning, Mr. T took Jr. Jr. out to the beach early, while Sr. Jr. and I slept. While they were out there, there was a brief rainshower leading to another double rainbow.



Maybe he's part leprechaun.

I took the opportunity to go for a nice long walk on the beach. Four + miles, barefoot. It felt good, but the soles of my feet definitely felt a bit raw.

Here's a shot of the kids playing nicely together:



For a while, a porpoise gamboled about in the water near where they were playing. It went too fast for us to get a good picture of it. Finally, here's a shot of Sr. Jr., looking contemplative:



Tomorrow afternoon, the guys are supposed to go play some golf, so maybe I'll get a chance to pick up the knitting needles for the first time in over a week! I can't remember the last time I went this long without any significant knitting. I admit, it's been making me a bit crazy.

Before we left I did get the new Knitter's. While it wasn't quite as craptacular as the last issue, it certainly was full of suck. I think they need to retire the "Knitter's Design Team" and their obsession with strapless, two piece dreck.

What I really need to get my hands on is the latest issue of Piecework. Hopefully I can do that before my vacation is over.

Baseball is a Cruel Mistress

All-Star season has begun. The kids have practice for 2 1/2 hours each day, twice on Saturday. They've played two games already, against Vienna, Virginia and Great Falls, Virginia. They lost the first 15-0 and the second 10-0. Not a single kid made it on base in the first game. Ouch. Poor Sr. Jr. has gone from being the star of his team -- starting pitcher, infielder, power hitter -- to being the bottom half outfielder. He hasn't pitched yet (which is a shame, because he's better than some of the kids they've got pitching). His self-confidence went from as high as I've seen it at the end of the regular season to down in the dumps. Luckily, he's not threatening never to play baseball again. Here he is right before the first game:

There was, of course, a thunderstorm in the middle of the game. We waited out the storm for over half an hour to finish the game. The park had a misting station set up because it was so hot. Jr. Jr. availed himself of the misting station before AND after the storm, when he was already soaking wet:

The coaches tell me that these other Little Leagues sometimes wriggle around some of the rules in order to make their all-star teams better. Each area's Little League has two divisions, a National League and an American League. Players are supposed to be selected by a straight draft situation, so that no team has a concentration of the better players. At the end of the season, the coaches choose the all-star players from all the teams, who then come together and practice for the all-star tournament. This is the way it works in Arlington. Sometimes random things happen, and one league is better than the other. This year, the league that Sr. Jr. is in is clearly better than the other (the other all-star team lost their game 20-0). But the other locales supposedly choose their all-star team at the beginning of the season, and put all those kids together on one team. Then, at the end of the season, that whole team is "chosen" as the all-star team. Thus, those teams have had the benefit of playing together all season long, as opposed to the week and a half that Arlington's team has been together. Arlington also has the disadvantages of being 1) a small county compared to the others; and b) split into two different leagues (LL and Babe Ruth), so the talent pool is somewhat diluted.

The last game that Sr. Jr. will be playing in will be on July 4th. I'll be glad when this is over. I think he's learned an awful lot, but I'm not sure whether it was all good, or what the long-term results will be for him.

Unfortunately, my predictions that this will be a virtually knit-free summer seem to be coming true. In all of last week, I managed to knit two (2) rounds on the Fleece Artist sock and 1 1/2 (1.5) rows on the Star of Evening shawl. Mr. T was supposed to do stuff with the kids yesterday, in part to make up for being gone a lot this week, including all day and most of the evening Saturday at a bike race, but that didn't happen.

I hear the Summer Knitter's Magazine will be out soon, and I hear it's going to be just as bad as the last one. What a waste.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Sharon!

Scenes from a Summer

School's out. The kids don't have any camp scheduled until the third week in July, so right now our time is spent either at baseball practice or the pool.

Monday evening's practice started under an ominous looking sky. I decided to stick around, reasoning that if I left, as soon as I got home, the storms would start and I'd have to turn right back around. Storms did start, but the team took refuge under an overhang near the tennis courts until it blew by. The boys reviewed their signs with the coach until the lightning had passed. It started to rain again after practice resumed. More lightning... Coach kept playing... more lightning... kept playing... finally, after everyone got a quick turn at bat, Coach ended practice early, just as a beautiful double rainbow appeared.

Unfortunately, the storms that led to that rainbow also led to this:

This house is around the corner from us, near the kids' bus stop. An older couple lives there. I haven't been able to find out if they're ok. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the tree inside the house through the upstairs window. Neighbors say that the tree fell (taking out two others on its way down) after all the storms had cleared out of the area. Jr. Jr. has developed a bit of a fear of thunderstorms after all we and our friends have been through in the past month, so I avoided this area at all costs until the tree had been cleaned up.

We've been hitting the pool for a few hours every afternoon. The pool club is about 1/2 mile from our house, so we can walk or ride our bikes if we want. So many families in the area belong to the club that we're virtually guaranteed to run into a couple of friends whenever we go.

Yesterday we ran into Sr. Jr.'s friend J., who doesn't go to school with him, but was on his last baseball team. We don't see them much during the year, but see them often during the summer. Every year, the two pick up exactly where they left off, as if they'd only seen each other last week. J. will be going to the same middle school as Sr. Jr., which will be fun.

Today, in an effort to allow the older boys some more freedom and independence, J.'s mom and I allowed them to meet up by themselves at the pool. (We met up at the pool not long after to catch up ourselves, of course.)

Yesterday while the boys were playing at the pool, the loudspeaker squawked and the announcer came on and said, "Attention! It is now 3:30. It is time for all members of the Dive Team to meet out in the front parking lot to throw water balloons at each other and eat candy!"

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in 1956. Just with less knitting.

And So it Begins

Summer, that is.

Sr. Jr. had *three* 2 1/2 hour baseball practices this weekend. It's a pretty grueling schedule, but luckily the weather's been nice. In between practices there was pool time. Today is grunt work day (laundry, shopping, etc.), so the boys have been fighting over Wii, fighting over the rules of the board games they've played, fighting over who sits where and whose feet are touching whose... you get the picture.

I did manage to finish the sixth chart repeat of my Star of Evening shawl, but I haven't taken any pictures because they'd all look the same. I also started the second of my Thelonious socks. I know; I'm a fickle sock knitter. I wasn't quite willing to rip out what little I've done of the STR socks, hoping to get back to them later. The design looks nice, but it's not something I like knitting all that much. Perhaps if the yarn were more inspiring to me I'd stick with it, but with so little knitting time, I'm going to stick with things that make me happy. Thus, the Thelonious socks.

Tomorrow, Sr. Jr.'s practice is at a field at the other end of the county. It has a decent playground, so instead of driving all the way down there any back twice, I may bring along the Fleece Artist sock I started and let Jr. Jr. play through the practice. It will depend partly on the weather, of course.

A final word in memory of George Carlin, who died last night, soon after being named as this year's Mark Twain prize recipient. In many ways, Carlin represented some of the big changes of the 20th century. He went from performing in a suit with short hair to his long-haired "Seven Dirty Words" phase to his later, relatively more sedate, observational style. Along the way he smashed through a lot of taboos and paved the way for some great comedians, as well as a host of mediocre imitators who confused foul-mouthed with funny.

I've been wondering lately about the comedy circuit and the state of stand-up today. There don't seem to be as many good, stand-out comedians as there used to be. Why is that? Am I just not watching enough late night television to see them? Is it that many comedians migrate to television and movies these days? Is most of the stand-up talent being used on the "Daily Show"/Colbert juggernaut?

Really good comedians used to make waves. Some made legal precedent, like George Carlin and Lenny Bruce. Remember Steve Martin back in the day? Andy Kaufman singing "Mighty Mouse"? Roseanne Barr's Domestic Goddess?

I think we need a good breakout comic right about now.

Scenes from the End of School

This was from today's pizza party -- a mad crush of fifth graders with sugar rushes:

Here's Jr. Jr., having fun in the sack race at the first grade picnic:

And in his usual position, surrounded by girls (the kid's a chick magnet):

Here's the goofy grad with the other T family menfolk. Sr. Jr. was not amused to have to dress up for graduation, but he looked very handsome!

This week has been a mad crush of activity, with fun and sadness. Most of the kids had a great time with all the activities, but a local 8th grader died suddenly over the weekend. A lot of our kids have older siblings who were friends with her. This has been a really tough year for our little community.

Jr. Jr. cried when he got off the bus today because he was sad that school was ending. ("This summer's going to be so boring!" he said on the way home from the bus stop. "I'm already bored!") I'm happy that he liked school so much. His teacher was new to the school and she was absolutely fantastic. I'm sorry that we won't be able to have her again.

Sr. Jr. is very ready to move on to middle school. Our elementary school splits off into two different middle schools. Luckily for Sr. Jr., most of his friends are going to his middle school.

Of course, they'll all see each other at camps and at the pool over the summer.

I, however, am not ready to be the mother of a middle school kid.

As for knitting, I've been averaging about two rows a day on the Star of Evening Shawl. Between the school activities and the baseball practice schedule, I haven't been home much. I'll have to make some progress soon or this blog will morph from Still Life with Yarn into Tales of a Suburban Madwoman.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Alas, not a very exciting birthday. It's the kids' last full day of school, and Sr. Jr.'s first day of practice for the all-star tournament. That's him in the middle of the picture above at the game on Saturday.

My birthday vow is to knit from stash this year. And none of this "sock yarn doesn't count as stash" crap, either. I hope I can do it. (I reserve the right to spend the $50 birthday check from my MIL on yarn, however.) (This also does not count the yarn that I've special-ordered, but hasn't arrived yet, because that was ordered back around Mother's Day.) (I reserve the right to reserve some more rights, too.)

Now to the sock yarn guessing game: My husband? The man who's lived with me for 17 years and knows me better than anyone? WRONG. Sorry, dude. I wanted to knit with a yarn I hadn't knit with for a while. Ikkinlala was close. She got the right brand, just the wrong colorway. So the prize (which consists solely of being right) goes to Kippi! I picked the Fleece Artist yarn that had a little pink in it.

The last Fleece Artist I knit with was a very light blend of yellows and ivories. It's been washed in warm water a few times, which may have caused the fading. The yarn is very soft, and the colors are pretty, so I'm going to give it another chance, only washing it in cold water this time. I'm not sure what, if any, pattern I'll add to this sock, only that it will be easy enough for me to do without any sort of chart. I want this to be my portable, mindless knitting, after all.

I know this is a short post, but since it IS my last bit of free time for a while, I'm going to go knit now :)

Talkative -- Knitting, Baseball, Literature

Warning -- I'm feeling verbose today.

Baseball Report

Yesterday was the Little League National vs American League intraleague All Star game. Three kids from each team were voted onto the two All Star teams by their teammates, so it was a nice honor. The game was full of Little League pomp and circumstance. The kids were announced by name, and they got to run out onto the field, grab a cool All Star hat, and line up on the baselines. The game itself wasn't too exciting, except for the storm blowing through in the middle. Officials hustled everyone into the parking garage to wait out an anticipated storm. The wind was whipping around, but there was no rain. After about 20 minutes, they called us back out to the field, at which point it started to pour. The kids managed to play one more inning in the rain until lightning shut it down. At the end of five innings, the score was tied at 3. Sr. Jr. was bummed because he was set to be the shut 'em down closing pitcher in the sixth inning.

He will also be on the interleague All Star team. This team is picked by the coaches. I'm not sure how many kids from each team make it, or if they just choose who they want. Sr. Jr. will have practice every day this week, and games start the week after. This is Serious Little League Competition here. He's very proud of himself!

Knitting

I continue working on the Star of Evening shawl. Even though the rows are getting longer, they go quickly because the pattern is easy to memorize and execute. I've finished almost 4 1/2 chart repeats so far.



Once again, I'm too lazy to straighten this picture out. Sorry.

Right now, I need to have an easy sock to knit. I like to have a plain stockinette or other easy sock going for those times when I'm too tired or don't have the time or energy to focus on something like a lace shawl. Easy socks are also good for bringing along to doctor's appointments and other out-of-the-house knitting occasions. The current STR club sock is too complicated to serve, so I went trolling through the sock yarn to see what I could find.

The question for you, dear readers, is which one will I choose, and why? Here are the contenders:

A slightly closer view:

On the left is Dream in Color Baby in Gothic Rose. Pluses: it's Dream in Color yarn, which I love, and the color is gorgeous. Minuses: It's Baby, and not Smooshy. Baby is their "laceweight," although it seems heavy for laceweight. Also, it's more of a Fall/Winter color. In the middle is Duet Skinny sock yarn in "Sailor Sky." It's pros include being a nice light weight and a more summery colorway. It's con is that I just knit some socks from this yarn very recently. On the right is Schaefer's Anne in an unnamed colorway of dark greys, browns, and black. Pros: I love Anne and haven't knit with it in a while. Cons: Mohair makes for warmer knitting in hot weather, plus colorway is definitely a cold-weather choice.



Here, next to the Anne on the left, we have Fleece Artist Merino in a yellow/green/blue colorway. Pros: Springy, plus I haven't knit with Fleece Artist in a while. Cons: In my limited experience with FA, it tends to fade. Second from the right is Sundara Sock Yarn in Midnight Over Blue. Again -- gorgeous color, beautiful yarn, but I've knit with Sundara recently and it's a darker color. Finally, on the right is another skein of Fleece Artist, with less yellow and more pink and blue. Same pros and cons as the other skein of Fleece Artist.

So, what will I choose, and why? (You must be 18 years or older to participate. Persons who live in my house and have direct knowledge of my actions are forbidden from participating unless they do so before I've made my choice. Other terms and conditions may apply. No purchase necessary. Few will enter, only one will win.)

An Ode to the Short Story

I love to read. My book stash is almost as voluminous as my yarn stash, only not nearly as soft. Readers of this here blog will guess that I prefer fiction to nonfiction, and they'd be correct. But what most people don't know is that one of my favorite forms of literature is the short story. Short stories don't get nearly the same attention or readership as their more long-winded cousins, and that's a real shame. Some of the things that have affected me most deeply over the years have been short stories.

(Warning: strange simile and analysis ahead). Short stories are like soap bubbles -- small, self-contained, and delicate, with a lot of color swirling around if you look closely. Because of their brevity, short stories have to communicate a lot in very few words. Points don't get bludgeoned to death, like in some novels. The very best short stories can cut you to the heart in a single paragraph.

I cried harder at the end of Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" short story than I did at the (also beautiful) movie. Somehow, that image of a man crying over his lost lover's shirt inside a closet was more eloquently captured in a few words than in a 2 hour film.

Ms. Proulx has done it again in the latest Summer Fiction edition of the New Yorker. Again, all it took was one sentence to take my breath away.

It's not always easy to find good short stories. The New Yorker always has one in each issue. There are also a host of smaller literary magazines that print short stories, but they can be hit or miss. Every year I search out the "Best American Short Stories" collection and the Pushcart Prize collections. The Pushcart Prize also has poetry and nonfiction as well. When I note an author whose stories I particulary like, I will keep an eye out for any of their collections as well. Favorites include Alice Munro, the abovementioned E. Annie Proulx, the incomparable but sadly not prolific Lorrie Moore, TC Boyle, Tobias Woolf, and many, many more who practice this overlooked art form.

Coming soon, a birthday!

Bounty

Nature may hate us (see, e.g. blackouts, heatwaves, etc.), but she sure does provide some yummy stuff to eat:

Mmmm. Those are fresh sour cherries and strawberries picked by us at Homestead Farms out in Poolesville, MD. I love cherry pie, cherry cobbler, homemade cherry vanilla ice cream... You get the picture. I may even try to make jam this year. We have far more than you can see in that picture, too. I have a lot of pitting and freezing to do.

Homestead has all sorts of fruit available for pick-your-own. The kids love going out there, too. We're not big on peaches, but we'll go out again in the Fall for Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples.

I continue to work on the Star of Evening shawl. I've done 3.5 chart repeats, but I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on it. It really is perfect summer mindless knitting -- enough interest to keep me from being bored, but not so much interest that I have to concentrate much. Combine that with a beautiful shawl and you can't go wrong, huh?



(Insert caveats about unblocked lace looking like crap here.)

This weekend is Sr. Jr.'s first All-Star game. It's the game between the all stars of the two divisions. The interleague play starts in July. In the meantime, Sr. Jr. has discovered girls. So cute! He told me that all the boys in his class except one had crushes on girls. The one who doesn't is "just, like, so immature." Alas, the girl he was crushing on is into someone else, but he doesn't seem to be taking it too hard.

Off to go pit some more cherries...

Something Easy and Fun to Tide Me Over

As the end of the school year approaches, my knitting time necessarily slows down. Beyond all the end-of-the-year parties and activities, there are only a few days this summer where both boys have activities at the same time. So I need something easy, yet satisfying, to pull me through the summer without tearing my hair out.

I had been trying to come up with a lace shawl design of my own, with a lot of futile swatching to show for it. I have hit upon one or two patterns that I like, but I really won't have the time or the energy to spare during the summer. So I cast on for Anne Hanson's Star of Evening Triangle. The pattern is quite simple, with an edging that is knit along with the body. Here are a couple of pictures of what I've done so far:

I'm using Melosa lace weight in midnight. It's a singles yarn, so I'm wary of blocking it too hard. It's soft and the color is gorgeous, however. It'll make a nice warm shawl, as opposed to a light and airy one, but that's ok.

It's still really freaking hot here. It's supposed to be near 100 degrees today, and that's without the heat index. Luckily, baseball is over for now, so it'll be a quiet afternoon.

Sr. Jr. made the Little League All-Star team! The only problem is that we're supposed to be away on vacation during part of the time the tournament takes place, so we're not sure he'll be able to play. I hope we can work it out, though, because it will be a lot of fun for him. Apparently, the Arlington All-Stars play other local All-Star teams and lose. Just being picked and being able to play will be great.

I had an interesting encounter this morning at the supermarket. The checkout man asked me if I thought all the storms and earthquakes around the world were due to global warming. I said that I wasn't sure if the storms were a result of global warming, but that I was sure the earthquakes weren't. I also said that I do believe that global warming is taking place. He then informed me that I was wrong. Global warming has nothing to do with any of this. It's all about Planet X, which was foretold in the Bible, not as Planet X, but as something called "Wormwood." He told me to Google this, and I'd learn a lot. I think not.

I think I'll whip up a big pot of chili to ward off the heat :)

This Interruption Brought to You by Mother Nature

... Just another way in which Nature says, "I hate you."

Big storms with tornados slammed through the DC metro area on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Before the storm even really got here, our lights went out. This happens. Usually, they come back on pretty quickly. Not Wednesday. They stayed off. And stayed off. Wednesday night we bailed the sump pump manually to keep the basement from flooding. (And I had just told Mr. T that we should get a battery back up for that pump, too.) We spent several hours filling buckets and dumping them. By 10:30, the storms abated, so we went to bed, expecting that power would be restored sometime in the night.

No such luck. Power stayed out all day Thursday. We scrupulously kept all refrigerators and freezers closed, trying to save the food. Luckily, it cooled off enough at night to make sleeping comfortable.

Not so on Friday, when the heat wave began. The electric company predicted that power would be back on by 10 pm Friday, so we sucked it up for one more night, eating out yet again. However, it was hot and sticky, and nightfall provided no relief. 10 pm came and went, and the power was still out. I struggled to sleep in the heat and humidity.

At about 3 am, the power finally came back on. We ran around the house, shutting the windows and firing up the air conditioner. Saturday morning we emptied the refrigerators and the deep freeze, because nothing was salvageable. We went to the supermarket to replace as much as we could.

Fun times.

In other news, Sr. Jr.'s team lost in its second playoff game. The team played well in the field, but couldn't get any offense going. I think they felt good about how they played the game, even though they lost, because their opponents were very good. One season, finished (except for the All-Star game, if Sr. Jr. makes the team).

Jr. Jr. had his final game yesterday in the searing heat. Temps got up near 100, with a heat index around 105. After the game we went to the pool to cool off, and then to the Nats game to get all sweaty again.

I'm sorry that there's no knitting content. It's hard to knit in the dark. The school year is ending, which means that there are many school activities packed into the day -- the first grade play (adorable!), class picnics, etc. Once school ends, knitting time is pretty scarce. Maybe I'll get some socks done this summer, but probably not much else. Either way, I'll post about it.

Now that our power's been restored and life is slowly moving back to normal, hopefully I'll have something more interesting to show and share as the week moves on.

Playoff Fever! Mojo with Nowhere to Go(jo)

This was a very busy, full weekend. Baseball started Saturday morning at 9 am, with Jr. Jr.'s game, and continued on with Sr. Jr.'s playoff game at 11.

Little League playoff games go for 6 innings, as opposed to regular season games, which can go for 5, but often end earlier. Playoff games must be complete -- all 6 innings must be played. We started off the game with hot, sunny weather. Sr. Jr. was the starting pitcher. He pitched for four complete innings -- his longest ever, and the maximum allowed at his level. During those 4 innings, he also hit a triple and a single and drove in 5 runs. By the end of his pitching tenure, the team was up 9-2 and feeling strong. In the fifth inning, another of our pitchers, J., came up. J. can pitch well, but is sometimes inconsistent. Unfortunately, this was one of his off days, so the other team scored the maximum 6 runs (aided by some errors in the field, including one by Sr. Jr.). The weak part of our batting order was up, so no runs scored. So there we were at the end of the fifth, with our team holding on to a tenuous 9-8 lead. It was hot and the boys were clearly getting tired.

And then the skies opened. I don't mean that it rained. It POURED. Lightning flashed perilously close by. The winds were strong, with tornado watches out for the whole area. Little League policy requires teams to wait 20 minutes to see if the rain will let up. We all stood, huddled under the little overhang by the snack bar, until some Little League official came to his senses and realized it was too dangerous for us to stay there. We were hoping that they would call the game official and complete, but no, we had to go and play that last inning.

So we all gathered yesterday afternoon for one more inning of baseball. When we left on Saturday, it was the top of the sixth. Our team was up at bat. One runner had been walked and was on first. The top of the order (our strong batters) was up, so that's how we resumed. The first up, B., hit a nice shot to move the man on first to second, but was himself thrown out at first. Now it was Sr. Jr.'s turn at bat. First ball he watched go by for a strike. Then there was a ball. Then a foul tip for another strike. Then he hit the patented Sr. Jr. zinger down the third base line that the third baseman can never get. He gets to second and bats in one run. The next hitter, J., hits it strong, so Sr. Jr. scores. Then A. gets thrown out at first and O. strikes out to end the inning. Now the score is 11-8.

A. comes up to pitch for our mighty Giants and finishes strong, allowing only 1 run. We won! I was very happy that we got to say that we won a playoff game. The coaches gave Sr. Jr. the game ball for his excellent play, which made him very proud. Next up is the second place team, to whom we lost pretty soundly a couple of weeks ago.

After the final inning was the "post-season" team party. Today there was a playgroup mom get together which lasted most of the day.

So....

There was pretty much no knitting this weekend at all. Sorry. I started the toe of the new STR club sock, but realized pretty quickly that the size medium I picked was going to be too large, so I frogged it. I did get the toe restarted last night, but I haven't even started the patterning yet.

The first Mystic Meadows shawl KAL clue was released today, and I'm debating whether I should cast on, or wait until I see someone's version knit up. I have an idea for a design of my own that I'd like to swatch for, but...

There's more baseball tonight. Jr. Jr. has a game. And tomorrow I have to do all the stuff that I didn't do today, like laundry and shopping. I'd really like to get a bike ride in, too.

So, there's mojo. It's just got nowhere to go :(